The March of the Pumpkin Moon - My Halloween Submission!

Hi all! Today I come with a piece I have been working on. I have titled it "March of the Pumpkin Moon." In my mind, it tells the story of creatures, brought to life by someone with dark magic to do evil. At one brief moment they seem innocent...but they quickly turn to their true purpose of darkness. But even in that moment of innocence I tried to convey some uncertainty with the strings behind it.

Overall my goal was to do something more grand, while still trying to tell the story of these strange creatures brought to life in the autumn moonlight. And show some conflict and tension with a dark edge.

I hope you enjoy the listen and I am looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts!

The VSTs I used for this are Spitfire Audio's Intimate Strings, BBCSO Discover, and Epic Choirs. As well as Amadeus Symphonic Orchestra. All put together in FL Studio.

Perfect for the Halloween submission. Nice percussion throughout the piece, and my favorite parts were with the bells. The choir towards the end though was a nice touch. Very haunting indeed!

10 hours ago, chopin said:

Perfect for the Halloween submission. Nice percussion throughout the piece, and my favorite parts were with the bells. The choir towards the end though was a nice touch. Very haunting indeed!

 

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the listen. The bells are my favorite part as well! Was happy to find a way to keep them included in the second half.

16 hours ago, chopin said:

Perfect for the Halloween submission. Nice percussion throughout the piece, and my favorite parts were with the bells. The choir towards the end though was a nice touch. Very haunting indeed!

What is the halloween submission?

On 8/31/2024 at 4:41 PM, Layne said:

I hope you enjoy the listen and I am looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts

It definitely sounds like the cartoon Halloween scores, but I would say that the flute is way too high, strained and piercing.

The piece also could use a lot more low-end with the double basses, particularly toward the end, and there is not enough resonance in the orchestration; even when you have a lot of things happening, it feels empty. It would also benefit from thickening the melody lines.

The other thing, which I can't really fault you on is BBCSO Discover. I loathe Spitfire for releasing that VST it just sounds bad due to only having one dynamic layer and iirc no round robins. 90s synth patches had a more pleasing timbre.

1 hour ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

What is the halloween submission?

Chopin's Halloween Challenge - check it out!

4 hours ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

What is the halloween submission?

It definitely sounds like the cartoon Halloween scores, but I would say that the flute is way too high, strained and piercing.

The piece also could use a lot more low-end with the double basses, particularly toward the end, and there is not enough resonance in the orchestration; even when you have a lot of things happening, it feels empty. It would also benefit from thickening the melody lines.

The other thing, which I can't really fault you on is BBCSO Discover. I loathe Spitfire for releasing that VST it just sounds bad due to only having one dynamic layer and iirc no round robins. 90s synth patches had a more pleasing timbre.

 

Thank you for listening! I appreciate all of your feedback. I love that you mention Halloween cartoon scores, because that's very much the imagery that played through my mind as I made this.

It was definitely just a personal choice to use a piccolo for the high flute part. I kind of liked the strained, almost uncomfortable nature it brought as opposed to a standard flute. But am not fully committed to it!

And yeah...it doesn't offer a lot. I mostly use it for brass and woodwinds, and some percussion. For this one it was my only percussive VST. But for others I combine with Amadeus Symphonic to reinforce those sections.

Again, thank you so much for all of the feedback!

Hi @Layne!

I think there are both pro's and con's to the way you're writing not just this piece in particular but in general, your music submitted to this forum.

PRO'S:  You're developing a unique melodic and harmonic style and learning to put together a unique combination of instruments and using the best sounding libraries you can get your hands on to accomplish your objective.  And you do a good job in theme-ing your music to yield the desired mood or target vibe in a unique way.

CON'S:  You're not really learning how an actual orchestra sounds and works and how to write for one idiomatically.  I have to agree with @AngelCityOutlaw that much of your piece sounds empty and stark.  You're also not really learning how to develop your music save slowly layering in more and more instruments while keeping the overall pattern and harmony the same.  Although 2:33 through 3:03 introduces some cool new melodies in the Flute and Glockenspiel.

