All Activity

So, I finally convinced AI to perform serial music. If you know, AI is very stubborn in creating everything tonal and consonant. It's good at that, but you can modify midi to be strict and work with AI to create an atonal sound. I like the idea of modern fugues to create a sound of undulating persistence. The sound is deliberate. Though, this fugue is more of a Passaglia, it's within reach. fractal-fugue (46).mid

Ok, so to preface, I am in a church choir for a TLM, (and I'm also in the Schola Cantorum so I'm trained to sing the Gregorian chants at Mass, just to brag a little 😏.) Anyway, I was anticipating more traditional style Latin motets, and I'ma be honest with you, the Novus Ordo style with the piano and such makes me really quite uncomfortable, but I said I'd give you some feedback, so I'll try my best. Just beware, I'll probably give very old-fashioned advice with a large bias for Latin Mass aesthetics, so just take what you think is applicable. The Assumption: The voice leading on the SATB part is fine, so no criticism there. I do find the bass part really high though (I am bass myself.) At moderate or louder dynamics like this, it will sound strained, even with higher bass singers. The piano part and flute part I think just add mud and uncomfortable dissonances. The piano part isn't even well written, just looking at it as a pianist myself. Especially since these are supposed to be motets, I'd nix the instrumental parts entirely, except maybe an optional organ reduction. Finally, the engraving is just really... unproffesional. First of all, the tenor should be in treble clef, unless it's a reduced score. I can't imagine trying to read all those ledger lines! The lyric syllables are divided incorrectly, which made it very awkward to read. Here's a guide: Syllable Rules: Divide Into Syllables, and here are all the syllables of this first motet divided properly: Ma-ry is as-sumed in-to heav-en, Moth-er from Earth, now Moth-er of all! Look at the an-gels gaz-ing up-on her, prais-ing our God for the wom-an He made! Al-le-lu-ia, Hail our Queen, Mar-y! Moth-er you passed through the gates, but you're nev-er too far a-way. Will you show us you're near? Hear our prayer! etc. Other engraving nitpicks, page should be portrait not landscape, the scaling should be larger, it's standard and preferable to include the voice range and instrument names, dynamics in vocal music fit better above the staff, and we need a square bracket! I could probably find even more nitpicky stuff if I looked, but this is a good start. Come Holy Spirit: The plain song bit makes this a little more tolerable, but a suspended cymbal in liturgical music?? 😭 I digress. The voice leading here is also fine.And I echo the criticisms of pateceramics, competent choirs will stagger long held notes, regardless of instruction in the score. And the part about the Gregorian chant being off meter. If you do this, please write it unmetered or with partial barlines like in actual chant notation on just that staff, and in each of the other voices just have one whole note under the entire chant solo. If that doesn't make sense, I can sketch up an example for you, but that should be clear. This is also an engraving problem btw, so as you improve your engraving skills, you'll learn how to engrave less commonplace moments like this. What I explained is just what I would do, but there are certainly other ways to handle it. Both these motets, but especially this one, have the issue of feeling stagnant to me. Like they sit in the same I-IV-V range of the tonic key and really don't move anywhere else. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it makes for music that can sound uninspired and unoriginal. Sorry if this all is too harsh, I promise it's in good faith and I hope you are able to take this criticism to heart and let it help you improve as a composer. God bless, my friend.

Hi again @Alex Weidmann! I decided to find this work after your review of my FFVI work. I would review it if I could listen to it again but there doesn't seem to be any sound file or link to YT video? Where is the music?

Yeah honestly your analysis is gonna be so much better than mine cus I'm not really familiar with the themes (even though I did try to check out the mock-up beforehand), and there are so many of 'em I kept hearing and seeing the similarities but ended up overwhelming myself. That's why I put "Random things I've noticed" since it's really not a full in-depth analysis, more like "oooooohh this section is from that section but some things are different" You've read me. It sounds weird but like it's much more easier for me when it comes to working with pre-existing themes. I did start another piece in the middle of working on my variations. It's a fully original solo piano suite to contrast the tons of orchestration that I have to do, and it's for me to actually compose my own themes. But yeah, you're welcome!

Thanks @ferrum.wav and @Alex Weidmann for your reviews! I really admire your attention to detail and delving into the score in reviewing the piece ferrum! But, there is actually another way to analyze the thematic associations in the piece, by realizing their relation to the original themes from the game! This section uses a pairing of two similar themes: The top voice is from the Fight Theme; while the bottom is from Terra's Theme. The themes are so similar to each other when lined up metrically to start at the same time they have almost the same contour. This section is built up from canonic imitation layering of Terra's Theme over itself in four voices. The horn part: is a melody that is also from the latter half of Terra's Theme. This section is a 6/8 variation of the fanfare from the Returner's Theme: This section is also a 6/8 variation of the quartal accompaniment in the Fight Theme: This melody is from the latter half of the Mt. Kolts Theme: Thanks a lot for your detailed review and I am really glad that you're inspired to continue your variations through listening to this! I think you and I have a certain affinity in our compositional styles through our desire to write new music on pre-existing themes and vary them. Thanks again! Thanks! Yes, it was. The only way I managed it is to keep everything mostly in the same key that way the different variations were modularly compatible with each other and I could try to fit them together like puzzle pieces. But that does come with disadvantages, I think. I remember listening to that work! I don't remember if I reviewed it or not. But, it wasn't from FF VI but from another installment in the series, right? I think I was almost too greedy in my ambition with this project. Having included 8 different themes in a variations piece, I almost bit off too much than I could chew so to speak. The project really seemed at many times to be too big for my ability to manage all the different themes and variations. And it's not done yet! Thanks again for your review!

