Newbie in for a ride

I wrote this when is was snowy, thus the name Snowy. Being a senior in highschool, I am going to apply to a college or two for composition, and I might use this song; thus, go ahead and rip it apart: I could use it!

Beware that this song is intended for less musical people to enjoy, and it therefore has numerous repititions of the melody; this is intended.

"Gotta start somewhere"

Well if I may make a suggestion, start by actually attaching the song

Nuts! There goes my self esteem again!
Well, it is effective in showing how "newbie" I am.
I forgot to follow some of the "submitting rules", anyway, so maybe it can be proved to be a good thing, just like chocolate and cheescake.

So here goes:
1. Techniques used
Well, in a practical sense, a midi program. I made the melodies and chord progression on piano (which I have been teaching myslef for six months... I got the farmer and the dell down pretty solid) and just applied different ideas and a few transistions.
2. How long it took to compose the piece
Sadly, something so small as 2:16 took me about 15 to 20 hours; but in my defense, I have only been composing for two years, only started doing more than "that'll sound good" composing for a a year, and heck, I just started cramming theory into my head a few months ago. And futhermore, I have not yet learned how to not obsess over every note.
3. Structure of your piece
Ochestral, with simplistic progression and melody.
4. Obstacles when composing
The transition at about 1:30 into the heavier part is week, and it still bothers me. I also worry that it is too repeditive. As a bit of a challenge, I wanted to write a song without a change in tempo or time signiture (it stays 3/4 at quarter = 180 the whole way)... it was much harder than I thought.
5. Summary of overall piece
Come on, it's a little over two minutes, just listen to the darn thing.

I attempted to attach the song again, and this time I waited for it to react, so all should be okey-dokey.

hey! i really liked this piece! this doesn't sound very newbie-y to me, actuly the chord progression in this one is stunning! and the orchestarization is very cool! i love all of you pizzicato counterpoins, as well as all the other ones on other instruments ( stacato ones ). The main melodyes are great, the melodies in between make excelent transitions and your use of chimes is stunning!!!
I dont have much to remark, but a few counterpoints i found to be too fast, when i felt a cooling down of the atmospher was in order - like that fast pizzcato on 0:32. i dont see why should you use such fast notes, since the effect kinda felt different. the one later one (also pizzicato) on 0:45 for example, is what i think you should change it to ( rhytmicaly not melodical). Thats about it for the remarks.

So to finish off, i ADORE this piece, and i hope to hear more stuff from you soon!

P.S. do you have an mp3 of this piece (or an ogg or something)?

hey! i really liked this piece! this doesn't sound very newbie-y to me, actuly the chord progression in this one is stunning! and the orchestarization is very cool! i love all of you pizzicato counterpoins, as well as all the other ones on other instruments ( stacato ones ). The main melodyes are great, the melodies in between make excelent transitions and your use of chimes is stunning!!!
I dont have much to remark, but a few counterpoints i found to be too fast, when i felt a cooling down of the atmospher was in order - like that fast pizzcato on 0:32. i dont see why should you use such fast notes, since the effect kinda felt different. the one later one (also pizzicato) on 0:45 for example, is what i think you should change it to ( rhytmicaly not melodical). Thats about it for the remarks.

So to finish off, i ADORE this piece, and i hope to hear more stuff from you soon!

P.S. do you have an mp3 of this piece (or an ogg or something)?

No, I don't have an mp3 or anything else; I do have and mp3 recording with some echo added with my above average midi, but it is not worth much more than the midi itself.
I see what you mean at 0:32 and 0:45; I wrote that part of the song very quickly and didn't really look it over-- yeah, that is too fast. I think I might take your advice...right after I finish this @#$% two page, single spaced history report.

Very nice piece actually. The form...well there is no form, nevermind. A nice free-standing piece. It keeps the listener interested. You actually use baroque chord progressions with romantic ORCHESTRATION (Not "orchesterization" ahem). It is nice.

Have a friggin sweet day,

Nico

Very nice piece.

Just how new are you? It is very good. Very.

While it seems to be a somewhat simple piece (in a good way), you keep all your chords in place and the progressions are clean and flowing. The melody is very nice, and you disguised and interpretted it in a very baroque fashion (although the instrumentation is obviously modern, which is a good thing). I really liked your orchestration, the pizzicato in the lower strings, especially. That really adds to the imagery of the piece.

At the beginning the counterpoint is great. I could really feel the trudging through snow. But through the middle of the piece, you seem to lose that quality. Maybe that is what you wanted, I just wanted to call that to attention. I found that when you start the high trumpet melody (around 00:18), the piece sounds less like snow and more like water. Then at 00:96, you have a very nice skating melody that really captures a snowy day (good job! ). The minor section at 1:32 then leads to the trumpet tune again. Don't get me wrong, I really do like the melody, and I think the piece sounds great, but if your going to call it trudge, I don't think that title fits the melody.

Congratulations! You've created a great piece. It's something you'd hear in a movie (take that as you wish, it was neither a complement or an insult), and seems very...commercially...satisfying. Sorry for my lack of clarity. The piece sounds like I've heard it before many many times. I think you should sit down and really make a piece your own, unique to everyone. When I compose, if a random melody I've created sounds like the melody from a Star Wars movie (completely hypothetically speaking...), I will sit there and modulate the melody, turn it upside-down, backwards, even diagonally to make it my own.

Try to be more creative with your chord progressions and melodies in the future. You are very good. You obviously have a good ear, and a good foundation in music theory, as well as spirit.

Cheers,

Evan

...i felt a cooling down of the atmospher was in order - like that fast pizzcato on 0:32. i dont see why should you use such fast notes, since the effect kinda felt different.

Personally, I really liked the texture you had there--but it certainly didn't feel like a trudge. The entire piece felt more like Christmas-in-the-city snow than desolate-wasteland snow to me, really (might have been the fast 3/4, which felt more like a 6/8 to me--subdivisions in three are Christmas-y). So I'd vote to keep that part.

Since you did want this ripped apart, though...

First, you have an interesting (good interesting) rhythm at :53 (hemiola? I can't tell on the midi), but it was very abrupt and a bit jarring--transitioning into it more smoothly or just making it a little longer would help.

Second, although I did see your pseudo-disclaimer about repetition (and you're right, people like hearing the same thing again), the melody itself a bit repetitive: you repeat the tonic note on three out of four strong beats in each phrase. This means that repeating the melody itself so much gets very repetitive. You've got some good motive variations in there, though.

On the topic of repetition, the mini-fuge at the beginning was great.

Good luck with wherever you decide to go with this! I loved it.

-Blair

You remind me of a girl.. can't remember her name... a composer who had some stuff in the Finale Showcase. Chelsea I think, from Canada. Which is a fine thing, her music was also very good.

Ooh Excellent melody at 1:00!!

Chelsea Mandrusiak. Check it out. Anyhow, very nice piece.