1 & 2, for the Feb. 24HC

Hey all, this is my work for this recent 24HC. 24HC (24 hour concert), here at Peabody Conservatory, is where composers write a piece in 12 hours for a randomly chosen ensemble of performers, who then practice the piece for 12 hours and perform it that night. It started last night (Friday night) at 8 pm and the concert was Saturday at 8. My ensemble was Trumpet, Trombone, piano, and I added drumset at the last minute. It's pretty jazzy.

The performance wasn't all that great, because there's a lot of rhythmic complexities inherent in the music that I write, and 12 hours isn't enough time for people to really get a grasp on any new piece of music, let alone a rhythmically challenging one. But hopefully, I will have the performers really learn it, and have them record it in a month or so. For the performance, I added a guy on drumset to try to keep the ensemble together. It sort of worked... :)

So here's the piece. It's pretty short, and keep in mind I wrote it in only 9 or so hours. Oh - it's called 1 & 2, because originally, I wanted two contrasting sections, one being jazz and the other classical. But they both came out being jazzy, or more rock-influenced. Oh well.

That 24HC thing sounded preety interesting. I wish I had a such thing where I studied. You're luck to get your pieces performed and even in an interesting setting. I know it's so hard to compose a piece in a short period of time especially when you know you have a deadline. (believe me I do!)

Nice groove there ! I like the piano riff on the first one. Just when I thought that riff was going to repeat the whole piece, there you put a short different section, but still piano preety, much repeated that small pattern over and over again. This is a nice movement overall, The conversation between trumpet and trombone was nice and the second section where you put them to play together was nice choice.

Second movement, was more strange. better ! Overall I liked how you incorporated jazz with your own style. It's something I always apreciate since I am also writing pieces in that sense. In your pieces, I would have rathered hear some more complex stuff in piano but thats alright, you did this in 9 hours so i can underestand that.

Wow, a very nice mix of styles and interesting challenge set to you!

Sounds great:).

Nick -

I'm usually bit indecisive when it comes to your music. I can't tell whether I love it, or don't really care for it. One thing I can always come to a conclusion on is that you have your own style - something that your listener can cling to and say "oh yes, thats definitely Nicks." I think you're fairly consistant in that aspect, and it's something that I've always admired in your work. Now, I hear these pieces just now, and I have to say, I really enjoyed them. Anyways... on to the comments! :)

1 & 2 1

This was a really nice, jazzy piece. I found your piano writing ideomatic for the sound that you were creating. Very different instrumentation too. I'm not used to hearing works written for Piano, Trumpet and Trombone (I'm not very jazz savvy though, for that matter). Your harmonies were very interesting, and kept my interest throughout the piece. Along with your harmonies, your jazzy/Nick (:D) rhythm also helped keep me listening throughout. I found your use of dissonance throughout to be very good, and I have no complaints whatsoever. I could, though, I suppose, say I liked it a lot one more time.... hmmm...

I liked it a lot. :)

1 & 2 2

Once again, nice harmonies. Your melody in M7ths was a very nice touch, and I was glad to see it repeated and embellished throughout the piece. You also have a nice little rhymic motive going on in this one - I loved when you brought it to the piano around mm23... very nice touch. I also enjoyed the piano at mm43. This whole final section with the tempo increased was my favorite part of the piece. It was a nice drive towards the finish!

Anyways, Nick, great work. Thank you for sharing this.

I loved it very much. Listened to it yesterday and didn't log on so can't remember the details but I think the long muted notes from the trumpet and trombone in the second movement was my favourite part; it was very beautiful.

hmm i dont know about you but i didnt quiet like it sorrryyyyy. the riff was kool in the first one, the second was very boring and ugly in places dont know if thats what you wanted. i not really all for the repetition, it doesnt sound better the 8th time you play :ermm: soryyyyyyyy

Nice, just when I thought the piano part was getting a bit stale in the first one it would change. Very enjoyable, the only thing I'd have to say is that the ending seemed to come out of nowhere, after all that motion from the piece it seemed kind of jarring to suddenly stop without any kind of warning.

The second one I thought didn't do quite as good a job staying fresh... especially with the pretty uniform texture of the piano part in some places, it was much easier for it to get old faster. Which isn't bad, it just means you have to mix it up more than you'd need to with something from say the first movement. Unless you wanted to go for something a little more repeditive, even then though I think you could make small changes, especially toward the end, the shape wasn't convincing there because there didn't seem to be much development.

But overall I like your taste for harmony and pitches, very catchy and unique! For 12 hours that's pretty darn good, I've never tried to write a piece that fast, I don't know that I could, especially going into it not knowing anything about what will be the instrumentation, style, form, or anything. So well done, it has some very nice potential!

both pieces are very charming and enjoyable! great job! :P

Thanks everyone! I'm glad this was received well. I honestly had no clue what to think... I plan on having it recorded sometime, I'll let everyone know. But thanks again for listening!