Violet for Saxophone Quartet

Hello! I thought I would share a piece I wrote back in late February-March for SATB saxophone quartet, my first experience writing for an all-brass ensemble, which taught me a lot as a strings player. The title comes from my experience with a neurological condition, synesthesia, where two or more senses are automatically interconnected. In my case, I associate each musical key with a color and see those colors in my mind's eye. This piece begins and ends in F minor, which is deep purple or violet for me.

The score is attached below. I would love to hear any constructive criticism. I've been told there are no glaring technical issues, but I am curious how I could best bring out the saxophone's unique strengths. 
Thank you!
 

 01 - Full score - Violet.pdf

I am a pianist and I've never written for saxophone. Also the style of this piece is what I am unable to compose, so I cannot really give any useful advice here. I can only say that I really love this piece!

F minor really fits the timbre of saxophone. It's cool, a little bit depressed. I like the texture and polyrhythm throughout the piece. It definitely makes the sound thicker like those in Brahms or Dvorak. Nice exchange between instruments and the melody is played in all the registers possible. Great job!

In b. 43 if morendo is added, then ritard will be redundant since morendo means decrease in volume and tempo at the same time. I guess it's because of the software issue? Since it cannot detect a morendo anyway.

I love the change of mood in the middle section, warmer but still cool in an underlying way. Personally I find b.73-88 too bright but that's just my personal preference. I find it too pesante with the chordal notes straight on beat, since its texture is different from all previous sections.

I love the transition from b.89. First it starts like something bright and naive, and for a sudden we are back in the territory of F minor! There's magic in it! Nice modulation using advanced harmony! But I just feel the transition a little bit too long, but that's just my personal preference. 

Nice buildup to the ending, and great climax! But I just find the ending on picardy third a little bit weird though, since overall the piece is cool and the warm F major chords are never prepared. That really gives me a sudden attack.

But overall a marvelous piece! Really thankful that you share this piece to us! Thank you!

Henry

Hello Henry, I appreciate your honest feedback! 

Re: morendo and ritard: Yes, that was a software issue, and I added the ritard just for the MIDI mockup but forgot to remove it. Good eye! 

At bar 73 I intended to give the listener a break from polyrhythms and opt for a feeling of decisiveness, even to extent of being militant, so that when the voices each go off and play their own unique rhythms again it would hopefully have more impact than if it was the same all the way through.

That said, I'm so glad you like the polyrhythms. It's interesting to hear another point of view. I will experiment with ways to add more interest to bars 73-88 and make the transition back to F minor more concise.

I am not attached to the picardy third either, it isn't adding much to the piece. 😛

Your words are very helpful, thank you for listening!

20 hours ago, Henry Ng said:

I am a pianist and I've never written for saxophone. Also the style of this piece is what I am unable to compose, so I cannot really give any useful advice here. I can only say that I really love this piece!

F minor really fits the timbre of saxophone. It's cool, a little bit depressed. I like the texture and polyrhythm throughout the piece. It definitely makes the sound thicker like those in Brahms or Dvorak. Nice exchange between instruments and the melody is played in all the registers possible. Great job!

In b. 43 if morendo is added, then ritard will be redundant since morendo means decrease in volume and tempo at the same time. I guess it's because of the software issue? Since it cannot detect a morendo anyway.

I love the change of mood in the middle section, warmer but still cool in an underlying way. Personally I find b.73-88 too bright but that's just my personal preference. I find it too pesante with the chordal notes straight on beat, since its texture is different from all previous sections.

I love the transition from b.89. First it starts like something bright and naive, and for a sudden we are back in the territory of F minor! There's magic in it! Nice modulation using advanced harmony! But I just feel the transition a little bit too long, but that's just my personal preference. 

Nice buildup to the ending, and great climax! But I just find the ending on picardy third a little bit weird though, since overall the piece is cool and the warm F major chords are never prepared. That really gives me a sudden attack.

But overall a marvelous piece! Really thankful that you share this piece to us! Thank you!

Henry

 

20 minutes ago, MissCello said:

At bar 73 I intended to give the listener a break from polyrhythms and opt for a feeling of decisiveness, even to extent of being militant, so that when the voices each go off and play their own unique rhythms again it would hopefully have more impact than if it was the same all the way through

Actually I find the contrast great, personally I find the contrast too great and not developed enough in that short time span. Personally I think either the contrast can be smaller, or the contrasting section can be longer. But I absoultely love the magic you create starting from b.89. I don't know why the reappearance of F minor sounds so magical there. That's so amazing!

