cyberstrings

Love it!! Write more!!!

I'm thinking about the poor viola-- It is probably as hard to learn as the violin--same bowing, shifting, intonation, vibrato issues. You will be forced to master quick passages and reach a high level of skill. Then... You manage to break into a major orchestra, and spend 30 years playing middle voice accompanying parts consiting of repetitive 8th and quarter notes... Every now and again, a sympthetic, perhaps viola -admiring composers drops a riff or two, but then its back to the wasteland... Sucks.

In general , I liked the orchestration and the interplay of orchestra/piano. There were some good moments. That said, I agree with other posters that the subject itself seemed too weak to sustain the level of drama and development you wanted from it. The rhythmic feel was also too static both in the subject and accomp. parts. Both of these could be corrected,--the subject might be given a boost of interest with only some rhythmic or ornamental changes within the existing harmonic structure. Lightening the orchestra texture in places (white space!!) would be a welcomed change, IMO. Good luck in the contest!

The difference between music and sound? At this point in history, very little.

Gardener--out of curiousity, are you a lawyer? Professional= professional classical rep. performer (orchestra, soloist, chamber ensemble,etc...) As far as the music literature goes, well, never mind. I'm not getting sucked in to THIS one... Yeah, I'm sticking with it, violin and piano are tougher than flute and bassoon. No disrespect to either, I love them both. It is no small comfort to know that I am not alone in this view. It is also one of the few things I tell myself to prevent me from shattering my violin aginst some hard, stationary object...

I think the question should be "hardest to play at a professional level". I would go with violin (with the other strings a close second), and piano. The violin presents an unbelievable number of complexities, starting with producing a single, in-tune note, and going on to bowing, vibrato, double/triple stops, shifting (2nd, 3rd, 4th--8th position!). The repoirtoire require amazing speed and technique. A competent pianist (or organist, for that matter...)at the top level must have a command of music theory and possess an amazing stamina and technique. The rep. for piano is insanely difficult. I've played the flute. It is NOWHERE near as close to being as tough as the violin or piano. While I've never played the bassoon, I can say that it is a real luxury with woodwinds to be able to press a series of keys and get a reasonable approximation of a note. You have to consider the literature as well. No double stops or 10 note chords, three or four independent melodic lines etc... for woodwinds. No contest...

I liked it! Good, soundtracky piece. I might change the orchestration for variety's sake during the the string passages, buit beyond that, it was very good, I think.

The Bach arrived and reading over the score and listening has helped tremendously. Bach was very, very efficient! I've got too much noodling in my attempts, even in the exposition, compared to his method. I've worked through a few ideas, and now have an a simple episode ( trio) and I've decided to quickly transition from the B major linking phrase to G7 (rather than the expected Em) then launch into a C major middle entry with only 2 repetitions of the fugue theme (2 and 3 voice) before going into a brief free counterpoint section (trio, pp, again), then powering up for a final iteration of the theme with free counterpoint and a---hopefully-- magisterial Bachian close. THIS should work. I haven't had time to work on, but should be able to get the modulation and c major section down this weekend--I wrote out the 4 parts last week (Method: write subject in base key, write three other suitable melodic lines below it using same chord structure, aim for variety! When it comes to moving to dominant, just transpose upward! Easy!) Meanwhile, I bought a "cheap" viola. And by cheap I mean crappy-- 1988 "Hans Kroger" 16"--beginner grade. The A string fingerboard area needs work, and a new bridge. I'm putting some helicores on it and got some quality rosin (the stuff that came with it wears like baby powder--dust everywhere...). My instructor does luthier work and says it will be no problem to fix, so he's working on it. Talented guy. I was surprised on how easily I could convert what I've learned from violin to viola--bowing and fingering principles are the same. The hard part is learning the %&^%@#! alto clef...! I'm hoping to learn 1st position, get comfortable with alto clef, and get a decent sound from it (bowing is a bit different)... I started working on 3rd position on violin, and things are starting to come along. The Wolf-farts is working miracles as far as bowing/fingering speed! Highly recommended as soon as you learn the 1st position!

Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet, 2nd movement, main theme (and variations!)--very simple, very moving... As a runner up, I'd suggest Haydn's opus 76 quartets, no. 2, 2nd movement--the Emperor's Hymn (a.k.a. German national anthem/ church hymn in a dozen different faiths...). This is a very simple theme, but very moving. Again, a theme and variations... Another runner up, Beethoven symphony no. 7, 2nd movement.

Well rounded in music... If you want to maximize your chances of getting a job, watch a lot of TV, lift heavy weights, and practice smiling excessively--hello $8.00 an hour at some warehouse or McDonalds... If you want to get a "good" job, learn Chinese and civil engineering and fly to China. In fact, now that I think of it, jobs and music are about as rare as, say jobs in astronomy or archaeology, etc... So, eat or art.

Young people confuse schooling with education. Schooling gets you a degree, which might get you a job in academia at some level. It might improve your chances in some commerical ventures but... In the real world, business folks only care about what you can do (and how little you are willing to accept for it!). Of course, in a perfect world, there is significant overlap with education and schooling--and "what you want to do" and what you will do! But not always. You would be well served to get a rounded musical education--classical, jazz, solid compostion, orchestration, etc... As painfull as it might be, it is the definition of well rounded. Don't let the "schooling" aspects deter you--bad instructors, obligatory pointless courses (or so they seem to you now!). Course to make you an informed citizen and all that rot (so you can watch your vote get ignored! Yay!..but I digress...). Tangentially addressing other issues, in my experience the people who succeed in the arts (and most other areas) are driven by their personal vision, fantasy, and drive. Rarely do they stop and lament the world--they are to busy making manifest their gifts. Follow their example. The rest is a waste of your time. And as you will find out, you don't have as much of it as you might think!...

I have to say, I like the manic sort of climax you wrote. It reminds me of Wendy/Walter Carlos and his/her score for A Clockwork Orange. For whatever reason, the doubling in in the beginning was disagreable from the outset, and when it became apparent that an additive method was used to build towards the climax, It gave me a concrete reason--- Have you considered an even more stripped down orchestration in the beginning, say a single instrument or section? This would give greater impact to the increasing instrumental forces, and the doubling could perhaps be more effective entering much later. It would also avoid the gregorian chant-like feel to some degree perhaps. In short, a littel more simplicity earlier on seems like it would enhance your conception. Nice work!

Oops. Come to find out, there is this thing called "invertable counterpoint", which my fugue exposition is NOT. As luck would have it, when you have an interval of a 5th, and stand it on its head, it becomes a dissonant 4th, etc.. So, most fugal compositions from the baroque favor 3/6 intervals, which invert readily. So, I built a fugue, and the counterpoint is fine, but I cannot, for example, stack the subject OVER the other lines. For this, I have to revise the harmonizing lines substantially, or simply write free counterpoint. This is surmountable, but nixed my wrap-up of the exposition as initially conceived. I'm going to go with a 4-6 bar wind down with free counterpoint going into a cadence before modulation. This sort of reminds me of a bit I was reading from Arnold Steinhart's "Indivisible By Four" --Arnold complimented an old virtuouso (I forget who) on his playing of the Mendelssohn violin concerto form some years back. The virtuoso replied--" Oh yes, that was back before I realised how hard the Mendelssohn is!" How may have had the experience of sitting down with an idea, and in total ignorance making a great start, and only realising after the fact the difficulties?! The optimism of the uninitiated...

I took up my fugue problems with my violin instructor, and ended up not getting much accomplshed with either the violin or the fugue! Reexamining my textbooks, it seems I overlooked the need to for closing out the exposition with a tonic restatment with the four voies and a cadence before proceeding with a modulatory episode. This should make things easier moving into the middle entry. The cds and study scores (art of the fugue and well tempered clavier, both with the Emerson quartet...) are in the mail. I'm gonna finish this one. I mean it this time. Finish it...blah, blah... I fall to sleep and wake up with fugue counterpoint in my head! I HAVE to finish this or end up in Arkham Asylum..

I just found an Emerson Quartet recording of The Art of the Fugue!--and am going to get that and the Dover score for study. As usual, I am having trouble with the brief 4-8 measure modulation! It would really help to have a teacher. Do I use common chord? Sequence? Simply shift to the major from Em, and go by sequence >G maj>G7> C? I've got to solve this modulation problem, and now seems like a very good time to learn it! %$%^*&(^&!!