Horsemen's March

A march. Not much else to say. xDPossibly to be used in a horse dressage show for certain rhythms.The score is terribly dirty and the dynamics are lolzers, but I might post it. Not today, though. It's late.Horsemen's MarchThings not worth mentioning about it: Dynamics, technique text, percussion notation, some articulations, some clefs, overlapping stuff...Told you it was dirty. I do those to avoid wasting more time in the composition process and to make the damn samples sound as decent as possible.

Horsemen's March

Very nice. The name fits nicely with the "trotting" rhythm that persistes thoughout the piece. I'd love to see the score if you ever get the chance.

Added a score.

Things not worth mentioning about it: Dynamics, technique text, percussion notation, some articulations, some clefs, overlapping stuff...

Told you it was dirty. I do those to avoid wasting more time in the composition process and to make the damn samples sound as decent as possible.

Nice work, Miguel.

You already know my comments - less repetition / Hitchhiker's Guide, etc. :-D

For my summer job I have to march to a fife and drum band, and this really reminded me of that. I quite enjoyed it.

Very nice work here! I really loved this, I thought your contrast was superb.. your orchestration brilliantly Romantic... and your theme was very rich. Any chances on getting this performed?

Ha!

I wish...

At least not for now. Any voluntaries? :P

Within its era this is quite nice music. The harmonic progression reminded me of Glass' violin concerto, do you know that work?

The samples sounds as nice as the score is messy, so well done :D

Perfectly clear harmony, classical but clear like water, (better this than writing notes here and there like crazy)

What library is this ? sounds very good, (only the timpani shoud be louder in the fff passages)

Also you call for a low Bb on timpani ? even with the 32'' one, will sounds very loose and weak, large timpani are hard to find and very expensive.

The rest is very good.

Thanks for the timpani advice. I lack a lot in what concerns percussion.

These are Miroslav Phillarmonik samples. All of them except the strings, which are from Kontakt Player 2.

Miroslav's strings suck balllllllllistic gel.

really I have miroslav but comes with its own engine, and doesn't allow program changes, I'm still trying to find the way to use it.

The safe range for timpani is Low E to High G, (probably low D to high A)

the common timpani set doesn't have the smallest one, don't go above high A

As usual, very nice! Very appropriate and simple while maintaining interest throughout with the attention to details. I'm gonna go ahead and favorite it.

It's a shame that the dynamics weren't observed by your rendering very well, seemed very subdued throughout, particularly the percussion. Speaking of the rendering, those were some pretty hot sounds ("hot" being my euphemism for "good"). :)

Just a little note on something that I noticed skimming over the score. Most decent musicians will know that a "staccato" marking only applies so far. And if they don't, the director certainly would let them know. It's not really necessary to backtrack with a "Norm" marking when there is a whole note or a big ol' dominant glissed in half the orchestra. Save some ink and space on the music.

Thanks for sharing!

I specified in the OP that the score is dirty, and those Stacc. and Norm. aren't supposed to exist. They're expressions to change from the channel with normal sound to the one with staccato sound and back. xD

No need to complain about the score since it's obviously not clean, organized or realistic in terms of expressions (finale gives me what I consider to be a F when I select FFF, etc.)

Things not worth mentioning about it: Dynamics, technique text, percussion notation, some articulations, some clefs, overlapping stuff...

Told you it was dirty. I do those to avoid wasting more time in the composition process and to make the damn samples sound as decent as possible.

I specified in the OP that the score is dirty, and those Stacc. and Norm. aren't supposed to exist. They're expressions to change from the channel with normal sound to the one with staccato sound and back. xD

No need to complain about the score since it's obviously not clean, organized or realistic in terms of expressions (finale gives me what I consider to be a F when I select FFF, etc.)

If I may offer a few suggestions for future reference that'll let you have your cake and eat it too.

Finale has a feature that allows you to hide markings. Right click just about any marking (namely dynamics or expressions or what have you) and toggle the hide/show option. The effect (staccato vs. normal) will play while not appearing on the printed copy.

Also, you can go into finale and redefine how loud each dynamic is. If your dynamic needs are pretty consistent, then what you do is change the "velocity" value of each dynamic to a value that closer reflects the actual volume you want on your rendering.

I don't make that big a deal of getting the program to do dynamics that great, personally. Computers don't understand phrasing, and the percussion is ALWAYS too quiet. But if you just want everything louder while not having to write in a buncha fffff's and accents, you can do that. :D

Hope that helps.

-P

if this a definitive version or the work, just save as different name, keep the current score as the recording one, and the begin to fix the new file to make it look better, without having to worry about the recording compatibility.

I fix scores when they're to be used for actual performances. :P

And I know about that feature, Peter, I actually started using it but then at the speed I was thinking I couldn't afford to lose my train of thought with those extra gestures. I don't exactly compose in a peaceful rhythm. :P

Guess what!

A clean score! WOOOO!

I fix scores when they're to be used for actual performances. :P

Does this mean it is to be performed?

Like the piece - quite a bit of fun ... one exception is the I-V-I ending before the percussion solos at the end seems entirely out of place. The sound was very Mendelssohn+Rossini use a late Romantic orchestra. The V-I section just seems as if I were wrenched to an early Beethoven symphony ending or Hadyn even.

I'd reconsider using I-iv-I ending to be more in keeping with the piece's style.

One orchestration question - do you think the switch in dynamic and texture from mm 43 - 44 could provide some breathing space in the winds -- I may be wrong but just reducing the quarter notes to an eight just for a few winds may offer a subtle way of preparing for the great change without jeopardizing the abruptness of the change. In fact I think it is the only spot where you don't offer a dovetailing/preparation (which you do provide of wonderful shades of subtlety which I think is great).

Also very good job with the tuttis - you keep them light but full in sound.

Love the development of the ideas throughout. Definitely got the horse idea in my head. I like it mostly because it's not just dark/evil/ominous/etc like is often portrayed with death/satan/the apocalypse...it's classy, and clever is more the term I'd use. Diabolical, even. I don't know why but it reminds me of "V" from V for Vendetta. Call me crazy. I enjoyed it.

I'm not so sure about the rhythmic device used to keep the trotting going. It's musically boring as it's the same thing over and over again. Even when the melody is playing this. Melody needs different pitch and rhythm.

Harmonically sound however.