Shades of Darkness (For Concert Band)

1. Techniques used

Uhh, techniques used? I just did what I thought sounded best. Um, harmonic minor, then. Aside from that, I did it all by ear. >.>... I don't have much music theory knowlege.

2. How long it took to compose the piece

2 weeks to get the rough version, and an extra month to smooth it out (like, how the piece has key changes, adding a timpani and chimes part, adding those little trumpet parts around measure 25 or so, and making an ending).

I'm not good at endings... so, I don't write one until I start critically looking the piece over... critical stuff, like how spaced out are the instruments for each other... how close I want the tenor sax/baritone to play with the baritone sax/tuba, how much do I want the trombones to mirror the baritone parts before I feel it is getting too hard for them.

3. Structure of your piece

Umm... I don't know what this means.

4. Obstacles when composing

Uhh, figuring out what to do with a piece. I'll have a nice intro, then an 8 measure theme, repeat the theme with more instruments doing melody and harmony... then not know what to do next. That's why most of my works don't ever get finished.

I've also only been composing for less than two years, so... I don't have much experience.

5. Summary of overall piece

Probably one of my better works. The school concert band is playing it, and even though we lack the instruments (I mean, we only have one trumpet aside from me, and I'm conducting), it still sounds nice to hear it played live... mistakes and all. >.<

I guess I'm supposed to talk about what inspired me here. Umm, well, see, this piece takes the best themes I've made over the years, and put two of 'em in one piece. I originally made the first twenty measures, didn't know what to do, but I knew I wanted a speed change there, so, I looked through my older songs, took a theme I liked, and used it.

http://flat-cube.ath.cx/~rykua/Shades_of_Darkness.MUS

The .WAV file. (1.26 MB)

First, let me say this: Yay, concert band! :w00t:

A few comments:

Overall, I enjoyed it. Your orchestration is a bit blocky - with quite a bit of doubling going on. In the score, I see you tend to group instruments in two ways: Woodwinds vs. Brass, and Highs v. Lows. For instance, look at measure 89. All of the woodwinds play, and then all of the brasses join them. Then all of the 'High Instruments' (Trumpets, Flutes, Clarinets, etc.) hold their notes while the 'Low Instruments' (Bassoon, Bari Sax, Trombones, etc.) have the melody. See what I mean?

You've got a lot of different combinations of instruments to use for different colors, and I don't think you're quite utilizing that as much as you could. Try thinning out the orchestration in some parts, and try mixing up the instrumentation a little. A full ensemble sound is really cool - but don't overuse it.

In the trumpet solo, at measure 62, the seventh skip feels a bit awkward to listen to. Typically, jumps of sevenths and tritones should be avoided - unless your name is Leonard Bernstein. :w00t:

Otherwise, I like it, especially the tenor sax solo. Keep up the good work!

*nods* I'm rather new to composition, and I haven't really gotten any lessons in music theory. The farthest I ever got was that the dominant seventh always lead into the tonic.

I never really learned (though I heard about) cadences, color, instrumentation, etc. I just try to pick what's pleasing to the ear.

Yeah, sorry if it seems a bit amateurish... it was kinda made for my band, which is lacking in instruments. We have 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, and 1 baritone for brasses.

For woodwinds, we have 7 clarinets, 5 flutes, 4 altos, 2 tenors, and 1 bari sax...

I kinda made this piece for the band, hence why the French horn gets sadly neglected.

I didn't mean to double, and in some of my more recent stuff (that I can never seem to complete), I don't do much of it. Usually it's clarinets with flute/piccolo or with the trumpets, alto saxes with french horns, trombones with baritones and tenor sax, and tuba with bari sax. It's a bad habit I'm really trying to break.

Aside from those, when you mean the jumps of sevenths and tritones, what do you mean? I understand what you mean about the seventh jump (something that I don't use often), but I don't know what a "tritone" is.

A tritone is an interval three whole steps wide - hence the name, tri-tone.

It's either an augmented fourth or a diminished fifth - like from C to F#.

Oh... I try to avoid those unless I'm using a diminshed chord of some sort (or if I'm using a dominant 7th... 'cause the tritone could be coming from the third of the chord with the 7th [such as E major with a 7th would have a tritone between the G# and the D]). I didn't even realize I used it in the song, lol. I'll need to look over the score again to see where.

I didn't say you used it here, I only saw a seventh leap.

I was just pointing out that sevenths, as well as tritones, are generally avoided.

Ohhh! Sorry about that. Yeah, the seventh does cause the trumpet player in my band to go "WTF?", 'cause we rarely even get jumps of a sixth, let alone 7ths and octaves in our music.

But, thanks for the advice. I'm not exactly sure how to avoid using a seventh next time (or how I could've avoided it this time), but I'm sure I can get to learning ways around it eventually. Perhaps just take the jump down an octave and make it a second?

That's certainly one option. You could also have some other chord tone there. Basically, just do what sounds the best. :toothygrin:

Whoa... I feel totally, completely, and utterly retarded and stuff. I forgot to post an audio. *headdesk*

Okay, I'm gonna edit the first post and put in a .WAV file.