The Schola Cantorum Discordiensis is a discord server focusing on early music! (More specifically in the server, up to the 19th century). We have a bunch of cool things, gaming, compositions, monthly challenges, competitions, memes... And many more! Currently the server is very small, about 150 members, my goal is to get to atleast 500. Join us!

Love this Peter! Your intricate orchestration has been carefully woven into a mesmerising tapestry. Must've taken a lot of effort to write! I was especially interested, having used Uematsu as an inspiration for one of my own recent piano works. But this is a far more ambitious project.

sorry i mean horror 1!

horror 3 was supposed to be a chase but it didn't sound that good so I reworked (not cleaned) it.

Man the woodwinds writing on this is insane, heck I think the woodwinds are the spotlight of this movement (and the horns too). You've managed to really use all of the family's characteristics to their fullest. Love the canon woodwinds-only section on b.42 for contrast, followed immediately by another color contrast on b.58 by the string quartet and the horn for pedal tones. It's really dense with the variety of themes playing counter-points with each other. The harmonies are so colorful, also really like the transitions between the variations. Random things I've noticed: brass fanfare interruptions on b.228 are from the beginning (b.17), the upward fourths figure from the cellos on b.72 gets a lot of variations after this as foreground (starting b.89), middleground (tremolo strings from b.101), background (b.97), and cadence (b.86 violins, b.126-127 clarinets and oboes, b.135 strings, b.142-145 strings), figure from b.81 by string and oboes gets variated on b.166 (love this section) and b.258, the arpeggiated power chord figure on the harp gets used a lot until the end. Overall, I really like it. Thanks for recommending me your piece! This really motivates and inspires me to continue my own symphonic variation.

Hello Sameul, Shall we talk about the sinister colors of this atonal this piece? For there are many! I love dark piano acc., which follows that lush, lost violin line. It daunts us as listener to ever so much. Not many know the powers of atonal music. Here, you have master done that! Kudos.

Hello everyone, I present to you my newest composition: A waltz. Yes. I wrote another waltz. 🙂 Waltz Grazioso

I reworked the piece above a bit to benefit it and put my program's contrapuntal technique more on display. It starts out with the input melody. Then, after it sounds once, that same melody sounds again with two voices added. Then, to bring things to a close, it sounds third time in the presence of four other voices.

The new ninja gaiden game's music is some of the best game music I've heard since the 2000s.

I've been going through older pieces and making multitrack recordings of them with myself singing all the parts. Hopefully this provides a better sense of the piece, even with an alto singing the bass line, and some resulting sound distortion from Garageband's transpose feature...

This one turned out quite nice. All I did was provide a melody and specify five voices and the harmonization was determined in a purely deterministic fashion:

Once again ... Hi all, Here's something I've worked on .... it's a children's classroom song. I plan to submit to the music teacher at my grandson's school. So some feedback is appreciated. I might add more refrains ... (original lyrics). Mark

Whoops, I forgot to connect two of the voices to sound output. Here's the fixed version:

yes, more horror.

Hey Vince. Thanks for your review! I actually do have Terra's Theme stated that way in the solo string quartet section of the piece here: The 1st Violin and Cello have Terra's Theme in a form that's closest to its original form here. Yeah LoL .. well, it would be a misnomer no? If I persist with this project then this won't be "final" at all! Haha LoL I never thought somebody would call it a "quagmire". The rehearsal marks are a headache even for me. I have a Google sheet with a catalogue of all the variations and their meter, tempo, themes used, and page number in my notebooks (as you've seen I think). Those technical details aren't really useful for anyone except me if I ever plan on continuing other movements or in case I still want to use unused or unrealized variations in the piece. Thanks! Saving Kefka's theme for the end was a happy accident actually, and it's a modified version of a 4/4 variation that didn't work quite as well and was going to get cut anyway. I hope so! As I said, there are so many unused and unrealized variations still in my notebooks - it would be a shame if I didn't utilize them in another movement. Thanks for your kind words!

Reworked the above composition to harmonize with better technique. Also, added two voices so that there are now five moving in counterpoint rather than just 3.

Symphonic Fantasy... is there a way to add "final" to that somehow? Or would that be cheesy lol Wow, I love this so much. It really felt like a story was being told. Not necessarily the story of the game, but one you wrote with all it's themes. There just seemed to be great care in when and how variations were played out. I'm no orchestrator, but your orchestration seemed spot on and colorful, full of craftsmanship and creativity. I really liked the section of just winds, or the moments of trem strings. Even though you have cadences and breaks in the music, it never felt like it was dragging or boring. Your writing really had a sense of blurriness with collage-type textures when you wanted it too, and then was bold and clear during other times. I just love the diversity with instrumentation, dynamics, range, color, you name it (maybe techniques too?). The bass guitar and synth were really cool additions, and helps set your music apart in it's style and persona. I'm not sure about all the themes, but one thing I thought about was that the themes weren't always introduced in a stately way. Wasn't a big deal, but for instance with as much motivic exploration you did with Terra's theme, I kept waiting for it to be played with the 3rd 16th note in that motif to be played on beat 1. You had such a good lead up for it, but maybe that's just a style-choice-difference we have. Your path gave it more of a fantasy vibe, which I guess is fitting for a Final Fantasy piece, eh? 😛 I didn't see it, but it would be cool if you referenced all the rehearsal marks to we could see what you were going for too! I'm to know how you organized 8 themes into a cohesive quagmire woven so well. Awesome music! I loved the build up to the Kefka moment at the end. I think it's always wise to save one of the coolest moments for the end; it makes me want to listen to the whole piece with a relisten just to get to that part again. Well done Peter, this was great! Are there more movements for the future? I think it stands alone, but you probably have so many options with variations you could keep going haha