Salemosophy

Thank you! I appreciate your feedback!

A band director I've known for many years had always wanted to commission a piece for his band, and as he was preparing to retire, he approached me with this idea. This was in 2016 during the political upheaval of both parties and the eventual election. In 2020, I decided to send this to my publisher for release. Indivisible "fractures" the US national anthem, then puts the pieces back together again, more or less. The introduction is dark and haunting, takes off in a fast "angry" section, a slow lyrical section, and a celebratory finale of the final verse of the anthem. Each section corresponds to the lyrics of the anthem. "Oh say can you see..." in the intro, "As the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" in the angry section, "By the dawn's early light..." in the slow lyrical section, and the unified final verse of the anthem in its conclusion. I enjoyed writing this and hope you enjoy "Indivisible!" Thanks for listening, and feel free to comment if the mood strikes you. Cheers!

Do you have a method for writing melodies? Harmonic progressions? Rhythms? What is your method and what did you do to learn how to do it? For example, I developed a method for harmonizing melodies by studying scores and learning more about chord substitution. This method allows me to compose with more attention on linear ideas without too much need for horizontal analysis while I’m writing. Starting with a melody, I’ll compose a bass line that compliments the melody, then as I fill in the inner voices, I’ll consider primary chords only - tonic, subdominant, dominant - to fill out the voicing. From this, I’ll substitute chords for these primary chords (example, tonic substitutes include mediant and submediant chords and the borrowed varieties - bIII, bVI, etc.; subdominant substitutes include ii and vi and their borrowed varieties - bII, iv, bVI, VI, etc.; and dominant substitutes - v, vii^o , bVII, VII, etc.) Knowing tendency tones of the Major and minor modes helps - #4 and b7 for the major modes (Lydian and Mixolydian); b2 and raised 6th for the minor modes (Phrygian and Dorian). Also, the tendency chords for the modes are helpful to know as well (II - Lydian; bVII - Mixolydian; bII - Phrygian; IV in Minor - Dorian). Over time, I’ve become so used to doing this that I don’t really harmonize with the basic primary chords and easily find the chord substitute that works, simplifying my process so that I don’t feel like I’m having to do as much trial and error every time I sit down to harmonize a melodic idea. So that’s my method for harmonization. What’s your method, where did you learn it, and how could we learn to add it to our toolkit? Whatever your method, share it at your discretion. Let’s be better together!

Your guess is as good as mine. Measure 156 could also be a polychord. Cmin/Gb5. I do think we need to distinguish between harmonic content and melodic content as well. The harmony is clearly Gb Db with C as an accented non-chord tone on beat 1 of 155. This is a Lydian #4 tendency tone. We get it again in 157 in a C minor arpeggio. But the line isn’t necessarily “the harmony.” It just kind of maneuvers through the Gb Db power chord while bumping up against the pillars of the Gb harmonics.

There have already been 3 performances of the work, twice by my band (who really enjoy playing it) and a world premier by the band that commissioned the work (at least that I know about).

@PaperComposer, You should analyze the chord progression from 92-101 and figure out what I did there. I remember harmonizing it quickly and not really knowing what it would end up being. Looks like Gb, Bb/F, Gb, Bb/F, F7, and then we end up in Ab Major in 101, which is just delightful. “Hey, here’s this transition where I’m setting up Bb Major, but nope! Let’s go to Ab Major instead!” Composing this way is a lot more fun to me.

Ha! I don’t really even analyze as I go much anymore. So when you point out that I did something theoretical, I’m thinking, “I did? Ha! Cool.” I created a personal harmonization method to mitigate my over-reliance on theory to pick chords. Instead, I harmonize with basic functions and choose chords based on chord substitutions. It dramatically sped up my composition process since I don’t spend hours belaboring theory to lead me through a progression. Instead, I compose a melody and bass line, fill in basic I, IV, V chords of the key or mode, then substitute chords for those. Of course, I’ve been doing this for so long that now I just go straight to chord substitution as I harmonize. So that probably is a IV and bVI progression there. I haven’t analyzed the piece since I wrote it in 2017, though.

