February 16, 200917 yr So I was kicking around ideas this weekend, I don't know what I was thinking, I just wrote out a short little poem while waiting tables. It was about how rain during the night kind of washes everything clean, without us even realizing it. I thought It might be a cool little thing to set to music, and a melody came instantly to mind. I wanted to use a much broader palette this time, and I dunno how I turned out, but I wrote it out in a few short hours. It was originally REALLY low in the voice so I transposed it up. The bass part at the beginning is high, but I feel totally manageable, and it sets up well for the low parts at the end. The range is broad, but I think It's completely sing-able. Tell me what you think. Night Rain.MID NightRainScore.pdf
February 16, 200917 yr Hey, I thought that was a really nice piece of music and the poem is really good as well! Nice work for a couple of hours, I wish I could compose that quickly! I'm not too sure if I would agree with you that the bass part is perfectly manageable at the start it does seem too high, but I don't know that much about that kind of thing so I'm not too sure! I like the build at the 'overflowing' bit but I'm not too sure about carrying that on until the next pools of light bit. I think you should start thining out the texture a little bit on the words pools and of, but still keep enough of it there so you can feel the contrast on the word light. The one other but I don't really like is the descending chromatic bits at bars 27-29 and 31-32, but that might just be my personal preference. The ending is really good! Keep up the good work!
February 16, 200917 yr As a bass, I can tell you that, while scores from Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, and others might suggest otherwise, E is a stretch for a bass. To be sure, I'll usually keep it at C or below. Let's put it this way: I can't hit E unless I shout. But then again, if you have a good choir, it may be fine. Lord knows it's been done before. As for the 4 part divisi build, I'd suggest having each note sustain into the cluster, in other words, don't have the basses sing a four-note line in unison then split on "ah", rather, have each divisi sing his part and hold it. It's much easier and won't be such a jarring point/drown out the next voice up. Like Water Night!
February 17, 200917 yr Cool piece. Cool text. Nice! My main concern is the abrupt switch to clusters at "overflowing" Maybe its just me, but the harmony there doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the music. It seems like you laid out some common-practice harmonic structure, then promptly went to cluster-chords. Don't get me wrong, I adore the sound of a great cluster, and I love the build up in the piece, however, I'm not too sure If its on the same wavelength with the rest of the music. Likewise, the chromatic movement downward at the climax also didn't feel like it was within the scope of this piece. The individual sections work on their own, but when put together, it's a bit weird. Also, the build up was tremendous, but I felt kind of let down at the "Light" moment. It didn't seem nearly explosive enough for me. That IS the climax, and I'm left feeling cheated. All in all, nice piece. Especially for a few hours. Gosh I wish my current piece would come that easy...
February 17, 200917 yr The dissonance suddenly arriving into consonance is pretty effective in my opinion, imagining it with real voices. The writing is maybe a bit too simplistic and you could look into making the rhythms and textures slightly more interesting in your pieces in general, but essentially, I enjoy your music.
February 17, 200917 yr Author Yeah I would want to carry the voices' entrances into the sustains, I wasn't sure how to write it short notice on Finale (I just separate the voices into 4 parts). I originally had this un-transposed down a minor third (in C), so the basses would be REALLY low. I felt this key was a better compromise (and felt natural). Thanks for the comments!
