Being Ellie

Hello I've been invited to compose a tune for my university's big band next year. This is what I have so far... it's based on a piece I wrote for a friend years ago at college (she was called Ellie, funnily enough).

It's a silly fun swing piece. The standard of the players is fairly good for a university band, but nevertheless I've tried to keep this as easy to play as possible. I play the trumpet so I know about that, but I'm not sure about what is difficult for other instruments.

So two main things I'd like from you:
1. General thoughts on the piece
2. Whether there are any parts which would be difficult for a particular instrument.

Thanks!! If the big band manager & MD like it then it'll be included in our setlist for our annual show in the bloomsbury theatre

You don't really need to write the drum parts out, but I understand if you did it just to be able to hear it. If you want any tips on writing the drum parts, you can email me at jwhitmarsh.stu@okcu.edu
I'd like to see a score if at all possible, but if you can't do that it's fine.
It may just be the MIDI, but I feel like I'm playing a Mario game. I would suggest listening to some more big band - this sounds more like a showtune. That's not exactly bad, if that's what you're going for. I just feel like I'm playing Stunt Race FX (props to anyone who catches that.)

The bottom line is no one would leave this performance and say "That was bad" or even "That was mediocre". That doesn't mean it couldn't be better though. I think in general it seems like you have too many unison lines, and not enough harmony, but I could be wrong. Like I said, a score would really help. It might go on just a little long. I think you could make the ending feel more like an ending, maybe by scoring it a little heavier.

Just some thoughts.

Hey dude thanks for your comments. The drums part I wrote out just for me, although the drummer in our big band is used to sibelius drum charts now so he'd probably be able to read it

I know what you mean about it not being a normal big band style, and to be fair I don't mind the fact that it sounds a little show-tuney or video gamey. I mean, we play a lot of stereotypically big band stuff - glenn miller, frank sinatra, etc, so I guess I didn't want to write something which sounded too similar to the other stuff. Ultimately my goals for this song are twofold:

1. Write something that people will enjoy playing
2. Write something that people will enjoy hearing

I agree totally about the ending being light on the old scoring. I meant to say that the last minute or so hasn't been completed yet, but I'm glad you picked up on it anyway. I can get you the score if you'd like to have a look at it. I think I scored more unison and less harmonies to make it simpler to play, but now that I look at it I think I could afford to mix some parts up. Thanks again