The E.T. Soundtrack holds a very special place in my heart, so I occasionally call back in appreciation of Williams’ influence on me as a composer. Those transitions are inspired by the E.T. soundtrack, a quite intentional nod. Windfall is another piece - you can find it here on YouTube - where I also call back to E.T. at the climax near the end. In fact, when I rehearsed this piece with my band, I constantly referred to these as the E.T. / Williams measures. True story. So, about that b9 interval in beat 4 of 156... Maybe the Gb bass note along with the Gb in woodwinds, mallets, etc is setting up a sort of resolution that G natural thwarts? If we look at these two measures, the linear material is building into the final conclusion of the work, so when the last beat of this line extends us suddenly to a b9, I think it fulfills the point of these two bars building to 157. I distinctly remember spending more time on these measures than other measures of the piece thinking, “Why does this seem to sound more effective when the line goes to G instead of Gb?” And I remember reading somewhere that the b9 interval is actually one of the most dissonant intervals in large orchestrated works (this is probably more debatable in theory, so don’t take my word as law on that), so b9 has its uses if you’re aware of its dissonant impact. I may have ultimately, and accidentally(?), discovered a moment where it actually works. Thanks for listening! I hope some of this is helpful in explaining things in a way that’s beneficial to you. If not, I’m happy to break it down more in discussion. Cheers!

1. Second Bassoon and Bari double each other frequently, and the Bassoon can be a good bass line supporting instrument. But I also recommend doubling 1-2 Trombones with 1-2 Bassoons as well in large textures. Bassoons are quite versatile. 2. Answer: - Double Bass (String Bass, as it’s also sometimes labeled) under the Tuba - Timpani - Vibraphone - Side Drum (Snare Drum or Tenor Drum?) - Bass Drum - CRASH Cymbal (not clash) 3. Yes.

Greetings! I'm pleased to share a piece that was commissioned by a Community Band in my region and premiered in April 2018. "Lakeway Tribute" depicts the region of Morristown, TN, historic as the location of Davy Crockett's family tavern with rolling mountains and known locally as the community of Lakeway where homes line the Cherokee Reservoire, a lake community. So, I created a theme to represent the scenery, a theme to celebrate the festive spirit of the community, and to honor the memory of Davy Crockett's last stand at the Alamo. The form of the piece is mostly an ABCBA with transitions in between that seek to evoke a journey into the area. The piece is scheduled to be published in Spring 2021 and will go into the engraving process soon. You'll see in the score that, for the most part, everything is where it ought to be except the suspended cymbal. I didn't correct this for... reasons I won't get into here. But yes, I know it's out of place and it will be corrected anyway in the final product when my publisher engraves the score and parts. For now, please enjoy "Lakeway Tribute!"

Thank you for the feedback! I’ll go into the score and label them as you suggest. That’s a good idea! Should have thought to do that, but I get in a hurry to post sometimes and forget the obvious. The Lute is another character, a storyteller named Thom who carries a small harp around with him wherever he goes. I want it to sound more like a Lute, though the sound I get from Note Performer is actually a Mandolin... oh well. It’s not exactly the perfect sound I wanted, but it’ll have to do for now. Just try to imagine hearing softer attacks in the plucking of the strings, which a genuine lute sound would give me (something in between the stronger attack of the mandolin and the gentler attack of the harp string). I also thought about the Classical Guitar, but meh... I guess I’m torn. Seems like a classical guitar would be too much of an Old Western/Spanish vibe, like Desperado (Antonio Banderas) or something. I didn’t want to go there. The lute arpeggiation is representative, at least to me, of Thom telling his tales to the main protagonists of the book. He’s like a window (one of many) into the myth and lore of the world Jordan keeps building in the series, so the presence of the lute is significant in that sense. I have yet to finish the series (to even know what happens), but I’m just composing as I continue through the series as ideas strike me.

