kromatozomika

:thumbsup: I like where you went with this! Interesting form; good and sturdy (but certainly not boring) use of diatonic soundmass. There are a lot of entertaining figures for the left-hand to play, so I think this will go over well with fellow pianists as well. I hope you don't mind my printing off a copy to play for my own enjoyment. Thanks again for sharing this! :D

it IS a pointless thread....to be honest i just felt like typing, and there was a box below! dead, dead, dead

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Creative freedom is an actualized artistic ethic to which a composer should aspire (key word), so I vote yes. The only conflict arises in the varying degrees of cultural information and existing work/study which may or may not inform the artist's choices, via personal taste or indoctrination. I think the latter does a lot more to inhibit any sense of goals within the scope of one's sense of personal freedom, but like all cultural information, we are, naturally, free to mature and emphasis or discard any components which are found to be helpful, or not. I can't see any reason to say no to this. But, hey, if anyone here is against creative freedom, they're likely to find other individuals somewhere on this planet who feel the same way - I strongly suspect they will not be on the majority, or really the relevant side of things....Only an informed guess though...

Y'know the whole production thing definitely sounds like the root of it....does Heckel hold some kind of stranglehold on the design, refuse to let others produce it, etc? Or is there another issue at work here... Seems there are a few unusual instruments who experienced a resurgence mainly thanks to a few die-hard enthusiast performers/fans. Take the theremin, for example. It has undeniable historical significance in the development of electronic music, sure, but it's also a very worthy instrument in its own right....It probably wouldn't be considered that if it weren't for a few factors....The dogged persistence of Lev Termin himself, of his students, attempts at mass-production - then much later, the ease of building it oneself from a handful of components and a little electrical know-how...and finally its role in the pioneering efforts of Bob Moog.... Point I'm making here is, there are quite a lot of factors that go into building the popularity of an instrument. It would be nice to see a bit more of the heckelphone now and again, but I wouldn't put money on it - unless its apologists become a LOT more vocal, and a lot more persistent....Having more of them around would help, too - that alone would make me, for one, more prone to writing for it. (In the meantime, I will be posting my theremin sonata on here pretty soon if anyone's interested in taking a look...cough..shameless plug lol) Best of luck with your mission, though, SY656. :)

Such fun! I liked this - I agree with Mael on ways you could expand the piece a little bit. Another thing you could try is developing a small "trio" section , followed by a full recap - it would just be *too* perfect - a slight lyrical constrast, and then a return. Otherwise, I love what you've done - just would have liked to hear more of it! :) Thanks for sharing this :)

I'd recommend listening to as much music outside the ambient genre, as you can...Listen first, find what types of sounds and combinations appeal to you - make notes of these; such information may come in handy as you develop your personal approach to composition. Harmony is a pretty huge subject and covers a lot of territory, but your ears will be your best guide. A bit of background knowledge on the subject will be helpful, though, if for no other reason than to assist you in finessing your harmonies into...whatever. Being a vast subject, there are countless good texts covering it, alone. One of my favorites is Walter Piston's "Harmony". If you wanna check it out..try to snag an older edition of it....But hopefully one which hasn't been scrawled in, all the way through. It's a nice supplement to the listening-aspect, contains tons of examples from well-known pieces....Not the worst starting point, probably. also Schoenberg's "Structural Functions of Harmony", as it puts a different slant on things...Just a couple of suggestions, although I'm sure others who've posted in this thread will have tons more if you ask =) As for melody, well, that sort of depends on what you're interested in writing...Same comments from above go here. Try to notate what you're hearing in your head, examine it and discover what you find most appealing about what you've written...And in summary, just listen, constantly hit people up for suggestions/sources - you'll get there :) Sorry if this got a little rambly...tired...lack of sleep...caffeine...Anyways, that's my two cents or whatever... Best of luck to you, and hope some of what everyone has said helps you get to wherever you ultimately would like to be! :) ...(though sometimes, "the road is better than the inn", no?) Cheers, `k

Magix Audio Cleaning Lab is a wonderful (and inexpensive) tool for such things...very versatile, as well. Allows you to dig just about any kind of crud out of a piece of audio - it's also nice for dubbing any type of analogue material you wish to archive into digital :) Just make a trip over to Musiksoftware, Fotosoftware, Videosoftware vom Marktf

Regina's stuff <3 I'm pretty fond of her earlier albums like 11:11 as well, definitely worth a listen if you enjoy her sound and storytelling.... Oh, and while we're at it.. :) YouTube - Ben Folds - You Don't Know Me (feat Regina Spektor)

Not gonna lie...I love his stuff so much, now, but...The first time I heard "Le Bal" by Hans Reichel, and just the sound of the daxophone in general....It was a srs lolwut moment, especially when the low melody/rhythm hits kick in, BRRRRap, brapbrapbrapbrap, bweee-ooooh, *schnorrrr*!

