The Soldiers Cry

The Soldiers Cry

The mood or feeling I tried to bring to life in this piece, is that of war. Where the piece starts fairly cheerful, but yet restrained. Every now and then I would put in an interval that clash just to keep up the tension. And as the piece develops, more stings are introduced and variations of the melody, before the melody and harmony are played by the brass section.

After that another variation takes place were the only two instruments player are the flute and violin. In this variation i tried to represent the night before going into battle, the fear and longing for home.

Then comes a heavy drum roll and marching variation of the main theme, as if to signify going into battle. Then everything falls apart with the increase in tempo and a lot of diminished chords being player on the piano, Followed by the strings adding to the affect of the newly proposed theme. While the Timpani keeps the driving beat.

This is followed by a new short break in the tension, before and whole new anger provoking chord progression is played on the piano. With the strings playing under the diminished sound of the piano and as the tension begins to build, along comes the percussion with the snare drum leading the way into battle. That continues for 16 more bars before another break down occurs, reminding us of the original melody, or in the story how to soldier felt before the battle.

A new drum / snare pattern then lead the listener into an overwhelming sound of strings and drums. Then continuing to crescendo the horns come in all belting out the same call. And over the top of it all the violin is screaming like the solder wounded in the heat of battle.

The music then fades out into almost nothing with the lead violin, slowly and softly leads the listener into the final movement. When a sad chord progression is played on the violin accompanied by the piano. Then at the very end of this movement, (as the soldier is dying) the listener gets a faint reminder of the theme at the beginning of the piece.

Each and every piece of music tells a different story, it’s up to the listener to decide for themselves what they believe is behind the notes on the score and what the composer is trying to deliver.

This piece is written for:

Flute

Oboes

Clarentet in Bb

Bassoons

Trumbone

Trumpet in Bb

Timpani

Snare Drums

Cymbals

Gong

Piano

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Violoncello

Contrabass

String Section

.....

By James Casey

The Soldiers Cry (MP3).mp3

The Soldiers Cry Score.pdf

Hey James,

A lot of really interesting stuff here! I found that your rhythmic motives, though effective, were kind of overused. Granted, a real ensemble with a good conductor could make it more interesting, but even still I found the constant figures getting a little tedious.

I really liked the finale though, especially the violin solo over piano - really nice contrast, and a beautiful melody. I like how you brought in the second violins as well - I almost feel like it`d be more effective if you had the entire string section accompanying the violin, con sordino. But that`s just me.

Overall good work, but the incessant rhythms almost ruined the first half for me.

Cheers,

Joshua

Hey James,

A lot of really interesting stuff here! I found that your rhythmic motives, though effective, were kind of overused. Granted, a real ensemble with a good conductor could make it more interesting, but even still I found the constant figures getting a little tedious.

I really liked the finale though, especially the violin solo over piano - really nice contrast, and a beautiful melody. I like how you brought in the second violins as well - I almost feel like it`d be more effective if you had the entire string section accompanying the violin, con sordino. But that`s just me.

Overall good work, but the incessant rhythms almost ruined the first half for me.

Cheers,

Joshua

Thanks dude...

this piece was for a music assesment and i started off will what i tried to make a melody with a couple of variations. and then i brought it back in at the end....but it didnt really work, thanks for the comments though.

THanks..

James

Thanks dude...

this piece was for a music assesment and i started off will what i tried to make a melody with a couple of variations. and then i brought it back in at the end....but it didnt really work, thanks for the comments though.

THanks..

James