Moto Perpetuo for Concert Band (Now with recording)!!

Oi.

Hi

So I just finished this draft which has been consuming my time since around April. Its not really polished, I still have a lot of tweaking to do, but what I have here is mostly the finished product. So I figure its a great time to put it up here and get some advice. Woo! :D

This piece started out as a venture into minimalism, but after so long, I got bored with repeated notes. So I got rid of that thing, and used the ideas to make a moto perpetuo. As simple as that.

The instrumentation is pretty large, with almost all parts splitting into two. And the score is not a final draft. The score needs some major face-lifting. For example, the piccolo part needs to be turned into a flute 1 part, the flute part turned into flute 2 and 3. Yeah... I'll update later with a nicer score, but for now...good luck.

Alright. I'm curious as to what everybody thinks about this thing.

UPDATE 10/21

O.k, new update! There is a PDF, .MUS, and MIDI down below.

Face lifting of the ending is done. Took long enough. I still have a LOT of work to do... but that will be o.k. Also, I think I have secured a performance of this! It's a community band that has more than enough people to get all of the parts covered-including the divisions. I'm terribly excited. Yep, thats about it.

Enjoy the new ending, and thanks a lot!

UPDATE 2/08

So the community band finally gave me a recording. Its a bit rough (they only had like 30 minutes to read this thing) but it is pretty dang good. They are going to premiere the piece in April, and all will be right with the world. In the meantime, please enjoy this link to the MP3...

Thanks!

-Corey

phewbackupwoohoo.MID

Finale 2007c REALSCORe A3 11x17.pdf

That was an exciting peice of music. There were a lot of good rhythmic ideas that you don't see very often in concert band; very driving rhythms, like the 3-3-3-3-2-2 accent pattern near page 23.

The harmonic surprises were few but well placed. I suppose I don't have any problem with that.

What's wrong with "Moto Perpetuo"?

Maybe you could consider a name that conveys the excitement held within this piece?

Well, that was a nice surprise at 2:30 in the morning. Very good quality music here! Of course, the orchestration has kinks in it, but that'll get ironed out in time. I hope you realize that the inclusion of harp, piano, english horn will cut out 98% of schools from the performance list. I suggest making cues (I see that's already done for the E.H.) or droping them altogether. The piano and harp don't justify their existance in this piece and could easily be replaced with something else. Just a good practical thought.

Also, it is frowned upon to have parts divide in certain instruments, usually trombones, oboes, horns, low winds, piccolo, and sometimes saxes. Usually there will be fewer people in these sections than others, so it's safer not to divide in them.

My major criticism, the ending was awful. Very anti-climactic. I felt a huge build-up and then a sudden modulation into D minor towards the end. I expected it to go back re-stating all the themes in full force. Alas, it did not happen and that made me mad! :angry:

Good luck and happy composing!

Listening now and it is very cool sounding so far. The minimalist elements still exist, but taken to another level as you mentioned. This is a really nice piece, though I would suggest making sure the pieces can be played without the instruments the last poster mentioned, though I don't find anything wrong w/ the english horn part as long as there are cues and a harp part could possible on synth for schools that dont have it, just know that schools will have a harder time putting it together w/ the instruments you want. I also agreee that a more exciting ending would be nice

Ahh yes the ending. That has haunted me since when I first started this thing. The good news is I'm working on revamping that a LOT. With any luck it will be as huge as I want it to be.

And the harp- ideally a harp or a synth would play it, however vibraphone would be a perfectly acceptable replacement. I think that isn't too much to ask. I'm thinking I'm going to try and get a community band to play this, so we should have most of the parts covered.

Thanks to everybody for the comments! You guys rock!

If having it played on syth or vibes is ok with you, then yes, i would say it is perfectly fine

I have listened to this in Notepad and can get the jist of it and think it is very good.

However, I wish you would provide a link to a mp3 with a better version of this so I don't have to listen to notepads instruments. Boxnet offers a free place to upload mp3's to.

Ron

I've actually been working on getting an acceptable GPO recording of this for a while now. The problem is the absolutely huge amount of space an ensemble like this takes up on my computer. I'll see if I can get something up tomorrow, but for now all I have is a midi and finale :sadtears:

Before I got my faster computer, which is almost too slow now, I used to record half of the music at a time and join the 2 or 3 pieces in audacity (which is free). Something to think about.

Ron

I really enjoyed this piece; being a composer of Concert Band/Wind Ensembles/Symphonic Bands. The themes and harmonies really made me enjoy this piece. The ending was okay.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

Ooo Audacity you say? That's a really brilliant idea! I'm going to try that out when physics is not consuming my life.

And thank you for the comments Carlly! I really love the immense power and...well shear loudness the concert band brings. That's why its one of my favorite ensembles to write for. That and it's easier to get a professional level group to play one of my pieces.

Wooo!

bravo

i like it , it sound like final fantsy

dark-words

Alright, so I just uploaded the new and improved files, with a nicer sounding ending, and a couple of other changes. Sweet! Check it out!

The ending is actually a little better. I'd say its better than the other endings you have posted in the finale file. Nice job on the upcoming performance.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

Condense it, put a drumline to it, you've got a killer marching show closer.

Condense it, put a drumline to it, you've got a killer marching show closer.

It's funny that you mention that... I was worrying over the summer that the various marching band activities, along with the couple drum corps shows I went to, would get too big of an influence in this piece. I was really blown away by the drum corps, though, and I just went with it. Although I agree with you that it has the energy of a closer, I hope that it will prevail just as well in a concert setting. But who doesn't love marching bands? They are a grand old time.

In other news I just finished preparing the parts for the community band today. Ridiculous amount of effort, and the product still isn't all that great. Oh yeah, and I now have a pile of paper on my desk the size of a decent medical textbook. I never thought paper could weigh so much....

this is my composition for first day. can enyone give me annalysis?thanks

Kabar Hutan.sib

If you do get this performed, make sure that it's recorded.

at the begining i was a little wary, but when the triplet-eighth rythm came in, i was drawn

wonderful piece

=]

UPDATE, the band finally gave me a recording. More explained in the first post (which is now updated with a link)

Thanks!

Awesome job on the read. They did pretty well for a 30 minute look. It's sounding pretty good. Nice job.

Peace,

C.L. Winston

I think if you're going to classify it as a moto perpetuo, you shouldn't have a bunch of big "exclamation point" chords where the motion stops...thus voiding the "perpetuo" aspect of it.

I think if you're going to classify it as a moto perpetuo, you shouldn't have a bunch of big "exclamation point" chords where the motion stops...thus voiding the "perpetuo" aspect of it.

Well, the motion only completely stops twice, and never for too long. I don't actually mean to classify it as a tried and true "moto perpetuo"

I guess where I was going with the title was more of the direct translation of "Perpetual Motion" and not the history of the form.

That being said, I'm always open to new ideas. The only reason it is called moto perpetuo is because I couldn't think of any other good names...

Nice piece!

BUT, the harp part. I'm not a harpist, but I can tell you it's unplayable. It's a beautiful instrument, but you need to know how to write harp parts. You may know some of it already, like the harp pedal system, and the playing technique. This part is unplayable because of the rapid restriking of the same strings. You cannot repeated notes on the same strings that fast! You can on a piano. You can't on a harp.

The usual workaround for this problem (say you want to play repeated C-s) is to tune two strings to the same sounding note. Tune the B string to a B sharp (sounding C). Then you can alternate between B# and C, which will sound like C-C-C-C-C...