23 minutes ago, MissCello said:

I am not attached to the picardy third either, it isn't adding much to the piece. 😛

😝

23 minutes ago, MissCello said:

That said, I'm so glad you like the polyrhythms. It's interesting to hear another point of view. I will experiment with ways to add more interest to bars 73-88 and make the transition back to F minor more concise.

After all, that's just one of the views. That will be perfectly fine to stick with yours too! I think my view is more a traditional one.

I have to say again, this piece is really attractive and fascinating!

Henry

Thank you for the kind words! I will keep you all updated on any revisions.

16 minutes ago, Henry Ng said:

Actually I find the contrast great, personally I find the contrast too great and not developed enough in that short time span. Personally I think either the contrast can be smaller, or the contrasting section can be longer. But I absoultely love the magic you create starting from b.89. I don't know why the reappearance of F minor sounds so magical there. That's so amazing!

"Magical" is a high compliment. 😊 I believe it's actually concert A minor at bar 89, but whatever the case, I am so glad to hear it was effective!

Hi, MissCello!

To start, I love that what I've heard from you has been...well, non-cello music. It really shows your compositional prowess, and your talent for being daring in writing for ensembles that your main instrument isn't featured in. So far what I've heard is your wind piece, "Windchill", and this piece, a saxophone quartet. You'll continue to grow as a composer if you continue to write for different groups of instruments; I love the versatility of your musical voice!

I'd like to share some thoughts on what I think your strengths are from what I've heard from you. First, I think you have great character in your music. Nothing I've heard so far from you sounds like you're emulating someone else, or that you're using another composer's music as a basis or inspiration for you own. Your musical voice sounds very much your own, a unique blend of your experiences and what you've learned from in your studies. You have a wonderful language, using from what I hear as a sultry, modern, and sometimes jazzy influenced direction with your motifs and melodies. There are so many composers that share their music on this site and I think, "oh, this sounds like Beethoven, or Chopin, or whoever". But with your music, I don't hear the pastiche remnants of past composers. This is something that you should be proud of, especially for your age (I'm guessing you're in high school?). What a great attribute to have, already branching out to find your musical voice without sounding like another musician! That's something no one can ever take from you, and something no one can teach. In music school, I was met with loads of composers who tried to sound like their heroes, only to be met with mediocrity and a strong sense of copyright infringement. You have lots of talent, I just don't want you to forget that along this review.

In this piece, I love the rhythmic style at around 32 seconds in. You give us a clear motif that's catchy and easily digestible. I like how you play around with the theme, and eventually bring it back at bar 26, with even more harmonic dancing around it. A B theme at bar 57 is cool, taking us to a slower soulful section. Just watch the enharmonics, like the soprano at bar 67. Why Eb and D#? I'm curious to know how you were thinking about your language. Was it because of a particular scale, or were you thinking about chromaticism rising and falling regarding your usage of sharps and flats? 

I actually really like the spot at around bar 98 or so, because this was the first time you gave us a scarcity in texture. Just remember, it's always nice to hear only a few instruments playing at once, rather than a tutti type of feel throughout the piece. I wish more composers here realized this easy technique when posting here. So many like to have the whole ensemble playing all at once for most of the duration of their music, but I really feel like having sections like this one give the music a great nuance of a thinner texture, really letting the individual timbres of the instruments cut through and shine. I feel like this is a hard thing for younger composers to grasp, and you do it beautifully here. 

I like the return back to the original material, at bar 125. One thing I was thinking of was the one by one instrument entries of the instruments you do a few times in this. You always go from soprano down to baritone...but what if you changed that up? Maybe start with bari and go up to soprano, or any other number of ways in mixing that up? Maybe you like the way it "sounds" as sort of a textural motif, but was just curious on that. 

If this were my piece, I would have ended on the staccato notes in bar 153, without having the long notes in the following measures. I don't know, it just seemed a little out of place. Maybe you were going for the happy ending 😄

So, just so you know, I'm no expert. I think what you've written is a beautiful and very idiomatic piece. To me, it sounds like night music, a nocturne if you will. The saxophone in your usage gives me the impression of a dance at night, like cats walking along a picket fence up to no good, or a late night stroll for a couple going home from a night club. It's very picturesque, and was a joy to listen and dive deep into. Your music continues to impress me, and I like I said, you give such great character to your pieces. You had lots of rhythmic variation to this one, I love all the 2 against 3 types of rhythms you strategically employ throughout the piece. 

I know this is a finished piece, so any advice or thoughts I have for you would be for future compositions. One thing I would keep in mind is always developing a strong melody or motif. I think you did this fairly well, but there were times when I got a little lost in the rhythmic dancing around. You had such a strong motif and rhythmic device in your main section, but I would have liked if you continued that "theme" or developed it further. Don't be afraid to be simple; a lot of times that's the thing that can keep the listener most engaged in your work. Think of Beethoven's 5th, he used such a simple rhythmic motif to glue everything he did in that first movement together.

