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White Christmas


Left Unexplained

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my submission for the christmas music event

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Very well done. Interesting and beautiful harmony, and a really cool idea to layer your voice. There are two points I am not sure about:

  1. 15 seconds in, you have an odd key which seems out of place given how beautiful and tonal this choral is.
  2. And the final point is the cadence toward the end which concludes in dissonance. Again, about 95% of this song is tonal, so in my opinion, you should keep the entire piece tonal.

But aside from the above points, this is very beautiful tonal harmony, and you have some great vocals! What was your process that you used to record and layer your vocals?

As far as the audio goes...

You know what I will say about your mic quality. If you are going to start recording vocals, you need an xlr condenser mic (no usb please!), and you will need to speak directly into the mic for best quality. Then you will have killer vocals that are crisp! Of course, xlr mics are a bit more on the expensive side, but its well worth it for the higher quality audio output.

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I like your own personal touches you put into this.  The sudden cut off and accented "Christ-MAS" sounds really dramatic and almost operatic.  Your voice sounds like a young Ebenezer Scrooge LoL.  I don't have any qualms about the tonality.  The chord at 15 is a nice modal exchange that leads nicely into the next major chord.  The last chord is cool too - a maj7 #11 chord if I'm not mistaken which is like your token favorite chord.  Great to hear this Christmas classic set in this unique way!

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@chopin 1. 15 seconds in, you have an odd key which seems out of place given how beautiful and tonal this choral is

tbh I dont know if its in the original song but my family has a christmas music box decoration and at that point it goes "V I I III" as like a lil tonal motif, idk if its in the original song but it was my variation on that haha. Then in the second verse it's the original but it goes on to play a larger role in the development.
 

2. And the final point is the cadence toward the end which concludes in dissonance. Again, about 95% of this song is tonal, so in my opinion, you should keep the entire piece tonal. 

well idk I find the 7b5 chord to be an integral part of major chords and in my view tonal, but I see your point. 

Lol I recorded this with my apple EarPods 😂 they're better than my crap mic smh. I think for christmas Ill ask for a better mic lol fr.

Edited by Left Unexplained
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19 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I like your own personal touches you put into this.  The sudden cut off and accented "Christ-MAS" sounds really dramatic and almost operatic. 

awh thanks brother. Yeah I made it as a joke for my family then decided I actually liked it 😂 might try making real operatic sounds more often. 

19 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I don't have any qualms about the tonality.  The chord at 15 is a nice modal exchange that leads nicely into the next major chord.  The last chord is cool too - a maj7 #11 chord if I'm not mistaken which is like your token favorite chord.  Great to hear this Christmas classic set in this unique way!

thanks idk I find there to be an interesting pull from bIII - I. Thanks man, always appreciate your warm reviews around the forum.

Edited by Left Unexplained
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Thanks so much for taking part - I thought there would be nothing more to say about White Christmas but you've surprised me! I disagree with what Chopin said, I think the surprising harmonic moments some of the best bits. I think the very last chord could be a little bit longer to make the dissonance seem less 'accidental'.

My favourite bit in the whole piece though? That little countermelody at 0.53 *Christmas chef's kiss*

Great arrangement, well done!

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1 hour ago, aMusicComposer said:

Thanks so much for taking part - I thought there would be nothing more to say about White Christmas but you've surprised me! I disagree with what Chopin said, I think the surprising harmonic moments some of the best bits. I think the very last chord could be a little bit longer to make the dissonance seem less 'accidental'.

My favourite bit in the whole piece though? That little countermelody at 0.53 *Christmas chef's kiss*

Great arrangement, well done!

 

thank you for carrying on a tradition! I forgot about it, glad to see you're carrying the torch. 

And thanks. I had to mix it up! Yeah I mean I guess I've grown quite used to my own harmony and theory when it could be a bit of an acquired taste (the last chord). 

as I said the countermelody was from a music box decoration my family had growing up that played white christmas (v I ii iii) so I just kind of ran with that. It was fun varying it in the first verse and extending it in the second, kind of cathartic to complete a musical idea that's been in my head all these years. 

Thanks for the kind words and keeping this forum as active as it should be! 

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That was unexpected, cool and while giving a strong xmas vibe since it's a classical xmas song (according to other comments since I didn't really listen to many xmas carols lol) it had its own "spice", but it ended too soon :(... But I will play it again :).

A solid submission in my humble opinion. 

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.


 

 

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1 hour ago, Omicronrg9 said:

That was unexpected, cool and while giving a strong xmas vibe since it's a classical xmas song (according to other comments since I didn't really listen to many xmas carols lol) it had its own "spice", but it ended too soon :(... But I will play it again :).

A solid submission in my humble opinion. 

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ømicrón.

Thank u good sir. Well there's really only 2 verses then it repeats just with harmonized vocals and I was already doing that so I just stopped after they were done

Edited by Left Unexplained
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