"Two dark preludes"

I'm stil not done with my orchestrations, I will probably come to this section a bunch of times this year haha.

What do you think? I believe I managed to portray a dark aura.

I still don't know how to assign dynamics to the instruments, any advice for that so I don't have to rely on "mp" and "ppp" so much?

The orchestration is really flavorful and colorful and excellent use of dynamics
 

Very moving and touching stuff. I like your process of orchestrating piano works of yours... has that helped reinvigorate your passion? Lovely music

10 hours ago, Ivan1791 said:

I still don't know how to assign dynamics to the instruments, any advice for that so I don't have to rely on "mp" and "ppp" so much?

Not sure what you mean. Do you mean techniques for different dynamics? Having access to players might help you see your music from a different angle, as they'd probably know techniques that could be used if you described what you were looking for. Simply writing expressivo for a player with their given dynamics would go a long way too, but maybe just not for playback with synthetic sounds. 

13 hours ago, Fruit hunter said:

The orchestration is really flavorful and colorful and excellent use of dynamics
 

 

Thank you very much! I think I might have overdone dynamics but it's better than my past try. 🙂

12 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Very moving and touching stuff. I like your process of orchestrating piano works of yours... has that helped reinvigorate your passion? Lovely music

Not sure what you mean. Do you mean techniques for different dynamics? Having access to players might help you see your music from a different angle, as they'd probably know techniques that could be used if you described what you were looking for. Simply writing expressivo for a player with their given dynamics would go a long way too, but maybe just not for playback with synthetic sounds. 

 

Yes, it is something that has sparked a new flame in me. Now when I listen to orchestral music I pay attention to new details and it inspires me to write music with a more orchestral language, at least more polyphonic.

That's a good idea. Although I was referring more to the use of dynamics. I have heard "ppp" should be used scarcely and "mp" shouldn't be overused either. But in piano they are not too uncommon, so I need to change the mindset regarding dynamics.

My experience with dynamics using Finale is that you have to be very fussy with markings to get a good performance.

   Musicians know how to work a passage intuitively.    P, MP, F might often be more than enough indication..

   But with notation, the computer does only EXACTLY what you tell it.  Each dynamic makring is tied with a specific, unchanging volume level.  I use ppp through ff to get a sound I like.  I spend a LOT of time on this.

   The VST sound set has some impact as well.  Baseline volume, and how volume is registered with the samples is also a factor.

      You would need to make a PERFORMANCE score for HUMANS if you wanted to workshop/ or get a piece performed.

On 1/29/2025 at 9:02 PM, Rich said:

My experience with dynamics using Finale is that you have to be very fussy with markings to get a good performance.

 

   Musicians know how to work a passage intuitively.    P, MP, F might often be more than enough indication..

   But with notation, the computer does only EXACTLY what you tell it.  Each dynamic makring is tied with a specific, unchanging volume level.  I use ppp through ff to get a sound I like.  I spend a LOT of time on this.

   The VST sound set has some impact as well.  Baseline volume, and how volume is registered with the samples is also a factor.

 

      You would need to make a PERFORMANCE score for HUMANS if you wanted to workshop/ or get a piece performed.

 

Luckily in musescore you can place a dynamic and then change the letters or just place two dynamics and deactivate one and make the good one invisible.

I hope this piece gets performed someday by some lucky chance, I want to know how convincing some of my choices would sound in real life.