I really like the pieces I've heard from you so far, but of course I'm interested in you cello music too! If you've written anything for your main instrument, I'd love to hear it, as I'm sure many others would too. I wish I wrote music as well as you do when I was around your age, and I'm really excited to hear how you continue to grow as a composer. You have an immense natural talent, and your instincts from what I hear are something no one could teach. You're already a fine musician, and I'm glad you've decided to share your music here on these forums. Don't be bashful! You have loads to offer other composers here, they'd really appreciate your feedback if you would give some others some advice on their music! You'll find that more would be willing to share some insight of their thoughts on your music if you reach out to listen to theirs.

Great work, and thanks for sharing MissCello!

On 12/24/2022 at 3:51 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Hi, MissCello!

To start, I love that what I've heard from you has been...well, non-cello music. It really shows your compositional prowess, and your talent for being daring in writing for ensembles that your main instrument isn't featured in. So far what I've heard is your wind piece, "Windchill", and this piece, a saxophone quartet. You'll continue to grow as a composer if you continue to write for different groups of instruments; I love the versatility of your musical voice!

I'd like to share some thoughts on what I think your strengths are from what I've heard from you. First, I think you have great character in your music. Nothing I've heard so far from you sounds like you're emulating someone else, or that you're using another composer's music as a basis or inspiration for you own. Your musical voice sounds very much your own, a unique blend of your experiences and what you've learned from in your studies. You have a wonderful language, using from what I hear as a sultry, modern, and sometimes jazzy influenced direction with your motifs and melodies. There are so many composers that share their music on this site and I think, "oh, this sounds like Beethoven, or Chopin, or whoever". But with your music, I don't hear the pastiche remnants of past composers. This is something that you should be proud of, especially for your age (I'm guessing you're in high school?). What a great attribute to have, already branching out to find your musical voice without sounding like another musician! That's something no one can ever take from you, and something no one can teach. In music school, I was met with loads of composers who tried to sound like their heroes, only to be met with mediocrity and a strong sense of copyright infringement. You have lots of talent, I just don't want you to forget that along this review.

In this piece, I love the rhythmic style at around 32 seconds in. You give us a clear motif that's catchy and easily digestible. I like how you play around with the theme, and eventually bring it back at bar 26, with even more harmonic dancing around it. A B theme at bar 57 is cool, taking us to a slower soulful section. Just watch the enharmonics, like the soprano at bar 67. Why Eb and D#? I'm curious to know how you were thinking about your language. Was it because of a particular scale, or were you thinking about chromaticism rising and falling regarding your usage of sharps and flats? 

I actually really like the spot at around bar 98 or so, because this was the first time you gave us a scarcity in texture. Just remember, it's always nice to hear only a few instruments playing at once, rather than a tutti type of feel throughout the piece. I wish more composers here realized this easy technique when posting here. So many like to have the whole ensemble playing all at once for most of the duration of their music, but I really feel like having sections like this one give the music a great nuance of a thinner texture, really letting the individual timbres of the instruments cut through and shine. I feel like this is a hard thing for younger composers to grasp, and you do it beautifully here. 

I like the return back to the original material, at bar 125. One thing I was thinking of was the one by one instrument entries of the instruments you do a few times in this. You always go from soprano down to baritone...but what if you changed that up? Maybe start with bari and go up to soprano, or any other number of ways in mixing that up? Maybe you like the way it "sounds" as sort of a textural motif, but was just curious on that. 

If this were my piece, I would have ended on the staccato notes in bar 153, without having the long notes in the following measures. I don't know, it just seemed a little out of place. Maybe you were going for the happy ending 😄

So, just so you know, I'm no expert. I think what you've written is a beautiful and very idiomatic piece. To me, it sounds like night music, a nocturne if you will. The saxophone in your usage gives me the impression of a dance at night, like cats walking along a picket fence up to no good, or a late night stroll for a couple going home from a night club. It's very picturesque, and was a joy to listen and dive deep into. Your music continues to impress me, and I like I said, you give such great character to your pieces. You had lots of rhythmic variation to this one, I love all the 2 against 3 types of rhythms you strategically employ throughout the piece. 

