Mickey Mouse Haunted House

Hey Guys. This is my first ever composition and first post on these forums. Im 15 so go easy on me! I really don't know what I'm doing :) . I wrote this piece for a school music project. It is accompanied by an edited extract from an old Mickey Mouse cartoon. Feedback would be awesome! thanks.

Oh and also, I use Sibelius on my mac and I was just wondering if there is any better software that contains more realistic instrument samples, particularly when composing for solo piano as it sounds rather robotic and flat. thanks!

Mickey Mouse Hauted House

I'm going to call you out on this (in hopefully a complimentary way) and say I think you're lying that this is your first-ever composition. If it is, well, great work! First-ever composition and it's written for a video clip?? That's just outstanding.

When Mickey goes into the haunted house, the music seems to die down a bit sooner than I would have expected it to... give the tempo some consideration compared to what's going on in the next clip you score for and see if you can let the video lead the music more than the music leading the video.

So, welcome to the forums and good work! I still think you're sand-bagging :).

Be sure to check out the other works around here and see if you can't offer some feedback of your own for others. Look forward to hearing your next piece!

-AA :)

I'm going to call you out on this (in hopefully a complimentary way) and say I think you're lying that this is your first-ever composition. If it is, well, great work! First-ever composition and it's written for a video clip?? That's just outstanding.

When Mickey goes into the haunted house, the music seems to die down a bit sooner than I would have expected it to... give the tempo some consideration compared to what's going on in the next clip you score for and see if you can let the video lead the music more than the music leading the video.

So, welcome to the forums and good work! I still think you're sand-bagging :).

Be sure to check out the other works around here and see if you can't offer some feedback of your own for others. Look forward to hearing your next piece!

-AA :)

Thanks! I confess that I wrote a piano piece before this one but I would much rather forget that it ever happened. There's just something about it that really bugged me, so I started over with this composition. It doesn't fit overly well with the video because I started writing the piece before I found the video! :) ... then I sorta worked them together but yeah, it doesn't fit in a few places. Thanks for the feedback! I will certainly check out the forums and try to give others some feedback although I feel a little amateur to be commenting on the works of others at this stage ;)

This was amazing for one of your first compositions! (I just started composing myself, so I know how hard it can be...)

In the beginning, I really felt like it fit the video. The eerie atmosphere and all.

But one thing to keep in mind, if you're composing for a video, try to convey the emotions happening in the video (like Mickey getting startled by the bats, you could add some staccato chords there or something, etc).

But I see you composed this before you had the video, so that can't be helped, I guess :P

But in general, great composition!

Keep up the good work. ;)

Wow, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Excellent Job!

As Nicrion said, the biggest thing I'd suggest you work on is accurately representing Mickeys emotions. It felt much too heroic when Mickey was cornered at about 1:54. I didn't get enough of a sense that Mickey was frightened of the skeleton in the cloak.

Also, if you were to rework this, I'd suggest "Mickey-Mousing" it a LOT more (pun intended). One of the aspects of the old Mickey Mouse scores that gave them such a great deal of comedy is the fact that every single action was represented somehow in the music. This is a bit cliche nowadays, and I'd never recommend it for any other project, but here I think you might have an opportunity to really get a handle on hitting lots of hits very quickly after one another. Maybe a fast xylophone run while Mickey is running around, or some kind of quickly descending wind line when he pulls down the bed.

Otherwise, great work, I look forward to seeing more from you.

pretty amazing kid, you still got some emotions to capture, but the general slap stick stylish was very fitting to me, kinda horror cartoonish.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I really appreciate it :happy:

Wow, that was very, very, very good for a first composition. Sometimes what was happening on the video was a bit off compared to the music, but honestly, that is extreme nitpicking. 95% was dead on, so great job. Keep posting some more compositions.

this is awesome. you captured the emotions very well... again i am wowed by the possibilities of midi...

i could never make midi sound this good lol...

That was totally amazing, no joke!

I think this is miles better than my own first composition, so congratulations! You're pretty darn accomplished already, and you've just begun!

The overall mood of the piece set against the video is, in my opinion, flawless, and the lack of using the music to convey Mickey's or others' actions doesn't bother me in the slightest, and I'll tell you why. It's because this piece is so well put together that putting such little "articulations" would have actually detracted from the beauty of the piece (because this isn't typical, forgettable background music). Usually articulations are a good thing, but in this case...you did good. Real good.

Thanks for sharing, I'm going to rate 10/10 on this, and favorite it! Very enjoyable work! :D

That was totally amazing, no joke!

I think this is miles better than my own first composition, so congratulations! You're pretty darn accomplished already, and you've just begun!

The overall mood of the piece set against the video is, in my opinion, flawless, and the lack of using the music to convey Mickey's or others' actions doesn't bother me in the slightest, and I'll tell you why. It's because this piece is so well put together that putting such little "articulations" would have actually detracted from the beauty of the piece (because this isn't typical, forgettable background music). Usually articulations are a good thing, but in this case...you did good. Real good.

Thanks for sharing, I'm going to rate 10/10 on this, and favorite it! Very enjoyable work! :D

Wow! thanks! :) I'm glad you enjoyed it

Hehe, this is epic compared to my epic fail first composition

Anyway, quite awesome, you almost hit the nail right on the head in this score. The only minor problem I found with this is that nearing the end, it was just more of the same. You can think about exaggerating certain points, like quiet/slower music and when something jumps out, a massive plonk :cool: This would be generally (In my humble opinion) more effective than a timpani rolling in and playing along.

Apart from that, pretty cool, a solid 9, and wow, if this your first, I'll be looking forward to how you'll compose in a couple of years time. Remember, the more you compose, the better you will get at it (quoted from rolifer :phones: )

If you need, here's a awesome site for better samples: http://freesf2.com But then, if you're looking for sound quality, Sibelius isn't the way forward (this is one of the best MIDIs I've heard).

Good luck in your future endeavours!