JALee

The opening and credits were done by a Japanese Pop Singer, though they did orchestrate the song and use it for trailers and promotional stuff. It is possible that they used midi for the in game themes... but if it was, I couldn't tell the difference most of the time.

Kingdom Hearts had a wonderful orchestral score (using an orchestra that Square Enix hired specifically for the game), though it unfortunately still used a midi soundtrack in a few places. That was probably the first real orchestral score I heard in a game.

As a brass (trumpet) player. I could help answer any particular questions about brass instruments that you may have, though I will no doubt have holes in my knowledge... In general though, assuming you're dealing with professional musicians, intervals aren't a huge problem for any brass instrument provided they are not being played too quickly. For example, the octave interval scale patter in the second half of the final movement of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, is an example of how fast, in general, brass players can play their intervals (about eighth notes at mm = 120). Most players could probably go faster than that, but that is a safe, conservative estimate. The only exception is horn, where the intervals cannot be played as quickly as on other brass instruments (my conservative estimate would be more like quarter notes at mm = 120). Apart from that, the only thing to take into special consideration is the idea of "lip slurs" or "lip trills". It is much more difficult for brass players to smoothly move from multiple notes with the same fingering/slide position. Slurring these notes is a fairly standard thing and all players can do that, but trilling them is much more difficult. Quite possible, but difficult. That problem is most likely to occur in the upper registers of tuba/euph/trumpet, most of the horn, and all of the trombone range (since a trombone cannot trill using the slide). In general, brass can be loud in pretty much any place in their register, except in the extremes of the registers.

I think most people use a diatonic scale here ( as opposed to Pentatonic or Octatonic, for example) because it easily mixes with functional harmony. The "problem" with the other scales is that in the other scales, chords and certain important scale degrees are missing if one is trying to approach the scale with a "functional harmony" approach. For example, in the Pentatonic scale, you are missing a leading tone, which severely impedes any traditional Dominant to Tonic motions. Also, diatonic scales provide a more accessible sound than the other, less traditional scales. While this is perhaps much less important in pure "art music" (a term that I sometimes have issue with to be honest, but that's off topic), much of what people post here falls into the "soundtrack" category of music, which generally requires rather accessible music (horror and thriller movies/games being an exception, as they often make use of very dissonant, sometimes atonal, soundtracks), since you do not want to distract from the work which you are accompanying. Personally, I've experimented with both pentatonic and Octatonic. I know that, of these two scales, I much prefer the Octatonic because, while you sacrifice the dominant scale degree, you can still have a leading tone, which makes contrapuntal writing easier, in my opinion.

Perhaps, if you were looking for something "clever" you could use Petrucci in the name. (Ottaviano Petrucci being the first person to ever use a printing press to print music). or... for something more modern... Perhaps, SPC, Set Printing Company? A reference to Set theory in music. Or none of the above, but at least it gives you a couple more ideas.

Very playful, joyful character in this piece! The minor interludes helped to keep the piece from becoming stagnant and you managed to place them in spots in the piece that really made sense to the overall structure. Good job! My only criticism would be to treat your piano slightly more like a soloist. The accompaniment is very background in this piece, and while it certainly does its job of providing rhythmic and harmonic support, it doesn't add much else to the piece (my opinion, you can feel free to take it or leave it). As for what this piece evokes in my mind... hmm... well, to be honest, the playful sound of the melody evoked an image of an old-school Mario game. Perhaps Super Mario World? Probably not what you had in mind, but I think the character fits. :) Good job on this piece!

Well done! After reading what you intended the piece to represent, I can definitely feel moments of one of the Indiana Jones movies running through my mind. Very evocative writing. I found the trombone (I assume) crescendos to be extremely effective. The transition around 0:24 caught me off guard a bit. Both sections work well, but I found that the sudden loss of that bass drone dramatically changed the texture of the piece. Did you consider keeping the drone through that section, just for the sake of continuity? I don't want to impede on your creative mind, I think you did an excellent job, I'm just trying to be as picky as I possible can be. :)

Thanks! I wrote this piece because there was an informal concert (of student compositions) that I was invited to participate in, and so, I decided to write this piece. That is also how I chose my instrumentation, since I just chose instruments that I knew I could get performers to play (and instruments that blended well, but it explains the unusual use of Euphonium in place of a trombone). -Aaron

I have to say, I really like the style of this piece. You certainly got that post-minimalist style and I quite like how you've handled it here. My only question is how did you choose this title for this piece? I don't quite see the relevance of "Withdrawal Symptoms".

Sounds like fun. I'll join in as a competitor.

This is certainly a very interesting compostion. The nature of the instrument makes it difficult to hear harmonies or melodies, however, I found that your narrative still carried through. Your opening theme (and therefore also closing theme) is quite memorable. During the "wasp's interruption", I found myself wanting to hear the return of the original theme, which probably suits the nature of the narrative; the composer would want to the wasp to leave too! Good work on this piece! It must have been a difficult ensemble to write for!

Ah, that clip reminds me of the "Pachelbel Rant". :) Anyway, as for my favourite go-to chord progression for pop-ish music, mine would have to be a simple I-vi-IV-V progression. Especially easy to write a melody for since scale degree 1 is present in every chord but V. This chord progression is another common one in pop music (though not quite as common as the one shown in that video).

Thanks! I considered putting a restatement of the opening just before the end (not immediately at the end because I wanted a strong ending), but I was concerned that since the section is very loosely structured and lacking a very clear motif, that it would be difficult to convincingly lead into it. I was unsure as to how I would lead from a highly structured and rhythmic section into this unstructured and more "free-flowing", contrapuntal section. Thanks again for your input! :)

Hmm... Yes, I can see the section you're talking about actually. There is actually a significant change in rhythm about half way through this section (starting at 0:16), however, since it's in in the middle voice, it apparently isn't very audible... I'll definitely have to look into that, and somehow make a more obvious change here. Thanks for the input!

Written for three Flutes (because of a few flutist friends of mine), this piece is part of a collection of pieces entitled Musings all written for this ensemble. This piece symbolizes the ideas of evil omens and good and bad superstitions.I use some minimalistic approaches at certain points of the piece, and given the timbrel limitations of this ensemble I tried to use a variety of different rhythmic textures to provide a bit of contrast. I hope you like it! Musings: Omens and Superstitions