Enthrall - Concert Band

That is correct, I am posting more music now.

I wrote it in a couple weeks, because I was exciting to do something that my school band could play. I realized that my school band has its limits, so that probably won't happen, but I continued to write anyway.

It's called Enthrall, simply because it's exciting. When composing it, I was trying to keep the energy constant. There is a slower section in the middle, but the energy starts up again immediately after.

There are a couple little ideas keeping this whole thing together, so it's a bit more coherent than most of my music. You'll be glad for that I'm sure.

No PDF. Not until someone asks for it, because frankly, you'd be relatively better off without the despicable mess that NWC makes as a score.

Enjoy this. It's possibly my best music to date, and you get to hear a brief bit that reminds me of the music I used to write.

Enthrall.mid

Enthrall.nwc

I really enjoyed it. I was reminded of playing Celebration by Philip Sparke. The theme was reiterated well, although at some points the harmony that the overlaps of the theme created was a little harsh...I'll give that up to bad midi sounds.

Nice job :)!

Can you please post a score? My mac can't run NWC.

I will later. But you have to promise not to eat me for its terrible quality.

I understand NWC doesn't have the best score producing quality. It's part of what stood in the way of me getting in the composition program initially.

Maybe I was lying. I'd pretty much have to delete all the rest of my files to fit a PDF on my account.

You could get a geocities or angelfire site. It's not optimal, but you could host it there.

I'm just reluctant to critique anything unless I have a score, because something could sound fine in midi but be incredibly impractical.

Sigh. If only NWC had a port to Mac...

It's written for a school band, I made sure everything is practical.

I don't have the patience to make a PDF, then get an account on whatever, and then posting it here.

Sorry.

It sounds like video game music, which has nothing to do with the MIDI quality. The ostinato, and the use of Lydian mode both contribute to that.

It's a rather jarring stop around 50 seconds into it. It feels like you were just like "Okay, section one, done." as opposed to trying to make a more cohesive switch. I think it works okay how it is, but it could be done better.

One of my concerns with band music is that they do not utilize the percussion section. Percussionists spend so much time sitting, when you could really help them grow as musicians and enhance the music by using them better.

This feels like the middle section was unnecessary. It was "ostinato, slow section, ostinato". I didn't really feel like it was held together superbly. The last section especially sounded tacked on. If the piece were a few minutes longer, it might feel like a 'piece' as opposed to a few cool ideas.

Just my thoughts.

I concur with Jamie about his general comments of your piece. You start with a good idea and one that sounds like the band would have a lot of fun playing but the following sections entrance starting at 50" feel too sudden due a lack of preparation. You could easily have a transition made of you opening theme juxtaposition a portion against newer material as if the music wants to continue full speed to a premature conclusion but is interrupted by a new motive (or an alteration of the present one). You could create also a new melody with some of the the opening motive and its inversion or a chorale like section - deriving the harmony from various permutations of the melody (eg, inversion in bass, melody in tenor/alto and retrograde in top) and then alter the chords so they have a harmonic/melodic flow.

Also the ending harmonies are a bit strange - something I would hear from Granados or Albeniz but in this case it doesn't jive with what preceeded -- although I do like your idea to have the opening melody somewhat stray and migrate to in the lower voice in the end.

The piece has a lot of rhythmic energy. Great job! It sounds like a student group could do a good job with it, since the rhythms aren't insane, but they would be challenging enough that the group would learn from them. Also, the melodies are very nice (the scale patterns are great for a student ensemble).

I've afraid I have to agree with the "middle section needs work" posters. It sounds kind of slapped together in this regard. Instead of a slow section, you might keep the same tempo going as the beginning, but just make it felt differently and change the timbres being used. The beginning sounds very 8/8-ish (3+3+2), syncopated, and energetic. Why not make the middle section be felt in 2 (ONE - two - THREE - four, if you are in 4/4 time) and make it sound lighter (woodwinds, perhaps) while keeping some kind of underlying rhythm in the brass (mutes?) or quiet percussion?

Another issue: this may just be a matter of personal preference, but the chord that pervades the piece (it sounds like Db major with a raised 4th; hard to tell since I can't open .NWC files) is rather overused in much contemporary music. Until recently, I was a 'slave' to this chord; it was pretty much the only chord I used in some pieces. My teacher actually banned me from using it! :D

We now call it 'the band chord' (or, as I like to call it, the 'John Mackey chord'). Instead of using just those pitches, my teacher taught me a neat little trick (although this is difficult to do with a melody; easier to do with just strict harmonies): keep the original notes in the chord (Db, F, G, Ab), but then try adding some others (at times I will even add 1/2 of the scale: Db, Eb, F, G, Ab). This way, the chord still functions the same way, but the audience is less likely to 'tune it out' (not that they would; it's a cool piece) because it sounds slightly different from what they are used to hearing.

Sorry for the long post. Other than those things, I think the piece is cool, and I like your writing style (very upbeat and science-fiction sounding).

Please post more!

congratulations in composing for band. The wind ensemble, or symphonic band, is an invaluable resource for new music. The world needs more composers who both can write good quality band music and, for the schools, accessible music.

There are few things more thrilling than having your music performed by your school band. It will open doors, recognition, and the appreciation of your friends and teachers, but it's definitely a very exciting thing to happen.

I'm curious to know if you've heard of the Encore Wind Band Competition? I've never won, but it's a good place to compete if you are interested in that, for people under 19. Good prize money.

There's another band competition in Spain, that's very good, and very legit, I forget what it's called, but I'd google it.

I have some advice for writing this kind of music. If you know of any other high schools, send gift copies to them, as a way to spread your music and get your name known.

It sounded ok, the only thing I have against it is that it seems really random and unexpected at times, oh well.

Hello,

I really liked the piece overall. Nice counterpoint and intertwined rhythms. The only thing that I think could use some revising is the length of ideas. I fell like we go too quickly from the jumpy theme to the slower theme and then back again. I think like those ideas need to develop more before the piece moves on into the new idea. But other than that, your melodies and orchestrations are amazing. Keep it up!

It's written for a school band, I made sure everything is practical.

I don't have the patience to make a PDF, then get an account on whatever, and then posting it here.

Sorry.

Well if you feel this way then it's not worth the rest of us to listen to it.

It might be excellent.

You don't want to miss out!

No. If you don't want us to see it, then I don't want to see it either.

Do you really, really, really want me to post a score?

Okay, here it is.

Enthrall.pdf

However, if all you've got to say is that the score is awful and messy, I don't want to hear it. Obviously if I wanted to give it to someone to play, I'd fix it first.

Cut the attitude! If you were a true composer you would have a perfectly fixed score completed before you posted it on a public forum. It demeans you as a composer to post a score that looks like rubish.

Give another scenaro, say I was a Band Director browsing around for new works by young composers for my band on this forum. Say I was "enthralled" by you piece. (Pun intended.) However, since your score looks like junk, I wouldn't ask you for it to be played. This is the real world. Composing is about putting the music onto paper. How the score looks takes precident over how the score sounds. So fix it up, then you might get someone to play it, because they won't offer unless they see the score first.

Yes, I know all of that.

How about the way it sounds?