The Long, Arctic Midnight *Suite*- by Kyle Hilton (UncleRed99)

BEFORE you click away... hear me out. 😅

I know what seems like the same piece was posted, not so long ago. Well... This is no longer the same piece. As mentioned, an orchestra group in my area may be playing this. They suggested I make some changes to the length and voicings throughout the composition. This is the version where I have done so. Although, the ending is quite bland... I'm not too sure what to do there, for some reason, but nonetheless, it is technically a completed piece. If Anyone has some suggestions to that regard, I'm all ears, but the rest of this composition is otherwise completed! Let me know what y'all think 🙂
See the MuseScore Post, Here.

Long Arctic Night (Suite).pdf

Congratulations.
It is a great job and a beautiful piece of work. I liked the first part very much, with a long crescendo, well elaborated, ...., always noticeable when the brass comes in.
But the second part, calmer, I found it very emotional, and for me that is a plus.

41 minutes ago, Luis Hernández said:

Congratulations.
It is a great job and a beautiful piece of work. I liked the first part very much, with a long crescendo, well elaborated, ...., always noticeable when the brass comes in.
But the second part, calmer, I found it very emotional, and for me that is a plus.

 

Thank you for taking the extensive time to look it over, for me. I'm glad that you could enjoy that 🙂
 Do you maybe have any suggestions for the last 10-20 measures, for what I might add into it? It feels... lacking, there to me.

Hey man

First off, I like this. The music is quite beautiful, and your orchestration is lush and cinematic. This could easily fill the background for some movie. The score is clean and professional looking (to me, a noob), and you give a lot of care to the engraving. A lot of people sifting through submissions of scores will not even take the time to even look at what key a piece is in if it looks like stock music notation software. It seems like you've done all you can for that, so kudos. 

Do you know Muse? The first movement reminds me of Exogenesis, a three part symphonic type of work they did some years back. Check it out if you haven't, it's pretty cool. The second movement kind of had Yiruma vibes to it, maybe some anime-type inspiration?

Regardless, I think you have a talent for bringing out color in your writing. Just know, sometimes color is lost when lots of instruments are playing all the time. For instance, the breathiness of a flute can be hard to hear without subtle orchestration (or lack thereof). Not saying you did that per se, but there seemed to be a lot going on for most of the piece, and interesting color and variety can be found with extended sections of just winds, or just strings, etc. Just something to experiment with in future music. 

Like I said, this to me was cinematic, like it belonged in a movie or video game. Is that what you were going for? I only ask because the themes and motifs you used were more suited for the background. After a while, the themes got a bit stale to me. Sure, it's in 11/8 which is cool, but lengthening or shortening the 3 dotted quarters and quarter would be cool sometimes. Or breaking up that rhythm. Or giving that rhythm to a different section of the orchestra while new melodies soar over it. You get the idea. 

The lushness and overall texture was the highlight, but also think about the listener. When should there be a break? How long to make big tutti sections? How many themes do I have, and when/how should I repeat them, or change them, or whatever else? Think of something as simple as a song. Verse, prechorus, chorus, bridge, intro/outro. How many choruses or verses? Does it need a bridge? You mentioned how to lengthen or make changes to voices, and a lot of times just having a simple blueprint of your form does wonders for that issue. It doesn't have to be classical in form, it can be your own, but when writing for orchestra it really helps. 

I never pursued the path of getting music performed by ensembles... I'm just a simple guitarist, so I can't really help with what some concertmaster or whatever needs from you. But objectively, these are some ideas I had while listening with your question in mind. Good luck to you, and keep us updated on a possible performance. If you do get it performed, do everything in your power to get a recording, because it may never happen again. 

Cool music, cool pfp, and thanks for sharing

5 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Hey man

First off, I like this. The music is quite beautiful, and your orchestration is lush and cinematic. This could easily fill the background for some movie. The score is clean and professional looking (to me, a noob), and you give a lot of care to the engraving. A lot of people sifting through submissions of scores will not even take the time to even look at what key a piece is in if it looks like stock music notation software. It seems like you've done all you can for that, so kudos. 

Do you know Muse? The first movement reminds me of Exogenesis, a three part symphonic type of work they did some years back. Check it out if you haven't, it's pretty cool. The second movement kind of had Yiruma vibes to it, maybe some anime-type inspiration?

Regardless, I think you have a talent for bringing out color in your writing. Just know, sometimes color is lost when lots of instruments are playing all the time. For instance, the breathiness of a flute can be hard to hear without subtle orchestration (or lack thereof). Not saying you did that per se, but there seemed to be a lot going on for most of the piece, and interesting color and variety can be found with extended sections of just winds, or just strings, etc. Just something to experiment with in future music. 

Like I said, this to me was cinematic, like it belonged in a movie or video game. Is that what you were going for? I only ask because the themes and motifs you used were more suited for the background. After a while, the themes got a bit stale to me. Sure, it's in 11/8 which is cool, but lengthening or shortening the 3 dotted quarters and quarter would be cool sometimes. Or breaking up that rhythm. Or giving that rhythm to a different section of the orchestra while new melodies soar over it. You get the idea. 

The lushness and overall texture was the highlight, but also think about the listener. When should there be a break? How long to make big tutti sections? How many themes do I have, and when/how should I repeat them, or change them, or whatever else? Think of something as simple as a song. Verse, prechorus, chorus, bridge, intro/outro. How many choruses or verses? Does it need a bridge? You mentioned how to lengthen or make changes to voices, and a lot of times just having a simple blueprint of your form does wonders for that issue. It doesn't have to be classical in form, it can be your own, but when writing for orchestra it really helps. 

I never pursued the path of getting music performed by ensembles... I'm just a simple guitarist, so I can't really help with what some concertmaster or whatever needs from you. But objectively, these are some ideas I had while listening with your question in mind. Good luck to you, and keep us updated on a possible performance. If you do get it performed, do everything in your power to get a recording, because it may never happen again. 

Cool music, cool pfp, and thanks for sharing

 

Man, I appreciate the effort and time you put into providing some very helpful feedback. 

In response to your suggestion, I'll say, I've always had a hard time sticking to a road map or preset plan of attack... I'm unmedicated and have ADHD, mixed type, and have struggled with being linear and methodical for most of my life. That said, I always try to keep in mind what the listener will experience in my works. But as you know, us musicians can tend to get writer's bias when listening back to our own music. I find that getting feedback like yours tends to be the most helpful in my self-taught composing path that I've found myself hobbying in. 

I miss, at times, being a full time musician myself, but I take what I can get, and give what I can give to the world of musicianship. I will keep in mind what you've said moving forward with writing new pieces in the future 🙂

Thanks again for taking the time to write your reply, and especially for taking the time to listen through this whole piece. It means a lot! 🙂