Grade II March

I wrote this a WHILE ago, I wrote it for a middle school band. I didn't really get a chance to hear many comments on it other than from my band director so I thought I'd share with you guys.

Some of the percussion parts sound...weird. Finale likes to turn things into whistles so I tried my best to make it sound right.

Carousel.MID

Not bad at all. Looks like you have a good grasp of form, and the part-writing looks solid for what you've written. I think it would be worthwhile to think about using deeper textures - more independent parts instead of doubling so much - in future compositions, but for the mood of this piece the doubling worked very nicely.

Only one spot where I thought it sounded sketchy: measures 43-44, where you have parallel 4ths in the only two continuous lines. While normally we only say that parallel octaves (when not doubling the whole line) and 5ths are to be avoided, parallel 4ths sound a lot like parallel 5ths when there's no other harmonic backing, so the result in this case was a sort of "hollow" sound.

This a perfectly delightful piece; it's very fun and upbeat. It actually reminded me of a video game of mine; something you'd play when you got to a light and festive place. If I had anything negative to say, it would be that the intro might be a bit better with more varied chords and that it could be a little longer; if it was I could most assuredly see the band I was in playing it. In fact, I would have very much enjoyed playing it.

Ah, Carousel music! I remember we always had to play one tune along these lines in my Concert Band Days. I cannot say it is my favourite. I just tolerated it and looked forward to the more musically interesting pieces.

Now, not to suggest that carnival music is somehow BAD. It has its own charm and way of doing things. And I think in listening to this, that you've got a very firm grasp of it. You manage to develop some nice ideas and present them ina fresh and endearing way You could over burden us with bombast as many Middle School Bands would be wont to do, but you restrain yourself, and tat is what makes this piece work so well!

Good job!

Thanks for all the comments you guys :P I can't wait to get into college (I move in this Friday, yay!) and really study composition. I'll be sure to post more pieces as I write them