All Activity

Nice piece! I think it is good length, ok structure, and nice melodies/dissonances.

This is quite a nice short piece! Too short... Maybe add the lick in there...

Haha no worries - In fact, my goal is to create a complete set of festival music with strong contrast, and is self-contained - where you can find different types of music and enjoy it throughout any parts of the year. And as you may know, I want to keep the respect and tranquilty of Double Ninth festival so I won't be too "harsh" on the melody😆 Btw, I actually wanted to use Dizi instead of Flute and Clarinet - but I didn't have the sound library for that lol

A like to this for your inspiring you please!

Dont have a chance to listen to it, but from reading the score the drone like base creates this strong anxious atmosphere with the melodies on top. Reminds me of second mvmt of Sibelius 2nd symph also, Mr big hands syndrome again… unlike you expect rolling all of those chords? (Which I think ruins it a bit

Hey Henry I was just thinking about what you said and now that I think about it more there are probably more unexplored variations that could probably start with "Jezus..." instead of "God Rest..." .. I just went with the first successful combination I found honestly

Well, he avoided it to enrich the harmonic fullness of his counterpoint, but I don't think have to avoid it here given the style and mood. Maybe the opening left hand figure can end on C instead of note F, that would provide a morr ambiguous reading.

Here's my submission:

https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/71e5c9cb2af83e1b63286b8d3463d66cbc0d02fb Untitled (2).mid

Cool mashup. The harmony and key changing help keep things alive and fresh. And it seems like the rhythms are different from the original if I'm not mistaken. The piece was composed so smoothly, I couldn't tell when you switched up the songs, and I had 5 minutes to try and figure this out lol. I did notice that as you were about to wrap up a section, you suddenly changed the key, tempo and dynamics. It got my attention each time you did this.

HI @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu Thank so much for the review. 1. Bach would be rolling in his grave. He avoided direct octaves. I could edit that and make it more playable. 2. Great idea about adding dynamics. That was something I was trying to sort out, but, alas...couldn't. 3. Although the key is F min, I want the tonal focus on the piece to be v (C). And I wanted to use chromaticism to push the piece further away from I. I am glad to share my works, Kvothe. P.s. My musical style and taste is endless. 🙂

Thanks for the advice. I tried two different other ways of combining the two Carols together so that they would finish their stanzas at the same time. My first attempt was to use a 6/8 variation of "God Rest..." while having the "Jezuz Malusieńki" in 3/4. There were 3 trailing measures at the end of "God Rest..." solo without "Jezus...". In another variation I had both Carols in 3/4 and had 4 measures of "God Rest..." solo without "Jezus...". Also, "God Rest..." has a pick-up anacrusis note while "Jezus..." starts right on the beat. The staggered entrances I used in the mash-up were my solution to these problems with the goal being to have both Carols coincide and finish their stanzas at the same time. I don't think there's any other way of achieving that - I think I tried quite a few alternate ways.

I say lead because after the exposition of each of the carol melodies in section A, it's always the English melody beginning the passage before the Polish melody follows two beat later. This happens in the beginning of section B, C, D and E. Even though there is change of the voices which is assigned the melodiees, I still think there can be some variations on the order of the appearence of the melodies, i.e. have the Polish Melody appears first and followed by the English melody!

Hi @Kvothe! In normal pieces I will find those parallel fifths and octaves between the melody and the ground bass unsettling, but here it well fits the mood! I do think the mood is well portrayed! I like the thicker texture and motivic writing in section B. But beware of passages like b.32-34, as no piainist would be able to play a 11th interval on a piano, maybe only on a harpsichord. Also more details can be for sure added like the dynamics. I don't get what you mean; the piece is in F minor and the tonic is always heard! Thx for sharing! Henry

Both the English and the Polish melodies are tossed around the different registers of the choir, sometimes being in the Sopranos, sometimes in the Basses, Baritones or Tenors. Is that what you mean? I don't really think either Carol melody "leads" in this piece.

Maybe instead of having the English melody leading the Polish melody, make a new counterpoint with the Polish melody taking the lead? That will avoid the more boring repeititons!

Hey @HoYin Cheung! Sorry for reviewing a piece related to Double Ninth Fest even though it's almost Christmas now lol! I for certain the change of style in your new piece! The use of pentatonism is lovely. I love the contrast between the passage of a more ironic strings interlude with a more dissonant language and the passages with the voice which is more consonant and pentatonic. My fav. passage is in b.67 when you use that Eb major and followed by Gb major with great effect and matching the poetic line for broadening effects: "Living short as people always were, Why should we weep at the mountain like Duke Jing of Qi?" Thx for sharing! Henry

I felt like I had to find a way to include all 6 stanzas of each Carol in the piece! And the modulations are each prepared by a V chord right before each modulation (in bar 73 the F major chord prepares the modulation to Bb minor and in bar 113 the modulation to B minor is prepared with a Gb major chord). Thanks for your review!

Yo Peter, I find this mashup musically sound, despite they are in different keys! They don't sound in clash to me, even in passages like b.54. Except I don't like the cheap device of raising a semitone for repetition like many pop songs do, I think you can just stop in b.73! Thx for sharing! Henry

My 2nd submission to the event!

For my 2nd submission to this year's Christmas Music Event I come to you with yet another mash-up of two Christmas Carols! "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Jezus Malusieńki" ("Little Jesus" in Polish). I have input 6 stanzas of each Carol here into the score. I once again wish I had Cantamus as listening to both the English and Polish lyrics at the same time would really enhance the listening experience to those who speak both languages. The piece starts off with a 3/4 variation of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and then follows a stanza of "Jezus Malusieńki" before the Carols are combined together at the same time in various different ways, some of which are slightly polytonal. I've been told that the harmony reminds of the English Renaissance in some parts, but let me know what you think! Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations! P.S.: Here is my first Christmas Mash-up that I submitted earlier for this years Christmas Music Event:

@PeterthePapercomPoser Below you will find my review for your chorale Taste: This piece seemingly uses two traditional Christmas chorales. We can hear how one lead into the other with no hiccups. The general audience might not notice the subtle transition, but those who perform it and the carols will. This will be great piece for concert. Instrumentation: The string accompaniment provides harmonic support for the vocal. We do not hear strings often. It is often an organ. But organs cliche. To answer if this playable? Playable is not correct word. Singable is. Yes a choir can and should. The score can easy to read and follow. No issues here. Others have mentioned: it reminds them of ET 3 or Mozart or Haydn. Those great choices, but homophonic texture with harmonic language reminds of Tchaikovsky; and maybe beethoven?

This is an accompanied recitative in the late Baroque style. The text is taken from Goethe's Unbregrenzt (unbounded). I have also attached the aria "Nun Töne Lied". These form a recit-aria pair, part of my WIP cantata.

Valid point. I thought, maybe, starting at species counterpoint might be easier. 😉