MathWizard

I'm just going to get right to the point. It sounds very very cool. The main problem I have with this is the clarinet part. First the octave that the clarinet is written in right now is terrible if your working a choir. An mp3 probably sounds better than any clarinet player could ever play it. Note: I am transposing it to the correct notes when looking at the score since it is in concert pitch. Just make sure that you understand the instruments you write for, and what notes work, what octaves work, and how long they really can hold out a note.

This is really good, and the recording is amazing.

I didn't really get the relation to "Seal Lullaby." The piano part is similar with running eights, even though they aren't in the bass line. The only thing that I find similar is the obnoxious key. I can't really sugar coat this, but keys with anymore than 4 flats or sharps make me want to shove my piano out a window. Those keys are okay when it's a capella or for 10-20 measures in an instrumental ensemble piece, but for choir with piano it's somewhat unneeded.. I guess the piano part is quite easy in the bass line which provides a little room for difficulty within the right hand even though you could get by in this piece with moving your hands very little. There has to be some more creativity within the piano part, and trust me, I know it's tempting to write the same thing for the piano through the whole song, which you did, but some variation can really add to the song.. Now onto the choir parts. There could have been more range within all the parts. Ignore books that tell you what basic ranges are for the satb. No book can tell you that the lowest note you can write for a bass is A, or the highest for soprano is E. I've sung songs that for me (a second bass) have gone down to C# (Lux Aurumque). I have also sung songs where the soprano has gone up to a high C (My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord.) Of course these are the extremes of ranges, and not all choirs have voices that can perform these notes, but I can tell you from the second bass end, that composers that write low notes for us, are the composers that we like better. Next we can talk about the harmonies. Obviously they are beautiful, but make more use of the fact that there are 4 different groups of voices that you can split into 2, 3, or even 4 parts if you would like. Make words sparkle with tone clusters, use minor chords to disrupt any predictability within the chord progression. There is definitely some great potential for this piece, keep working on it.

I really like it. There are a few things that are in most cases impossible to play. For example, piccolos do not have a low C key on them. Some of the sixteenth note passages would be very difficult to most players, even professionals. The flute in measure 5 and 6 would be impossible to play by anyone but James Galway. Also, the trumpet parts are considerably high throughout most of the piece. It would definitely take some extreme chops. I wish you had notated the drum parts a little bit better as I hate only being able to look at 2 measures at a time since the 64th note rhythms considerably spread out the score.

Okay, I made it a bit longer and added a horrible cadenza. I am not going to touch this very much anymore. easy flute solo.MUS

I just meant that they sounded like random notes. Obviously, I have had my share of working with contemporary music, not my favorite type of music, but it will do. I was trying to put it at the perspective of someone in the audience. What are they going to think, let alone, are they going to know that, lets say, a chord can be diminished.

Not really the type of piece I am into. My own personal opinion says that this piece is almost annoying/boring to listen to. It is also unpleasing to the ear. The piano part sounds like random notes.

Thanks, I was really hoping everyone would like it. I am only a sophmore in high school, so there isn't a lot of opportunities to be taught how to do much of this stuff. I am hoping to arrange something for flute choir next, so I can broaden my instrumentation in arranging.

It's not very hard, as I wanted to take something easy for my first piece. Unnamed piece for flute and piano. Piano part is very repetitive, I know. Remember that it is very basic and I couldn't figure out where a lot of stuff was in finale. easy flute solo.MUS

It's funny, because I played the saxophone for 4 years, starting in 6th grade. Then all out of the blue, I thought that giving the flute a try would be fun. I practiced and practiced and well, needless to say that for playing about a year, I am now practicing Concertino, Chaminade, and Flight of the Bumblebee. BTW, I am first chair in my band if that gives you an idea.

I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but the proper pronunciation of Antigone is an-tig-uh-nee.

Make sure you know how far a instrument can stretch, putting sixteenth notes varying in octaves and accidentals, is not a possibility and wouldn't be practical for any advanced player. It sounded cool though.

I actually quite enjoyed listening to this piece. You didn't overlook any detail, from articulation, to dynamics. I can tell that you had some fun, and your right, its probably not practical for someone to play this piece, but hey, it is fun to listen to.

I am not sure if you purposely have the trumpets and horn in concert pitch, or you just forgot after making the chords. There is no shape to the melody, it just seems like random notes randomly drew out of a hat. Normally in a chorale, there really isn't that big of a range, normally within an octave of each other. Needs a lot of work.

It sounds pretty, but as soon as you were to look at the score you see that there is a lot of work to do. Trombone can barely reach treble clef, much less play in. Along with that, the french horn, shouldn't be written in bass clef. I'm not saying it isn't possible, I am saying that rarely will you be able to find someone that would be playing this easy of a piece to be able to play that low. If you don't see the score, one might assume this is in a minor key. Your instrument choices, to say the least, are poor. A trombone, three french horns, and a tuba do not sound good together. As a suggestion, maybe write a new version for one or two trumpets, maybe one french horn, a trombone, and a tuba, maybe a euphonium if you want to stick one in there. Needs a lot of work, but sounds okay.