February 26, 201115 yr A young friend of mine requested of me to make a piece for her to help her on a project she's working on. She said it was for a series of books called "The Hunger Games", which seems to be about a post-apocalyptic world in which children gladiators fight each other ... something like that.So I wrote this sort of "Overture" for her, which I can only pray fits at all with the tone of the book, heh ... I didn't have time to do any real research, since she had an insistent deadline.I wanted to kill two birds with one stone here, so I also wanted to submit something to the Extemporaneous Project headed by YouTube "Composer Bros." Given my lack of time, the two seemed to mesh well, and I kept things really simple here so I wouldn't have to revise, revise, revise.I hope you derive some enjoyment from this work =) Overture
March 7, 201115 yr Interesting gig. What was her project exactly? Was she making a film? My sister's read the series and she says its pretty awesome. Zach, it's a great piece. I don't know if you've written this for video but as a standalone piece of music, the intro sounds really disconnected from the next section. Its sounds awkward when we hear it for the first time and it sounds awkward when we get out of it. By the second and third time, I'm used to it, but to open with it playing full blast just feels like too much. I'm a big fan of your other sections. Those piano arpeggios are exciting and they add a lot of colour to this piece. 0:42 is a welcome change from all the bombast. Good luck killing both of those birds, Zach! Peace, -John
April 5, 201114 yr Author Oh hey there! Sorry for not replying earlier, I got distracted. Her project was basically to make a playlist of music that fits with a video representation (I think a Power Point) summary of the book. I agree about how the intro sounds kind of disconnected at first -- I was actually going for that effect, but maybe I did carry it a bit far. Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
April 5, 201114 yr This is really quite amazing. I love the unique arrangement of instruments, it's just perfect enough to make it chaotic. I would agree, it seems like the intro and like sections are a bit separate. It would be nice to hear a bit more connection, maybe, more flow into the next idea. But, if that was your intent, I think you did that well. Very well done! I think it definitely captures the essence of the novel. (Even though I've never read it.... :P )
April 5, 201114 yr Hey! I see what others are saying about the intro. I feel like if you just extended it a little or even put a few transitioning low notes it might flow better. I dont think the melodic and harmonic material is disconnected, just the feel. Overall the piece is great, I think even the lighter parts like :42 could still have a darker feel to them, that obviously just your interpretation of the text, but to me from the title it seems dark and I could definitely agree with some major-themed content but not as much as you have written. Really though its a great piece, and although i'm sure you know the production is not great or anything (sounds like sibelius audio output i know it all too well heh), its hard to hear the instrumentation sometimes. You are obviously a great piano player/composer! I definitely like that the most about your pieces.
April 7, 201114 yr Author Goodness! -- Thank you both MusicFiend and CarryOnPlease for your praise and criticism :nod: I appreciate it.
