Film Music Competition

Congrats to the finalists! Good luck to all!

Wow, Tumababa, that was pretty cool. It wasn't atonal, it just seemed to lack tonal...uh...direction! Yeah, that's it. I think, perhas, the reason Thomas did not choose you as a finalist was because of the difficulties many divisis bring up(especially in the violins, since they were labelled as a not-so strong section), and even the lack of tonal connection, which can be hard for amateur musicians. But, I liked the piece anyway.

--I guess it would be alright for the 5 finalists to post up their pieces? Anyone agree/disagree?

Yeah... well whaddya gonna do.... I KNOW.... make it better....

>chugs some wine<

I'm kinda curious to see what other people did.... let's see those pdf files people!

Heh, alright. I guess I'll post my thing now then.

Journey to the Oasis

The first flute melody sees a man waking up in the middle of a desert. He begins walking forward, and the first trumpet entrance shows the grandeur and vastness of the desert as he reaches the top of the first dune and it's spread out before him. The next section has him plodding forward, step by step, as the sun blazes above. He eventually stops, as he sees a couple of vultures begin to circle over him - the descending tremolo chords - and as the viola solo begins, he sinks to his knees and begins sobbing into the heels of his hands.

The strings pick up the melody next, and he sees what he thinks is an oasis, far off. It is only a mirage, however, and our hero is back to his long, tired walk. He hasn't long to wait. He reaches the top of another dune, and to his great pleasure (as well as a triumphant brass melody backed up by violin arpeggios), there is a real oasis in the valley beyond the dune! He relaxes in the shade for a short time, drinking the cool water, but he can't stay in the oasis for the rest of his life, so his march begins again, more adventurous this time. His spirits have been lifted, and the camera pans slowly back and up, as the final chords sound and the man continues into the horizon.

For an MP3 using the Garritan Personal Orchestra, go here. Note that the GPO doesn't contain saxophones, so I used horn patches instead.

MIDI?

Sorry, Chris, but I'm not going to provide a MIDI file unless several more people want me to. The MP3 is of much better quality, and it would take me hours to produce a MIDI that'd be balanced well and playback decently; for one thing, I'd have to completely rescore the percussion. My apologies if you need a MIDI because of slow internet.

Hmm, no I just prefer a more interactive format over mp3. It's ok, I understand.

Wow, Johann!! That's really really good. I'm glad to see you have grown a lot as a composer, this shows great skill in harmony.

You should learn the trumpet. A couple of parts, you have written your trumpet on really high notes, to be held for long times. This is never a good idea. Written high C is a stretch for most amateur players, and you have written a high E, and the high D to be held at the end is a little bit much. Although it's not impossible, I wouldn't be surprised if something were to go wrong in a performance, in the trumpet section. But other than that, your orchestration was pretty good; although you did rely a little bit too heavily on the string section. The strings bring a good texture to the scene you have portrayed, but it's constant, and I feel that limits the piece. Your scene was portrayed very well, but there was no variance to it! It was too streamlined, with one melody, and repeating motifs...you just didn't really get creative with it all!!

Also, at 136 you have asked the same percussionist to play the snare while rolling the cymbal...I don't know about you, but I would need three hands to do that, and four to do it well.

Another thing--the chords you have used were not secondary dominants, they way you used them! G minor to A major is a common progression, but the A major is not a secondary dominant if it isn't being used as a dominant. This chord progression is commonly used to hint at the key being the dominant, but with G major. G-A-G-A etc, then eventually landing on D major for a bridge, sort of surprising the listener with the tonic. Or, it's used to hint at the key being actually A major, with the lowered 7 chord, G. An example of this is 'Sweet Home Alabama' (D, C, G). It's a nice sound the way you have done it, and it matches the idea of walking by yourself perfectly! Also, I like the tritone progression you have used here and there, as well.

Oh well. It's very good, and I'm scared for my piece now...!

I guess I should upload mine, huh? Maybe I will later today.

BTW, Johann, how do you link to soundclick like that.... I, uh, can't figure it out.

Heh, Chris, I had to ask Jen that question 'cause I couldn't figure it out either! Just go into the Band Administration Menu, and near the top you will see a link that says "Linking Tool". Go in there, select "song", and it'll provide you with lo-fi and hi-fi URLs for each of your uploaded pieces. Nifty.

Hey, Nick, thanks for the compliments! I look forward to hearing your entry. Yes, I realize the trumpets are a bit high at the end. That's probably the weakest point of the piece... but I want that trumpet up there, mommy! Oh well. If the orchestra can handle it, it's quite a nice note.

I made a note to Thomas about that too-thick percussion texture, as I realize it's a bit much to handle. If they can't find some third person to stand in on percussion, I'll have them drop the snare for those measures and do the suspended cymbal.

Thanks for the comments about the harmony - yes, I realized they're not really true secondary dominants because they don't resolve conventionally; they're more like neighbor chords. I really love what I was able to do harmonically with this, especially the C-F#-C-D progression I have going on later. With this piece, I've really started to discover my own harmonic style. It was a lot of fun.

As for the other minor issues - dependence on strings and lack of creativity - I guess that's to be expected of my first attempt for orchestra! About the lack of creativity, though... this seems to be a common sticking-point for you when critiquing my works. I think we do creativity a little differently. My ideas here were to take the two main motifs (the opening flute melody and the rhythmic/melodic motive seen often in the trumpets and saxes) and walk them through a slow unveiling, a reinventing process. The flute melody goes through several adaptations before arriving at its resolution, the flute melody heard in the actual oasis. The other motive gets its realization after the oasis, during the final crescendo.

I probably could have done a little more with it, but hey, time was short and I'm very pleased! The fact that you're scared of losing now is quite a compliment and encouragement, even if you win. I have a feeling this is going to come down to what style the conductor likes better, don't you agree?

Hmmmm.... a bit atonal in parts, no? Just kidding. It seemed pretty tight. The only suggestion I would venture to give is maybe next time explore your motives a little more. Like in that rising motive you used, see what kind of mutations and permutations you can come up with in order to build more musical material. Just a thought.

That last note in the trumpets would be a killer. I'm glad I'm not playing it.