PaulP

Good to see this thread is still going after all these years. I'm wondering why my files aren't present anymore, though, hmm. Good to be back.

Just listened, and I did enjoy it, nikolas. There are passages in that that remind me of a Mozart tune I can't put my finger on - seemed to be directly taken from, in fact(unconsciously as you say). It was enjoyable, but I am not surprised that you could compose it. As for my challenge, I don't think it fits the bill by a long shot. Don't want to diminish or be flippant about your output in the work, but you did link directly to it from my challenge thread, so I wanted to comment on that. Edit: Just for clarity sake, I composed this: http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/furjessica-mini-concertino-7494.html in around four days(composition time,not recording editing time), in between customers at work, and I don't think it fits the bill either.

That was fun little piece, Saul - I especially liked your use of dynamics at the end, and the chord changes throughout. Thanks for sharing.

I've never played this concerto, but it's difficult to help you without reference to a particular section of the piano solo that you're having difficulty with. I'm looking at the few first opening piano solo bars now, and I'm not seeing anything particularly taxing. If it's 16ths, and the abundance of them, that are giving you difficulty, you may need to up your finger strength/muscle memory/smooth execution. Hanon has some good excersises for this. Other than that, besides taking it slow, you of course need to decide on workable fingerings for sections and stick with them.

I like alot of composers, but for favourites it's a tie between Mozart and Beethoven, even though there are works by both that I don't like.

I think at the outset of doing variations, you have to ask yourself some questions on what you are going to keep, and what you are going to discard in any particular variation. A melody, as an entity, has fixed intervals, rhythm and duration. A variation of a melody would keep an aspect of it, so as to be recognized as being derived from the melody, and it would change something else about it. Being diverse in this area is only limited to your imagination and knowledge. In the following example I will only work with the melody(stupidly simple and short, I know), not accompianment, harmony, voicing and register etc. For instance, lets say you have an 8 quarter note melody in common time. You decide to keep the intervals, and their placement, and vary the rhythm. Your variation is recognized as derivitive of the melody by 2 aspects: 1) The note names of the intervals, or their relation to one another(if the key is changed) 2) The placement of the intervals. Comma seperates time in which notes occur. In this example A,B = one quarter note for A and one for B. Dash seperates measures. Example: (all quarter notes) A,B,C,A - G#,B,A,A Sample variation per above using 8th notes: AA,B,C,A, G#G#,B,A,A Sample 2 per above, using 16th notes: ACEA,B,C,A - G#BEG#,BABA,A,A These are very simple variations used to illustrate the point of retention and discard. Any variation you do, if it keeps the placement and intervals of the melody intact, will be recognised as a variation. Let's do an example of discard of a note, while retention of other interval relationships, and their placement: (..) means prior note is held over on the beat. AA,(..),CC,A - G#A,BG#,A,A Now, addition of other notes (E): AE,BE,CE,AAAA - G#E,BDBD,AE,AE The retained notes and their placement remain the same, but some are shortened. I hope this helps. I know these are very simple examples, but they serve to illustrate the point of retention and discard. When you get more experience, you can use more and more aspects of the music (harmony, orchestration, accompianment etc, key changes, voicing, register) in variations. I would also study Beethoven's, Mozart's and Haydn's music to see what they do to vary a melody. Often these are labled and numbered as "variations", but you'll note in many works, secondary melodies are derived from principle melodies, episodes from melody fragments etc. The guilding principle is to retain (practically, repeat) something, and discard something else. Too much retention leads to monotony, too much discard leads to less recognition.

For anyone previously seeking the original tutorial files, Mike has posted them back to Lee's original post :mellow:

Enjoyed the hymn, Brandon. I wonder - did you have lyrics in mind when you wrote it?

That's unclear. J. Lee apparantly has acceptance issues. I thought he took things way too personally, especially regarding his music. It wasn't good enough that a many people here liked it. Maybe that's overstating things. But he does mention elsewhere that his feelings were hurt when people express disapproval for composing in the idioms of earlier eras. Why he needed to care that everyone agreed is beyond me. I told him early on in a pm when he said he was contemplating leaving that I thought that insofar as music was concerned, he was an asset to the board and should stay.

Ouch. I'm sorry this has been your experience. I'm only seeing one file. I listened to the one posted on Box net. The music floats a bit, loosely connected - and I'll admit I do prefer a bit more rigid form, regular repeats with variation etc. I heard some imitative counterpoint that I liked. The beginning of the peice was simple and enjoyable - and throughout I get the impression of a despair, or depression, a wandering - expressed in linear form as well as horizontal through your choice of harmony. As hymnspace suggested - some more dynamics would increase the interest of sections. I'll be looking forward to the last movement.

This is the message I get when I attempt to open the file: ??

The originator of the thread has left and apparently the files that were posted via his account went with him. With moderator permission, I'll post his lesson, since he made it publically available already - and has indicated in this thread that he had no problem with it being shared even outside this forum (with students etc)

This little composition was started on the old board, and I still think it's neat so I decided to post it. Basically it started out as a challenge. Jamie Frost provided the first 56 seconds and the work was to be "taken up and continued" from there. My contribution starts at the 57 second mark. Other's provided continuations, but I don't have those (sorry if your here and reading this). The music ends on a non-final cadence - but it ends, so I consider it finished, from my perspective anyway. It was a bit of fun. Anyway - I've always thought of this little peice in the context of a story - a mouse is scurrying through a house during the holiday season, encountering various obsticles in it's curious journey to find something to nibble on. As the peice progresses - the mouse finds himself out of it's league - the house is haunted and the ghosts aren't pleased. Wrapping paper, candles etc are hastily knocked over as it runs in fright - anyway - you get the idea... Enjoy! (JamieF-PaulPoehler)danceoftheflamemod1.mid

Er, yes - but it could be argued that I was *exploring* and engaging in musical *evolution* or whatever by simply breaking them. I wasn't, but perhaps you get the point. Why harp on how this or that section doesn't fit some predefined norm then complain that it's not *new* enough when it does fit that norm? Yes, but in hindsight I found your comments about the harmony annoying. I already knew that the harmony was lacking in places, and that is why I acknowledged it in the title post. I don't see consistancy. On the one hand, "forward thinking" with regards to harmony, melody etc is prized when it "moves on" (deviates from) norms created decades/centuries ago. On the other hand - when it does do this - it's frowned on because it doesn't fit those accepted norms. Yet... Agreed. Would it not stand to reason, then, that if someone obeyed those rules - then from a harmonic standpoint - their music would resemble those of previous masters? Again, isn't it *this* that is looked on as a lack of forward thinking and "individual expression"?

I've never heard this piece before and found it quite refreshing and interesting: YouTube - DongHyek Lim - Chopin Piano Sonata no.2 Op.35 2nd mov.