Okay, first off this instrumentation was a pleasant surprise, and altogether different from what I assumed we would be hearing (fl, ob, cl, fr hrn, bsn traditional wind quintet)...I like the type of harmonic underpinning you're going for, here...With so many instruments playing in the same register (alto/mezzo), you get some interesting effects. A word of caution, though - sometimes, just every once in awhile, the melody (at least on the mp3 - I couldn't get the finale file to open) was in danger of being covered, particularly during the first half - but really sings once you get to the hymn quotation, as you put some intervallic distance between the clarinet and the rest of the ensemble. I was a little bit confused by the constant voice crossings in some sections - for example, in bars 7-9, the trumpets enter after resting for at least 1 bar. At that point, it's not necessary to have the second trumpet spaced above the first, as there is previous melodic motion you are trying to preserve. My advice would be to simply try to remember what approximate range of notes (or degree, in the case of the trumpets) you are assigning to each instrument, to watch the voice crossings, and all will be good :) Bar 25 is an example of where it might pay off to rethink the voicing of that passage - I can see the imitative descending motion you were working towards, which happens between the alto sax and second trumpet - however, the harmony of thirds between the clarinet and the first trumpet does not give your second trumpet a very wide berth while "passing through" - but again, perhaps this is what you intended. Aside from the above issues, and other variations thereupon, I have to say that I really enjoyed listening to this :) Your harmonies and use of a familiar melody were very soothing. Thanks for sharing this! :)

Hmmm, it'd be do-able on Eflat or Picc. Have you considered transcribing a part for one of those two? The piccolo trumpet might begin to sound like it has a cold down there near the low G's, and so forth, but it's a possibility...I'd give it to the Eflat though. With that in mind, the characteristics of the soloist's part make me think of Claude Bolling's Toot Suite (written for Maurice Andre, a specialist on the highest brasses), minus the jazz element...Looks like a nice, light, fun piece though :)

I love me some Shostakovich 7. Until I heard it, I wasn't exactly a fanatic for his work, but that piece made me want to hear more. Very enjoyable. Hindemith - Symphonic Metamorphosis...Definitely not a symphony, and none of the themes are his, outright, but still a brilliant reworking of extant material, with interesting orchestrations to boot. I happen to think the Marche alone is worth the admission :) Bernstein's "Kaddish" symphony, pretty sure it's no. 3...and the Jeremiah one is pretty cool. Lots of fans of Copland's 3rd - add me to them =) Prokofiev's 1st - such fun....not profound as many others have already listed are, but to infuse good humor into symphonic form is kinda rare, I will always hold this one dear :) The list built by this thread is so comprehensive, already...so I'll shuffle off for now.... ~K

rofl, I remember doing something similar the first time I used a notation program (it was probably quickscore...ahhhh them good ole' days)...Because when you get bored of doing something coherent with your midi controller, just go into the piano roll and start drawing pictures lol it sounded so wretched...I could just hear Conlon Nancarrow whirling in his grave :wacko: Btw, Andy, I'm not trying to imply that I thought that's how you did your piece. I listened to it - and enjoyed it very much - especially the percussion bits, but I'll give more comments on the thread devoted to that piece.... Just had to mention =) ~K

No, man, I totally dig what you're saying there - you know the performers you've got - always good to exploit whatever characteristics you can, if you have a custom ensemble for one of your works =) Good stuff.