Sure, nothing you wrote is rhythmically or melodically unplayable if it’s written in an appropriate range. I think you should get Finale, Sibelius, or Dorico, and buy Note Performer. You’ll be amazed by the sound difference. Send this piece to me in .mus or xml format. I can produce a higher quality audio for you that will give you a better sense of what the final product could sound like.

Hi Noah! I've listened to this piece and the Baron von Munchausen piece you linked me to. I have some ideas for you to consider. First, the range of this piece is much better than the range of the Baron, though there are some spots where I think you should consider range issues in both pieces. Why is range so important here? Because range impacts band sound. It's the first thing that can make an otherwise great composition sound like a train wreck in live performance. So I'm going to give you some parameters to consider in revising your work for live performance. Here are the parameters I'll insist on, and you can go back and see where these should apply to both pieces. Also, I highly recommend you review these in a TRANSPOSED SCORE, not a Concert Pitch score. The reason is that transpositions often show you where the most comfortable range is for wind instruments. I'll be referring to TRANSPOSED SCORE ranges, not concert pitch. 1. Flutes - Bottom Space F to F one octave above the staff (yes, Flutes can reach "super C" above that, but these parameters are for comfort of the players) 2. Piccolo - Middle staff line Bb to F one octave above the staff (yes, they can play lower and higher, but unless you know what you're doing, don't) 3. Oboe - Bottom Space F to Bb above the staff 4. Bassoon - Bb below the staff to F above the staff - all comfortable, very wide range 5. 1st Clarinet - G below the staff to C above the staff (anything above that C requires alternate fingerings some amateur players might not know) 6. 2nd Clarinet - G below the staff to G on top of the staff (less skilled players struggle with embouchure issues here) 7. 3rd Clarinet - G below the staff (they'll have to push the air for it, but they can do it) to G (they can reach it, though you may not want to tempt fate too much here) 8. Bass Clarinet - Low D one octave below the staff to second space A in the staff (if you go above this, it better be to feature a soloist) 9. 1st-2nd Alto Sax - Bottom space D up to D above the staff (all safe), though you can take your first alto to C# and C below the staff, as well as up to A above that high D if they're good. 10. Tenor Sax - Bottom space D up to G above the staff (yes, they can go lower and higher, but this is a comfortable range) 11. Bari Sax - C below the staff up to G above the staff (most Bari Saxes can go lower with extra keys, depending on how old the instrument is, but these notes are all available on every Bari.) 12. 1st Trumpet - G below the staff up to G on top of the staff (every first trumpet should have this range, guaranteed, A up to E above it is rare) 13. 2nd Trumpet - A below the staff up to top space E in the staff (I would avoid top space E as much as possible and stay under it) 14. 3rd Trumpet - C below the staff up to C in the staff (consider these are usually your newest, least experienced players in a band, so set them up for success since they pretty much have to know the concert Bb scale). 15. Horn - C below the staff to top line F on the staff (again, you can take them up to G or A, especially if you set them up with a horn "rip" or something, but they'll nail F every time as a high note) 16. 1st Trombone - F below the staff to F above the staff (this is your strongest set of players, virtuosic players can reach the Bb above that high F) 17. 2nd Trombone - F below the staff to D above the staff (this is your weakest set of players) 18. 3rd Trombone - Bb below the staff to D above the staff (they're stronger than 2nd trombone players but I wouldn't tempt fate) 19. Euphonium - Bottom line Bb in the staff to Bb above the staff (all comfortable) and up to F above that for a good section 20. Tuba - F one octave below the staff to top line F in the staff (good players can reach the Bb on top of the staff, anything above that is virtuosic) You'll find that a lot of your ranges for your 2nd and 3rd parts have a huge impact on the attainability of your pieces. Your horn parts in Baron are insane - no offense, they just are, and you need to spend a majority of your time on these. I have a good band with strong representation in every section, and they would harass me over the range issues in that piece if I programmed it. I say this to prepare you for putting one of these pieces in front of a band. You want your players to look at their parts and not experience stress or concern about what is expected of them as players - especially volunteers who enjoy playing comfortably and are willing to occasionally exert the effort to reach pitches outside of their comfort level on rare occasions. Baron is too demanding in terms of range for most bands, and the band sound will suffer as a result, meaning it wouldn't be programmed by as many groups. There are moments where you stretch the range in this piece as well, though not nearly as egregiously as in Baron. The lesson here is that just because an orchestration book or website says an instrument can reach a particular pitch doesn't mean every performer on that instrument has the skillset to reach it. Some players will never reach a virtuosic level of performance on their instrument. Some players will never even achieve a full range of the instrument either. There is a degree of compromise here that, if you're smart about it, will make your music more attainable for your band. The first priority, before your enjoyment or that of the audience, is that of the performer. That's always going to be a very important consideration of the band director as well. As far as the compositions themselves, I thoroughly enjoyed both and appreciate the ideas you're using and developing. My one hangup is how often you cadence with a fermata or long tone between sections. There are even times when you begin to fluidly transition into a new section, THEN you cadence on a fermata or long tone, which disrupts the momentum of the piece and gives us this "stop and start" sensation. Maybe less fermata / long-tone breaks and more fluid transitioning from one section to the next would help. I hope my feedback helps you. Cheers!

