ParanoidFreak

Thanks!

I'll check that out! Thanks!

I have once dreamt of having Finale directly installed into my brain.

I'd have to say most of my inspiration comes from a kind of musical slurry that forms in my head, the result of listening to everything from Palestrina to Gesualdo to Bach to Handel to Mozart to Beethoven to Brahms to Berlioz to Dvorak to Ravel to Stravinsky to Scriabin to Schonberg to Ligeti to Cage to Glass to Reich to KAPUSTIN, to Joplin and Brubeck and Davis, with a detour through Aznavour, the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. I couldn't say one of these inspires me more than the other... a lot of my ideas have some inflections towards many styles of music... Though I'd have to say Bieber has a special place in my heart. Sorry, I misspelled: Biber.

I don't know if this in the right forum, but I guess we'll just have to move the thread if so :huh: . I am being lazy, and asking the people of YC for some poetry! I am considering writing a short piece for piano and voice, and I am looking for some good, public-domain prose. I know nothing on the subject (apart from some poetry from around here), so I was wondering if anyone wanted to help me out with authors, or specific works. I am looking for something suitably somber in character... almost unsettling. I will also be googling presently. Any ideas?

Hello! As for the first progression, it is a typically dorian progression ( i - IV ). Dorian is a common mode, so these progressions are often used in jazz. As for the second, I wouldn`t associate it with a particular mode. However, chord progressions by ''chromatic 3rd'' all have an odd feeling to them. These progressions have one voice moving chromatically while the chord root changes by a third - in the case of Am - Cm, the chromatic progression is E - Eb. A lot of these progressions were used by Ravel and Debussy. The are very fun to use as well.

I handwrite nearly everything as well. But sometimes a bit of MIDI rendering helps if you've got a few measures you're unsure about.

Yikes! That's a pretty... vast... question. I guess it depends on what impression you want to give the listener! For example, during the Baroque period, there tended to be a harmonic rhythm, where the harmony would change mainly on strong beats, at regular intervals (1 and 3 in 4/4, every measure in 3/8, so on and so forth), so the music had a kind of "pulse" to it. Of course, not all music respected that principle, but a great number of Bachès preludes and fugues illustreate the principle: (harmony changes each measure int he prelude, each beat in the fugue)Some music during the classical period also had that same tendency: (every measure during the first theme)As the art progressed, the rhythm at which harmony changed would get freer. Composers would have melodies above very slow-moving harmonies, not changing regularly: Or the music could become very agitated, and the chords would change more rapidly: In any case, the examples I'm giving are probably not the best ones to illustrate what I'm trying to say, but the general idea is that your harmony should serve the music in general, providing atmosphere and emotion - depending on what character you want to give your piece, you could choose to use faster chotrd changes, slower chord changes, irregular chord changes... there are many possibilities, but you need to choose the one that is the most appropriate to your music. I hope I was able to help a little bit, at least :)

EDIT: French Horn on top... else it's kind of pointless.

Agreed. Besides, there aren't any syllables assigned to an atonal melody. I think it will just have to be done the hard way, by re-learning it. Or study in French. That would definitely be fun.

In every redneck sense of the word.

I'm writing a piece currently and experimenting with a few things... a flute and a french horn at the minor 3rd... with the flute on top. Also, it has to be played by real players, you won't get the harmonics on MIDI :toothygrin:

I'm writing a piece currently and experimenting with a few things... a flute and a french horn at the minor 3rd... with the flute on top.

I guess I'll just have to put my mind to it. Also, try singing the last melodies from the Berkowitz (the ones in octatonic mode) with moveable do... I got a used copy, so there are syllables marked everywhere, but that's just something I can't wrap my had around :toothygrin:

If I may... comments away! MVMT 1 Since this is a sonata for violin, I found it appropriate to mentally sight-read it as I went along... well, to put it tactfully, the technical difficulties are intricate.... it isn't too bad, but there are some particularly awkward moments... measure 19 needs to be played in 6th position, with the B on the G string (lowest string). To go from 1st to 6th is already tough, having to put down three fingers is just mean :happy: . And whenever you have double-stops (2 notes) that have high a, g, b (right above treble clef) as their lowest note, be prepared for a hard-fought battle with intonation, not to mention tone. double-stops that go as high as the ones in ms. 9 aren't seen that often. Ms. 26, last beat, you have three fifths in sequence. two fifths is OK, as your fingers are wide enough to play the same note position on two strings at the same time, but three is going to require one finger to lift, move and press down in very little time. I would advise against. Also, for left-hand pizz. you should use a ''+'' over the note in question, it is the standard symbol. That having been said, I liked the music, it was coherent and seemed to have a good sense of direction, with the various motives recurring often enough. MVMT 2 I don't want to bore anyone with technical concerns, but, about double-stops: when one of the notes is a ''drone'', if not an open string, you have a limited range for the moving line. Let's say you have a drone on g in the middle of the treble staff. Not an open string for the g - the moving line will be above. You have a range that extends from a fifth with the g to an octave above, if the G is played with the 1st finger. If played with other fingers, the ranges will be different, one note down for each finger you add. Essentially, when playing double-stops with a drone, the range of the moving line is a fourth, in all cases. If your moving line is rapid, you don't want fifths with the drone, since a fifth requires one finger to cover two strings at the same time. That takes time to execute when the finger is question is already occupied with another string. (Unless it is an open string, then there aren't any fingers involved). Octaves are HARD. They speed at which they are supposed to be played here is unreasonable. Thirds are a violinist's and violist's worst enemy. :lol: Their use is OK here, but keep that in mind. There are jumps across huge intervals all over the place... I am sweating just looking at them :D The music itself was very odd, impertinent. I liked the quirky character of the movement, even though I sometimes felt as though it was missing some kind of progression and direction (tension-release). MVMT 3 The audio seems to be incomplete. However, I don't think the return to ideas reminiscent of the first movement is entirely necessary. I would have seen something more lively and energetic as the 3rd movement instead. Also, mss. 19 and 96 are just... just... :sadtears: . MVMT 4 Touch fourth harmonics = not fast. It's going to be pretty hard to get those to sound right, since you cant' use different fongerings for a touch fourth; you can only change positions. This movement was too short for me. It could have used a middle section that elaborated on different material, before returning to the original motive. I think that would have helped the finale be a bit more interesting and fulfilling. You have some fun material with the left-hand pizz. alternating quickly with arco, I would have liked to hear more. In the end, the difficulty level of the piece is simply too high, in my opinion. You have many virtuosic techniques being used rapid-fire, some of which seemed out-of-place (notably, the quickly alternating low and high registers - a few passages in middle register would probably have been easier, while providing a bit more variety). I'm sorry if I rambled on about technique too much, but I am a violinist, and that is part of my duty :santa: . The music in itself has some very interesting moments, but I think that they aren't developed to their fullest. Keep on working, you're definitely writing more and more interesting stuff!