Christian Opperman

Aside from most of the pieces listed above, I really enjoy Frank Ticheli's . Just absolutely gorgeous.~Christian

Do you maybe have a score that I could look at while listening to this? As it is, it's okay. I like the melody that you have going in the beginning (violins?) but the voices underneath it seem kind of stale (as others have pointed out). I liked the bells though, it was a nice touch. Overall, I think you did a really good job capturing the mood of preparing for war, although some of the calmer sections did seem to break the mood just a tiny bit. ~Christian

Thanks. It's actually the oboe - I can't stand the Finale 'Vocal Ah' sound, and the oboe pitch is what my choir director recommends. And you think it's fast? I was afraid that at some points it would be a bit too slow. Maybe it's just my perspective on the piece. Thanks for the compliments. ~Christian

So, this is my first choral piece that I'm posting up here - it's really the first one that I'm particularly happy with. My choir teacher said that with a little tweaking (which I've done a bit of) she'd give it to our Chamber Choir to sing, so that was quite a nice compliment. Anyhow, this is an acappella piece for SATB choir. The text is a Requiem, by Robert Louis Stevenson: UNDER the wide and starry sky Dig the grave and let me lie: Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you 'grave for me: Here he lies where he long'd to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill. Anyhow, I'd love any and all comments, critiques, and suggestions. Thanks, ~Christian The Starry Sky.mid The Starry Sky.pdf

Yeah, I use Finale by hand. It's gotten to the point where I'm so used to the hotkeys that I can input notes at almost the same speed as if I was just playing them on a piano, but I have more accuracy. ~Christian

I'm not the best person to answer this, since I didn't apply to the schools that I applied to based on music, but I do know that Bard has a dual degree program with it's conservatory - the Music Performance/Tech dual degree is quite possible there. Unfortunately, not having been there, I can't speak for the strength/quality of the music department - it is, however, a phenomenal liberal arts school. ~Christian

But you chose not to see that... ~Christian

I'm in a pretty similar position to you, Lauridsen, Tichelli, and Whitacre really inspire me. I'm a fan of the style they use - it's just so...epic. I really like how you have the voices play off of each other, going back and forth, etc. My only concern is that it doesn't really have that much discernible development - it kind of stagnates about half-way through. But only kind of, if you know what I mean. I'd love to hear a recording if you ever get one. ~Christian

I think my biggest problem with this is that there's no development - you have some nice themes, but then you just randomly meander all over the place with sixteenth notes. Try finding on motive, or musical idea, that you like, and develop it - make the piece go somewhere. ~Christian

This thread is three and a half years old... Damn. ~Christian

Could you please upload a score so I/we can look it over? ~Christian

Eric Whitacre and Morten Lauridsen compose absolutely gorgeous choral works. ~Christian

I'm almost positive that this is correct. As a U.S. citizen looking to use (potentially) copyrighted works, you abide by the U.S. copyright laws. That's why authors/artists have to go through the whole hoopla of copyrighting their works in different countries. I did a very brief search on the internet and didn't come up with anything. Perhaps a more extensive search would turn something up, or you could go to your local library and see if they have any information. ~Christian

^Isn't it 70 years since first publication, not 70 years from the artist/author's death? ~Christian

And we all know how well that album turned out...:P ~Christian