Human Frailty & Umbral Awakening

I wrote this piece in an effort to capture the weakness and frailty of a man, as he fights a losing battle with clinical depression. an Umbra is the darkest park of a shadow, and so, umbral awakening is a metaphore for the dark parts of thought propogating in his mind.

The music itself is a result of the blending of two combative schools of thought; minimalism(chiefly in a steve reich style), and schoenbergs early expressionist, free atonality(i.e. the use of all twelve notes before repeating any, but not using rows). please let me know what you think.

Thank you all in advance.

EDIT: changed midi file to playback vibes, and removed the harp designation from the score.

Human Frailty & Umbral Awakenings.MUS

Human Frailty & Umbral Awakenings.MID

Harps are not chromatic like you are writing for it. And do you have any experience with clinical depression?

do you have any experience with clinical depression?

What a comment :D

LMAO. Bluey, I don't think I know you, but I like your humor. And I forgot to add, the gliss at the end is very impossible on a harp.

Harps are not chromatic like you are writing for it. And do you have any experience with clinical depression?

I failed to note that the harp is meant to be a vibraphone, GPO doesn't have a vinraphone option, however, a double strung, orchestral pedal harp can be tuned to play chromatic passages, Webern has several harp parts in pieces...but that's neither here nor there, it was meant to be a vibraphone.

and as to the amazingly blunt and tactless question...if you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you.

if you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you

That means YES :D

Harps can indeed play chromatic passages, I know of that. But if it should be a vibraphone, thats another thing,... hasn't GPO got vibraphone sound? :/

OMG GPO has got vibraphone sound and I just discovered the beauty of it! I think I shall write a piece with vibraphone :D

Bluey, I don't think I know you, but I like your humor.

Good to hear. You may leave the "y" at the end , though :D

That means YES :D

Harps can indeed play chromatic passages, I know of that. But if it should be a vibraphone, thats another thing,... hasn't GPO got vibraphone sound? :/

well in truth i would love for a harp to play, but unfortunately, it alters the texture too much from what i want.

and no GPO doesn't have a vibrophone, atleast not in the finale 2006 version.

and no GPO doesn't have a vibrophone, atleast not in the finale 2006 version.

I'm sorry, I always generalize too much. MY GPO has got vibraphone sound, but it's the sibelius edition, so that might be the difference. And now that you brought up that instrument, I've come to like it :D

I'm sorry, I always generalize too much. MY GPO has got vibraphone sound, but it's the sibelius edition, so that might be the difference. And now that you brought up that instrument, I've come to like it :D

oh it's one of the real beuties, especialy when it rise out of a thick heavy texture....oh man i hate you for having vibes....but best of luck, i'm eager to hear what you come up with.

Don't expect anything quick soon,but I DO have to agree with you, even tough you are borg, which I am immune against.

hey hey, keep it down, and seriously, keep it in the shoutbox or off topic. but vibes really do kick a#@!!!

Ok, when did the harp become chromatic? It's true that the only treatise on instrumentation and orchestration that I have offically studied is the one by Berlioz with commentary by Strauss, But I know that even pedal harps back then couldn't play heavily cromatic passages. As far as I knew, a harp couldn't play a C, C#, D, and an E at the same time.

Good to hear. You may leave the "y" at the end , though :D

The Y is at the end...

and as to the amazingly blunt and tactless question...if you can't figure it out, I'm not going to tell you.

Hmm...well. I think I was quite in line asking. You are the one who brought it up, and I was just wondering, because a lot people with clinical depression aren't crawling into corners and dying of their sorrows. What would be tactless is writing a piece of music and telling the story of someone who is clincally depressed, without knowing it personally.

And while we're on the subject, I have clinical depression. My mother has it worse. She's been out of work for 10 years, and stays home most of the time in bed. But she's a fighter. Certainly not crawling into a corner and giving up, as much as she may want to. Anyways, I hope my little rant didn't offend you, I'm just so used to people using the term lightly. "My dog died. I'm depressed." ...well. No. That former owner of that former dog isn't depressed, it's sad. Anyway, sorry for my rude behavior. I sound like a stuck up know-it-all after re reading that. Oh well, I needed to say it.

What I meant was that you might as well call me that name without the y as the end, get it?

lol

As to the hourglass, it's very fun to mix all kind of things together, without bounds, so,... okay... :D

Why keep it up? I guess you said that to me? But have you ever heard something from me? :D

Your name is blue? How...tranquil!

It is. why tranquil? meant in the french sense of it?

in the interest of mending fences, I'll go ahead and tell you the story. A close friend of mine with cerebral palsey has been fighting damage to his kidneys and liver, he needs a transplant, but he keeps spiraling downward into depression. this piece was in many ways a coping tool for dealing with his worsening state.

i have clinical depression, and i do fight, and i stay on top, but some who have it don't fight, don't seek help, and frequently don't survive, but I do understand where you were coming from now and hope we're still on neutral terms.

Of course we are on neutral terms? Why not? Would you like some pudding, friend?

And...*clears throat* on...measure 76, the...triad...is ....inverted. maybe a Bb, would suffice.

Yeah that was for the relativity of it all.

And...*clears throat* on...measure 76, the...triad...is ....inverted. maybe a Bb, would suffice.

you blew my mind for a second, I knew my piece only had 30 measures but i had to check anyway, and then i felt pretty rediculous, having realized the joke. *sigh*

but so far I've not gotten much constructive criticism....se la vie.

*shudders*

se la vie

Should be "C'est la vie",....

Blue, great minds think alike. I was just thinking the same thing and was about to post it! Ha!

Obviously. But now I'm off to my coffin. Bye

As far as the critique,

How does a vibraphone play four notes at once?

And, this is a well written, well thought out piece of music. You can't really critique atonal music because it is so personalized, you know? Like, it doesn't follow a pattern, so there really can't be anything wrong with it, unless it's just total crap, which this obviously isn't. But it really doesnt stike me as showing what you wanted it to show. I kind of think of being lost inside of a computer.

mallet players practice a technique called double sticking, where 2 mallets are held in each hand. one between the index and middle finger, and one between the ring finger and pinky.

Thank you for the critique, I appreciate the honesty and i see what you mean about the difficulty of reviewing atonal pieces. perhaps I should put a lower voice into the texture, maybe a cello doubling the violin at the octave lower....at any rate thanks again. c'est la vie

HA! C'est true.