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Maseuayotl Op.31 Remembranza indigena. This year Mexico celebrates the Bicentenary, (two hundred years of the Independence and A hundred years of the Revolution) much has been said about it, that we must celebrate our freedom and we must do something good for our country etc... I don't know if all this Patriotic rumble influenced me or not, but I decided that I should compose a work with a Mexican feeling because I have none in my portfolio. (check my other orch. works: Op.12, Op.24, Op.25) Due to I don't like Mariachis and most of post-columbine local music I chose something older: The Concheros in the "Acueducto" - Queretaro, Mex. This work is based on the rhythms of "Concheros", these are dancers who keep performing the original rituals of the Chichimecas Indians. I don't belong to this people but I have seen them many times. You can see them on this (please allow this link)The "Conchero" rhythms are basically a variety of 12/8 beats, performed by the lead drum called "Huehuetl" and the rest of dancers follow the beat with other percussions called "Coyoleras" (which are a sort of sleigh bells made of vegetable seeds that they carry on their feet) and "Sonajas" some shakers (sometimes made of metal).To give the true Conchero feeling to this work I do call for these 3 percussions (which are not difficult to find here in Mexico) the rest of content would have to be created by me because the Conchero music doesn't include very much elements but rhythm.I found this project difficult to achieve, because my personal style is usually far from these matters and perhaps not very much "compatible" with the ethnic element I planned to use. I think is normal if you feel some kind of conflict between different segments of the work, first because to this ethnic music has been rarely taken to a symphonic level, and because I was not able to mix both styles as good as I thought. Maybe you will say that this is nothing but one of my common works with the ethnic percussions added, could be truth, but the "Concheros" music doesn't have very much to offer either so, "fill" the rest with my personal music was the only option. Other aspects I wanted to follow was to write a piece without a clear war segment, (because I very much tent to fall into that) for this I decided not to use the snare drum at all, kinda worked but you tell me... (Remove the xylophone too.) About the Genre I handle here I don't think any of you know this genre well enough to write an extended critic (unless you tell me you know Carlos Chavez Sinfonia No.2 "India")... but I don't mean I don't want you comments, I do want the other kind of critic, the one from a person is not used to this and listen to it like any other audience. About the Recording: I created the samples of the Conchero percussions by editing samples of tenor drum (for the huehuetl) common sleigh-bells and shakers for the others. Harp, Timpani, Bass drum, Cymbals and Tam-tam by GPO v.1 Ethnic percussions loaded into FL Studio working a VST Rest of orchestra by EDIROL Orchestral. Sequenced and Recorded on Sibelius 6.1 Note: These Indians have nothing to do with the ones you see in the western movies Maseuayotl

I'm a major proponent of self-publishing. Going with a traditional publisher seems like a bad deal to me. They take forever to release your works, slap on a generic cover, ask *you* to do the engraving (or have it done at your own expense), and do zero real marketing. It used to be that publishers like Boosey & Hawkes would take a young composer like, say, Britten, and push his scores onto conductors and performers. They were instrumental in kick-starting his career. Publishers took on composers they believed in, and put their name and resources behind them. Now, even top composers are unlikely to get more than a press release sent out about their latest piece that has been published. The idea is that publishers offer distribution and marketing in exchange for ownership of the rights to the score, plus a significant portion of the profits. Which was totally fair when they did all the work but the actual composing. A composer could spend his time writing, and leave the marketing of his works up to the publisher. But now publishers offer such poor service and pass off so much of the work back to the composers themselves that it just doesn't pay. Even the carrot of distribution is laughable at this point, thanks to the good ol' inter-wubs. A publisher used to be able to get X amount of music into brick-and-mortar music stores, and performers could find it there, or make a special order through the store’s catalogs. Now, independent music stores are either cutting inventory to the bone and stocking only Easy Piano songbooks of themes from the latest Disney release or Easy Piano/Vocal songbooks of hits by Nickelback or Shania Twain, or they’re disappearing entirely (RIP Patelson’s), leaving distribution almost solely web-based. The only difficulty with self-publishing, as I see it, is getting noticed. But that’s always a difficulty, period. We can put our works up for sale (or free) on our own websites, but people have to know who we are in order to find our sites, unless we’re really lucky. At the same time, it’s hardly likely that Joe Q. Concertmusician would find you on Sheetmusicplus - or any traditional publisher’s website, for that matter - unless they were looking specifically for you! I think the question today is less “to self-publish vs. to bash your head against the wall trying to get a crappy deal from a failing corporation that couldn’t care less about you and takes more of your money than they earn” and more “how to create, maintain and embiggen a performer and audience base over time”. If a publisher is going to put more of the onus of their business on us, we might as well do all the work ourselves and take the profits with us.

