Strange is the Night (Concert Band)

This is a wind band arrangement of a choir piece I did a couple years ago. (That piece is also on this site!) The original choral version was for a Hallowe'en virtual choir, and in this arrangement, I tried to use the expanded palette of the wind band to evoke even more spookiness.

I'm fortunate that most of my choir works are performed live--but the same can't be said for my band music! So I spent an inordinate amount of time making this recording in my DAW with samples from VSL Special Editions v. 1-2. The sequencing process took considerably longer than actually orchestrating the piece did. It nearly destroyed me. I don't know how people who create entire orchestral film scores in DAWs do it.

So... if you're one of those people, feel free to comment on the sequencing/mixing as well. I tried to make it sound as realistic as possible.

I hope you enjoy it!

(ALSO! The link to the original choral version is here: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t41687/strange-is-the-night-halloween-virtual-choir/#comment-1186698054)

The tubular bells in the beginning and throughout the piece remind me of the Final Fantasy VI introductory cutscene music.  I think I remember listening to your original choir piece too - it might be good to link to that piece here for ppl to compare.  Have you considered making a version for band/orchestra and choir?  It would be awesome to hear although I suspect you're probably tired of working on this piece by now.  It's very mysterious and foreboding.  Thanks for sharing!

It sounds amazing, and realistic enough to my ears. As for your question I normally use musescore and don't make use of any DAW out there so I'm afraid I cannot be of help. But seriously, you made it sound very realistic and professional, my kudos. 

On 6/30/2022 at 10:18 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

The tubular bells in the beginning and throughout the piece remind me of the Final Fantasy VI introductory cutscene music.  I think I remember listening to your original choir piece too - it might be good to link to that piece here for ppl to compare.  Have you considered making a version for band/orchestra and choir?  It would be awesome to hear although I suspect you're probably tired of working on this piece by now.  It's very mysterious and foreboding.  Thanks for sharing!

 

Thank you, Peter! Sorry it took nearly 2 months to reply... it's been a crazy summer. I like your suggestion to post both versions in order to compare them, so I'll edit the original post to include the original choral version as well!

I appreciate your thought about doing one for choir and instrumental ensemble! The main reason I'm not (in addition to being tired of this piece) is that (1) I'd have to do lots more orchestrating and messing around to get it to work (for instance, the band version is a whole tone lower than the choir version to better suit the ranges of the instruments, and I'd have to figure out a way to reorchestrate so they both work in the same key) and (2) it's unlikely anyone would ever perform it.

Thanks again for your kind words!