Wind Quintet

Hey everyone! I'm Alex and I just found this site a few hours ago. I had no idea such a place existed, and it seems very positive, so I'd like to share my first serious composition, finished in the spring of 2007, and get some feedback on it. Although I composed almost nothing throughout my entire life, I decided I wanted to be a composition major.

I wrote the quintet in the first of two years studying composition privately (just graduated with a BM in comp last month) and it was really, really hard for me. To call it writer's block wouldn't even begin to describe the agony it was to just come up with several bars of this piece, which is about 10 minutes. I've uploaded a PDF and a MIDI realization here and an MP3 of the live performance that's pretty good but not great.

I've come a long way (or I think I have, anyway) in the last few months, and I know there are problems with the piece. I really want the benefit of objective viewpoints that offer constructive criticism, suggestions, or praise (if due) of specific parts of the score, the overall effectiveness of the piece, and general tendencies in my compositional approach.

I see glaring flaws, quite honestly, and half the time I just want to tear the whole thing to shreds and deny I ever wrote it.

I wrote a song cycle this academic year (on texts from Anthony Hecht's The Presumptions of Death), but it's not in shape for me to put up yet. I plan to some time this autumn, after I've thoroughly revised it and gotten it performed (well).

One last thing: I've recently realized that yes, I actually do want music composition to be my career. It's my passion and I want to create works of art as great as I can possibly have the vision to. It's dangerous to ask so don't worry about hurting my feelings here: based on my wind quintet (again, my first attempt at a substantial piece), do people here think I have "what it takes" (enough compositional talent and insight) to become a successful composer? I know it's a really mean question to ask, but if I'm no good at writing music (which would explain why it's so difficult for me) then I need HONEST feedback now so that I can re-evaluate my long-term goals and pick an area that I do have talent in (no clue what it would be). It's better to know people's impressions now than to hear that my music sucks after a decade of working on it...

That got a little heavy. Sorry for all the questions! In any event, I'll be less confused and self-conscious the next time I post.

Thank you all in advance for your time and patience. This forum seems to be such a godsend; it's incredible to find a place like this only just now and have like-minded individuals to bond with. I've missed everyone here!

Alex

01. Wind Quintet.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Wind Quintet.pdf

Wind Quintet.mid

Wind Quintet (transposed).pdf

I would suggest looking around the site, and listening to and critiquing others' works. These people are your peers, and it will give you a good indication of what people your age are doing.

As for the piece, I'll check it out tomorrow. 4 AM isn't fair to either of us.

I think this is realy well crafted. It sounds like you have put so much effort in it. And for what it is i realy like it. The mood is very cleverly constructed. I think you definitely have talents for composition. Im wondering though, as an composition student you must have had feedback from fellowstudents and, espacialy, teachers? Well for me, i enjoyed it. The finale is really great. It suddenly gives the piece a massage, a meaning.

Welcome!!! Its really nice. I really like it a lot. Reminds me a little of Stravinsky. Very nice. Good luck! Keep it up.

So welcome, make yourself at home, visit and comment on the works of others. Enjoy!

Yep, I think you have a future in composition! This is excellent stuff! Thanks for sharing. And sorry, I can't give you more constructive criticism. :)

I enjoyed the fugato section and generally your treatment of motives. The form suggests something of a passacaglia and variation which I find interesting. Some suggestions for future works -

Your seams show -- in other words you have one texture and suddenly it thins out without a clear reason (eg, not sure if you are introducing a new melodic variant, or mood). It seems you have a good idea of counterpoint but you need more practice learning how to employ it. It is very useful for this situation. Only way though to do this is keep writing.

The flute alternating with the tutti. This may come across more comical than dramatic -- unless you want that. You could have the flute fluttertongue to make it stand out more with more drama or give this to the horn in its upper register .

Please show the instruments and what part of all the music is written at pitch or transposed (eg clarinet in B flat, Horn in F)

For a wind quintet, once in awhile the textures seems to be a little busy - this is somewhat a matter of taste but an example is when you reintroduce the alternating thirds on top of another texture, I am unsure why you are doing this at times. Also when writing for a wind quintet there is a great risk of the music sounding "busier" than you think because of the wide range of timbres. Do listen to a wide range of wind quintets with scores again when you do another one. You will notice how much empty space there is and how often there is an instrument holding a note while others are moving.

Finally, you have quite a few ideas in this piece which this could be expanded into a multimovment work if you want to.

OVerall good work and do consider studying composition further as you show talent and passion for it. The nice thing is that if at worst remains an avocation, it is one of the few that can last you a lifetime (eg no need to worry about arthritis ruining your pianism, etc)

BTW - I see you know the wind quintet repertoire. Sorry if I sounded patronizing- it was unintentional. Just was trying to be helpful but I get carried away sometimes.

Thank you to everyone for all the comments and encouragement. Please don't hesitate to give whatever feedback comes to mind--I can take intelligent criticism. ;-)

And to clarify: yes, of course I've gotten feedback from teachers and peers in the past, but not necessarily truly constructive remarks--things more akin to commentary (which I still appreciate as long as it's honest, mind you!).

Chris: please don't give it a second thought; everything you said was right on point. I was a horn performance major for a while, so I do have some experience in quintets, but the genre is by no means my specialty and this is my first effort. The work has major structural problems (it's actually an arch-sonata form--LOL) and you actually inspired me to start revising it (rather than hate it unremittingly) for the first time in over a year. My focus right now is on making the counterpoint more goal-oriented and motivically sound. Of course this makes the mp3 obsolete, but it's more important to have better music. I'm posting a transposed score, since you asked--I assumed concert pitch would be more felicitous in understanding harmony and scoring. If you're able to look at it, please forgive the sloppy presentation, as I don't want to bother reformatting a score that I'm revising anyway.

Interesting piece. Clearly you're a natural at polyphony. It appears not to be a struggle for you as it is for many others Where I'd look to improve is pacing and flow. Sometimes the transistions appear a bit random but sometimes they are fabulous. I wonder if perhaps you wrote this in various stages. It's an interesting blend of video-game, baroque, and copeland. I like it.

I love this piece. I would love it if you rewrote this for saxophone quartet. It reminds me a little of D