I’ve conducted orchestra and band pieces that are notated exactly like this. I don’t see the problem that this person has with the way you’re notating this music. As far as I’m concerned, you’d be right to question their opinion on this matter. Show them a score of the notation you’re basing this fragment on (from Holst or whoever) and say with confidence that you’re doing this correctly based on how other composers execute this in notation. Now, if it’s a composition professor making this an issue, you may want to tread lightly. It’s not worth winning a battle if you lose a war, or so the saying goes. Be respectful, but you can stand up for yourself on this one a bit, I can assure you.

Hi Noah! Thank you for the questions! Grade level is determined by state band associations. Each state’s band association will basically adopt a model based on one of the major states like Texas or California. I would reach out to a local band director at a school and let them know you’re looking for information on music difficulty, and any documentation they can give you for your own use as a composer would be helpful. Joining a GOOD community band would be a great way to position yourself to get your music read, programmed, and maybe even performed. I recommend Note Performer for the best audio quality. That’s what we’re using for audio samples now at GPG, and it’s amazing! Works with Finale, Sibelius, and Dorico. Getting published isn’t the highest priority. Getting your music in front of players is. You’ll gain more from this than publishing. I’ll listen to your works and comment when I have more time. Thanks again for your questions!

Some publishing companies hold competitions and select works from the finalists in these contests to publish, often awarding a cash prize up front for winning. Hal Leonard and Manhattan Beach (Alfred Reed's publishing company) are two of the largest publishing outfits in America, so you composers need to know who the big names are in the business. Remember that publishers serve a similar role to agents, where they're collecting a lion's share of the profit for doing the lion's share of the work. IF you're reputable and well known across the country, you may never need a publisher. But if you're obscure, the benefits are real, and you must look at what your publisher is doing to promote you and your music. Yes, you can and should promote yourself as well, but your publisher is probably collecting 90% of the sale while spending 70-80% in costs to promote it. It's a partnership. So composers should watch out for companies that aren't going to help you promote yourself. There's no sense in letting such a company keep 90% of every sale if they're not putting in at least 80% of the work in costs. This isn't just in terms of printing costs, either. Printing probably takes up 25% of the sales price. So you're looking at maybe 55% of that going toward the cost of booths at state association meetings in CA, TX, FL, and more. You can offer to sit in the booth and help promote your music if you're going to be at one of these events so people can meet you face to face and talk about your music with you. Composers should also be prepared to collaborate with their publishers, especially on editorial recommendations. I have a very positive relationship with my editor at GPG because I listen to his advice and genuinely consider it. There have been times he's made suggestions to me on edits, and I've absolutely made them because it makes perfect sense to do so. Other times, he's not quite sure what the solution is, he just wants me to find a better way to do it. So I do, and then he doesn't complain about the issue to me anymore which is the only way I know that it's resolved. My editor rarely makes suggestions that I refuse to address. I don't think I've ever been completely unwilling to change something if there's a concern about how attainable it will be, because I recognize that (unless you're composing strictly electronic music for yourself) performance music is a collaborative effort. Everyone involved wants the piece to succeed in sales, which means more performances of the piece and more enjoyment from the players performing it. That's the primary reason I compose these days. I want people to fall in love with and feel genuinely accomplished with their performances of my music.

