My first song: O Pie Jesu (live recording)

I enjoyed this piece. Your tonalities are show an awareness of contemporary styles, such as the minor and major seventh chords that underpin the structure. I am sure that other people will enjoy this music too, and it helps having such an excellent choir to deliver the goods.

this is really amazing. wow

I have a question about the key. I perceive it as it is in D. You writing suggest G. Did you mean a mixolydian scale? The occurrence of some c#'s are a bit misleading then... I am puzzled...

But beautiful piece with great performance!

Thanks all of you, I really appreciate it!

Cramer, yeah, it's written in D in mixolydian mode. I like the effect of not having a leading tone save towards the end of the piece, but at that point it's only introduced through passing or neighboring motion and isn't really functional.

Matt-

I think it is good in its own right. I am not a fan of static harmonies, but your choir sang it so beautifully that I continued listening, till the very end. And I enjoyed it.

Do keep up the good work :)

A note: Ain't "jesu" in the vocative case, then why are you using the vocative marker "O'"? Aint it like, "O' O' Jesus", so to speak? Tell me if I am wrong.

For the high quality recording, click here.

For the video recording (contains more of the reverb from the space),

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When I wrote this piece my first semester in college this past fall, I wrote it as a commitment to myself. I thought that if I was to become a composition major, I would have to start off writing a song to the best of my ability. So, I gave it my best shot.

After I completed it, I showed it to my choir conductor, and he gave it to our volunteer choir to sing for the annual student composition concert. It was the most amazing moment in my life. That said, although this is my baby, ever since that concert I've wanted a true and brutally honest perspective from other composers. So, here it is!

Also, as for the text, I adapted it from the religious text "O Quam Amabilis". Hope you guys dig it.

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Edit - I just got my hands on the official recordings instead of a Youtube rip, so I thought I would update. I also finally got around to fixing up the score, so check it out.

Reply: Just really nice and beautiful composition, peacefull and calm. I love it. Thanks

Sounds beautiful. It actually reminds me a lot of "Agnus Dei" from William Albright's "Chichester Mass". I think since it's such a short piece, the effects you use in the harmony and rhythm are fine, contrary to what some others have said.

What/who exactly does this "volunteer choir" consist of? It really is a superb choir, and I can't imagine the "volunteer" choirs I know of ever sounding like that! Haha...

Sounds beautiful. It actually reminds me a lot of "Agnus Dei" from William Albright's "Chichester Mass". I think since it's such a short piece, the effects you use in the harmony and rhythm are fine, contrary to what some others have said.

What/who exactly does this "volunteer choir" consist of? It really is a superb choir, and I can't imagine the "volunteer" choirs I know of ever sounding like that! Haha...

Thanks! Also, I absolutely love William Albright's Agnus Dei, so I guess it could have been an influence.

At my school, we're blessed to have a volunteer choir made out of members who've participated in our top Chamber Singers group for graduate students to conduct and students to compose for. It's a pretty sweet system they have going on here.

I am very jealous! I'm glad you know his "Agnus Dei" because it is really beautiful.

This is fantastic writing for a college freshman! You need to submit this to some competitions and work to get it published. Period. Your score is clean and you have a great recording.