Joyful Overture in C major

In this overture I tried to catch a joyful, happy feeling. I primarily focussed on the orchestration and melody matching together. Scored and recorded in Finale 2004.

Joyful Overture in C major

The thematic material and basic ideas are all pretty good, but the notation is a bit odd. For example, each time you have a value longer then an eight or sixteenth note, you tie shorter values together (M. 8 is a good example). That would need to be corrected. Also, I don't see many slurs in your score, the quicker figures in the winds (mostly flute runs) should definitely be slurred. In m.18 I see a huge issue with dynamics with the trombones and tuba going between f and fff on the same (slurred) sixteenth note.

As for your orchestration, there are also a few issues right from the get-go. While I don't think a good, competent player will have trouble playing your initial flute triplets, I think you should change the chordal skips to a scale leading up to your quarter note. This would make the passage much more accessible and clean. The odd triplet figure at m.5 could be more clearly notated, and the second flute alternating between c and g that rapidly has a tough job. The divisi double bass that has an independent, undoubled figure and m.14 will be inaudible. The octave skips in the horns are a tough sell, especially at the very start of a piece. The trumpets should manage that, though.

I could analyze the whole thing and point out the technical issues one by one, but I believe I'd be stealing the reviewer's job :santa: . Musically, I like your themes, and the ideas behind your orchestrations, and the piece was by no means unenjoyable (I doubt that word exists), but there are some technical aspects in your music you could improve to get your pieces to look and sound truly professionnal hones:

The thematic material and ... to look and sound truly professionnal <img src="http://network.youngcomposers.com/elgg/ipb/public/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif" alt=":P" />hones:

I know there's a lot not right in the sheet music, I didn't really pay attention to that. I only focussed on how it sounded in Finale, not the way I wrote it. This piece could never be performed by an orchestra in this way. I would have to adjust the notation of the music a lot then. Because of this, I rarely upload a piece that I've written on this site, just because it doesn't look right (although it may sound right in my ears). So, I wrote a lot more music than you can see here :P. Thanx for the tips anyway! I think I'll try to make a playable piece next time. I'm sure it would be very good to take a look at notation.

I know there's a lot not right in the sheet music, I didn't really pay attention to that. I only focussed on how it sounded in Finale, not the way I wrote it. This piece could never be performed by an orchestra in this way. I would have to adjust the notation of the music a lot then. Because of this, I rarely upload a piece that I've written on this site, just because it doesn't look right (although it may sound right in my ears). So, I wrote a lot more music than you can see here :P. Thanx for the tips anyway! I think I'll try to make a playable piece next time. I'm sure it would be very good to take a look at notation.

In general, it's usually a bad idea to orchestrate for the MIDI output... even if it doesn't sound quite right through your pc speakers, you should try and revise every part so that it could be individually playable. That makes the score a lot neater :happy:

Offtopic:

Oh, momma, can I really get the same sort of critics when I upload my scores? :cool: Should consider posting them.

To the topic:

Generally, it sounds fine. Reading that you actually didn't care if a real orchestra can play it, I have to mention that you shouldn't really care -- as long as you do not intend your work to be played by a real orchestra. I just want to encourage you in case you want to go the way of creating new sounds of existing instruments. Even if they cannot really produce them, a computer still can. Go on, experiment, if that's the way you feel.