Star-Gazing

A string of miniatures (loosely transitioned throughout) that occurred to me while gazing at the stars.

Star-Gazing

Great piece. I love the sound around 2:00 however the piano doesn't seem to sound the best that low. I am not listening with head phones so maybe it sounds better that way but I would suggest taking it up one octave, however, you may have been aiming for that sound so in that case, then by all means keep it the same.

3:37 or so, great transitioning! Along with another great melody going on. Overall really nice piece I enjoyed it

Very effective! I loved the music box at the end Just a point on range, however, the viola does not go down to a b-flat that low. It can only go as low as a c natural, i would suggest putting in a cello instead of the viola.

Thank you both for commenting!

Borby:

Come to think of it, I agree about the piano's octave for the chord that's a Bb+Eb+F, it should stay mid range: thanks for that thought! i'll change that when I get the chance :)

Maestro:

Ahhhh, did not know that about the viola: I'll change that accordingly.

Again, thanks for taking the time to comment and share thoughts on the piece! :D

Hey, great piece. I really like the 5/4 time signature and I thought that was really effective. Definitely could imagine star-gazing in this music.

With piano chords, low registers sound really thick and muddy. It's better to spread them out a bit. Generally fifths and fourths on the left hand and right hand could be closer together.

But yeah, I enjoyed this! Thanks =)

Hi serge well I find this a little too romantic... as a minimalist, as I think you are, maybe a little more harmonic interest though. Minimalism like Reich has more dense textures that create wonderful tapestries and like John Adams, the post-minimalists, we also get some wonderful chords made up of thirds and so on. I think this is not minimalist at all - just romantic with a lot of repetition. The opening harmonic movement is so familiar but in a kind of romantic 80's movie way. If you are cool with that then ok. Maybe the pan-pipe sound is causing this effect too. I personally hate pan pipes unless they are played in the traditional Peruvian way.

This sounds harsh but I dont mean to be - we are both direct with each other in our reviews yes? And that is good too Do bear in mind how subjective some of my comments are too!

Cool! This is nice, with the blend of instruments and harmonies. It gives a fairly sordid feeling for me, wandering with that touch of sadness. THe only thing that I'd change is the pan flute at the start (is it a pan flute) It got a little repettitive and atarted to wear on my years a little. Other than that though, enjoyable stuff :phones:

Thank you all so much for commenting! :D

Steven:

I agree, thick and muddy is not what that part should be: I'll change that when I get the chance, thanks for bringing that out!

Jaime:

Thank you for being frank! I encourage everyone to speak their mind on my music, even if it would be overwhelmingly negative :)

This isn't meant to be minimalist (though it has a few influences), so I'm glad you didn't get that feeling.

It is, perhaps, a little too romantic, as you say, but I don't think it's too big a deal. But about the panpipes: that's definitely a good thought that perhaps it's...out of place. This was originally supposed to be a slower, sort of contemplative piece, but it ended up completely different. It didn't really occur to me that perhaps the instrumentation needed to change too :hmmm:

Regardless, I do appreciate it, genuinely, when people speak their mind, so thank you for doing so ;)

CheeseLord: (the powah of cheese!)

Thanks! Yes, as said before, maybe the panpipes would do well to ske-daddle. I'll have to think about it :happy:

Thanks, everyone, for offering your thoughts! :D

Wow. Absolutely beautiful work Zach. I think this is perhaps your best work that you've posted to the forum. The ideas are clear and articulate. Your orchestration is neat and I can see that thought has been put into each line and each note. I am very impressed with this! Favorited and 10/10!!! Thanks for sharing!

Wow. Absolutely beautiful work Zach. I think this is perhaps your best work that you've posted to the forum. The ideas are clear and articulate. Your orchestration is neat and I can see that thought has been put into each line and each note. I am very impressed with this! Favorited and 10/10!!! Thanks for sharing!

:o

Omg...you favorited my work!?

Now that's a complement!

Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it! :D

This is superb. Really beautiful stuff. It's somewhat Disney-esque, which is a pretty high compliment.

This is superb. Really beautiful stuff. It's somewhat Disney-esque, which is a pretty high compliment.

Thank you so much! "Disney-esque"...that's not something I'd have thought of ;)

Thanks for commenting :)

Omg, awesome!

Hi SergeOfArniVillage

Is really beatiful the melodies and the harmony, and i like the 5/4 time signature. But some things are not clearly to me. The decrescendos, with the change of the main idea or melody (I think that is like a cut in the score after rit.), and then, the develop of an a different idea, but also beautiful, don't convinced me. Well, i used to listen more progressive music, with more changes, with differents environments, so is some boring to me, and repetitive. I think this could be work better and develop it more and best.