I know this is a finished piece, so any advice or thoughts I have for you would be for future compositions. One thing I would keep in mind is always developing a strong melody or motif. I think you did this fairly well, but there were times when I got a little lost in the rhythmic dancing around. You had such a strong motif and rhythmic device in your main section, but I would have liked if you continued that "theme" or developed it further. Don't be afraid to be simple; a lot of times that's the thing that can keep the listener most engaged in your work. Think of Beethoven's 5th, he used such a simple rhythmic motif to glue everything he did in that first movement together.

I really like the pieces I've heard from you so far, but of course I'm interested in you cello music too! If you've written anything for your main instrument, I'd love to hear it, as I'm sure many others would too. I wish I wrote music as well as you do when I was around your age, and I'm really excited to hear how you continue to grow as a composer. You have an immense natural talent, and your instincts from what I hear are something no one could teach. You're already a fine musician, and I'm glad you've decided to share your music here on these forums. Don't be bashful! You have loads to offer other composers here, they'd really appreciate your feedback if you would give some others some advice on their music! You'll find that more would be willing to share some insight of their thoughts on your music if you reach out to listen to theirs.

Great work, and thanks for sharing MissCello!

Hello!

Thank you so much for spending time with my music, your honest reviews, and your words of encouragement!

The musical direction I've taken this past year feels like the most honest one yet, but I feel that I owe a lot to past traditions. A few people have compared my recent work to Prokofiev and Satie (to my delight! I especially love Prokofiev), plus while writing this piece I closely studied Pierné's Saxophone Quartet and fell in love with his "sultry" chromaticism that must have rubbed off on me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3rynam8QeU But, it truly moved me to hear that you detect originality in my work. 😊 

I am definitely still on a journey of discovering my voice and wrote several short pieces for school this year that each sound wildly different. I graduated high school in the Spring and originally wanted to take a gap year this year and apply to music school next year, but my mother and I discovered some individual courses I could enroll in online for credit in the meantime! The first course, which I took this Summer, was a primer on film scoring (my dream career). For one assignment, I chose to create a short electronic score demo (completely new territory for me) given a science fiction film synopsis. Let me know if you are ever  interested in hearing that -- I would be curious to know your thoughts.

Do you have any experience with electronic/synthesized music?

Re: bar 67: While I was drafting the piece I worked in concert pitch (maybe that gives me away as a strings player!), and beat 3 was in concert F sharp minor, so I was using sharps, but even in that case I am not sure why I couldn't have used sharps at the beginning of the bar as well (for concert F sharp major). I must have missed the inconsistency when switching to transposed pitch. The soprano part is now written in A flat major to G sharp minor, and since A flat minor is an acceptable key as far as I know, I will upload a revised score soon with flats throughout the bar. Thank you for catching that!

Your idea for bar 125 is interesting. I'm mainly keeping that figure (a "pyramid texture", as my teacher called it) the same both times because it only occurs those two times, in the opening and at 125, and I want the listener to recognize it right away. However, if I were to add another statement somewhere else in the piece I would happily experiment with the order of the voices. I am curious what you think of the idea of repeating it once more.

I agree that the picardy third ending is awkward, I was never that happy with it. 😆

I am so glad you like my rhythms, they were a joy to write. I will keep your advice on variation in mind for the future.

I've found myself shying away from writing for the cello the past couple of years, maybe because the instrument is so familiar that I  overthink my writing and end up leaving it unfinished...? 😋 I do have one work featuring the cello that's public on SoundCloud and my website; it was actually my first finished attempt at a classical-style composition when I was a rising sophomore with one year of youth orchestra under my belt, the thing I feel kickstarted both my passion for and understanding of this kind of composition. It's a cheerful Mozartean glimpse of my innocent younger self that will probably seem worlds away from "Violet" and "Windchill". The sample library (I used Flat.io at the time) does not help with its crude obviousness, but it is still kind of a nostalgic time capsule for me. I will post it here for everyone: 

Enjoy! 

Thank you again for your kind words. I've loved discovering and reviewing others' work on here, too. The atmosphere definitely seems positive and supportive.


Happy holidays!

~ Gwendolyn
 

21 hours ago, MissCello said:

For one assignment, I chose to create a short electronic score demo (completely new territory for me) given a science fiction film synopsis. Let me know if you are ever  interested in hearing that -- I would be curious to know your thoughts.

Very interested

22 hours ago, MissCello said:

Do you have any experience with electronic/synthesized music?

I've written lot's of EDM style music, nothing too artsy

22 hours ago, MissCello said:

I've found myself shying away from writing for the cello the past couple of years, maybe because the instrument is so familiar that I  overthink my writing and end up leaving it unfinished...?

Hmm, I kind of understand that. I feel like with the instruments we play well we tend to fall into the pitfalls of habit and patterns we're familiar with. It's a good thing though that you chose to write for different ensembles lately, because we're no longer restricted by what we know is "playable" or easy to execute, and rely on the performer's interpretation and comments we receive to continue to grow in writing for instruments we don't play. 

