Music for a Short Clip

I've composed this piece for a local competition. It's set to a short clip. It's slightly comedic and quite light-hearted and I hope that it comes across in the music.

I'd be really grateful if anybody could comment on this. I'm slightly worried by the bassoon part in bar 35. I'm sure a decent player could finger it but since my knowledge of the instrument is rather limited I'm not sure.

I haven't put in any dynamics at the moment because I want to do it last. Hopefully you guys won't find anything wrong with the piece. I won't be doing anything radical with dynamics anyway.

Thanks!

Forum.MID

Forum.MUS

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First off, nice job!

If you're planning on having this recorded, rather than just done as a MIDI mockup, there are a few things that I noticed.

1) The double stops and triple stops in the second violin are all impossible, unless you were planning on writing those divisi, in which case you wouldn't have a problem.

2) The flute bit in m. 12 is pretty low, and will come out fairly quietly, keep this in mind when writing dynamics.

3) Orchestrationally in m. 2, you've got a big ol' hole in the middle register. Actually, since there's nothing between the Eb clarinet and the Bass Clarinet/Bassoon part, that chord will end up sounding rather empty and unpowerful. You might want to move something up into the register around middle C which will help link the high and low sections and flesh out the chord. Though if you are going for the empty sound, power to you and just ignore this advice.

4) This is more a stylistic comment so feel free to run right past it. The violin melody starting at m. 16, why so square? You've got a pretty good oom-paa thing going on in the other instruments so why not mix it up a bit? Try throwing some of the melody notes on halves of beats or off beats, play against the steady four on the floor feel you've got going on elsewhere.

5) As for the Bassoon part in m. 35, Bassoons have very awkward fingerings and unreliable response when in the range below that F so this could be fairly difficult even for an experienced player. Though, since I'm not a bassoonist I wouldn't know for sure. Generally, stuff that you might think could be awkward should be avoided or given to another part. Why not move the bassoon part up an octave and double it down an octave with the cellos and basses?

Thanks guys! Thanks Andy1044 for taking the time to make a detailed list. I really appreciate the advice!

The piece certainly conveys the comic atmosphere you mentioned!

You've masterly employed chromatic melodies and minor scale patterns in such a way that the several voices join to build up the whole thing.

And I also liked the bass line, which added a kind of "marching" touch to it.

Overall, nice work!

Niece one. It reminds me Terminal (written by John Williams) - similar ways of creating comedy climat. Good work :)

Well, the only thing that really bugged me was:

1) You have the oboe play only one note in this entire piece. That on its own makes the oboe seem useless to the whole piece. I would suggest taking those low notes in the flute and giving them to the oboe instead.

2) Since all the strings are using pizzicato for pretty much what is the entire piece, there is no need for staccato markings, which, I noticed, are throughout the entire score.

Other than these small oversights, this piece is great and I hope you will post a recording soon! Thanks for sharing! ^^

Well, the only thing that really bugged me was:

1) You have the oboe play only one note in this entire piece. That on its own makes the oboe seem useless to the whole piece. I would suggest taking those low notes in the flute and giving them to the oboe instead.

2) Since all the strings are using pizzicato for pretty much what is the entire piece, there is no need for staccato markings, which, I noticed, are throughout the entire score.

Usually I would agree with your first point but the competition is to simply create some music for a clip. Making the most of all the instruments and being an effective orchestrator isn't really part of it and I rather like the flute playing the low parts anyway. :D

The only reason why I marked every note staccato was because the MIDI plays staccato notes that seem a bit longer than what real staccato sounds like (did that make sense?? :iffy:). Basically, I'm sending the sound file not the score so I wanted it to sound the best it can rather than looking the best it can.

Thanks for listening, though and I'm glad you enjoyed it and thank you also to Michal Mank! :)

Ah, I see. Well then you have nothing to worry about. Great work; and I hope all goes well! ^^