Is a really nice music, it improve my day

Thanks!

Empyrium:

Wow, thank you :D

Musica:

I think I get the gist of your post: you feel that the transitions are a little sharp, and the overall tone stays the same through-out (aka, flat texture) despite the changes in melody and ideas, even though the piece throughout is beautiful and improved your day...right? :lol:

Thank you for your thoughts, I will see what I can do :) I've been on a revising binge recently, taking into account everyone's thoughts to improve my pieces. Much appreciated :cool:

Hey!

I saw some of your pieces, I would like to tell my thoughts.

Nice idea and interesting chamber music and orchestrating

Is it possible to play on panpipes? You should try it yourself. If you can do it, it's playable

This music box would sound nicer an octave higher I think.

What are these double sharps? It doesn't make sense to me. Or x means star for you in this piece?

In the end the d-flat major key is very disturbing I think (for the players). Because it has nothing to do with the 5 flats

I think sometimes you want to write a chamber piece for interesting and very exciting instruments. I mean flute-bassoon-viola-harpsichord-piano and etc.. it would/will be good, but I can see, that you have problems with orchestrating. Or if you don't have problems, you should, because some of your pieces would be much better if you'd rethink the orchestration.

If you have questions, PM me

Good luck!

Sweet-ness! You weren't stargazing in the Andes by any chance were you? That's the vibe I get from this anyway. I reckon this would make a lovely song cycle- although I do like the pan-pipes, a soprano or mezzo would make a beautiful job of this. I like how you develop your motifs here, very organic sort of growth you've got going on. Well done! XD

I liked the mood of the piece. Otherwise, your music sounds as Sergey as your others, and there are unquestionably pop piano arpeggios that I don't like all too much... your ensembles sound very much the same, have you thought of straying outside the piano+violin+wind ensemble you usually write for?

Smeagol:

Those are some interesting suggestions there...I like them. Thanks :)

About the score: I know it really has nothing to do with Db Major :lol: The score just whacked out for some weird reason, and I have yet to clean the score up.

Sabian:

Thank you! I'm glad you felt it was organic, that's a lot of what I was going for. I wasn't star-gazing in the Andes (just in my front yard :P), but I like that it inspired your imagination so :D

Hugo:

Thanks for commenting: I guess "Sergey" isn't a complement though :blink: I wasn't really going for pop, but I guess that's a fair interpretation. I also realize that there's a level of sameness in this piece as in some of my others, but that doesn't really bother me (as long as I don't overuse it). I like there to be re-used motifs and musical themes expressed in different ways. It makes me feel like I'm getting more bang for my buck :lol: (Is that crazy?)

Thank you all for your comments, I much appreciate them ;)

This is a great work, but at some parts where the pan pipe to a rest I believe it should have kept playing for the sake of fullness, it doesn't sound like the viola can hold it on its own.

This is a great work, but at some parts where the pan pipe to a rest I believe it should have kept playing for the sake of fullness, it doesn't sound like the viola can hold it on its own. But good though.

Thank you for your comment, JCompose! :) The viola is a bit weak at parts -- I'll think about it :happy:

Great sound! I like the combination of instruments. In the first section, the notation seems slightly inconsistent; since each bar appears to sound 3/4 + 2/4, perhaps the tied notes in the viola and the piano could be notated as a dotted-half and a half-note. Alternatively, perhaps the notation could match the bass of the piano, using half-eigth-half-eighth pattern. The transition mm. 25-29 felt a bit sudden and thin, but in actual performance maybe the expressiveness of the panpipes will help make it richer. I can almost imagine this portion as a panpipes cadenza where the performer is given freedom to improvise based on the notes provided. I really like the next two sections, especially the piano part in mm. 34-35; I think it utilizes the crisp, percussive character of the piano very well. I think some of the very low piano chords in the next section might sound quite a bit more muddy and ambiguous in actual performance: what if the first note of each measure was a single tone that, when heard in succession among the first notes of other measures, formed an interesting shape? The intervals in the second and third chords of the measure could be opened up a bit more so that the sound becomes clearer. The last couple sections look quite interesting with all the double-sharps! Is it for visual effect? They seem to suggest a certain mood to the performer--something like confliction where the notes are rebelling against the heavily flat key--that might prove an interesting influence on the music. Overall, I think this is a lovely piece; it has a nice emotional impact (especially when paired with the title/description). I really enjoyed it.

Very nice. It reminds me of jrpg "town" music.

The viola cannot go that low for a b-flat.