HOWEVER, I can guarantee you that you write for the cello better than I do, since I've never held one. And your cello music will always have more intuition to it since you know what you're doing with the instrument. I've looked at guitar pieces posted here and just thought to myself "wow, that would be murder to play", because the composer isn't a guitarist. There are also guitarist/composers here that post their music and it looks very familiar and comfortable when I read along with the score. Plus, your lines might be a bit more daring writing for cello than for other instruments. 

Beethoven's piano sonata's and Paganini's violin caprices are renowned for a reason. I like the cello piece you posted a lot! And I'm really curious to hear how your newer cello music sounds with everything you're continuing to learn as a composer takes effect. 

22 hours ago, MissCello said:

I've loved discovering and reviewing others' work on here, too. The atmosphere definitely seems positive and supportive.

It is. There are people who I know from this site that I talk to very frequently, and it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't taken the time to share a bit of feedback on their work. Looks like you're doing the same, keep it up, and keep composing!

On 12/25/2022 at 1:32 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

HOWEVER, I can guarantee you that you write for the cello better than I do, since I've never held one. And your cello music will always have more intuition to it since you know what you're doing with the instrument. I've looked at guitar pieces posted here and just thought to myself "wow, that would be murder to play", because the composer isn't a guitarist. There are also guitarist/composers here that post their music and it looks very familiar and comfortable when I read along with the score. Plus, your lines might be a bit more daring writing for cello than for other instruments. 

I understand; that's all true. It's heartening to be reminded. 😊 My next project will spotlight the cello, then! 

Below is my electronic demo. The film synopsis given in the assignment turned out to be for Ex Machina, a movie I hope to see in the near future -- I chose it from eight synopses because the plot intrigued me and I've always loved science fiction. I would hope I captured the spirit at least somewhat, if anyone has seen Ex Machina. 🙂 

Thank you for your interest!

2 hours ago, MissCello said:

Below is my electronic demo. The film synopsis given in the assignment turned out to be for Ex Machina, a movie I hope to see in the near future -- I chose it from eight synopses because the plot intrigued me and I've always loved science fiction. I would hope I captured the spirit at least somewhat, if anyone has seen Ex Machina. 🙂 

I love this excerpt as well. Definitely it's mysterious, though I've never watched Ex machina before.

Hi again! Guessing that my mates above have already reviewed it exhaustively so sorry if I am repeating some criticism.

The piece itself felt like a walk at sunset in a kind of dirty city park. Something like this:

You lose the rhythm (and those small passages are actually refreshing and "fit" to my ears) in certain sections just to recover it with more strength, which I like.

Possibly my favourite part is the section that starts at M42 and ends at M56. Sometimes one wants to give a bit of contrast to a certain rhythmical section for whatever reason and that can go very wrong for a variety of reasons. However, your transition to calm and the calm itself seem very beautifully and properly crafted thus, coherent and on top of that, "confident".

I must add that I found strange that you use italian and english to indicate character and tempo nuances. Not that it's wrong (if it is, I don't really know, and I myself use spanish, hardly ever, but I do), but I found it strange.

I would have ended around 5:30, as I was starting to feel that I was losing the track again, but let's see what the "epilogue" offers:
• You recover the first, vertebrating idea and kind of use it to do a final set of passages that end, in my opinion, very satisfyingly. This reminded me some piece of @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu in which I saw a clear ending but, contrary to what I would have done, he continued and ended very successfully in my opinion, so, congratulations!

Finally, despite I have written (like 5 years ago) for a saxophone among other instruments, I am clueless on their specs so I cannot tell. What I can say is that I see F minor as dark blue, not as purple or violet:

Thank you for sharing!

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

6 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Hi again! Guessing that my mates above have already reviewed it exhaustively so sorry if I am repeating some criticism.

The piece itself felt like a walk at sunset in a kind of dirty city park. Something like this:

You lose the rhythm (and those small passages are actually refreshing and "fit" to my ears) in certain sections just to recover it with more strength, which I like.

Possibly my favourite part is the section that starts at M42 and ends at M56. Sometimes one wants to give a bit of contrast to a certain rhythmical section for whatever reason and that can go very wrong for a variety of reasons. However, your transition to calm and the calm itself seem very beautifully and properly crafted thus, coherent and on top of that, "confident".

I must add that I found strange that you use italian and english to indicate character and tempo nuances. Not that it's wrong (if it is, I don't really know, and I myself use spanish, hardly ever, but I do), but I found it strange.