I totally agree with your assessment of the history of pop music, ferkung...although popular music has come to include rather more influences since then (and in some cases even fewer lol)...Guess it comes down to whether or not 132will is looking to write in the strict definition of pop-genre or is perhaps inclined to try something more experimental/ambitious hehe =) But then again, I'll always be one to encourage people to surrender to their strangest creative impulses ah guess :whistling:

Personally, I feel that starting with a progression is an excellent way to proceed with songwriting. My strongest advice to you, in this area, would be to sit down at the piano, or pick up your guitar, whatever, and work out some chord progressions based on whatever you hear in your head. No, they musn't conform to any particular procedure, but you're free to fine-tune yours based on historic precedent if you choose to :) Chord progressions imitative of the Baroque have been done extensively over the past 40 or so years in pop music, and a lot of it works very well - the songwriters of the 60's were especially fond of aesthetically conjuring their own impression of "baroque" and "classical" sounds, then fusing them with other ideas. On the other hand, you might choose to go down a route with fewer precedents, but above all - choose the harmonies and progressions you find exciting/expressive, and those you believe will excite your listener. Songwriting is definitely a mode of composition where this objective (listener response) is the square aim, well, the majority of the time - a pretty direct form of communication. ;) That doesn't mean you have to be formulaic, or that you can't build, resolve or diminish harmonic tension, or whatever....But the progression is the foundation of the tune. If you've written a "good" progression, you'll know...as it will feel natural, and act as a guide for the direction of your melody, and finally the overall form of the song. There are plenty of other approaches which popular songwriters regularly employ (melody first, tunes based around a single riff or rythmic motif)...but, if you have the ears and the ability to translate it into a structural underpinning - a chordal approach works as well as any, imo.

Thanks for sharing this. I will be giving it a listen as soon as possible - this computer has a few midi glitches at the moment. However, I did take a look at the score and had a few comments/suggestions. First off, this piece can be played with relative ease by a pair of competent performers. It is perhaps a bit more challenging than a lot of material which two trumpeters of that year are likely to encounter. By this I mean primarily the recurring high concert Gflat5 - through A5, as well as some of the interval skips (eg, the really quick skip in trumpet 1, bar 31, and both parts - a bit - in bar 32...) There are a few other places that might be a bit tricky, but, again you said you wanted to give them a challenge...So really, there is nothing here which is out of range or impossible to do :D A few small notational issues I've noticed....Bars 90-91, tuplets both accented and slurred? If this is a phrase mark and not a slur, it's not necessary and will only confuse matters for the performers. Usually accents will be enunciated individually....Unless you would like them slurred, but with a sudden and uniform increase in volume - then you could preserve the slur, lose the accents, and notate a new dynamic instead. Totally up to you, though :) I am also curious about the contrary motion of minor 2nds...eg bars 106-109 and a couple of others places, but that's a good example of what I'm referring to...Not sure if the trade-off will really cut through - have you considered having your performers stand at a bit of a distance from one another? (perhaps on opposite sides of the performance space). This could lend and interesting antiphonal quality to the music, and bring out the chased figures which occur throughout. Directionality could bring a kind of focus to what you're doing with material whose intervals are so close. I've seen this done effectively with a few duet pieces in the past. Not sure if that's the effect you're going for, though - again, just a suggestion :) The two octave skip at the end *could* be an issue - show the piece to your players and get their thoughts on it, then take it from there. It's certainly not impossible - just make sure they can pull it off ;) I might think of more things to add later, but that's about it for now. I'm anxious to get the midi issues resolved so I can listen to this >.< lol From a musical standpoint, I think this piece could be very rewarding for your trumpeters and pianist, and interesting for your audience as well. Keep it up! ~K

I enjoyed this and thought it was fun to listen to :) The contrast between the ostinato figures/gooey harmonic climate of the opening, to the rousing fanfare made this a real joy. And yeah, the trumpet melody probably would be a lot of fun to play....same with the guitar at the beginning. Good work! ~K

Good grief, I didn't realize so many brass players hang out here :X Juicin is giving some very very practical advice - I agree wholeheartedly. Once you have built up your embouchure a bit - preferably after you can play a few notes above the staff - I would like to humbly recommend the following Advanced Lip Flexibilities That book, in a word, is possibly the best summary of any flexibility and strength-building regimen I've found anywhere. I'm sure portions of the same concepts can be found in other books, but everything in it is good. There is a lot of slurring and getting confident in where the partials of each fingering combination are "located" - it will help your muscle memory and play with more ease on all the "parts" of your horn. Get it, use it with moderation. Just a very, very helpful thing to have in your library - and of course, find appropriate portions to add to your warm-up/warm-down routine :)