This reassures me, and I was in fact wondering if you were simply experimenting with dissonances. I'm sorry that I perhaps over-reacted a bit :blush: Thank you for being so mature about it, it's a very good sign that you take criticism with such grace.

o .O Ok. Let's go. Perhaps your are right, I'm trying to impress myself and audience intending to do a more complicated work. (This is a long story) But avoiding repeats isn't a idea I had when I read some of your criticism, Serge. This idea is very old, but your reviews reminded it. I don't think this piece doesn't have and audience. Well, perhaps not in north america and some places like, but here is, for some reason, well received in my inner circle (they are musicians too). I suspect the reason is because I fell this draft have a bit influences of latinoamerican popular music (but really I don't know why, this is a belief only.) Also, I dissagre with that dark and white categorization you do in matters of musical taste. The people who likes harsh chords combined with mellow melodies exists. Anyway, this isn't a portafolio work. It's just an very curious experiment with the lenght of the themes. Perhaps I don't publish it here, perhaps I publish there. I don't know. I love sincerity, and I don't take that like an attack. I love this type of criticism! Thanks! :happy:

I think it's admirable that you're developing your pieces without resorting to extremely lengthy repeats :) Of course, there's absolutely nothing wrong with repetition in and of itself, but I'm glad to see that you're not using it as a crutch, which was sometimes a bit of a problem. But frankly, I enjoyed those other pieces with the repeats much more than this. This piece is a little academically interesting, Silva, (more on that later*), but it looks like you're trying much too hard to create an overwrought, complicated piece in a style that I think you're kind of uncomfortable dealing with at this point. The piece has the happy, almost bouncy-like style that smacks of Clementi, and then this style being mixed with white-key clusters and wild poly-rhythms and sudden bass murmurs, as well as unusual voice-leading choices ... there's just no sense of any kind to it, that I can see :( All this leads up to where the main issue is -- this piece literally has no audience. This piece is not approachable by those who want to be able to play something simple and beautiful, something heartfelt that tells a clear story. And this piece would not be appreciated by people who want to hear a piece as said before. *But on the other hand, this piece would not be appreciated by those who want something more meaty -- something that's not necessarily pleasant, but at least very interesting in the usage of clusters or in the harshness of the harmonic work, etc. But this piece is honestly not all that interesting, even on a purely intellectual level -- the clusters are only white-keyed, after all, which is not all that harsh a sound. And the tone of the piece is still pervaded with that happy rhythm, and is not dark at all. Even the harmonic work isn't particularly colorful! People who want something harsh and dissonant aren't going to be pleased with this piece either. In short, damned if you do, damned if you don't :dunno: I'm truly sorry to be so frank with you, but I wouldn't do so if I didn't think that good things would come about as a result. I've seen that you have talent, and I'd hate you to feel that you have to be shoved down a path that you don't want to go down yet. Just listen to this piece you made -- http://www.box.net/shared/h61bdh22h4 (MP3) http://www.box.net/shared/rtalsn81v9 (PDF) Notice how you use repetition to good effect in this piece! Notice that it is entirely cohesive in its style, it has an audience that will really appreciate its beauty and subtle dissonance, and that it's well developed. It is a good piece. You have to be true to yourself when it comes to making music! Don't throw that away in an effort to gain others' approval! :nod:

I went to a ugly kindergarden, then to a uglier primary school, then to the ugliest high school, where I learned nothing What I know I learned in my room (self taught)

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