jdbullen

I only took the time to listen to the first two movements, but I`m glad I did! I think some of the comments you`re receiving are unnecessarily harsh, but that is to be expected anytime you post something of this magnitude - you`ve done something other composers might only be aspiring to at this point (I certainly don`t have the mental facilities to produce anything of this size yet) and their negativity might just be a manifestation of their relative `impotence`, if you will. Now that I`ve made all kinds of friends :rolleyes: ... I really enjoyed these two movements. The first couldn`t have been a clearer nod to Ludwig Van, which is fine in my books. It`s hard to find a self-respecting musician who doesn`t appreciate Beethoven`s music, so why not emulate the great! To say this is on the same level as Beethoven would (no offence) be quite an over-statement, but you definitely captured his quality. As stand-alone music, it was...well...nice. It lacked a certain charm, which might be because of the modern context in which we must consider all music - there`s a lot more exciting material out there now, and a lot more groundbreaking material for sure. I also agree that the orchestration was a little too straight forward - I`d recommend trying to add a more contemporary flare to the classical material you have here, maybe spruce things up a bit. The second movement I enjoyed quite a bit more - sounds a bit less ancient, but still keeps the classical ideals (kind of reminded me of Bruckner, in a toned down sort of way). Your main motive was absolutely stunning - so simple, but so moving, which I find makes for the most effective music. Your development of it was good, but I felt like you kind of ran out of ideas half way through. Also, I kept anticipating a grand restatement of the theme, with all the emotional stops pulled, but it never came. Maybe you don`t want to get quite so intense, but I definitely felt like there was something missing. That`s my two cents - if I have time, I`ll take a listen to the 3rd and 4th mvmts sometime soon. Good work. Cheers Joshua

Hey James, A lot of really interesting stuff here! I found that your rhythmic motives, though effective, were kind of overused. Granted, a real ensemble with a good conductor could make it more interesting, but even still I found the constant figures getting a little tedious. I really liked the finale though, especially the violin solo over piano - really nice contrast, and a beautiful melody. I like how you brought in the second violins as well - I almost feel like it`d be more effective if you had the entire string section accompanying the violin, con sordino. But that`s just me. Overall good work, but the incessant rhythms almost ruined the first half for me. Cheers, Joshua

Wow. That's some really impressive sounding music. I can't really think of any situation it would be appropriate for, it's just too epic! (I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just some of the "biggest" music I've heard) I really enjoyed listening to this. It's really nicely structured, I didn't feel that anything was out of place, abrupt, or drawn out. I only really have two pieces of criticism. The first is in regards to the bassoon...Athough I really liked the way you gave it a soaring, free, for all intensive purposes completely shreddin' solo, it got a bit excessive. Not only would you need an incredible bassoonist to take care of some of that writing, it would get very drowned out in such thick orchestral texture that it would completely dissapear. My second issue is more of a personal one...I really enjoy listening to minimalist music, however playing is sucks, because I'm a double-bassist, and most of the stuff I encounter on my instrument within this gere is very similar to what you've written here, and it can really start to suck. Although wailing on a low Dflat can be pretty satisfying, 10 minutes of it loses the charm. But as a composer I know you can't please everyone, so it's no biggie.

hey, Just listened to your piece, start to finish. I rarely do that on this site, so you clearly managed to hold my attention! I really enjoyed this piece. I think you have a very interesting and accessible (and when I use that word I don't mean "simple" or "pop-minded") style to your music...clearly a lot of influence from baroque and classical mentalities, but also very modern in the execution. Although the rythmic pulse did get a little stagnant at some points, a good intepretation (i.e. not a computer :P) could definitely make it work. My one real gripe is the end. After so much motion and building, the end just seemed a little abrupt. Is there a time constraint for the competition? If not, I'd recommend extending the cadence bit, a la Tchaikovsky (although maybe not quite as excessive.) Great work! Which competition is this for?

