MK_Piano

Hey @nathanstravinsky! I just finished my annotations and I am here to share! The attached PDF are my comments on your work. You will find a written out summary at the end. To add, I am attaching this 5-minute long YouTube video covering the Harp. I felt it important to make a dedicated video as some moments for the harp in your work were not practical for the instrument. For anyone else viewing this comment, it is a basic introduction to the harp for composers. Find both resources here: https://youtu.be/_Stiy-uh12k?si=luX9YTfy-8DASSxx N. Janco - Philly (ANNOTATED).pdf

Hi there Nathan! Welcome to the forum, I do have some comments for you on this work. However, I prefer to keep it simple and annotate the score itself versus trying to type it all out in a single and concise comment. Lovely work so far and It'll interesting to see the other movements.

Thanks for the comments! It would be a fun idea, however, in my own think-tank, I wanted to do a solo piano version instead lol. I am not sure if I have the endurance to try and work out a big orchestral version. If I do, it'd only be for the second movement as I can clearly hear an oboe or F Horn in the texture. It's an interesting idea, and who knows, maybe one day 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for the comments! I must admit, nothing was intentional 😅. If I recreated a theme, then it was purely by coincidence. The most obvious one to me is the Mendelssohn D-minor Trio main theme. I didn't mean to use the same opening intervals, as I originally started this work at 1:00am and was just feeling the half-asleep burst of creativity do it's thing lol. I personally used Khachaturian as my basis in the Development section. It did only take me three days to finish and once I settled on the Rondo form, I admit I just took the easy way of CTRL+C. This said, It did give me inspiration to do more with the whole theme, and I did sketch out a way to make this a three movement suite. "A Suite for the Dead" would be the WiP title. When it comes time to ship the finished product, I would want to reorchestrate a majority of this work. To be honesty, the more I listen to it, while as catchy as it can be, it gets stale outside of the harmonic changes. The more I grow as a composer, the more I have the feeling I can do more with this work too. Thanks again for the comments and I would love to chat in more detail about it sometime.

Thanks for sharing! I have played this work for solo piano and it is one of my favorites to both perform and listen to. I do have some comments about a few things, both from the eyes of a pianist and a composer. However, it’ll be sometime before I can sit down and type it all out in detail. May I ask if you are also a pianist, or if you have played this work in some capacity?

Wonderful suggestions! I am eager to see what this one turns out to be. In my opinion, I wish I voted for two genres as both landscapes or autobiographical writing seems very interesting to me. I do like writing for large orchestra, but for things like this, I find the intimate nature of a chamber group or solo instrument befitting for a few minutes depicting spring. Two months seem very appropriate to start a brand new work and finish it.

@Wieland Handke Of course! Feel free to message me here, on discord or other! As a brief reply: With all the rules or trends in music, it is equally often to see breaks in the trends. If you know the product will be effective, then it is only in your best interest to do so! Again, @Marek, I am eager to see how your music will change. Even me, if I shared my first attempts…. It would be bad. 😅

Thanks! It was definitely fun to do. I actually been meaning to update this post. After some chat with @UncleRed99 about Cello playability, I simplified the cello part in the third movement for ease. Overall, a good result for at the time was a silly little project. 🙂

Thanks! I’ll be honest, there was no real plan with this one 😅 It happened out of a test of boredom and I did it for fun rather than be sophisticated with the ensemble balance. Thanks for the comments! (The 2nd Mvt is my favorite too)

The beauty about music is that even simple things can sound complex or can be just as effective. Before you completely scrap your work (as we all know that is annoying to do), with the theme consider writing a 2-bar version, 4-bar version, and 8-bar version. You already have a motif or material to base from. You can do this separately on a manuscript or other file before the main work too. With the accompaniment parts: To Me, sometimes long sustains in the orchestra translate to when I use the sustain pedal on the piano. Where I take the long harmony I am sustaining from my improv and translate it to paper. The French Horns are great for gestures like this, or even simpler, the strings. (Bassoon + clarinets are good too!) Take whatever harmony, divide between the accompaniment instruments and just hit the harmony every few beats or on the beats. It’s probably the most basic way to pulse harmony.

Hello again! I just finished my comments and am eager to share. Please find this PDF for your convenience! Go to the end of the score to see the final comments. May anyone else on this thread also consider checking out the comments and share your thoughts! M. Neupauer - The Great Lighthouse (ANNOTATED).Pdf

Not a bad little exercise! May I ask how you feel about it, or what the process was like for you? (Did you use a piano or keyboard instead? Write it out on manuscript paper first? etc.)

Hey! I feel like I am called to reply as I too just published (on this site) a piece about the Ocean. While not directly similar, I find the coincidence of seeing another work detailing a small part or structure of the sea too good to not look at! I have a few things to say about the score: Engraving, orchestration, and motif usage. I have downloaded the score off musescore and am currently writing annotations on the work. I will share my annotations in a separate comment. However, for my own knowledge, can I ask how far you are in music? Are you a pianist, woodwind, brasswind player, etc? Are you experienced in theory, orchestration,etc? Just looking to know about your background as I wish to avoid possible obvious comments. 🙂

Thanks for the comment! I’m sure there could be plenty of changes to do, however, this work was one of my earlier attempts at writing for the orchestra. A time before I got any composition feedback from any mentors. I thankfully won a competition and spent a week working with composer Robert Bradshaw. During that time, he gave me tips on voicing, orchestration, and understanding tessitura. My rewrite was not to completely redo the work but polish it with the new information and techniques I learned. So, while I appreciate the feedback, I will not be rewriting certain spots in the work as I still want to keep it as is to show my growth overtime.

@therealAJGS WOW! What an improvement! It is night and day. I have no comments on the music as again, I do not know much on what is meant to accompany, but it definitely conveys something dire or thrilling. As a point of enjoyment, I must say there feels like too much distortion in the file. Just about 30 seconds worth of a blurriness that is very overwhelming compared to the literal music. For me, it took my attention away... especially with headphones 😓