Time, Les Rêves du Passé

Hi! I'm really all too new to all of this, but this site definitely caught my attention. I'm only 18, still in highschool, and no one around here really knows what to tell me about what I'm working on. So I came here hoping to get some feedback from people who know what they're talking about.

I also really want to be a composition major next year, but I've only been composing for less than a year. I've played clarinet for seven, but thats all the expirence I have. AND I'm working on my portfolio (only for the next month, then it's due!) So I'm hoping this will make the process faster with some advice (:

Let me know what you think please! (:

The two pieces are:

Time

Les Rêves du Passé

_Jill

Orchestral_Freehand.MID

hjhjjjjj.mid

TimeIII.MID

Les_R_ves_du_Pass_2.MID

Terrific work on Time.

Les Rêves du Passé... the volume is a little awkward, has jumps.

Are you using a sequencer?

Thank you!

I'm just using the synths from Finale, and since I have most of them feeding off of the strings, the volume jumps. Trust me, I've been trying to work with what I have. (;

Any ideas?

_Jill

Sorry, I don't use notation softwares, I only use sequencers.

Hello J1LLY87!

Very interesting pieces! I've no time right now to comment them, cause here in France it's pretty late and I'm supposed to work tomorrow... I promise I'll do that soon. Concerning the accidental volume peaks in "Les rêves du passé", well, I'm not using Finale under Windows, but Rosegarden 4 under Linux. When filtering events by volume, I was able to erase all volume events and your file sounded clear and clean after that. I suppose you can try this in Finale, but don't know which menu to click on... Let me know.

Regards, Francis ;o)

Very Nice,

Time: I feel there are some odd intervals that doesn't feel like that they compliment each other. I wasn't so sure about the lower bass hand melody of the piano, maybe if you added 16th notes to it it would fit in. I like how you passed your motifs around, I'd like to see them develop even more, this is a very interesting piece and I'd like to hear it develop into something more than rather stay in the key of a minor.

Though i do not know how it relates to time :happy: But music is an abstract thing.!!

Very nice piece I want it to be longer!!!

Thanks for the tip Francis!

I don't know where the button would be on Finale, because I actually use Sibelius more now (;

I'll actually have a much better recording of both songs hopefully by tomorrow.

I'll transpose Les rêves to a different key (although maybe I'm just bored with it in Am, tell me what you think!) AND I'll record off of Kontakt and Sib, it's always much smoother -- even with the volume controls! (:

Plus, I changed the end a little, so it's not only piano and I like it much better!

And Time, I'm pretty much working on THAT all tonight on Finale... *sigh*

And Chad, thanks for the ideas! I definitely see what you're saying about the piano, especially because it's SO LOUD! I listened to it on another computer today and the piano is waaay too obvious. I also really want to develop it more, and as soon as i have time (haha-- wow.) i'll start working on expanding this piece.

I named it Time because of the section in the middle. (where it goes from 16ths to 8ths, because it's always jumping to different note values. Anyway, I forgot exactly why, but I think it's what was on my mind when I first started writing it.

See now you've got me thinking! (:

_Jilly

P.S. In the mean time, I wrote this last night. If you have any suggestions, hopefully this will be a song in the next few days.

Balance is reaaally off, piano is supposed to be dominant.

And the piece isn't called STARS -- It's called "The Pleiads" after my favorite stars. (:

PIANOCONCERTO_new2.mid

Thanks guys!!

Stars.MID

Thank you!

I'm just using the synths from Finale, and since I have most of them feeding off of the strings, the volume jumps. Trust me, I've been trying to work with what I have. (;

Any ideas?

_Jill

Those volume jumps are my biggest problem. You can overcome them - you are no doubt using all non-single strings, like violin 1, viola etc. Now - you should make new instruments for every string you have in the tools/instrument list. and change the midi chanel after that, so that they dont have the same one. the problem about this is that you can only have 16 chanels in finale 2005, and 32 in 2006. changing this will also erase the fuzzy noise on the strings when you have long notes, as well as the volume jumps.

Hope this helps!

NOw about your pieces, time is incredible! maybe i wished for a little mose orchestral richness, but consigering what you are using this is pretty danm amazing!

Les Rêves du Passé - i adored this one, but only if it hafent been for the annoying volume jumps and fuzzes! really frustrating, ruins such a devine and gentile melody... you should get this straintend up and post it back!

hope i helped,

wolf

Hi, first of all you have a good sense of dramatics. Do you compose strictly by theory or feel your way a little. I liked the motifs, sounded very chromatic. Reminded me a little bit like movie or scene music. I liked the piano when it was played "broken up", but when you started the fast and repetitive scaling in the right hand it felt a little mechanical. But that's just me... But like the others have said, you may want to develop more on your main theme then throw in a contrasting one before returning. Overall, it's a great start and you have lots of potential. By the way, from my school experience piano player are really picky about their parts.

Les_R_ves_du_Pass_2.MID

Again, you have a great dramatic touch. You seem to put a lot of emotion in your music, and chord progressions. Some of the chords or non harmonic notes seem a little odd but its hard to tell b/c your using MIDI. Real instruments can make a world of difference. And you have a very nice ending, short but to the point. Again, without more development your music may feel a little repetitive. A good trick to develop a theme might be to take if from your piano staff and break up the 2 hands onto different instruments. You can transpose, shorten or lengthen note values, or stay in the same key and harmonize the melody with a different chord progression. Have you studied chromatic harmony? Good stuff... Again, nice job.