I would have ended around 5:30, as I was starting to feel that I was losing the track again, but let's see what the "epilogue" offers:
• You recover the first, vertebrating idea and kind of use it to do a final set of passages that end, in my opinion, very satisfyingly. This reminded me some piece of @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu in which I saw a clear ending but, contrary to what I would have done, he continued and ended very successfully in my opinion, so, congratulations!

Finally, despite I have written (like 5 years ago) for a saxophone among other instruments, I am clueless on their specs so I cannot tell. What I can say is that I see F minor as dark blue, not as purple or violet:

Thank you for sharing!

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

 

Hello, Daniel!

Thank you so much for listening, it's a pleasure to hear your commentary. I absolutely love the city picture and I am tempted to use it for my track. Do you know where you found it and if it's in the public domain? To me, the abstract image I have currently feels somewhat too vague for my music. Also, it's amazing to meet another composer who sees colors with music! 😊

I'm so glad you liked bars 42 - 56. That was actually my favorite part to write.

Re: bilingual directions: I agree, they must look strange. I would say that when I used Italian directions, it was so the players would instantly recognize what I wanted and have a very specific interpretation -- words they would have seen a thousand times in the classical repertoire -- and when I used English I was trying to convey a more general mood that the players could interpret as they saw fit. I see how "dolce" and "sweetly" mean the same thing and it was silly of me to arbitrarily use "sweetly", but I didn't know how to say, for example, "like a deep sigh" in any other widely understood way that would still allow artistic freedom. I hope that makes sense. I actually speak a bit of Italian and resumed my casual study this year after a long break (during which I wrote "Violet"), so my understanding of the nuances of the language is ever deepening.

May I see a score of yours with Spanish directions, please? I'd be curious to see how you apply them.

Thank you for the kind words!

~ Gwendolyn
 

6 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

You recover the first, vertebrating idea and kind of use it to do a final set of passages that end, in my opinion, very satisfyingly. This reminded me some piece of @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu in which I saw a clear ending but, contrary to what I would have done, he continued and ended very successfully in my opinion, so, congratulations!

Oh it's weird but lovely to be complimented in other members' post!

On 12/26/2022 at 3:27 PM, MissCello said:

Below is my electronic demo. The film synopsis given in the assignment turned out to be for Ex Machina, a movie I hope to see in the near future -- I chose it from eight synopses because the plot intrigued me and I've always loved science fiction. I would hope I captured the spirit at least somewhat, if anyone has seen Ex Machina. 🙂 

I've never seen the movie, but looked up what it's about. It's probably advantageous for you to not have watched the movie, as all your thoughts and ideas for the music would be purely from you, without the actual film score subconsciously getting in the way.

Very cool stuff, I really like the samples you used. You give a great atmosphere with the timbre, and I like some of the effects it has and that you did, like a pitch shift downward. Cool melody!

On 12/27/2022 at 10:19 PM, MissCello said:

Thank you so much for listening, it's a pleasure to hear your commentary. I absolutely love the city picture and I am tempted to use it for my track. Do you know where you found it and if it's in the public domain?

I made it using Stable Diffusion v2.1 & some Paint.NET to correct things here and there (though not all, I had no time to). 

On 12/27/2022 at 10:19 PM, MissCello said:

for example, "like a deep sigh" in any other widely understood way that would still allow artistic freedom.

I wouldn't mind writing it in Italian despite it being less known, but I think it's alright to do it in your native language even if it's not English. I have seen German and Spanish, and I myself use Spanish: 
That's an example, hope it suffices. As you see I apply it as any other indication, but I tend to write everything in italian unless it's a longer sentence like the one above. In my "big" piano works like that one and the prior one I also tend to write some text after a certain movement or the whole piece (and in the latter case, some paragraphs), but that's probably out of the question. For example too, in my sonata Nº2 I textually compliment the performer after finishing the 2nd movement.
Ngl probably nobody will go through that if there's not a big bag of money behind. 

Hope that was clarifying enough and not too dense. Again I have shared your piece in my twitter and it seems it got two likes which is like 3 more than my average. 

Finally:
• You can use the image I made freely if you want to.
• I've just seen that you submitted another piece in this post. I'll definitely have a look whenever my free time gets less scarcer.

Kind regards ^^!
 

7 hours ago, Omicronrg9 said:

I made it using Stable Diffusion v2.1 & some Paint.NET to correct things here and there (though not all, I had no time to). 

