Sabrina C.

Amor de mi alma by Z. Randall Stroope is one of my favorites. The part writing is brilliant, and as a whole the setting is very moving.

Just a thought, have you looked at musictheory.net? It has theory lessons, and it is pretty good in the way of explanations. You might be interested in MacGamut software, which teaches some theory concepts in a more interactive way and from a more aural approach...used in ear training classes...but good for constructing chords, scales, etc. It really helped me in the way of recognizing and reproducing musical structure. Don't worry!!! Every composer's musical background is different, and everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses. A determined willingness to learn more is the mark of a well-rounded musician.

Oops, apologies, didn't mean to offend. I got the humor, just stating my opinion. And I was referring to the primitivist elements in the Rite of Spring. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

So...young girls dancing themselves to their senseless and untimely deaths is happy material? Happy is SO relative. I'd take romanticists like Grieg and Chopin over primitivists like Stravinsky any day.

Grieg's Wedding Day at Troldhaugen...happiest piano character piece ever, and one of my absolute faves.

How about Grieg?

Cool, I'll give it a listen when it's posted. You've probably already thought of this, but adding a breath mark between the words could also clear it up a little.

You might look at Debussy's prelude from Suite Bergamasque (or even the whole suite) or Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum.

I think it's alright to use the word vultures, especially if the piece starts out more homorhythmic, with a somewhat thinner texture so the words are more transparent initially. If the audience is provided with the text, that would make it even clearer...but I don't think it will sound too muddy the way it is. Besides, off the top of my head I can't think of any other word with the same connotation, so if vultures is what you really mean to say, don't change it. Perhaps you could have a read-through to see how vocalists would feel about it musically? I know it won't have the same sound as a full choir, but even getting four people for a simple SATB reading could provide you with some good feedback.

The music to Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings trilogy...Dvorak's New World Symphony...any of Chopin's nocturnes..."Tonight" from West Side Story...Grieg's lyric pieces (Butterfly, Wedding Day at Troldhaugen)...to name a few.