last life

Also most of the people who wrote those kind of theories weren't working with equal temperament, so there were actual tangible difference between the intervals. Equal temperament wasn't fully adopted until late in the 19th century (some church organs...). Now the intervals are the same in every key. But if you happen to working in a non-TET system... Then there is the issue of instrument resonance. The farther away from an instruments "home-key" the less resonant it will be. Even string instruments have keys which sound clearer, usually keys close to the open strings. The dark, closed, sound of a distant key can be quite appealing though. Some people argue for the psychological impact of sharp keys vs. flat keys, and I kinda get where they're coming from, but this is most likely not that significant (depending on the level of detail you include in a piece of music). It's still ultimately up to you though, whatever seems best for the piece. What you do now is probably fine, it's what I usually do. I've been writing way too many pieces with an E 'tonic' lately though...

I can't seem to write a piece suitable for his level. I always end up just doing stuff which is easy for me, which is usually horrible for pedagogical purposes. It's hard to say whether I'll be able to finish a piece by the end of today, I have to fix up my piece for the other competition also... This piece is pretty simple. I started out thinking about about Gagaku (Japanese court music), but then I started thinking about Satie. Meanwhile, everything other than those two sources slipped. I tried to avoid putting in things which would be unsatisfying to listen to, because I've gotten into the bad habit of putting intentionally awkward moments in my pieces. There were still a few things (like the ending), which I liked too much to remove, but I think there's some sort of balance to the piece which makes it listenable. You tell me. Please. Please comment. Say anything. Especially if you don't like it (and why). Failed piece for jawoodruff TWO

It seems that a lot of it should be notated in 2/4. Right now, you have this near-constant hemiola, and it makes little sense written like that. Other than that, cool piece, a little blocky, but that basically comes with the difficultly level.

It's not too hard, don't worry about it.

brainfreeze

What you said is true any time we hear a sound. Maybe not when the computer plays a sine tone, but even then the speaker is adding other pitches and coloring the sound.

Same with any instrument?

Quite the opposite, "non-pitched" percussion seems to be nonsensical to me. Just because people historically haven't cared about/been able to hear the pitch doesn't mean it doesn't have one. We are talking about our ideals for these terms, not just what people commonly say, am I right? Besides, this was originally brought up to show there is no such thing as atonal music, if you adopt a literal meaning of the word. As you said your self, "non-pitched" percussion produce tones - therefore they do not lack tones, and cannot be called non-toned (atonal). And what do you say about glissandi, which are made up of many unspecified pitches? Or chordal instruments such as the Shō, which can only produce multiple tones? Non-pitched?

That melody is a like a shred guitar solo.

Isn't the defining element (if such a thing exists) of any instrument the timbre? A clarinet is a clarinet due to it timbre -- and it's range, but indeterminately pitched insturments are indeterminate within a range.

i likethis, it refelcts the opinion ofmany composers. unfortunately the lack of pdfscore makes it hard tosee. i am blind. also needs more cymbals

The repeat at the end feels redundant and unnecessary. Each of the sections is already so similar to the last (harmonically), making the return not feel that great because you never moved that far from the original idea. Also, you already had a wonderful ending at the end of C. It's pretty great other than that. I feel each of the sections to be a bit rushed though.

The ending section where Berlioz starts getting off on the idea of a NINE-HUNDRED PERSON ORCHESTRA is pretty hilarious.

This is nice. Post more.

Needs more variation imo. Having the same rhythm for so long sounds overly mechanical. I like the idea of the piece though, and some of the harmony, hope you finish the set!

By more wild, I mean more extreme climaxes, more out-of-control, and more variety--yeah. I don't think more layers would make it more wild. For variations, think of all the different ways you can transform something and still have it be related to the original material--and you can use any of them.

But as far as I know, Brain-freezes don't include tones...

But is a brain-freeze atonal?

I meant that a performance of just this piece would feel strange. In the context of other pieces on a program, it might make sense.

Ignoring the term "atonality" means ignoring, or at least not giving significance to, the large group of composers whose music is specifically reacting to what they perceive as atonality, and the vast majority of people who believe in such an idea. While the idea might not be completely waterproof, no concept is without it's contradictions. It's important to understand the history of the word "atonal" because it's a huge part of the history of music in the last 100 years (the word and the related social structures). We can't just ignore the idea because our music is inevitably affected by that history.

That's fine, it's a subject connection, which is completely cool in my book. I don't really have any comments that Jawoodruff didn't already mention (the flow). I liked most of it, but I don't really understand the opening chords.

I think keeping a few thinner harmonies is fine. As for larger forms: I agree, it's very difficult for me too. I think it's important to be able to develop an idea to it's fullest extent (whatever that is), so that you can have control over the flow of development. That might be impossible though, as I certainly don't have that kind of control yet.

The finishing touches are the hardest part.

Some that I thought of after/while reading this topic (the real question is impossible--??favorite??): Mathis Der Mahler Symphony Hindemith Symphonie Op. 21 Webern Symphony No. 8 Mahler (i.e. Mahler symphonies) Symphony No. 41 Mozart (MOZART) Glen Branca: Most of my favorite orchestral music is not "Symphony".

Let me just state it simply for who don't understand: atonal music is bad, tonal music is good. That's also how you tell the difference.