anthonyzerillocomposer

A more appropriate title would be "Bach's F Major Invention No.8 arranged for ..."

I really don't know what to make of this piece. This being the case, I shan't comment as I have many things to say against it, whilst I have very little to say for it. Sorry.

I don't mind downloading this Notepad thing if it IS free. But you are right, in terms that we would have to load a whole program just to play a file which could be MIDIed or MP3ed. I assume it is easy enough with Finale? Edit: Oops - just re-read your post. It ONLY reads? No play? Forget it then!

I am sure it does, but I am not at your school. May I suggest you post a MIDI version at least, so those without Finale can hear the piece?

I would love to give you feedback, but unless I go out and spend muchos money on Finale, I cannot open the file and therefore cannot hear it!!

OK. I like it, but there is something odd about the notes I hear and the notes I see. That bass part, for example sounds higher than is written in the score. Also, I hear instruments not actually in the score - cymbals? I would suggest you find out how a score is layed out i.e. instrument order. In your case, you have instruments which should be in a proper order but they are all over the place. Woodwind comes first and strings last, for example. I would say it's good for a first attempt and would have liked to have heard more noise from the sustained strings as they were somewhat lost in the piece. Am I right in thinking this piece has a Eastern European feel to it? Maybe a folk song-like melody from one of the countries bordering Russia?

Correct. Concerto Grosso is when it's more than one solo instrument. I have to admit that it sounded more like a a set of variations over a ground bass, with the ground bass itself a subject of variations. Then it became overture-like, then returned back to the theme and variations over the ground bass.

When I said he didn't write choral music, I should have said he wrote choral music! :toothygrin: A bit like Vivaldi invented the photocopier/Xerox... :whistling:

If that's the case, I retract what I posted about you. I write in many styles, not copying people but being influenced by them. Unless I have been told otherwise, I have never been 'accused' of writing orchestral pop or indeed anything pop. Although I have been known to listen to the odd pop song, my writing (which includes chord progression and chord structures) isn't pop. Neither is it that horrible noise they call 20th (and 21st) Century compositions! I like my pieces to have a tune and nice harmonies, not some random blots of ink on a paper joined up with beams and stems to make 'music'. I am not a professional, although I have been commissioned to write pieces of music of mainly choral in genre. I write mainly for hobby although I would say 50% of what I have written has been performed. None of my orchestal stuff has been.

We are talking about CHORAL music. Debussy didn't write any choral music.

You are entitled to your opinion, of course, as is everybody else. I don't listen to pop music, so I have no idea what the song you have quoted sounds like. My grounding is solidly in classical music. So, if I have stolen it lock, stock and barrel, then someone must have sent it telepathically across! :toothygrin: As for the blues ending, you are not familiar with the music of Karl Jenkins, I take it. Also, it's not a flute (the MP3 does not do it justice), it's pan pipes. As for the the absolute mess you have made by attempting to sing (LOL), keep it to yourself. I would NEVER (and I mean NEVER) bastardise someone else's work regardless of whether or not it is good or bad. Shows how professional you are! And if you are not professional, then you show downright disrespect to a fellow human being, let alone a fellow musician (if that's what you are).

Actually, and you are right about being lost in the MP3, the tubular bell is supposed to ring until it dies out. So everyone else stops whilst the bell carries on its ring.

I can't add more to it myself, as it has been said already. There are times when I break the rules and allowing para 5ths (never octaves as this does weaken chords, as mentioned above), but they are not blunt and obvious to be honest. One thing I will add is that a choir sings 4-part harmony. Granted, you can double up the voices (if you have 2 or more per part, of course), and then you can add more notes to the 4-note chord, but in essence we work on 4 notes. If 2 voices move in parallel 5ths or octaves, it weakens that transition and limits the harmony in the 2nd chord making the harmonies not so rich. This was mentioned above. But one of the rules which was not mentioned was the doubling of 3rds. This is allowed in minor chord but not major. Test it yourself. A G-Bb-D-Bb chord sounds richer than its major version of G-B-D-B which sounds weak. Something about harmonics and frequencies etc... Also, a nice little test you can do at a piano is to play an A chord without the C# (so As and Es) in an arpeggio (up and down the piano) fashion whilst pressing the substain pedal down to build up a big chord, then with the pedal still pressed down, play any C natural (not sharp). Your ears won't like the result and it sounds weird, out of tune, horrible. That's because the tonic (A) and the Dominant (E) played together resonate and produce simulated frequencies of the C# (although not played), and when you play a C natural, it produces a false relation and the chord sounds clashed. Anyway, I digress...

Funny thing was that Titanic was written at about the same time, from what I was told, as someone else has pointed it out. So which came first, the chicken or the egg? :toothygrin: As for the comments made by people, thank you. Bearing in mind this piece was written over a few years back, my writing has changed (hopefully for the better).

Well, I don't use any libraries at the moment. In order for me to save in MP3, I have to first save as MIDI (in Sibelius, that is), then use Direct MIDI to MP3 converter, which I think uses SoundFonts, and the MIDI sounds different to the MP3 converted version.

Sorry to say this, but your chord progressions are rather suspect, including many parallel 5ths and octaves. In addition, the piece is very homophonic (no, not homophobic), homophonic i.e. chordal with very little polyphony and/or counterpoint. And the chords used apart from some 'special ones' such as 6ths, 9ths etc... are your typical I IV V and Vii. There are some good moments in there, especially with the word painting used. So not all that bad!

OK. I didn't quite see a rocket blasting off into space, but I did see a rocket being filmed by a moving camera panning left to right, down to up, zooming in and out of the rocket. Then I hear the rocket ignite, but it must have been one of those rockets of the 24th C (i.e. Star Trek), 'cos it sped off in seconds and was already in space before most rockets would have still been in the earth's atmosphere trying to escape the gravitational pull! I liked it, but I am not convinced it demonstrated the rocket from a standing position to one dissappearing into space. The main reason for this is the length of the piece - it's too short. No, I didn't say make it a 20 mins one, just that a couple of mins seems to short. Harmonies, chord progressions are nice, and I like what you have done with the orchestration. I thought I heard a harp, and if so, it sort of got lost in the hustle and bustle of the piece. If it's not a harp, then... I like it, don't get me wrong, it's a nice piece of programme music.

My spelling is astrocious! Just re-read my post. Maybe I was typing too quickly and clicked the Submit Reply button too quickly...

Yeah, but hide it as you just want the effect to happen and not have it printed on the score.

Oh I don't debate it's not singable, just that tenors are comfortable with a certain range. If they are not, they are demoted to baritone, and should say it, bass! :whistling: Your tenor part encompasses all. So, who are the real tenors, and who are the fake ones? :toothygrin:

Exactly my point! Software like Sibelius or Finale won't see that, it will see a block chord. But in real life, that chord will never be played as a block.

I know about double-stopping or indeed any version of stopping. I was merely playing Devil's Advocate.

Yeah, it's a fun little piece, and I detect that its inspiration wasn't from a classical background - it has an element of classical pop to it methinks. I like the intro then the 'varations' over a ground bass followed by the intro again. It sorts of binds the whole piece. I would have liked to hard heard a little more development in the middle, but this would have made the piece a little longer, which isn't a problem. I heard some tuned timpani in there...

Nothing. It's just a little bit odd, that's all.

That tenor part goes to the extremes! You got some really low notes and then those top A and Ab (middle A and Ab)!! Do you have a recording, either by real people or maybe a MIDI? Not everyone has Finale, for example...