I wouldn't mind writing it in Italian despite it being less known, but I think it's alright to do it in your native language even if it's not English. I have seen German and Spanish, and I myself use Spanish: 
That's an example, hope it suffices. As you see I apply it as any other indication, but I tend to write everything in italian unless it's a longer sentence like the one above. In my "big" piano works like that one and the prior one I also tend to write some text after a certain movement or the whole piece (and in the latter case, some paragraphs), but that's probably out of the question. For example too, in my sonata Nº2 I textually compliment the performer after finishing the 2nd movement.
Ngl probably nobody will go through that if there's not a big bag of money behind. 

Hope that was clarifying enough and not too dense. Again I have shared your piece in my twitter and it seems it got two likes which is like 3 more than my average. 

Finally:
• You can use the image I made freely if you want to.
• I've just seen that you submitted another piece in this post. I'll definitely have a look whenever my free time gets less scarcer.

Kind regards ^^!
 

 

Thank you for the examples of the Spanish directions, the context you use them in makes sense to me. I will consider changing all the directions in "Violet" to Italian, though, if there is any chance the piece may one day end up in the hands of musicians who don't understand English -- Italian may have a better chance of being understood in that case since I believe "sospirando" is understood by many advanced musicians and the meaning of "come un profondo sospiro" can probably be extrapolated.

I appreciate you sharing my music once again!

I will use the image and credit you -- thank you for your permission! Even knowing it was made largely by AI I am still so drawn to it.

~ Gwendolyn
 

Update: I've just changed the directions to Italian and corrected some strange note spellings and attached the new PDF.

Yayyyy!!! Another quasi-modernist! Now, I don't feel quite so alone on here!!!!!

That said, I really enjoyed this piece. The saxophone writing is quite nice. I love the almost Parisian feel of it -yet a little jazzy at times. There's a competition for saxophone quartet -which I thought at first you were entering. I think you should consider it. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you the link!

24 minutes ago, jawoodruff said:

Yayyyy!!! Another quasi-modernist! Now, I don't feel quite so alone on here!!!!!

That said, I really enjoyed this piece. The saxophone writing is quite nice. I love the almost Parisian feel of it -yet a little jazzy at times. There's a competition for saxophone quartet -which I thought at first you were entering. I think you should consider it. Let me know if you're interested and I'll send you the link!

 

Hello! Thank you for the kind words. I was listening to progressive jazz at the time (namely a new-ish trio from my father's home country of Poland -- Immortal Onion) and it must have colored my music.

Haha, it seems I keep writing small ensemble pieces and members keep referring to competitions I had no idea about! I am honestly just rediscovering this site after a long hiatus. I would love to see the saxophone quartet contest. Please and thank you!

40 minutes ago, jawoodruff said:

Yayyyy!!! Another quasi-modernist! Now, I don't feel quite so alone on here!!!!!

lol, you are not a quasi-modernist, you ARE a modernist...

2 hours ago, MissCello said:

I believe "sospirando" is understood by many advanced musicians and the meaning of "come un profondo sospiro" can probably be extrapolated.

In fact despite not knowing almost any word in Italian outside musical terms I understood those perfectly :), advantages of close linguistic relationship between Italy and Spain I guess.
 

2 hours ago, MissCello said:

I will use the image and credit you -- thank you for your permission! Even knowing it was made largely by AI I am still so drawn to it.

I'll be honoured!  The AI is like a more or less smart brush. Despite it does its work amazingly, it is kinda difficult (nowhere near actually drawing that from scratch in my case at least) to make it understand your thoughts, and even in the case one manages to excel at that part (not my case), edition work (sometimes heavy) is always needed.

Now, regarding your concertino:
• There are some definitely Mozart-esque parts, you're right, but I'm not much of a Mozart connoisseur so not much more to add in that regard.
• The entire piece, despite not extreme in any sense, feels a bit effortful, like if you were trying to push out every trick you had at hand at that time while keeping in mind the style mentioned above.
• Overall it sounds good though a little disorganized, and it is true that it's at least a world or two far away from "Windchill" and "Violet". 

And finally, regarding your melody for an Android:
• The music-box-like sound got me immersed. I don't remind seeing the movie, but anyway, I cannot comment too much on it due to its brevity. I liked it despite of that and its obviously intended "emptiness" in the way it doesn't get stuffed with lots of synths nor unneeded sound effects is something that I valued positively in this case. 


As @Thatguy v2.0 said, keep composing!

Ah, true, now that I mentioned you Vince:
 

On 12/25/2022 at 10:32 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

because we're no longer restricted by what we know is "playable" or easy to execute,

Let me show you the way. It's called "composing beyond your possibilities" and it produces VERY questionable but in fact unplayable (by oneself) works, like my very first sonata that I made for accordion: 41 - Sonata Nº1 (Acordeón).pdf

Yes, I just spammed my work into 'nother user's post, but hey in exchange I'll review some more posts :B and the score itself has some issues anyway.

