River Fantasie

[Majesty]

I really liked the opening. It gave me a sense of something very grand to come, but unfortunately, I'm not sure if you really capitatlized on some of your material in such a way. There were a lot of nice moments in the piece. In fact, I found the piece very relaxing while I was listening to it. I enjoyed the tambourine moments, sounded very medieval. Also, the ending wasn't very convincing to my ears.

Your thought of adding more non melodic percussion might be nice.

Overall its a good piece. I'll try to take another listen and if anything else comes to mind I'll share them with you.

Good luck!

[Stenir]

It seems that the opening is acceptable by everyone. At what point do you think it veers off that path?

[Stenir]

Well, for now, I've made a few changes and am looking at this on a "suggested problem by suggested problem" basis.

I'm currently holding off on the percussion because the bulk of most compositions is actually in the non-percussionists. So, until I work the remaining kinks out of the composition itself, I'm holding off on the percussion. However, I do have in mind to use some Wood Blocks, a Snare Drum with the snare off (maybe on), a Bass Drum if kept light (seeing as most of the piece is, in and of itself, very light in my opinion), and some other instruments. Any suggestions as to what may be used? Feel free to even let me know where you think they would work best for structural purposes.

The current changes are, so far, as follows (I will post the score later; and then update the mp3 file once I complete the changes, but hopefully they sound good on paper/forum):

1) At Reh. 202, there is a 4-bar repeated section, which sounds good, but then those four bars before the Clarinets and Horns pickup into 210. I removed the repeat, and had the Trumpets/Horns repeat 202-205 in 206-209. Doesn't drag on as much.

2) The section at 218 should decrescendo out until there's just a solo Clarinet. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a decresc. (not a hairpin!) articulation somewhere in the program. So, I'm having to make do with typing it in. For the bad rendering (stupid programs), I'll have to replace the word with hairpins. Basically, 218-223 are decrescendo. The solo should be loud enough by any means, but probably will be played freely tempo-wise by the soloist.

3) All tempos are bumped up to lighten the piece to where I want it. I have a nasty habit of having to hear all the nitpicking details until a composition is complete, and thus entails dropping the tempo by a certain amount. I'm going to deduce which of the various tempos I want at what bpm and change accordingly.

4) Which brings another point: The Clarinets are meant to be solos (I'm sure you can pick out where I'm talking about). Should be obvious, but I had someone here ask me if I meant for them to be played Tutti. While each part would be readily heard, I had to ask them if they were crazy. Nothing against Clarinets, but it would just be too much to have, say, 4 Clarinets on each part at that/those point(s).

5) I have a possible ending structure short-scored, but I have to get it into the different parts (which is weird for me, since I never really go out and break my music down). I'm gonna get the Accomp., Harmony, Melody, Counterpoint Melody, Bass, etc. into a score so I can follow that. It's going to take a few techniques such as augmentation in order to get the ending to work.

[Majesty]

Originally Posted by Stenir

It seems that the opening is acceptable by everyone. At what point do you think it veers off that path?

I don't think you veer off the path, really. I think my comment about capitalizing on certain moments were probably a more personal thing. I just think personaly, there weren't enough moments that you were building up. But, then again that may be your intention. And if it is, then its not a problem. Or, it could just be that your music didn't go where I thought it would and the surprise was a little too much for me

I hope that I made things a little clearer.

I think woodblocks are a great idea!

[Stenir]

I think I'm going to change the rehearsal numbers to rehearsal letters. For now, I've got everything off a measure, because I removed the F major triad in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Clarinets from a hold, and had that chord be two 6/8 measures in the new tempo. No stopping, just straight in.

I've made the changes as outlined above.

What do you mean by certain moments building up? As in, drawing out the melody or harmony? And what certain moments are you talking about? I assume you have certain ones in mind.

[Stenir]

All, I have posted my currently updated but still in work score.

I've made a few changes that I posted later. I have done quite a bit of work on it, so I've also attached the pdf and the midi file for up to where I'm at. I'm not going to redo the parts until it's complete, obviously. I am in the middle of short-scoring the finale in grandioso 6/8, but once that's done, it'll be simple to put it in. Let me know what you think of my changes so far.

The score and midi file are updated back in the post I originally posted the score (should be post # 14, page 2).

I think one portion of the tempo got a little messed up. It's where coming out of the 6/8 returns to the 4/4 with the Clarinets. For some reason it sped up the Clarinets before they hit the fermata. Don't know why, I must have messed something up.

I did up the tempos slightly, but enough that it now only takes about 12 1/2 minutes to get where I'm at right now. Still, this is all going to be up in the air until performance on exactly how long of a piece it is.

[Stenir]

I'm currently closing in on the ending, but I'm at measure 371 right now. I have to do some pitch changes, as I don't want all 4 Horns on the same pitch.

A week from tomorrow it's going to be presented to my community band. Here's to hoping we make it through it. (Well, for now, here's to hoping I finish it.)

On a side note: I'll post the score probably tonight (as I'm hoping to have it completed [again] this evening). Then you can all give me your views on how this ending works.

[Stenir]

Okay, here's the finished product. I've had a few people look over it and it sounds much better.

Here, also, is the really bad Finale-made midi file to go along with it (apparently, tho, Finale makes better midis than mp3s....funny).

The score is legal sized.

As Tuesday is the initial practice (they've had the parts to sight-read since yesterday as I e-mailed them out), I'm not going to make any changes such as this big one I did.

I won't have to point out the changes, but the ending is meant to be broad and will definitely sound the way I want it to, even though Finale doesn't make it...well...sound the way I want it to.

There might be a couple of places the midi file goes awry, especially at the beginning of the 6/8. Dunno, haven't had a chance to review yet.

But it's done. And once again...I know the ending might create some questions, but trust me, it does sound good.

[Stenir]

NOTE:

I wanted to make a quick note that I have some extra percussion parts written (Snare without the Snare on, Bass, light Cymbals, etc.) written, but until after I hear them played on Tuesday I'll decide which I want in the score.

I only wanted to mention that because I said I would put more percussion into the piece, but I did want to wait until after I had the otehr parts to the music complete.

[MaestroX]

Its a great achievement you've been able to compose such a long work. In my opinion though I think you should cut off some of the begining. To me the piece starts getting interesting at about 3:10. The music before that is good, well written but just dosn't sustain enough interest for me. The homophonic texture maybe should be varied a bit?

Some great parts at 4:30 and nice motif

Overall I think its a solid piece and I hope it goes well in performance. You've done your part now its up to the players and the conductor to make it happen (unless your conducting?)