Joyful Tidings!

I'm a senior in high school, and this is a piece I wrote for my high school's Christmas Concert. We played it last week on the concert, and the recording is my high school band playing it. It's based on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

Joyful Tidings!

Christmas Piece Real.mus

Christmas Piece Real.mp3

I am not a big fan of Bands simply because I miss the strings too much, but this is quite good.

The only title that comes to mind is

Gentlemen's Fanfare

I assume that there is more legato in this than the mp3 is playing. Notation programs rarely do a good job of legato.

Nice work

Ron

I'm a fan of Christmas Medleys more than single works. I think you need a couple of more tunes and use the Gentlemen's idea as something like a continued theme that you return to periodically in the work. The piece is about five minutes long, so you have plenty of room for at least a few more tunes.

The work sounds more like an arrangement for organ as well (a good thing in a lot of ways, shows you've picked up some good orchestration techniques along the way). So, guess I should commend you for the fluidity of your orchestration. I'd have to see the score to comment any further.

For future reference, pick up adobe acrobat and use the 'print to pdf' option in Finale to create a pdf of your score. This way, no matter what notation program people use, anyone can open the score and read it as they listen.

Good work overall. I'd recommend a medley approach, especially one that helps you tell some kind of story (cause I just dig that kind of stuff :P)

I, very much so, enjoy this arrangement.

It definitely keeps listener intrigued, though, it is slightly predictable.

And if there was anything I could have possibly really disliked, it was the last note-

You stacked, the five for the top of that last eigth-note chord, and I didn't really like it in that context to what was going,

but if it is what you intended, than its all-right, lol. Otherwise, put the root on top :o

i agree with alot of what the previous users have said. except for the comment about turning it into a medley. that's more of a preference request than a critique, and i wouldn't take it to heart. christmas medleys have become almost commonplace at concerts, and another one can be spared. That being said, i don't , particularly like this piece. from your op, you made it sound like you created an entire new idea based on that song, which is what i expected and not what i heard. what i interpreted, was just another arrangement with some happy doodly stuff added. sure, it doesn't sound particularly bad, per say, but it does sound predictable, and repetetive at times. it's a nice piece, but it's nothing outstandingly fresh or original. despite all this, you did work hard , and still deserve your credit. good job.

This is quite a nice work - the ending could use a bit more drive and punch, but I want to give it a second listen. Overall you know what to do with this time-honored theme, and the variants does keep the mind focused and the ear attuned to some of your surprises. Would like to see more.

I believe the last note should have more conclusion, maybe try the chord in a diffrent inversion? Other than that,great piece.

You once told that nothing ever gets boring if you change the key, i believe you are wrong there.

Listen to mine and tell me what you think=]

please

I'm a senior in high school, and this is a piece I wrote for my high school's Christmas Concert. We played it last week on the concert, and the recording is my high school band playing it. It's based on "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

Joyful Tidings!

Wow.. This is quite awesome! Nice work, TRUMPETER. I really enjoyed listening to this piece. -Minoxor.

you have a comfort level for brass instruments that I can't even begin to attempt. sucks being self thought

Very nice! I like the basic format of the setting, and your orchestration (apart from the breathing and technique compromises in the recording) is very appropriate for HS band playing.

I felt a little bored with it toward the middle. The beginning was full of new and interesting things. And the ending has a few new and interesting things. The major portion of the middle is full of the same things you started with. The motif at 11 is good, but it's accompanimental, and that seems to be one of the primary focuses of this piece. After the first full iteration of the melody, nothing really happened in the musical journey until the ending.

8/10

Thanks for sharing!

-Peter