Overture and Gloria

Hey guys. This is a new piece of mine, just finished last night. Took a few months to compose, and it's my entry for my high school's composition contest. I'm pretty proud of it, even if it was totally rushed along. I should go back and do some serious quality orchestrating later, but I still think it's a pretty good piece. Enjoy Overture and Gloria, for orchestra and choir. 13:20

Op_12_Overture_and_Gloria.MUS

Op_12_Overture_and_Gloria.MID

Absolutely excellent. The ending is especially good. And if you don't win, I'd be very interested to hear the work of the other composers in your school. :D

My only suggestion is, as you say, to orchestrate it slightly more. Some sections are a bit thinly orchestrated.

I'm surprised that any high school would have enough composers in it to hold a composition contest... if it's like any high school I've ever heard of, I don't see anyone standing a chance against this.

Good job of passing the melody around, and I especially like the use of the winds. I actually feel that it's a bit heavy in places and might benefit from reduced orchestration. In the faster passages, perhaps some more active string parts would help?

Fantastic piece - at times it reminded me of Beethoven or Weber's music. I hear some Fidelio and Der Freischütz influences in here: is that at all accurate? I love the section following the slow introduction... the fast moving rhythms and the brillant use of winds makes it a wonderfully enjoyable section. There are aspects that could use some works - for example I think you lose sight of the thematic material at times. However your harmonies are brillant and your writing for choir sounds fabulous. Keep up the great work!

Our school has at least 14 composers, and a composition class. Sadly only about 2 others compose in the same style as me :P. Most are popular music composers.

Is it a school for the arts? If not, it's surprising to me - I went to a huge high school (3100 students), but it offered no music theory classes at all until a couple years after I graduated, and I don't think there was a single composer in the school (I didn't start composing myself until halfway through college).

I love it :P It's awesome.

Wow I'm glad to get such great responses! I've officially submitted my entry, and my orchestra teacher says it's very nice and he liked many parts, but it is very long and hard. It is long, but we have a huge program for spring (our next concert) including two pieces by an old professor of his who composes in a modern style. Unfortunately, it's hard to appreciate that sort of music in a high school orchestra (just talk to the players), whereas I think the kids would be ecstatic to put on this. As for it being hard... well we just pulled off Dvorak 4 Finale, which is by no means easy. Certainly much harder than this in my opinion.

Anyhow, the contest can be a bit of a joke. I don't think it happened my freshman year, my sophomore year a junior won it, but junior year I beat the then senior for it, and now I think there are a grand total of 5 or so entries for this year. It's picking up, especially since we have a new teacher who wants to get the harmony/arranging class involved. Arrangements are allowed as well, though.

Anyhow, it's great to have a nice reception for a piece like this.

Fantastic! you plan on going to college for music?

Perhaps. I plan to be an engineer primarily, but a music degree may be in order if it works out. We'll see.

I doubt I could do music as a profession. It's about the only time these days that I can sit down to do something and have a completely blank slate in front of me. I need that somehow.

And so as of today I have officially won the contest. Our HS orchestra will be doing a sight-reading soon :P

Congratulations! You deserve it.

Congrats. Good stuff! The piece is great!

I liked it. I liked your melodies. I liked your chord selection. I liked everthing about it. It fits your form very well. Of course, there's nothing too dramatically original about, nor is there much about it that will linger in my mind, though it was good.

Congratulations on winning the competition.

Wow, congrats on winning the contest! No surprise really, fantastic piece! That is incredible that you school has so many composers it can have a competition! My high school had an enormous music department as well, but all performers, and awesome opera singers! I was the sole composer that I know of, but I was one of the performers too (piano, singing).

- Jen

Well supposedly the amount entered dropped to two again this year... I talked to someone who was supposed to enter something big (he's gonna do comp. in college), just said auditions were too much work and he didn't care enough. Bummer. So now comes me printing parts and the big sight-read :)

Thanks for all your comments guys. I'm glad everyone likes it.

I envy your school, my school have a population of almost 2700, and less than 10 people composes...

And I in turn envy you, Mahlertitan. I went to a high school with 3100 students, and then college at a university with 900 undergrads. There are 700 students in my medical school. At my high school there wasn't a single composer (I was the only one to even attempt it), you can probably count the composers in Caltech's history on your fingers, and I'm definitely the only composer (and one of only a handful of musicians) at the USC medical school, unless you count a 94-year-old professor emeritus...

I was the only composer at my high school as well (a school of ~2000-2500) - the high school orchestra rehearsed my first symphony, first movement which I got to hear (was a great experience). Then I came to the University of Toronto, where there are more composers than I can imagine, all stuck within a student body of ~60,000! However, having my high school orchestra perform one 1st symphony is still one of my fondest memories: I suspect that it'll be a great experience for you as well!

I'm having trouble with this music. The midi file seems corrupted somehow. Throughout the last half of the piece a string chord and choral chord is held continuously, and it ruins the work. You should take a look at the file and see what's going wrong. On my end I cannot figure out where those notes are coming frlom as they are not visible in the score.

What I heard of the beginning was quite interesting though.

Ah I know how some MIDI files do that. Just skip ahead a few seconds in the file and see if it continues. IDK how it could have happened since I've listened to the MIDI many times. It happens if you start a MIDI note but don't stop it, which... I didn't do. haha. So who knows. Does the .MUS work fine?

Heroic and exciting. But, I think it dragged on a bit long. It kept going and going. I think I would have ended sometime around page 8 where it feels like an ending. Around page 10 I began to lose interest.

Overall, good instrumentation although if you had created more of a melody, you could have changed instrumentation to increase interest and you could have given different instruments the melody and exciting. I also would have changed keys a bit more to create more interest and make more tension. Still not bad. (Also I think maybe more of a main melody that really catches on would help the piece!)

Still, from me, I'd consider this post a compliment.

Well done (just remember, don't let your pieces drag on for too long)

Thanks for the comments, I don't mind a bit!

About it dragging on, I have a feeling there will be cuts when my HS orchestra plays it. I was trying to achieve an epic feel in the length, and I think to some degree I got it. Anyhow, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and if you have any specific orchestratation critiques or comments, don't hesistate to add!