Summer Winds (work in progress)

Hello, I wanted to share this new piece I'm working on. As the title says, it's about impressions of summer winds and breezes, for flute and piano. I would say it's about one third of its length, and there would be a modified recap of the sections here at the end.

I have attached the sound file for the midi playback, and the score of the incomplete piece.

Opinions are very welcome!

François

That is very pretty. I enjoyed listening to this. The interaction between the flute and (must admit, sounded like a harp) is very evocative of life in the countryside during summer. 

How long has this been a work in progress, may I ask, and do you have a deadline to complete this? 

On 7/1/2020 at 7:19 AM, Markus Boyd said:

That is very pretty. I enjoyed listening to this. The interaction between the flute and (must admit, sounded like a harp) is very evocative of life in the countryside during summer. 

How long has this been a work in progress, may I ask, and do you have a deadline to complete this? 

 

Thanks for your comment. I haven't been working on this for very long, I started recently. However I do not have a deadline for this, I'm writing it for my enjoyment.

@francoisfj

It's well written and notated.

Have in mind that nobody would be able to play this note on FF on flute. You could, though, lift it two octaves higher if you want it to be outside of the other melody's range, and it would make way more sense and be much easier to play.

I'm confused. What do you mean by that? A slur is usually used to ask for a legato, a phrase, but here it seems as if you mean two separate notes (which is why the stacc is there).

I like how complicated 23 and on gets, but make sure you give your flutist enough time to breath.

You might want to reorganize the score so that it looks clearer. Other than that- great job, I'd love to hear more of it.

6 hours ago, Rabbival507 said:

@francoisfj

It's well written and notated.

 

Have in mind that nobody would be able to play this note on FF on flute. You could, though, lift it two octaves higher if you want it to be outside of the other melody's range, and it would make way more sense and be much easier to play.

I'm confused. What do you mean by that? A slur is usually used to ask for a legato, a phrase, but here it seems as if you mean two separate notes (which is why the stacc is there).

I like how complicated 23 and on gets, but make sure you give your flutist enough time to breath.

You might want to reorganize the score so that it looks clearer. Other than that- great job, I'd love to hear more of it.

 

 

Ok thanks for letting me know about these issues, I'm not a flute player or a very knowledgeable about the instrument so it's great to know these things. For the slur with the staccato, I'm not sure it's a valid notation, but what I intend by it is to play the two notes as linked, in the sense that the transition to the second note 'seems' linked, and not just two separates notes, but a musical phrase. It makes a difference in the playback, but as I said, I don't know if it's a valid notation.

Thanks for your comment.

I like this quite a bit.  It wanders nicely, like a lazy day summer breeze, while still being tuneful and pleasant to listen to.  And I agree with Rabbival, thanks for taking the time to notate your score carefully, even though this isn't finished yet.  It shows you are serious about your craft.  

I'm not a flautist, but from the flute chapter of the excellent style guide, "Behind Bars"...

"Phrasing indications are best omitted from wind music:  reserve the slur to show legato articulation.  Additional indication of phrase structure independently of legato slurs is more confusing than helpful..."

Hope that's a help, and I highly recommend the book.  The author was an editor at one of the big music publishers for decades and she compiled the notes she used to give to the new baby editors into a colossal and very helpful book.  

I like the kaleidoscopic shifts in tonality you've got going which gives this a whimsical aspect. It reminds me a little of Alejandro Amenábar in his film The Others.

https://youtu.be/4fBa48yB1ag

Hello Francois.  I really like this piece.  Your shifts in tempo and changes between duple and triple rhythms makes this sound really whimsical.  It sounds like I can never predict what you will do next so I'm stoked about how you will conclude this.  😃

Thank you all for the comments. I appreciate the feedback. I am going to post the completed version soon.