Rhapsody No. 1

Howdy here! This is probably one of the favorite pieces that I've made recently, and I'm happy to share it with you all! Its also my first rhapsody, so if there's anything that I should know, please do tell!

Attached is an audio file of the music that was made in Reaper (where i originally made the piece), and a PDF file of the score made in Musescore.

Edited April 17, 20205 yr by sammmy

Hello, and welcome!

There are a couple of things I would like to say that concern not only this piece, but generally.

1. The orchestral score is a bit weird. Looking at the woodwinds, you have Flute, Clarinet, English Horn and Bassoon. The English Horn should be above the clarinets, as it is a kind of oboe. The horns are always the first in the brass, higher than trumpets. The harp should be written across two staves like a piano, and the synths, pads and celesta should be above the strings with the percussion.

2. A general tip for good orchestral writing is keeping the instruments out of the extremes of range. In Bar 5 you have low Ds in the flutes and low Bbs in the bassoons. These will either be completely lost in the case of the flutes, or stick out too much in the case of the bassoons.

3. Bar 29 has a quick chromatic scale on the harp. This is not possible with the standard orchestral harp due to the pedal changes involved. (Some chromatic harps can do this although they are rare.)

I like the idea of combining synths with the orchestra. I just think you could realise your ideas better, and this takes practice!

Besides what @aMusicComposer mentioned (which is really good advice), the piece lacks formal structure and is not very "rhapsodical". I think each idea could be developed a bit more. The piece loses its energy at rehearsal C, which is a shame since I liked what was going on at B.