Nocturne-Piano and Four Violins. MUS, PDF, and MIDI included

READ BEFORE LISTENING!

This piece is not finished!

Haha, okay then. I would like to begin by explaining my use of the ensemble. Mainly the four violin parts. My idea is that in the beginning they are all going to play in unison and as the piece progresses they will break off into several parts. I want them to play in unison in some areas to achieve the sound of a full violin section. I should also add that the ensemble I am writing this for has two people to each part. I hope that I can actually write eight part harmonies in some of these places. To be honest, this is a really weird ensemble for me to write for. I usually write for string quartets so this is rather unusual for me. Haha.

Please give me any ideas if you have any. I just really want to know if this has potential or not. Post your ideas in this thread as soon as you can. Thank you.

There are only 3 and a half minutes of music by the way. So the midi goes on longer than it should and the pdf has a few empty measures in the back. Forgive me.

Nocturne.mus

Nocturne.mid

Nocturne.pdf

I would agree that the piano should be cut out. However, I was asked to compose a piece for this particular ensemble. I would have less difficulty writing for just four violins. But I need to figure out how to use all five of the instruments. At the same time, I am also trying to be bold and achieve as many different sounds from this one ensemble that I possibly can. That was the point of the whole unison thing. I thought it would bring the part out more and make it resonate. Where specifically was the unison violins totally unnecessary? Would that just not sound good all together? Or would it be best played by just one section? Thank you. Your feedback is very much appreciated.

Okay, I understand a lot of what you are saying. But what do you mean when you say 5 instruments can be 3 or 8?

I think there was too much space without the violins. That can be a cool effect, but it's like "Idea 1, solo piano" "Idea 1 with piano and violins" "Idea 2, solo piano" "Idea 2 with piano and violins" etc.

And then a repeat, which I HATE in Chamber music, unless it's 4 bars that are fading out or something. But this is an entire section which is incredibly redundant.

I think the biggest problem is that your repeating too much stuff way too much. Your material is fine, your harmonic language is cool, but none of that matters if you have no direction, if your music doesn't take me somewhere new with each note.

I thought bar 13 was going to be the start of an intense and exploding passage with the violins but it just stops by bar 20 and the piano is on it's own again. I also felt the repeat was not needed. I did like the harmonies but, as was said before, it lacked some direction. Your description of what you wanted to do with the piece is interesting and I think that it could turn out to be something amazing if done well. I understand that you're still in the middle of composing this piece so I'm not going to slag you off and say "it's rubbish!". I think that it still needs work.

Up to about bar 20 I liked. After that it just drifts off somewhere and it fails to hold attention.

First I Like What You Have Done So Far But Plz open This Song In Finale, click on window and then instument List, Under GM change it from violin in to string ensemble, It sounds so much better., Besides the technical thing, ,lol, I think it sounds very good, I would take the repeat out, In My Head I can see this becoming a very Beautiful Darkish Nocturne , on the piano when It become three part chords when it's doing the triplets reminds of something you would find in Band,lol

First I Like What You Have Done So Far But Plz open This Song In Finale, click on window and then instument List, Under GM change it from violin in to string ensemble, It sounds so much better., Besides the technical thing, ,lol, I think it sounds very good, I would take the repeat out, In My Head I can see this becoming a very Beautiful Darkish Nocturne , on the piano when It become three part chords when it's doing the triplets reminds of something you would find in Band,lol

I'm sorry but I have to say something about this post. I would imagine you had not thought about it too deeply, but generally people only capitalize the first letter of a sentence, and proper nouns and the like. Usually People Who Type Like This Are Treated Less Than Politely By Some Members.

Additionally, while you may personally think that the string ensemble sounds better than the violin, if this piece is to be performed by actual musicians, would it not be wiser to have something that's a little more singular, rather than a whole string section? Were the OP sequencing this, I would agree with you, but one must always keep in mind the instrumentation one is writing for. Neither will sound right, but one cannot get used to a full string sound, or else one will be disappointed by the lack of volume.

Just my thoughts.