PaperComposer: I was in the car on my way home from watching Mr. Holland’s Opus in the theater and humming my own melodies to myself. That’s maybe when I first realized I wanted to compose. Another moment as a percussionist, is the time I counted 30+ multimeasure rests to hit one triangle note, the director stopped one measure before it to fix something, and I swore to never give percussionists that many rests in my music over just one note. To this day, I have done my level best to never do that, but I can’t be 100% sure that I haven’t done that either. Chopin: So I’ve been teaching drum lessons since 2010 at a local school system when I become friends with the director in 2011-12. He’s a director who’s taken his 5th-6th grade band to Midwest in Chicago (very accomplished, knows LOTS of people), and so he comes out to my house to visit one weekend. I sat him down at my computer to listen to a piece I’d written for high school band to get his opinion on if a high school band could play it or if we could get the local high school band to play it. That was my initial intent: Get it performed. Instead, he calls a composer buddy who is trying to expand his publishing company into the Concert Band market and tells him about me. This composer is Gary Gilroy, and he programs my piece with his college band out in Fresno California. So I fly out to CA for the premiere in 2012, and I meet Gary. They host me for a night, and then the performance is the next night, then I flew out the next day. I visited Yosemite while I was out there at Gary’s insistence. It was well worth the visit. By this point, Gary had already worked to get my first piece published. THEN, my band director buddy nominated Gary to conduct one of the All State high school bands. So we flew him out across the country in 2013. Gary brought my piece in its published form as one of the Clinic pieces, recognized me at the rehearsal and performance, and of course I stood and took a bow at the end of the performance. And that’s the basic gist of everything that happened surrounding my first publication. From then on, I’ve been loyal to GPG Music. Gary has retired from it now and sold it to his business partner. The company is doing well, and I’m continuing to write music and sending it to them every year.

Study scores of the music that interests you the most. Use theory to inform your score study. Even if your first pieces seem derivative, the lessons you’ll learn from doing this will make you more capable as you gravitate towards your own original ideas.

...and I’m here to answer your questions about writing music (especially for larger ensembles) from my experience as both a composer and a director. I direct a community band that has existed since 1946 (it’s an honor to be only their 3rd band director since 1946, they have a rich history and very loyal audience in the community). We perform a broad difficulty level of music from grade 3 (Jr High level) to grade 6 (College level). It’s important to note that some states have different grade levels established by their associations, so some grading stops at grade 5 while other states go up to grade 6. Covid has been a challenge, but we’re fortunate to have very devoted members who have helped us all to press forward in our efforts to perform for our audience through video recording. I have published compositions that are sold across the United States (GPG music is my publisher) for Concert and Marching Band. I’ve been a composer since I was 14 years old, been where many of you are probably starting, and I have a wealth of information to share with you from over 25 years of experience in music. I’ve been commissioned four times so far in my composition career. I’m glad to share knowledge of how this works if this is something you’d like me to discuss. I’m a father of two preschool aged children. I’ll be in and out of the forum as they permit me to be here, so if I don’t respond right away, don’t fret. I’ll be sure to reply when I’m here. Thanks, everyone!

1. You’re probably just sensitive to higher frequencies, but I’ll see if I can bring it down in the mix just for you 😉 2. Not all motor rhythms syncopate or do other kinds of “fancy” things. Some motor rhythms just need to do their job without much fuss. Sorry that let you down. 😢

I've been listening to a fantasy audiobook series I'm enjoying and thought, for fun, I'd create my own soundtrack to the audiobook. The audiobook series I'm sketching along to as I listen is called The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I've strung together six tracks in this audio file: 1. Main Title Theme (with an intro) 2. "Dragonmount" (big sorcery moment in the prologue of the first book in the series, a character dies by burying himself inside a mountain... it's complicated) 3. "Egwene" a character from the book - a kind of romantic interest for the main protagonist 4. The Dark One - the chief antagonist of the series 5. Battle Sequence - things get pretty dicey at times 6. Main Theme Reprise The score is included as well and should be fairly readable. It's my first attempt at writing Incidental Music. Feedback is welcome! I hope you enjoy listening!

