Nightingale Incorporated

RE: Nick's Piece

I enjoyed listening to this piece, but it presents kind of an inner-conflict in the hero theme. I didn't read through the analysis of the plot purposely to see if I could figure out what was going on. Sometimes it was clear, I knew there was a battle sequence and a love theme in there, but the villains theme seemed much stronger and supported than the heros theme. This does not paint a picture of the typical superhero. Superheros always come out on top and triumph in the face of adversity and strife. They are dependable and easy to look up to. This guy seemed like he just couldn't pull it together. I think it was mostly due to the glassandi and polytonality of the accompaniment. It was as if he was trying to go in one direction, but was consistantly being swiped in a different one.

However, there were certain things that I did enjoy about this. I liked the battle sequence, though i would have hoped it to have been longer. Typically, most composers set a recognizable theme for both the hero and the villain, and in a battle sequence, they splice the two together. Whoever has the upper hand at any given point, his theme comes out and it tells us he's winning. Although the battle sequence did use some of the hero theme, I couldn't tell if he was in conflict with the villain or not. I assumed he was, but it wasn't made clear to me.

A lot of composers set the themes in very specific instruments. For instance, the hero theme may be in major in the trumpets and horns, and the villain theme may be present in the trombones and low strings. But let's say the villain tricks the hero, often times you'll hear the hero theme being played in minor by the trombones and low strings, or whatever instrumentation the villains theme is orchestrated in. Also, often times, if the Villain's theme appears in the instrumentation of the Hero's theme, it usually means the villain has been vanquished.

Sorry... I listen to soundtracks and read comic books all the time. These are just some things I notice after awhile. They work, on a psychological level. If you consider reworking this or expanding it in the future, I would suggest taking those comments into consideration.

PS- I just plain don't like saxes!