That has, in my mind, always been one of the strange facts about a rather vital tool....Price is not uniform, nor is it much of an indicator about what you'll be getting. Neither are the better-known makes always the most expensive (V. Bach is a good example of that - their standard models seem to teeter on the lower end of price...but again, that's similar to an off-the-shelf model of anything..versus a "custom shop" or artist model type product). I've used a very old, beaten-up lookin' chunk of metal a buddy was looking to get rid of for nothing (or next to it, actually, if memory serves)....It was a Conn from way back in the day (I was looking for something to equate the body mass of a mega-tone when that was simply out of my price range lol)...It didn't have the same result, natch, but was a decent 'piece all the same. Then came the Wicks, the Schilkes (again), a brief affair with a bob reeves in there somewhere....The most I ever spent on a mouthpiece, if memory serves, was either a Denis Wick (70-something USD at the time)....Or a Bach megatone 2C, which was in the 60's. Again, though, there are some very nice ones available for much less - a lot of it depends on what you'll be using it for. There seem to be a lot of custom-style lead mouthpieces on the market today, so you could theoretically spend as much as you want ;) but you really needn't. Shop around and keep an open mind, would be my advice. Ask the folks at your local shop if they will show you some shallower/lead-type/cushioned rim/brilliant toned....any of those adjectives will normally give the brass player in the bunch a fair idea of what you're after :) Short answer: $30 - $*as high as you would care to go :thumbsup: lol

Oh, and while this topic remains open...For me it's almost every piece featured on a "classics to put you to sleep" compilation. Not because I honestly feel any of them constitute a particularly heinous musical crime...well....with the possible exception of a certain Ground Round we all know and cherish....But mostly because I feel the withering of all hope that those compilations will ever provide a "gateway" to promote more widespread enjoyment of genre-classical. I often wonder if, instead, it merely promotes....the popularity of those same 15-20 pieces :angry:

*agreed. Only time I ever found one of my Schilkes useful in orchestral playing was for the picc and sometimes on e-flat trumpet. I seem to remember the cup being a little more rounded/deeper than the 12a4a, was possibly a 13? Conductor wanted the Samuel Goldenberg portion of "pictures" played on an e-flat *shrugs*. It actually felt a little tougher than it did on the Bach C trumpet I had access to...Ah well, never got to play the E-flat often enough to get used to it totally. But the Schilke was the only mouthpiece I had which seemed to work with that horn lol Like juicin said earlier...whatever works, eh? hehe :D

Hiya onearmedbandit, As a lead player in big band/salsa/pick-up/session/whateverish situations, a Schilke 12a4a served me very well. It's a smaller investment, and even if you have difficulty getting accustomed to the "feel" of a Schilke right away, it's not a bad mouthpiece to have in your arsenal :) This isn't even the tightest cup Schilke makes, btw. I say it's a bit of an adjustment, as Schilkes have much different dimensions than the Bach line you're used to...Among other things, 12a4a and a number of their other pea shooters have a very generous, rounded rim and can be a bit of a help, endurance-wise. Word of caution, though - Most anything you choose will bring with it a few intonation issues you'll have to sort when you first start working with something that shallow...There may be a few out there which don't affect your instrument's tuning as much, but that's farrrr from typical ;) With a bit of practice, you'll figure out how much you usually need to compensate, and when. My strongest advice would be to make a trip to your local music store if you have one nearby. Take your horn - most of the time, they will let you try out a few...At least the stores near me always have. You'll know right away if a particular mouthpiece is one you can get used to or not. If you have a good range already (and I'm assuming you do, if you've been asked to play lead), what you're mainly after is something which will promote endurance. A "softer" rim has a tendency to help in that department. I agree with trumpetbri, Wick makes some very nice lead pieces as well...although I seem to remember them being a bit more pricey. Definitely don't desert your 7C, though. Consistent practice with it will only build your chops. However, on a gig, it comes down to endurance and the type of sound you want. Having a lead-style mouthpiece (which you're familiar with and can play with ease) is not a bad thing, especially on a long show where you're doing little else but high-note work. It happens. Just wanted to add that before "so and so plays all their lead jobs on a 7C and you should, too" debate begins. :D I hope this was in some way helpful. Good luck with your search, and above all, keep playin'!

Mine changes constantly as well. I don't know if this counts as a favorite yet - only heard it once, and, given the circumstances, probably won't get to hear it again for awhile. But... tonight, on public radio...from a simulcast of the NJSO Neeme J