Greetings! Here's a large concert band piece I originally wrote in 1999. I decided to rewrite this in 2008 after finishing my masters degree, but I later decided that I wasn't completely satisfied with that version when it premiered in April 2009 (which I posted about, so you can hear the 2009 version here), so I did one more rewrite in 2018 after more experience. Now I think that I might finally be satisfied with this version. I plan to publish in the coming years. It was supposed to premier last April 2019, but then Covid happened, so here we are. The work is basically four sections: an introduction of the main theme, a fast section, a lyrical section, and a conclusion that recapitulates the main theme. I composed this in Finale and recorded the audio file through Finale with the Note Performer sound library, which I highly recommend for Strings and Winds (not so much for Marching Band Percussion, though there's a way to record a VST drumline separately from a Note Performer Wind score and merge them in Audacity - would love if anyone from the Note Performer crew is reading and could work to include a drumline in their next upgrade if that's not already in the works). Hope you enjoy the work!

Good brass timbre is a matter of knowing what range is predictably comfortable for brass players. I'd recommend doing more research on comfortable brass ranges if that's a point of curiosity for you. Otherwise, you'll have to be more specific about the question. I'm happy to answer, I just can't determine from the question what answer I might be able to give that would satisfy your curiosity.

Each publisher will have their own criteria to meet. It's not standard practice to omit bars that rest in a concert band score published to educators. If it were, I'd do what my publisher wanted me to do. Speaking of my publisher, I originally had more bass drum content and they suggested I reduce it down a bit more so it didn't get too redundant. We came to a meeting of the minds on how much was "just enough" to be effective. As for more percussion... thinking from a rehearsal standpoint, the percussionists can practice in a sectional while the band rehearses the chorale, and the whole ensemble can come together at the end to play. So I wanted all percussionists to be able to focus on the multiple marching bass drum part and lock it in. I didn't think it was necessary to add more percussion effects because those would just need to be included at climactic moments as well when the bass drums are playing. I also feel like "less is more" here. There's this whole period of time where there's no kind of percussive effects at all, just winds, so the whole entrance of the bass drums isn't expected. When it happens without the audience expecting it (those drummers must be setting up for the next tune or something, this is just another slow chorale...), it's more special as an arrival point. At least that was my thinking as I was working it into the piece.

Hi. I've been a busy bee for the past 8 years since I last posted here on YC. I have a publisher now - Woo Hoo! - and I've had several works recorded, published, and marketed through them. This is a work that I plan to submit for publication in next year's release. My writing is geared specifically to middle and high school concert band programs in the United States. But enough about that. "Appalachian Heart" is a work I wrote for my mother. She's an equestrian - someone who rides, raises, and cares for horses - who dedicated her whole life to raising hers and ensuring they found good homes. When I was a kid, I would wake up to the sound of horses galloping up from the valley to the barn next to my room. The work is basically a pastoral or chorale of this. Imagine a sunrise, hearing her call to the horses, hearing the stir of hooves hitting the ground as they galloped up to greet her, the calm serenity of them grazing in the field during the day, and their return to the barn in the evening as the sun sets. This is the essence of the work. I scored marching band bass drums to be performed in unison to illicit the effect of horses galloping from a distance, growing in volume and intensity as they get closer. Bear in mind that this is written for attainability and not necessarily meant to be terribly difficult or nuanced. Still, I think it achieves a nice effect, and I hope you enjoy the group that performs it - this is the California State University, Fresno, Wind Orchestra directed by Gary P. Gilroy from their concert last May. Cheers, -A