KDMAnderson

Man, I love Gentle Giant so much. My favourite by far has got to be Interview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CpuVXEsGmM&feature=related This was just a really great record overall, I thought.

I'm going to agree with Chris; Your main goal is to build tension, and then when that is established, come out with something entirely unexpected. In my opinion, rhythm and timbre are your greatest weapons when doing scary or disturbing stuff. Here's some ideas: Granted, not all of this piece is scary, but I found the constant clacking and the shrill chords are pretty effective in this regard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlmFHn8_q2s This is actually the first part of "Black Angels for Electric String Quartet" by George Crumb. It was featured in the Exorcist, and you can probably see why. This is just my opinion, of course, but I think that theres some good stuff here.

I thought your chord changes were quite tasteful. Nice tune.

So effectively, you're transcribing by "Ear" what's in your head. I take it that all that really requires is a judicious amount of ear training?

By far for me it's this: Harmonizing for a given Soprano? Oh I think so.

My friend, this is a really wonderful piece of music. Any insight you could provide into your composition process and it's development would be most satisfactory! I trust there was some Eric Whitacre mixed in to this work?

Speedy entry really is fantastic. Once you get good at it you can really crank out the notes. I really wish my laptop had a num-pad so I could actually use Finale. I can't stand entering music note by note unless I'm handwriting it.

Octave and a Fifth?! Man, what technique are you using to adjust the pitch? That's pretty amazing. I can get nice, clean notes in about a seven note range, afterwhich they sound horrible and airy. My mouth whistle is much more effective, 'cause I can get about 2 octaves+2. It completely overlaps the hand whistle range.

Here's a video of me playing one of my original guitar pieces. It's old now. I've advanced technically since posting this, so recent playings are much more refined. I've also reworked and expanded the section between 2:21 and 2:35 to be a much grander exposition. :D Overall this performance is good, some minor rhythm troubles, though. This piece is called "Harmonnaissance", combining the word Harmony with the French word for Birth. It makes use of an altered Tuning (C#G#EF#BD#) and heavy use of extended technique. This is a Magnum Opus of sorts, as I haven't written anything new since this piece, over six months ago. I just can't seem to work myself out of this compositional rut! :( I'm going to try starting on paper and adapting to the guitar later, and hopefully that will help, but if anyone has any advice on working out of dry spells, I'd love to hear your suggestions.

I agree with Bachian. It has a very Chopinesque, Rubato feel to it, coupled with a melody that feels improvised. I especially like the ending section of the piece. The modulation is really unexpected.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Great choice. Reich is my favorite minimalist, closely followed by Arvo Part. Not really keen on Phillip Glass, though.

I would agree with that. The problem with contemporary styles is that extended technique can really get in the way of actual composition. Lots of guitarists I've talked to only write at the guitar, and only form their ideas with the instrument in their hands. I've tried that, but I feel that at some point, you've got to put the instrument down and not allow technique to influence your writing so much. Thanks for the tip on Takamitsu and Smith-Brindle. I'll check them out!

Contemporary guitar music comprises an awful lot of my listening library, and I thought that I would point out some of the incredibly good guitar technicians out there with a whole whack of videos. Fantastic use of looping and midi sounds. This guy redefined the acoustic guitar pretty much completely. My favourite of Don's earlier pieces. Don is not just a guitarist, but a well rounded composer, as well! This piece is fun to play! Pino is WAY out there. The ending to this snippet is quite sudden. Antoine's use of extended guitar technique is phenomenal. Easily one of the more pyrotechnic guitarists out there. CRAZY bassist. He's got six detuning levers on his bass, and uses every one in this piece. All of the players here with the possible exception of Pedro Tagliani make extensive use of altered tunings in their music. "Midnight March", for example, deviates from the standard guitar tuning of EADGBE by using EACGCD. This presents a whole new set of challenges for the performer, because previously learned scales and chords are now of little use. As a composer, though, the use of altered tunings brings the guitar to life, enabling a whole range of harmonics and sounds that would otherwise be inaccessible to a conventionally tuned instrument. This list doesn't include some incredibly noteworthy figures such as Andy McKee, Tommy Emmanuel, Gareth Pearson, Dylan Fowler, and Pierre Bensusan, but by all means, you should check those guys out too! I'm curious to see what you fine folks think of this kind of stuff!

I'm fairly new to the music of Eric Whitacre. I can see exactly where his detractors are coming from in their issues with his music, and I can see that he likes to recycle a lot of compositional devices. That said, however, I really do like this piece!

Yes, I'm curious if you're looking for a score or an audio file in this competition. I'd love to submit a piece, time permitting.