smorgan527

this piece is actually quite nice. I agree with serge in that its a bit weird but somehow catchy. One suggestion might be to clean up your score a bit... too many rests from different layers makes the opening bars a bit confusing. Add some dynamic and you have a wonderful composition! Thanks for this I enjoyed it. -Sam

Why do you visit Young Composers? I visit this site because it is the most interactive classical composition site on the web, and I feel that it has an enormous amount of talent contained within its members. What do you expect to gain from Young Composers? What is important to you...finding like minded friends, gaining knowledge, acquiring reviews of music? I can only hope to grow as a composer, as I'm still fairly new to this whole world. I'm about to graduate with my bachelors in Music Education, so finding new friends in the music field is also a main concern of mine. How often do you visit this site? I first found young composers in November, RIGHT before the site change. Because of this, I didn't post much and kind of let the change take its course. Now that its completed and integrated with a network, I check in on the site every single day, although I still don't post much. How long are your visits? If they are short, why? Anywhere from 2 minutes, to an hour. Short visits are simply because of lack of time on my part, not because of site content. Do you feel the categories above are too generic and uninspiring? I think the categories are great just the way they are. What topics for discussion would you like to see on Young Composers that we currently do not offer? I would like to see a section dedicated to compositions intended for educational ensembles or purposes. Writing for middle school / high school ensembles is something that can take lots of practice. It requires an experienced composer to exercise self control in terms of the difficulty of his or her parts. It can also require fine sense of what musical ideas are being taught in the piece. As an educator in training, scheduled to be in the classroom by the Fall of 2011, this is something that I would find very useful. Do you feel discussion on Young Composers has been weak? If so, what can I do to improve this situation? I think this site is great. If some of the dedicated community left because of frustration with the site change that's their fault. The site is better now, and I think that people just got frustrated because it took to long to switch over. But all good things take time. Hope this helps you Chopin, and keep up the good work! -Sam

Thank you so much for the kind words! I was thinking the exact same thing about the tonal pallete. I plan on making this a set of 3 preludes for piano, and I want to bring back themes from this piece in a more tormented sort of way. I'm interested to try out these new chords, thanks for the suggestion!

This is my first real completed composition. As a young composer, I look forward to your feedback.The recording is myself playing it on an unweighted midi keyboard. I needed to do this in order to demonstrate the rubato feel, though I am not a piano player so please forgive the few mistakes. I would really like some input on what needs to be done to the score to match the playing, in terms of tempo marks etc. I fear that based on the score alone, there is a lot left up to interpretation. Prelude No. 1

thanks for the advice! I did ask for those two composers in particular, as Beethoven and Liszt are two of my favorite pre-20th century composers (among others). I'm looking forward to these lessons and growing as a composer. I should be uploading my first piano prelude soon, sort of as a "before" point. we'll see where this goes! -Sam

Thanks for all the help guys! I contacted a teacher at my school (Berklee) that teaches privately and am starting my lessons in January! He gave me a few things to analyze over break: some Beethoven, and a LOT of Liszt... this is going to be fun! Better get to work :-)

Thank you for the quick response! I am definitely leaning in the direction of taking lessons. I am waiting on a response from a few teachers, so hopefully it will work out! If only it weren't too late to change my major to composition :-\

Hey All! I'm fairly new to the site here and had an interesting question to ask all of you. I'm currently in my third year of school at Berklee College of Music in Boston, earning my degree in Music Education. I have become increasingly more interested in the exciting world of composition and orchestration over the past year, and have decided that I would like to pursue my masters in this field after graduation. I worry however, that I do not have the skills or portfolio to be accepted anywhere for this area of concentration! My question is, do you think its worth it to study composition privately with a teacher? I have emailed a few reputable teachers in my area asking for prices, and more details on the lessons. I think this is something that will really take my compositions to the next level. I have a firm understanding of basic tonal harmony and counterpoint, but lack the overall grasp of good theme development and transition. What are some of your experiences on private composition lessons? I appreciate any help that anyone can give me on this subject :-) Sam

Its safe to say that with both programs, it takes some knowledge of proper score layout to make an accurate looking score. I really don't think its fair to say that Sibelius can't produce a good looking score though. Especially 6, it really has made VAST improvements.

I don't know if you've used Sibelius 6 yet, but it blows finale 2009 out of the water. Its completely fluid and with the new magnetic layout / rewire, it makes it incredibly easy to write and sequence a perfect looking score. I do agree though that prior to the newest version of Sibelius, the two carried an equal amount of problems.