March of the Weirdos

A march I wrote seemingly a long time ago. It needs some major surgery or just to be killed altogether. The Trio unintentionally "borrows" from Entry of the Gladiators by Julies Fucik and I have been accused of plagerism. The trio needs to be totally redone, I know this, with a new theme, new orchestraion, everything.

Oh, yeah, that 7/8 in the seond strain, I dunno if it works in a march so well. :w00t:

Comments welcome!

PDF score here.

mp3 here.

Old SibMus score here.

I liked it until the trio, which of course is totally... yeah.

However, I really enjoyed the beginning! I would ask you don't kill this piece because it is cool. The layering effect in the end, where you take your trio and put the earlier portion on top was cool ,so with the new trio that is something you might want to not remove. That aspect, I mean.

I actually liked to trio best .. the main theme was... too dated? It seemed very Sousa-esque - But then again march isn't my favorite style.

I didn't catch the 7/8 part - can't even find it in the score :blush: - but my girlfriend was in marching band in HS and said she did odd time signatures relatively often - its just a matter of marching complexity.

Well Ferk, the thing is the trio sounds so much like "Entry of the Gladiators" that it has to be rewritten (shame too, it is so nice.) I agree with your comments (I found the 7/8) but it is just that coincidence.

Dated, but I still think it is idiomatic for a march.

Your bassoonists are going to murder you for using so many low Bbs.

The intro could use some oboe doubling the octave up for a cool effect.

If you're trying to add some space with the 7/8 bar, why not make it a 5/8? Right now it feels empty.

I feel that your opening melody is too complex. Maybe you could steal something from the baroque and ornament it the second time only?

An english horn always sounds fabulous in a trio like you wrote. Also, the oboe parts in general are rather low, which sounds robust, but in a march like this, that may not be the effect you're looking for. Upper ranges!

I'm a bit scared for your trumpets. Repetitive and high notes - not a good combination as I'm sure you're aware. Maybe you can re-orchestrate a bit? This kind of part is much more manageable for the woodwinds.

Score technicality - when you're writing the same part for transposing instruments and c instruments, you should be lining up the accidentals across the keys.

I also enjoyed listening to the song. It is a very uplifting song. It also creates that goofy atmosphere, kinda like a circus.

It sounds like perfect music for perhaps an Eastern European circus until you introduce the theme that starts, if I'm not mistaken, B, C-C#-D...which I've heard somewhere so those who say you unconsciously swiped something are right. You then seem to base the rest of it on this theme, which as I recall is commonly used in the circus. I think it's okay to quote something briefly, to do homage to the older work and to place yours alongside it in a tradition--but to use it at length, even if unconsciously, is unacceptable. But please don't junk the opening--to my ear, that is your own, and as I said, it sounds like very appropriate stuff for the circus, sideshow, etc.--that part of the realm of show business which has always defined the weird, wonderful and fantastic. So your title is actually appropriate.

As for the orchestration, it too sounds eccentric, but that may be just what you want.

By the way, I've been trying to get someone to listen to my short, eccentric piano piece on the piano section of the forum. I have a lot more I could post, and some of them are probably better, but it hardly seems worth it to post any more until the first one is examined. Could you perhaps give it a listen and tell me what you think?. See "He Wished" on piano forum.

Thanks. I've been trying to listen to as many posted compositions as I have time for, and comment thoughtfully on each, so it would be great if someone could reciprocate.