"Ever Since" - a Pop ballad

It started out as an attempt at funk, but the melody and the strings just screamed "pop ballad," so here it is. No lyrics yet, so it's going to be titled "Ever Since" for now. I think this is my third attempt at guitars/bass/piano/drum set? Well, I used a loop, so the drums don't reall count, hehe. Something is wrong with the synth pad so it's now a synth voice, making it harder to find the melody, sorry ^_^; I could turn this into a score, but I know that hardly anyone has 2008 software yet, so... yeah. o.o; Enjoy! =] Please leave comments! Thank you!

EDIT: Just a warning -- it's clich

eversince.MID

eversince2.MID

You could make this a funk piece, no problem.

Overall, a little difficult to totally gather the melody from the texture of the piece. I think this piece would have some potential if it were Music Theater. It sounds a bit like modern MT to me. That's not necessarily good or bad, just an observation.

It feels to me like maybe the end should do something a little different, or perhaps we should have a bridge. Maybe a bridge and then a modulation? It certainly helped keep "Turn the Beat Around" interesting. ;)

Ahh, yes, a bridge. It would make sense to include a bridge, thank you! The chorus's melody must tire one's ears after a while, hehe.

I'm sure that the melody will be more easily identified once the background music is toned down a bit and the vocal parts are sung by human voices. Problem is, I might have to sing them myself O_O; Scary thought...

I have a question, though. What is Music Theater? It sounds interesting...

Well, thanks for the feedback! :)

Music theater is just what it sounds like - Music and Theater combined. There are pretty much two types of staged music productions, musicals and operas. Think Annie, Beauty and the Beast, The Music Man, for Musicals.

Ahh, I see. Interesting...

If you don't mind me asking, are there any particular elements of my piece that makes it sound MT-ish?

(Haha. Empty-ish it is.)

I think the main thing was the chord progressions and the way they were presented. In order for it to be in a musical, obviously the melody would need to be much more rhythmic, to correspond with lyrics.

Certainly musicals are not limited to certain chord progressions, and certain chord progressions aren't always in musicals. That just made me think of a musical.

yeah it's pretty musical theatreish, musical theatre tells a story so is usually emotive. (i.e. makes people feel a certain way....then again most music does that) well anyway it's usually pretty flashy like this one, with the fast runs up the scale and the cymbals going. But i'm generalising, musical theatre isn't always like that. Les miserables has some of the most complex pieces of music i've ever heard.

I like the piece. :)

Ahh, I see. Thanks for the feedback!

I posted up another MIDI with modifications to the piece. I added a bridge and slightly changed the melody. However, I think that the bridge makes the modulation weaker. Ehh, it's possibly due to the sucky playback. Oh well.

I figured out what was wrong with the MIDI channels and voices and fiddled around with it. I also added some details to the beginning and the bridge. I'm pretty sure that this will be the penultimate version that will be tinkered with after I come up with lyrics.

eversince3.MID

This is good, fun. I can see why people are relating it to Music Theatre, with things like "Legally Blonde" represented on Broadway right now. Theatre music has become much more pop-ized. When I think Modern Music Theatre, I think more along the lines of William Finn and Michael John LaChiusa and Jason Robert Brown (who--admitedly--has a rock influenced sound) and not the "Legally Blonde"s of the world. But this song does have a nice feel to it, a good build, an arc. That's what lends it most to Theatre music, in my opinion. Right now, it definitely has a more pop-ish sound. A lot depends on the lyrics of course. If you wanted to go in the direction of Music Theatre, you might want to take out the rather static rhythms and more a slightly more complex accompaniment figure under the melody.

I look forward to the next installment!