March 12, 201115 yr Lux Musicae is a quartet for Low Brass for the YC March Competition in three sections: A. Lux Laetae - Chorale B. Pulchra Lucis - Canon C. Lux Ultima - Canon Lux Musicae
March 13, 201115 yr Baroque and brass is not a common combination, and this is a very cool quartet. While the A is great, I like the B and C sections a lot. What do the titles mean? Also.... Can trombones trill.....? I'll take your word for it. With the A section, it doesn't seem as if any phrases are defined, it kinda seems to just..... go... until it hits the B. I'd like to see more structure to that, but that's my only piece of constructive criticism I think I can offer. Great piece! -MF
March 13, 201115 yr Author Trombones can trill, however, like everything else, it's not quite as precise an action as with other brass instruments. I made sure to ask one of my trombone-playing friends. Also, the names mean the following: Lux Musicae - Musical Light Lux Laetae - Joyous Light Pulchra Lucis - Beautiful Light Lux Ultima - Last Light
March 13, 201115 yr Chs, aren't you a trombone player? Trombones can trill, no worries. Okay, I take it it's meant to be in a baroque style, as MF mentioned. In that case, I feel it very very inappropriate for all of those leading tones in melodic voices to be thwarted, particularly following trills that are leading up to it. It's very uncharacteristic. Mvts 2 and 3 are kinda cool. But I really don't like the first movement. It never ever stops, and there's no real melodic progression. It's kind of just a lot of notes all at once, no introductions or 'development' or anything.
March 13, 201115 yr Author I play Baritone Treble Clef, actually. Seeing as the competition deadline hasn't been reached yet, I think I'm going to change up the chorale some. I was trying for a very fluid progression from one phrase to the next, and I think I overdid it. And I put it in Baroque mostly because it's a chorale and two canons, which were staples of Baroque music. I would've thrown in a fugue if I thought I had any chance of tackling one and it not kicking my butt. I wasn't actually going for baroque characteristics. I was tempted to write "sackbut" instead of "trombone", though. :P