That being said, I really enjoyed this piece!  Thanks for sharing.

On 9/3/2024 at 10:22 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Hi @Layne!

I think there are both pro's and con's to the way you're writing not just this piece in particular but in general, your music submitted to this forum.

PRO'S:  You're developing a unique melodic and harmonic style and learning to put together a unique combination of instruments and using the best sounding libraries you can get your hands on to accomplish your objective.  And you do a good job in theme-ing your music to yield the desired mood or target vibe in a unique way.

CON'S:  You're not really learning how an actual orchestra sounds and works and how to write for one idiomatically.  I have to agree with @AngelCityOutlaw that much of your piece sounds empty and stark.  You're also not really learning how to develop your music save slowly layering in more and more instruments while keeping the overall pattern and harmony the same.  Although 2:33 through 3:03 introduces some cool new melodies in the Flute and Glockenspiel.

That being said, I really enjoyed this piece!  Thanks for sharing.

 

Good evening! Apologies for the delayed response. My work week took a turn for the chaotic and so, I haven't had much time on my computer. Thank you for the insightful feedback, I really appreciate the thorough response! I am glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to put together and try some different things than I am used to. Plus, I love Autumn and the Halloween season so it was fun to lean into that feeling.

I fully agree with you and @AngelCityOutlaw that that is one of my weak points. I often find that I have ideas or things that I can hear in my mind, that I haven't yet figured out how to translate into the workspace.

Are there any resources you'd recommend for starting out trying to learn more about how to give my pieces more depth and to write to the orchestra better? I used to play cello, but, aside from that I have no training other than what I've learned on my own and by listening to pieces and trying my best to figure out how they put things together.

4 minutes ago, Layne said:

Are there any resources you'd recommend for starting out trying to learn more about how to give my pieces more depth and to write to the orchestra better? I used to play cello, but, aside from that I have no training other than what I've learned on my own and by listening to pieces and trying my best to figure out how they put things together.

If you've played cello, you've probably been in a string/chamber orchestra.  If not I recommend you join a free youth or community orchestra for the experience.  When I was in orchestra, I would often analyze the harmony of the piece I was playing and try to understand how composers make a full orchestra piece sound "full".  Your weakness is that you conceive of your pieces as a combination of solo lines and you're not alone in that regard.  If you're ready for more of a deep dive I recommend the book "The Technique of Orchestration" by Kent Kennan.  There's probably many online resources as well, but I tend to only use online resources if I need to quickly check the range of a certain instrument, rather than how to put different instruments together effectively.  That's my 2¢.

35 minutes ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

If you've played cello, you've probably been in a string/chamber orchestra.  If not I recommend you join a free youth or community orchestra for the experience.  When I was in orchestra, I would often analyze the harmony of the piece I was playing and try to understand how composers make a full orchestra piece sound "full".  Your weakness is that you conceive of your pieces as a combination of solo lines and you're not alone in that regard.  If you're ready for more of a deep dive I recommend the book "The Technique of Orchestration" by Kent Kennan.  There's probably many online resources as well, but I tend to only use online resources if I need to quickly check the range of a certain instrument, rather than how to put different instruments together effectively.  That's my 2¢.

 

Yes! That makes sense, the way you're describing it. Taking those pieces and not saying "oh, this part goes here, and this one here and is only this part." Instead, utilizing them more fully across the instruments and in ways playing towards those instruments' strengths? I fully see what you're saying about seeing the pieces as solo lines, and I hadn't thought of it that way but now I recognize it in the way I build pieces and thinking about my process. But that is a habit I will work to break out of.

I have added it to my reading list! I see that there are multiple editions...is there one that you find best or any major differences that you know of

16 minutes ago, Layne said:

I have added it to my reading list! I see that there are multiple editions...is there one that you find best or any major differences that you know of

I have the 6th edition.  But I'm sure just getting the most recent edition is the best.