Sword in My Hand

Sword in My Hand (Opus 16) was inspired by Celtic and Medieval folk music. It was a part of my music production class assignment asking for complete percussion tracks. It was challenging, since I'm completely not a rhythm oriented person, and I think that the rhythm section is the worst part of the composition. Among several other instruments, the piece is played by celtic harp, hammered dulcimer, tin whistle, recorder, lute, irish bouzouki, accordion and string section (violins, cellos and basses). It is written in E flat major with a short bridge in E flat minor. The composition is all midi; I'm not capable of finding a musician playing a harp to be able to record my music, and I only possess low piano skills. I'm also not pretty sure about the panning and reverb accuracy. There is no score for this composition. I personally think, that this is one of my worst works I've ever completed. Thank you for listening and any helpful hints or comments are very welcomed! 

Granted, I don't really know your portfolio but "one of the worst works {you've} ever completed" is a bit harsh don't you think? It takes a little bit to hit it's stride but the good news is that once it's there, it's there, for the most part.

My issue with the beginning is that it seems to turn from the general phrase for not much reason, and kind of snatches the listener away for a split second. It works overall, but can definitely be jarring. 

Once you get to the general body of the work, I feel like you may interject the main line a little too much. When it's grand it's grand, but instead of transitioning out, you tend to smash cut into a new sort of mood or combo. Again, I see what you're doing, but all of my teachers have said this is not good in compositions such as these. Chords are mostly okay, I'd say. There was nothing that stood out as particularly problematic, other than I to I progressions that took place in the middle of the bar, but I can see how those could be pivot points.

It's definitely not bad, and generally you capture your feeling pretty well. Just try to grab the audience and hold them there a little bit more. 

Cheers!

On 6.10.2016 at 11:19 PM, Monarcheon said:

Granted, I don't really know your portfolio but "one of the worst works {you've} ever completed" is a bit harsh don't you think? It takes a little bit to hit it's stride but the good news is that once it's there, it's there, for the most part.

My issue with the beginning is that it seems to turn from the general phrase for not much reason, and kind of snatches the listener away for a split second. It works overall, but can definitely be jarring. 

Once you get to the general body of the work, I feel like you may interject the main line a little too much. When it's grand it's grand, but instead of transitioning out, you tend to smash cut into a new sort of mood or combo. Again, I see what you're doing, but all of my teachers have said this is not good in compositions such as these. Chords are mostly okay, I'd say. There was nothing that stood out as particularly problematic, other than I to I progressions that took place in the middle of the bar, but I can see how those could be pivot points.

It's definitely not bad, and generally you capture your feeling pretty well. Just try to grab the audience and hold them there a little bit more. 

Cheers!

 

Thank you for listening and comment! I do have problems with bridges and transitioning to new ideas. I tried using vamps of all sorts, but it didn't work out for me. I'm glad that nothing sounded too much out of the place; harmony is a very difficult part of composition, I think. Thank you again.