A Saxophone Quartet?

This is one of my first pieces, the first I've deemed worthy to post here.

Naturally, it is with the instrument I am most familiar with. It is written in roughly 3 parts of equal length- an introduction, a moving melody section, and a slower, more majestic (hopefully) section.

My main area of concern is the transition in general, especially to the second part at around 0:52- I'm not exactly sure the best way to do so. Please help me here.

I also have the key if anyone is interested.

Sax quartet.mid

Sax quartet.mus

40 views and no posts? Is it really that bad?

Chris,

One thing you must understand is that on this site, roughly 10% of people who view will comment, but patience is essential.

OK about the piece:

What you have done isn't bad. I liked the fact that you had clear sections in your piece.

Some things you can work on:

1.) First of all, it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish between the tenor and baritone parts. This is because their melodic lines often cross each other. You should try to work around this.

2.) Your harmonic direction needs to be more clear-cut. It can be very confusing to the listener if there is not a logical chord progression (I.E. I IV vi II V I .... etc. etc... there can be many variations, it's all up to you).

3.) Those sixteenth note ascending runs, I gather, are your theme. In common practice music, sixteenth notes are not often played with irregular ascending intervals. You can do these things: either go up by steps, go up by thirds, go up a fourth and go down 2 steps, or go up a 5th and come down a fourth or a third. I suggest going up by thirds. Which thirds to use? The thirds that are part of the chord that is occuring at that time, of course. This will help to solidify the whole piece.

4.) Quartet writing is difficult to do because you have two major things occuring simultaneously: counterpoint and harmony. Counterpoint is basically a set of rules... you can find them in books or on this website: article: ntoll.org: Species Counterpoint . Not only that, you have the harmony in the background. You know, the chords based off of each scale degree. Each has its own feel/direction. Chord progressions are the result of chords placed in a row. Work on that. Experiment. You'll get better.

5.) I'd say, right now, solidify the counterpoint and harmony. Then, recapitulate the original theme. (As in repeat it with development).

6.) Make sure that you distribute the parts properly. The alto(s) shouldn't get the theme throughout the whole piece.

That was expansive. Keep improving.