the width of wonder

Hello all,

Here is a piece for solo flute that was performed recently at my university. The concept of this piece was mostly an experiment in improving the presentation of my scores, engraving and notation-wise, as well as letting the performer dictate most of the performance. So the performance is not how I personally would have performed it, but given what I wrote the interpretation is wonderful.

The piece is meant to convey the uniqueness of experience and ultimate loneliness of an individual in the universe, so writing it open-ended like I did lets the performer convey this as such.

Let me know what you think!

mp3: 01 The Width of Wonder.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

PDF score is attached.

the width of wonder.pdf

A very well-written piece. You seem to know the instrument quite well, although I can see what you mean when you say that that was not the way you personally would have performed it!

I thought you did a good job fo capturing the feeling of loneliness. The only part of the piece that might need some fixing would be the ending. You recap your motives, but they seem to go by too quickly (perhaps they are too short?) for the audience to recognize them, so the ending feels a little abrupt.

Just my 2 cents. :)

Well written. You know the instrument very very well! Not many of my composer friends know anything about trill keys. It's incredibly frustrating to explain to them...Are you yourself a flutist? (Just wondering)

Evan:

Thanks for your feedback! Yeah, upon some more listens and looking at the score, you're very right....my introduction of the motives isn't really balanced with their recap. I'll flesh them out in some revisions.

blackballons:

Thanks for listening! I am kind of a lapsed flutist - I played for a few years in school band and a few flute choirs before switching to trumpet; I really miss it. It's been a long time since I've played.

I hope you don't mind but...er, I took the liberty of doing a recording of me sightreading this piece! I just wanted you to hear my interpretation of it, which I think is good for the composer; to hear different interpretations of his/her works. I hope you like it. ><

Let me know what you think!

width of wonder.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

EDIT: Oh, also, I know I'm probably a bit out of tune, and the portamentos magnify that. Don't kill me. ><

And a sidenote; for me, anyway, I find the last B portamento to be a little tough. Rolling in on that note, for me, anyway, doesn't work out. Just me, though.

This is a simple yet very effective piece, very nice!

There a few notation issues (minor, but important).

1. For flutter-tonguing, the measured tremolo symbol (3 slashes - like a drum roll or bowed string tremolo) is the standard symbol and should be used if possible.

2. On the second line with the trill key tremolo, you should write out both the B and the D, make a tremolo marking between them, and then use the note "use first trill key".

3. This is probably your notation program, but the trill notes in parentheses are a little too close to their main notes... space them just a little farther out.

4. For all your overblown harmonics, I would indicate both the fingered note and the overblown sounding note, with the fingered note in parentheses, just for clarity.

Great job! :)

blackballoons:

Nice! That's some awesome sightreading!

<

And a sidenote; for me, anyway, I find the last B portamento to be a little tough. Rolling in on that note, for me, anyway, doesn't work out. Just me, though.

Yeah, I actually forgot to delete that little portamento, as the flute is physically incapable of making a lower sound...it was originally an octave higher. Thanks for alerting me.

flint:

Thanks for the advice on the trill and flutter tongue - I will edit it and repost.

As far as the trills go, I think it might be the PDF export that scrunches them or something - didn't look like that in Sibelius. I need to figure out how to "print" that to A4...

What do you think is the best way to notate the fingering for other overblown notes? For example, at the "with sweetness - a tempo," a C fingering will sound the F# and normal fingering resumes at the D.

The easiest way would be to indicate the fingered note as a small notehead with parentheses and the overblown note as a full sized notehead.

oooh nice opening. it really caught my attention. i think you succeed in creating the mood of being alone in the universe. very well done!

cool music

but dont you think there have some excess repeat units around there ?

dark@@

I liked it! :) You are just a bit far from my style. I like these meditative things on flute, but I don't really write too fast parts in a piece like this. Could you have a look at my flute-percussion piece: Zsofesz? :) I would be really happy if I could look at a comment from you.

gollam12