Now seriously, keep with the good work MissCello!

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.
 

22 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

Let me show you the way. It's called "composing beyond your possibilities" and it produces VERY questionable but in fact unplayable (by oneself) works

Hahaha, I unfortunately know this too well. Most of what I write for piano I can't personally play, but at least I have familiarity (like you do with your accordion piece) since I play piano.

Conversely, I'd love to see the look on your face if I handed you an accordion piece I wrote. The thought of you spitting on the score then burning it makes me laugh 😄 

32 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

lol, you are not a quasi-modernist, you ARE a modernist...

 

Haha. Labels don't really matter to me on my own music...I listen to many things and those things often leave an impression on me that other people seem to notice. I'm still growing and always will be, and I'm experimenting. 😊

16 minutes ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Hahaha, I unfortunately know this too well. Most of what I write for piano I can't personally play, but at least I have familiarity (like you do with your accordion piece) since I play piano.

Conversely, I'd love to see the look on your face if I handed you an accordion piece I wrote. The thought of you spitting on the score then burning it makes me laugh 😄 

Really, we have to fail to success or fail better. Better to move beyond the limit to know how far you can stretch to than limited endlessly by fearing of touching the limit of the instruments. That will help us learn more than writing hunderds of safe pieces since you never what the potential of the instruments, motives, forms are.

@Omicronrg9 mentions that my pieces venture to other places at the end. It's true and I really let my muse direct me, rather than safely staying within the boundary of the previous sections, because you won't know what the muse give to you. If the muse directs you to a wrong place, you can always delete the passages, but if you miss that, you miss forever. Everytime my muse is right. S/he really stretches me and my pieces! You can also try that, since you are really talented! I hope I was that talented like you when I was in your age

Henry

45 minutes ago, Omicronrg9 said:

In fact despite not knowing almost any word in Italian outside musical terms I understood those perfectly :), advantages of close linguistic relationship between Italy and Spain I guess.
 

I'll be honoured!  The AI is like a more or less smart brush. Despite it does its work amazingly, it is kinda difficult (nowhere near actually drawing that from scratch in my case at least) to make it understand your thoughts, and even in the case one manages to excel at that part (not my case), edition work (sometimes heavy) is always needed.

Now, regarding your concertino:
• There are some definitely Mozart-esque parts, you're right, but I'm not much of a Mozart connoisseur so not much more to add in that regard.
• The entire piece, despite not extreme in any sense, feels a bit effortful, like if you were trying to push out every trick you had at hand at that time while keeping in mind the style mentioned above.
• Overall it sounds good though a little disorganized, and it is true that it's at least a world or two far away from "Windchill" and "Violet". 

And finally, regarding your melody for an Android:
• The music-box-like sound got me immersed. I don't remind seeing the movie, but anyway, I cannot comment too much on it due to its brevity. I liked it despite of that and its obviously intended "emptiness" in the way it doesn't get stuffed with lots of synths nor unneeded sound effects is something that I valued positively in this case. 


As @Thatguy v2.0 said, keep composing!

Ah, true, now that I mentioned you Vince:
 

Let me show you the way. It's called "composing beyond your possibilities" and it produces VERY questionable but in fact unplayable (by oneself) works, like my very first sonata that I made for accordion: 41 - Sonata Nº1 (Acordeón).pdf

Yes, I just spammed my work into 'nother user's post, but hey in exchange I'll review some more posts :B and the score itself has some issues anyway.

Now seriously, keep with the good work MissCello!

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.
 

PDF

• 41 - Sonata Nº1 (Acordeón)

Thank you so much for spending time with the other music I posted and for your thoughtful commentary! And, I'm glad to hear you understood my direction in "Violet".

I'm sure I will enjoy looking at your Accordion Sonata score soon. 😛 I genuinely admire the courage you have for posting older, less developed works. I appreciate people's honesty and willingness to share old music and the things they've learned since then -- it helps all of us to learn.

2 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

That will help us learn more than writing hunderds of safe pieces since you never what the potential of the instruments, motives, forms are.

What I was really getting at with that point I made was being familiar doesn't necessarily mean you have to be safe. For instance, I play guitar, so being able to write something in a key utilizing the open strings makes playability for harder passages possibly easier, or where I am on the neck or what position I'm in might be better suited somewhere else. Of course you should push the boundaries of your writing, but knowing your instrument can help you achieve that in a more practical way versus thinking theoretically about it. 

Apparently we're bombarding MissCello's post haha. Sorry!