Heroic Victory (competition piece)

Hey everyone!

There's this competition on the internet sponsored by HBO and Bungie.net (creators of Halo and Halo 2 -- sept. halo 3!!!!!) and the rules were to write a piece of original music inspired by halo. So, I took it upon myself to write a piece specifically for this competition. It's basically in ABCADA form, so its nothing too complex so far as structure goes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece - I know I haven't posted anything in a while! As always any comments/criticisms/praise are appreciated!

Soundclick

-Heroic Victory (lofi)-

-Heroic Victory (hifi)-

eSnips

-Heroic Victory-

Enjoy!

-Duffy

Edit: I just got an email from the guy at the website for this competition. Apparently there was an error in uploading my file which many people got while attempting to upload. He said that if I emailed it to him in time that he could make an exception since I submitted this on Friday, but he couldn't garauntee that the judges wouldn't have closed the list. He sent this at 9:00 this morning and I got it at 2:00pm, so I emailed... lets hope it was in time!!! damnit!

Halo-y. Good job with that. Overall, I thought that it was good, especially for its purpose. The piano part didn't seem to fit all that well to me, though.

I can't get to it when I clicked the link, turned my pop up blocker off, no luck...

I tryed going to your soundclick page, but it wasn't there!;)

I was going to enter this, but I missed the hand in time:(

spherenine: Thanks! I'm glad that I achieved that O'Donnell sound! :) I'm curious, though, as to what specifically you felt about the piano's not fitting.

Bob: hmm, it should work... it worked for me. I'll add a link to the lo-fi version in my original post and see if that one works for you.

I mean that the segment with the piano featured didn't really seem to fit as part of the song. Maybe I'm alone on that (it's very possible), but to my ears it felt like there should have been something else there, whether in addition in the mix or in place of the piano.

It's not that it wouldn't play, I can't get to the player. It says that it's my pop up blocker, but I've turned it off...

Bob: I'll look for another site to host this. Some of my friends couldn't load the player either.

As for the submission thing, the man in charge of submissions talked to Red vs. Blue's (an awesome machinima series) Gamemaster and because of the technical difficulties in my trying to submit it, allowed my piece to be submitted late. I'm so stoked right now, its not even funny. All my work wasn't in vain!

:)

Can I submit mine? I read the submission as 12:01 PM instead of 12:01 AM :pinch:EDIT: Oh, I see...

I'll just listen now...

Hey bud,

Well I was certainly impressed. I loved the main motif; the statements in the horn have a special power to them, good for a victory feel.

Compositionally, it was very nice; good orchestration, solid length and a clear sense of development. I would question the use of snare in some parts - it's a bit too complicated and ends up overpowering the rest, but that's probably just my percussionistic taste speaking :P

The piano bits that you added since last I heard this were very nice; they did wonders for the overall mood. Speaking of the mood though, I'm interested to know how you envision this as portraying a heroic victory...it's epic and all, but it seems almost sad in some parts; bittersweet victory is more the vibe I'm getting.

I'm rooting for you in this competition, so you better win so I can try to mooch that Zune off you (my poor, lost Ipod...:) ). Anyhow, keep us posted on the progress of the competition and keep writing!

Wonderful work, Evan :)

Wow! OK, it doesn't matter about me submitting mine now, because you're going to win anyway!:)

Very nicely done.:) Seems too sad for a heroic victory though, maybe a pyrrhic victory.:P

I agree with Marius. The snare is a little overused, especially in the long snare rolls towards the end. They don't really sound 'right'. Maybe if you made them a lot softer?

I love the piano parts!

I think you are in with a very good chance of winning this!!!

Marius: Thanks for your comments. It's always good to know when the "Incidental King" approves of your work! :D I definitely see where you (and Bob) are coming from about the snare. Maybe less would be more, essentially. So far as the mood of the piece being heroic goes, I was envisioning more of the piece working up to the heroic victory, rather than the piece describing it. You'll note that it gets more intense throughout - portraying battle - and then calms down, only to resolve on the final major chord. I see the faster section in the middle as the climax of - not only the piece - but the battle/war too. I hope that clarifies your confusion on the titling of the piece.

Bob: I'm sure you had an honorable entry lined up, and thank you! I'm glad that both you and Marius enjoyed the piano's part. After what spherenine said, I started getting a little skeptical of them - although, I like them too! :)

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Ok. I recieved an email explaining more about the judging. On Wednesday they will post the top 7 (out of 65 entries) for original song. Voting will begin for the public then. Results will be announced on Monday, June 25th!!!

I'll let everyone know whether I was chosen on Wednesday or not!

Eagerly awaiting the results. :) In the meantime, you shall tweak the snare part! Make it so! *waves sceptre*

:D

Hey guys!

The results are up, however, I did not make the final 7! :D I gave it my best shot (especially on the short notice I recieved) and put together a valiant effort. However, I cannot be bitter, because I really enjoyed most of the finals. A few of them are weird (I'll link you later in this post) but most are nice. One is techno (....), one is a rock song (...?), and one is some trippy effects one with a guy saying "haaaalooooo" over it! :)

The other ones, though, are wonderful. I guess what killed my chances in the end were the lack of piano - yes, I had some, but it is apparent that the judges were really looking for a strong piano part in the pieces. Not to mention the actual usage of the Halo theme (oops!). I interpreted "Original piece inspired by Halo" more so to mean a completely original work - as in not reusing thematic material from Mr. O'Donnell and Salvatori!

Alrighty, here is the link to the mp3's. You'll find that most are very nice - I voted for o06 (mostly because it didn't reuse the actual Halo theme. It's very well written). If you're so inclined to do so you may listen to the weird ones that I mentioned above:

o12, o35, o45

-Zune Contest mp3's-

-Duff

Oh!:) Bad luck man!

I listened to the rest of them and I thought that yours was better than all of them.:(

Never mind, maybe another time?

Honestly, I don't know what the rules were for this competition, but some of the top 7 were blatant plagiarism. I mean, one of them was a medley of classical tunes - comical, but NOT original music! Therefore, yours wins by a landslide in my book.

Thanks, guys, for your nice comments! Without trying to sound arrogant or assholish in any way, I thought my piece at least deserved a chance in the top 7! I know that the reason I didn't get picked was because there was a lack of "halo inspiration" in the piece - I really think they wanted us to use the theme in the creation of the piece. Although, what threw me off from that was that it said "original piece" making me believe that it was to be completely original - no previously used themes (imagine that, eh?).

Anyway, I can't be sour grapes about it (yes I said that saying - its fairly popular among the elderly). Thanks again, guys.

Great job with this composition Evan, I enjoyed it very much. Keep up the good work.

Although, what threw me off from that was that it said "original piece" making me believe that it was to be completely original - no previously used themes (imagine that, eh?).

Hmm... "original piece" really means "take from our already made themes"? Whoda thunk it?! Oh, well. Still, that piece is pretty amazing. I would be extremely proud :)

BOB THE SANE - I completely agree with you :happy:

This is very good! I like it! What program did you use?

Thanks again, guys! :o

The Composer: for the actual notation of the piece I used Finale 2007. As for the recording, I used a combination of EWQL Gold (winds, brass, strings, percussion) and Garritan Personal Orchestra's Steinway Piano. I find that the two programs actually work well together, so far as a piano + orchestra ensemble goes.