Hi Rusty, Some very nice sounding stuff here. I really like your harmonic language, it's all really pleasant and good use of holding and releasing tension. However, rythmically this piece is pretty stagnant. I know you tried changing it up at some points (mm32 etc), however the half note - four eight notes motif is just way too present in my opinion. It makes the piece sound like an ensemble study, which is kind of a waste of some of the nice harmonic and melodic material you have. It'd be nice to see you use that figure more sparingly, and that way it would unify the whole piece more effectively when it does show up. That being said, I particularily enjoyed the part around mm 41 where the horn rises up against the clarinet's ostinato, sort of reminded me of a more modern Holst. Overall, really nice. Joshua

JT, You're full of ideas, it's great. Thanks for taking the time. I agree with you about the transition from triplets to duple, it seemed a little forced. I'll try to smooth over the transition there (and all the others, for that matter). Cheers, Joshua

Thanks musicfiend, I'm glad you took the time to listen to it. I'll play around with that idea, see if I can fit a more exciting bit in to contrast with what I have already.

Hi, This is one of the first pieces I ever composed. It's quite short, probably not really appropriate as a stand-alone piece but I'm not quite sure how to expand this. It's written for Oboe, Bassoon, Violin, Viola, Cello and Double-bass. It's a pretty unusual chamber combination, but I really think it would make for a nice blend (I originally had a french horn in there as well but it was too unwieldly). The piece is subtitled "Ma Petite Oiseau" because it was written partially for a great friend of mine, whom I lovingly refer to as my little bird. She's an oboist, which is why the instrument is featured so prominently. Let me know what you think! I'd love to get some feedback, particularily on ways to expand the ideas I have here. mp3 - here! Ideas - Sextet for Strings and Winds.pdf

Some really interestig work here. Very interesting style, never lost focus and was always changing enough to keep my attention. It seems relatively playable (I'm a double-bassist, so I don't really know, however my girlfriend's a violist so I'm relatively well-versed in the instrument's capabilites.) I'd love to hear it performed.

Probably some of the best work I've seen on this website. Fantastic work, Matt. -Joshua

I just like seeing a score because the digital interpretation isn't always clear on which instrumen is playing what.

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Wow this is some really nice stuff, pretty impressive for two hours! Wish I could get this much material out in that space of time :P I really like your harmonic language, your progressions are really interesting, and you handled it all really nicely. The piece wandered off focus a little here or there and some of your time sig changes didn't really flow all the nicely (some awkward gaps or notes that go on too long) but I really enjoyed it overall. Also, I think the double bass should end on a low A, just for some extra finality. good work!

I usually spend about 1, sometimes 2 or 3 hours a day at the piano just improvising and figuring out things bouncing around inside my head. If anything really nice shows up I immediately write it down (I also have a little pocketbook of staff paper for when I'm travelling and something just pops into my head.) At the end of each "session" at the keyboard I look through all the stuff I wrote down and see if any of it fits together nicely/fits with other notes from previous days. It's a pretty tedious and sometimes extremely unproductive way of going about it, but I'm primarily a performer (double-bass) and only recently started looking at comp as a hobby. Of the two methods you mentioned, I'm a bigger fan of the "organic" method. Much more my style, especially since I lack a lot of the tools for formal structure, since I've never taken lessons. An interesting side-note: I don't know if any of you are familiar with the work of R. Murray Schafer (if you don't know his work, GET ON IT!). He's one of Canada's most prominent current composers, and he's a truly incredible musician; his work is beautiful, to say the least. I recently saw the National Arts Centre Orchestra (a-list orchestra form ottawa, where I'm from originally) premiere his latest piece entitled Dream-E-Scape (granted, a horrible title for a piece.) In the program notes, Schafer explains that to compose the piece he would simply sit down and write every day for 26 days (I think it was 26), taking very little notice of what he had written previously. Needless to say, the piece WANDERED all over the place, with very little continuity or obvious form. It was incredibly interesting however, hearing all these incredible ideas strewn together in a contionously changing set of texture and melody; and every once in a while a certain motive or moment would pop up that was familiar, as if the composer had reminded himself of it. It was a great piece of music (and quite nicely performed). Do any of you know of any similar pieces to Schafer's? Well that was ramble and a half...

score?