Playboy

I really enjoyed this piece so far. I've only listened to the first movement but I've got a few comments. Firstly I liked how you transitioned between one idea to the next and I thought the whole movement flowed very nicely. Taking a look at the string parts starting at mm 149, you might want to mark divisi and/or think about revoicing some of the chords. Most of them are not playable as quad stops and you're going to end up with an awkward texture since the sections will have to be in 3- or 4-part divisi some of the time. Even if you split the chords into 2-part divisi (which should be beamed accordingly), some of the double stops are very difficult to play at that tempo and may sound pretty dry and pitchy. That might be the sound you're going for though, I'm not sure. =) Whatever the case, just be sure to indicate your intentions in the score so that it's clear what you want the players to do there (and again at mm 232). Also make sure that your string bass doesn't go below written E below the staff at mm 327 or you'll have to indicate a different tuning, which is not recommended. Is this piece supposed to call for 4 trombones? I was following the 3rd bone part intently to see if it ever goes below C3, and it finally does at mm 163, but at that point there are 4 trombones playing? I was a little confused by that. Anyway, I'm excited to listen to the rest of your symphony when I get home tonight. Great job!

Thanks for the tips! I don't feel like that's nitpicking at all. Anything I can do to improve the score musically or just visually, I'm open to ideas. It's been a while since I've actually used Sibelius so I'm a little rusty, but I think what you said about the playback in Finale also applies to Sibelius. And I have no idea why the Vibe part's measure line is connected to the piano, lol.

Yeah it was a double post. This one only had one sound file so I posted it again with individual movements. I would delete this one if I knew how. =P

The scores are there now.

You're right, it's a Tenor Sax. Again I apologize for posting this piece twice... http://forum.youngcomposers.com/t29257/thoughtful%20conversion/ ^ This thread has the individual movements posted separately. What do you mean by confusing harmonies/textures? :) I will post the scores tonight when I get home.

Thanks for the feedback! I didn't have the scores handy when I posted the mp3s but I can probably add them tonight (I'm at work right now). The first two movements are noticeably underdeveloped for sure. I actually finished writing the last 3 movements first and the piece ended up being too long for what I was allowed in my composition studio at the time. I had to make the first two considerably shorter. There was even another movement that I took out altogether. That's something I intend to go back and fix one of these days. I consider everything I write to be "tonal" in that there is almost always one or more pitch center(s). With this piece I dabbled in polytonality a lot more than I usually do. I tried to make it accessible at the same time, and so I treated all of my dissonances very carefully. I don't like to hang around a jarring idea for too long without balancing it out with a "neutral" idea or resolution (if that makes any sense at all). I think the reason the orchestration seems really heavy also has to do with the fact that a lot of the ideas are underdeveloped. I did use a lot of varying combinations already, though. When I'm writing I usually start with bigger ideas and then develop them backwards by simplifying and cutting out the texture. Hopefully looking at the score will be more insightful, lol.

My first large orchestra piece, written for my senior composition project in college. Each movement is tied together by various recurring themes and is based on the idea of some method of psychological persuasion, internal or external. (Re-uploaded with individual movements...) Thoughtful Conversion --Edit-- I'm not sure why it displays the movements out of order on the listening page, but at least they're numbered. =) Also, I don't know how to delete the original post I made that was just one sound file. Sorry about that.

My first large orchestra piece, written for my senior composition project in college.In five short movements (one sound file):1. Seduction2. Imagination3. Hypnosis4. Pity5. PowerEach movement is tied together by various recurring themes and is based on the idea of some method of psychological persuasion, internal or external. Thoughtful Conversion