April 3Apr 3 The creature is a made up beast that lives in the vast cold forests of central Siberia and throughout the Altai mountains. The composition is a narrative between the myth being told word of mouth through its environment and by first person encounter.Байыркы .mp3 Байыркы .pdf Edited April 4Apr 4 by Fruit hunter PDF error fixed!!
Wednesday at 08:37 PM1 day Author I’m looking for feedback, Harmony orchestration interpretation, especially those three things like the more in depth deep dive stuff if you want to go ahead and do a whole entire score analysis
Yesterday at 02:55 AM1 day Hi @Fruit hunter !I think the introduction does a good job of creating a mood/vibe and sets the expectation for the rest of the piece. The introduction is static in harmony but active in melody. Then you seem to develop the piece with a wide array of percussion instruments that create a cinematic portrait of "the creature". There are short motifs that recur throughout the piece in the harp and pitched percussion instruments and even woodblocks which is cool. Then, before the 4-minute mark you start a sort of simple chorale that's very affecting. This calm and tranquil lull quickly builds into a sustained intensity that is very powerful! The harp motif from the beginning returns near the latter half of the piece before a percussion frenzy and foreboding strings. The intensity rises perhaps to its highest pitch before the 10-minute mark. The hurried ending seems contrived, and I think a soft fade out could have been a more artistic choice. The piece overall seems to start in F# minor and end in B minor so I can't say that it didn't modulate or take the listener anywhere harmonically, but it seems to have done the minimum amount of adventuring through different keys that it could while sustaining the moods it was trying to convey - that's my only critique though without looking at the score. Thanks for sharing!
Yesterday at 03:50 AM1 day That's quite some percussion section, wow!Are you perhaps using the Berlin Percussion library to get all those sounds?There's quite a few instruments I've never heard of before. Will have to look them up...
17 hours ago17 hr Author 7 hours ago, Alex Weidmann said:That's quite some percussion section, wow!Are you perhaps using the Berlin Percussion library to get all those sounds?There's quite a few instruments I've never heard of before.Will have to look them up...I used VDL. or virual drumline
12 hours ago12 hr Looks very good from a brief glance, and I will listen later. I have one piano piece with a Cyrillic, Ukrainian title, Dyla Kyrila, Для Кирила, but Kyrylo, though very intelligent, turned out to be a scammer, but he only wanted $900. I was in no danger; I just can't put my hands on that much ready cash anyway! Got a piano piece out of the "affair," and it is hardly my best.I have never been able to figure out how to format percussion on Noteflight, but I don't write much orchestral! Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Churchcantor
6 hours ago6 hr Here's my analysis of the three aspects you requested (harmony, orchestration, and interpretation). I've organized this post accordingly.HarmonyStrengths: You use layered tones very well, especially in the strings, bassoon/contrabassoon, and brass. For example, the opening sul pont immediately creates a tense atmosphere that really suits your subject. Key Improvement Areas: There is too much harmonic stasis. We spend too much time hovering in dominant or tonic pedal harmonies without much meaningful movement beneath. Yes, these pedal harmonies go a long way to create atmosphere, but they also delay any sense of harmonic identity or direction. Even when the Allegro arrives, the harmonic palette doesn't change substantially, the texture just gets busier and louder. We are moved rhythmically but not harmonically.Suggestions: Consider using long pedal sections more strategically, with chromatic shifts in the held bass tones. These can create a lot of drama without adding rhythmic complexity. You might also consider employing modal harmonies, like Dorian or Phrygian, to evoke Central Asian/Siberian folk music traditions in a way your current diatonic approach cannot.OrchestrationStrengths: Percussion! You use this section very creatively and imaginatively, and the intricate instructions and directions signal real knowledge of percussion techniques. The bowed vibraphone and screaming gong are great examples of thinking outside the box to achieve your desired effect.Key Improvement Areas: The greatest issue facing this piece is balance and crowding of registers. For example, in full orchestra passages, nearly every instrument is playing forte (or louder), and most are in similar registers simultaneously. In an actual performance, this will create a wall of undifferentiated sound rather than the textured climax you're looking for. Moreover, most of the instrument families tend to do the same thing together throughout the piece. The brass, for example, play similar rhythmic figures at the same time in your climactic sections. Same with the strings; there's a lot of doubling with the other string members.Suggestions: Stagger instruments' entries, especially with the brass, to improve timbral clarity. For the woodwinds, try not to write at the high end of their registers during climactic passages (except maybe the flute and piccolo - oboe and clarinet will become fatigued much more quickly), as they'll have to play extremely loudly to be heard. The violas are particularly underused in this piece, although all the strings sort of play the same thing most of the time. See what you can do to give each member its own line.Interpretation/CoherenceStrengths: You employ strong structural ideas to frame this myth. Section I (Adagio minaccioso) is environmental and mythic. Section II (Allegro) is growling and rhythmic. Section III (Andante sonoro e vellutato) is the emotional heart of the piece. Sections IV-V (Moderato minaccioso) return us to a more aggressive character. Ending with an abrupt silence is good instinct!Key Improvement Areas: The Allegro goes on for too long, with the same rhythmic textures enduring for about 50 measures. On the other hand, the Andante should be longer. The lyrical woodwind-writing here is especially intimate, which suits the first-person encounter. If this is indeed the point of human contact, it deserves more development! Finally, the piece's emotional trajectory is loud --> quieter/lyrical --> loud again --> louder. This means the piece ends on its most intense moment... climactically dynamic, but it may obscure the mythological/encounter narrative you're going for. Suggestions: Consider giving the Allegro section an internal arc to give it more character (maybe the creature stops and listens, or there's an external threat that suddenly appears). Also, if the first-person encounter is meant to be the core of the story, consider whether that last section is a return to the environmental myth-telling perspective or if it's a different kind of confrontation.All in all, this is an ambitious work with a strong programmatic concept and some real moments of orchestral imagination (especially the percussion)! Thanks for sharing with us.Best,Jordan
6 hours ago6 hr 52 minutes ago, Tónskáld said:Here's my analysis of the three aspects you requested (harmony, orchestration, and interpretation). I've organized this post accordingly.HarmonyStrengths: You use layered tones very well, especially in the strings, bassoon/contrabassoon, and brass. For example, the opening sul pont immediately creates a tense atmosphere that really suits your subject.Key Improvement Areas: There is too much harmonic stasis. We spend too much time hovering in dominant or tonic pedal harmonies without much meaningful movement beneath. Yes, these pedal harmonies go a long way to create atmosphere, but they also delay any sense of harmonic identity or direction. Even when the Allegro arrives, the harmonic palette doesn't change substantially, the texture just gets busier and louder. We are moved rhythmically but not harmonically.Suggestions: Consider using long pedal sections more strategically, with chromatic shifts in the held bass tones. These can create a lot of drama without adding rhythmic complexity. You might also consider employing modal harmonies, like Dorian or Phrygian, to evoke Central Asian/Siberian folk music traditions in a way your current diatonic approach cannot.OrchestrationStrengths: Percussion! You use this section very creatively and imaginatively, and the intricate instructions and directions signal real knowledge of percussion techniques. The bowed vibraphone and screaming gong are great examples of thinking outside the box to achieve your desired effect.Key Improvement Areas: The greatest issue facing this piece is balance and crowding of registers. For example, in full orchestra passages, nearly every instrument is playing forte (or louder), and most are in similar registers simultaneously. In an actual performance, this will create a wall of undifferentiated sound rather than the textured climax you're looking for. Moreover, most of the instrument families tend to do the same thing together throughout the piece. The brass, for example, play similar rhythmic figures at the same time in your climactic sections. Same with the strings; there's a lot of doubling with the other string members.Suggestions: Stagger instruments' entries, especially with the brass, to improve timbral clarity. For the woodwinds, try not to write at the high end of their registers during climactic passages (except maybe the flute and piccolo - oboe and clarinet will become fatigued much more quickly), as they'll have to play extremely loudly to be heard. The violas are particularly underused in this piece, although all the strings sort of play the same thing most of the time. See what you can do to give each member its own line.Interpretation/CoherenceStrengths: You employ strong structural ideas to frame this myth. Section I (Adagio minaccioso) is environmental and mythic. Section II (Allegro) is growling and rhythmic. Section III (Andante sonoro e vellutato) is the emotional heart of the piece. Sections IV-V (Moderato minaccioso) return us to a more aggressive character. Ending with an abrupt silence is good instinct!Key Improvement Areas: The Allegro goes on for too long, with the same rhythmic textures enduring for about 50 measures. On the other hand, the Andante should be longer. The lyrical woodwind-writing here is especially intimate, which suits the first-person encounter. If this is indeed the point of human contact, it deserves more development! Finally, the piece's emotional trajectory is loud --> quieter/lyrical --> loud again --> louder. This means the piece ends on its most intense moment... climactically dynamic, but it may obscure the mythological/encounter narrative you're going for.Suggestions: Consider giving the Allegro section an internal arc to give it more character (maybe the creature stops and listens, or there's an external threat that suddenly appears). Also, if the first-person encounter is meant to be the core of the story, consider whether that last section is a return to the environmental myth-telling perspective or if it's a different kind of confrontation.All in all, this is an ambitious work with a strong programmatic concept and some real moments of orchestral imagination (especially the percussion)! Thanks for sharing with us.Best,JordanJesus, but you have a lot of time on your hands! Like me when I was actually in school as a Music Composition major. Carry on! I once got an A for a paper on Beethoven's Heiliger Dankegesang, in college. 🤣
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