River Fantasie

[Stenir]

Although it clocks in around 15 minutes still (like it did originally), there's much more there.

And I will be conducting, so I know it's still going to be much shorter than 15 minutes. Probably somewhere between 11:30 and 13:00.

Then again, I'm one of the conductors that exaggerates tempi, and that includes such pieces as "Russian Christmas Music"!

I just finished making corrections to the score...which took about four hours considering I was also adding in the String Bass part (which is much easier to hold out those concert Cs and Ds in the bass line under the Clarinets). The string bass adds so much power to the bass line, in my honest opinion.

I'm fully expecting people to applaud at 151. It's that whole faking thing. Make them think it's over...but it's not.

Looking back on the piece, I hear so much of my own musical history...which does include taking apart video game scores to see what makes them tick. You can really hear it throughout the piece. I guess, in some way, it's almost just like that: a score for a video game.

[reith]

I think this is fine - I wasn't unhappy with the first version however. Will you let us know how it goes in rehearsal/performance?

[Stenir]

Yeah, I will. First practice is tomorrow at 7 (central time zone USA). Here's to hoping. I gotta practice conducting while Finale plays it.

[Stenir]

First practice went well. I got 45 minutes to work through the piece, making little changes here and there to ensure it sounds good. And then there's all the stuff that I just thought of to add to it...

1) Add a Snare part. I've already added a Bass Drum and a Cymbal.

0) (I say #0 because this is just something that has to be done for the band performing it, as they don't have Oboes or an Eb Alto Clarinet) Make parts for Oboe 1 -> Flute 3, Oboe 2 -> Flute 4, and Eb Alto Clarinet -> Clarinet 4.

2) Add Slurs for two measures phrases in 127-134.

3) 7 after mm.151, one Tenor Saxophone only needs to be specified (we have three, and that was way too much)

4) 5 before mm.168, all Tenor Saxophones can play again

5) mm.197 - mm.200, 4th beat for the Altos and Tenor Saxophones needs to be accented

6) KEY CHANGES!

7) mm. 234, needs to be tried with molto rit.

8) mm. 268, add Saxes on the 1st beat, with a dotted-half note on concert B natural (G# which sits on top line for Al. 1, G# on second line for Al. 2, and the C# for Tenors in the third space)

9) mm. 284, the measure prior to the key change from G major to G minor, extremely slow down, molto rit again, but not a fermata

10) mm. 285, back to a tempo

11) mm. 297...something to try for the Piccolos, Flutes, and Clarinet 1...
first measure and second measures: trill for 6 beats on G...seventh beat rest, eighth beat D glissandoing up to the third measures
third measure and fourth measure: trill for 5 beats on G...sixth beat F below the G, then either up or down to the Bb for a trill on beats 7 and 8

12) mm. 305-322 needs to be slightly faster than I have been taking it...this does mean that the 6/8 section coming up will be at the faster tempo

13) mm.339-370 has quite a number of things that have to be done with it...
13a) Trumpets and Saxophones need to back off slightly, they are too powerful
13b) Horns, Trombones, and the Clarinet 3 (4 for Eb Al.) on the first time need to play out, but on the second time, need to put more power and make the line more pronounced
13c) Bass Line needs to put more power behind the line

14) mm. 371 everyone must come off on the downbeat, and beat 2 cannot start until the conductor gives the "beat" for it...i.e., it's almost like the slight pause comes into play

15) mm. 377/378 hold the fermata until the conductor gives the final note on a "downbeat", although it would probably be like the conductor is "poking" the end...something like that...not a true downbeat, but not a true ending motion with the hands...hope that makes sense

15a) perhaps the winds might trill in measure 377 on the fermata...not before, just there


Lots of stuff to think about.

[reith]

Hah! Sounds like you got your work cut out! Still, these are all lessons learned, stand you in stead for the next one. Look forward to more news.

best of luck,
reith

[Stenir]

Yeah, I do have my work cut out for me. Do I know how each instrument sounds? Sure. What about ranges? No problem.

But do I have the technical know-how and playing styles down? No. If a certain passage is next to or near impossible, obviously, I'm not going to have them repeatedly try to pull it off. I know that happened at the first four measures of 297 when it was played. That first repeat, for the Piccolo, Flutes, and Clarinets, although they played it, just didn't sound right.

Plus, it sort of dragged because of the speed I tried to do 305 at.

[Stenir]

I know this is sort of bumping my own thread, but I do have an update on this. I've gotten this to the point where I'm going to send this in for submission. I'm stuck debating whether to send it to Alfred, Barnhouse, or another publisher.

I'm leaning more towards Barnhouse at the moment because of how responsive/informative they have been to my questions. Barnhouse currently only reviews submissions between August and March, so it's CRUNCH time.

If anybody has any final suggestions on my score, let me know. Get as indepth as I know you all can. It'll help me in the end.