Film Music Competition

Closed-minded, non-adventurous traditionalists...*mumbles*

I don't think this will be possible at all, but I decided that I would ask it:

Do you guys have a keyboard with a Harp patch that I could subsitute the piano for? If not, I could just use the piano for it, but I think it's purpose would be better served with something that sounds more like a harp.

The problem I imagined, at first, with the limitations of the orchestra and the fact that it should be film-music based was: No brass, no low woodwinds, no piano, and no harp. But piano was added, which I figured could add to the lack of bass sound in the orchestra. And then I realized, I can work around not having exactly what instruments I wanted, and even writing for instruments I didn't necessarily want to write for. I don't understand why people are willing to quit just because there is a new instrument in the ensemble to write for, or because they're not getting everything they wanted.

To Calehay: Many a time, piano has substitued for harp in orchestral scores, and it sounds pretty much the same, done correctly. I heard Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker with piano replacing harp, in that one movement, whatever it is... And it sounded pretty spot-on.

I simply do not write well for piano. I'm simply awful at it, and just have so many problems doing it. The main problem is that I write heavily for brass and strings, but show neglect to the woodwinds. I figured I could give it a shot without the brass, but now if you're adding parts to the score, I just won't be able to do it. I'd like to apply for a competition sometime, but this one just doesn't seem like my forte.

Well, I have PMed Thomas to see if it would be alright for composers to omit, if desirable, percussion and piano, and possibly the saxophones.

But, you should really try to learn to write for piano! It might be useful, down the proverbial road, like if a famous pianist tries to comission a concerto from you, and you have to say no because you always shyed away from writing for piano!

P.S. You seem to view your compositional problems as things that can be stepped around, or hidden, which is usually not really conducive to bettering your compositional skills. I say if you have trouble writing for a particular instrument, write only for that instrument for a period of time, to widen your knowledge by application. Just a suggestion, of course.

Uh, how many violas?

Man, my piece got screwed up because of those damn Alto saxes. I mean so goddamn frustratin when you just add instr just like that!

Well, never mind, It'll just be more challenging.
I don't know about you guys but no it doesn't feel like I'm compsing. I feel that I'm wrting music just to get all those instr.
Anybody having that feeling?

Btw a question.
I've so many instr that It doesnt fit into the papers sheer, it looks really wierd, since an orchestra might play my piece it is important that the score is readable.

"Well, I have PMed Thomas to see if it would be alright for composers to omit, if desirable, percussion and piano, and possibly the saxophones."

I can work around the percussion and saxes, I'm just awful at keyboard notation.

"But, you should really try to learn to write for piano! It might be useful, down the proverbial road, like if a famous pianist tries to comission a concerto from you, and you have to say no because you always shyed away from writing for piano! "

I can't imagine a known pianist would ever comission a piano piece from me KNOWING that I have trouble writing for the piano.

"P.S. You seem to view your compositional problems as things that can be stepped around, or hidden, which is usually not really conducive to bettering your compositional skills. I say if you have trouble writing for a particular instrument, write only for that instrument for a period of time, to widen your knowledge by application. Just a suggestion, of course."

I will be taking advanced theory classes in composition and orchestral arranging soon, and I'll be able to hash out many of my problems at that point. However, I will not have figured out my technique in keyboard writing for quite sometime, and I really don't want to experiment with it on a competition I intend to win. I won't make a fool of myself by turning in anything that isn't my best work.

I'm back again I'll just go through yes's and no's.

YES, you can have a keyboard (harp sound or whatever you want)
YES, you do have to the alto saxes
NO, you don't have to have a piano
NO, you don't have to use percussion (one of the percussion players can play flute)

Hope that clears everything up. (and the violas? not strong as there's only two! sorry, if that's caused any trouble)

And scores, I'll comment on those when I recieve them! Any more problems, just shout.

I'm back again I'll just go through yes's and no's.

YES, you can have a keyboard (harp sound or whatever you want)
YES, you do have to the alto saxes
NO, you don't have to have a piano
NO, you don't have to use percussion (one of the percussion players can play flute)

Hope that clears everything up. (and the violas? not strong as there's only two! sorry, if that's caused any trouble)

And scores, I'll comment on those when I recieve them! Any more problems, just shout.

Only two?
How many "altys" (alot saxes) Are there in the orchestra?