Topic: jess compositions

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Oh and also, the quartets are:

Group 1: flute, vibraphone, viola, bassoon
Group 2: glockenspiel, clarinet, horn, cello

Any orchestration tips are welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/work-in-progress-january-2016

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Will have a listen soon!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think!

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Oh and also, the quartets are:

Group 1: flute, vibraphone, viola, bassoon
Group 2: glockenspiel, clarinet, horn, cello

Any orchestration tips are welcome!

https://soundcloud.com/composerofavantgarde/work-in-progress-january-2016

I enjoy it!  Just from listening to the MIDI, and with no view of the score, the only thought that occurs to me OTTOMH is, in the ostinato section (from about 00:35 to 01:05), if you have any of the winds involved in the repeated patterns, have you accounted for the need to take the occasional breath? 

Keep up the good work!

[(poco) Sforzando]

Will have a listen soon!

Me too. But if you want orchestration tips, you should provide a score, since only that way can one determine how idiomatically you are using your instruments. (MIDI, after all, can do anything.)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I tried to upload a pdf of the score so far....but alas, the computer I was working on has lost its internet connection. I will have to be doing some detective work and then computer surgery in a little while to get it back up and running......

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I enjoy it!  Just from listening to the MIDI, and with no view of the score, the only thought that occurs to me OTTOMH is, in the ostinato section (from about 00:35 to 01:05), if you have any of the winds involved in the repeated patterns, have you accounted for the need to take the occasional breath? 

Keep up the good work!

The ostinati of which you speak are in overlapping groups of 3 quavers slurred. The horn and clarinet should be able to pop in breaths here and there without causing any noticeable disruption to the overall texture, but once I upload the score it would be great to have a second opinion from an actual woodwind player on this issue. The cello can breathe at any time.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Computer Made score as it stands....it is more completed in manuscript format but I can't scan A3.

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Will take a look!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I've finally mapped out the entire fast section. It will end slow and grand.....but I need to write another few minutes before I get to the ending section!

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Computer Made score as it stands....it is more completed in manuscript format but I can't scan A3.

The clarinet and horn have uninterrupted streams of eighth-notes for mm.10-22, but most players will need to breathe.  You might want to manage where they cheat that time (and quite possibly drop the odd note).  I speak not only as a composer;  Tuesday night I'm getting together with two wind players for beer and chat, and that is about the first thing that would catch their eye if you gave them a part . . . it would strike them as careless on the part of the composer.

And the sound of the piece is good;  I don't want what looks like notational inconsideration for the wind players to be an obstacle. Make sense?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

The clarinet and horn have uninterrupted streams of eighth-notes for mm.10-22, but most players will need to breathe.  You might want to manage where they cheat that time (and quite possibly drop the odd note).  I speak not only as a composer;  Tuesday night I'm getting together with two wind players for beer and chat, and that is about the first thing that would catch their eye if you gave them a part . . . it would strike them as careless on the part of the composer.

And the sound of the piece is good;  I don't want what looks like notational inconsideration for the wind players to be an obstacle. Make sense?

Thanks for the tip. I'll look over that section and revise it today.

[Monsieur Croche]

The clarinet and horn have uninterrupted streams of eighth-notes for mm.10-22, but most players will need to breathe.  You might want to manage where they cheat that time (and quite possibly drop the odd note).  I speak not only as a composer;  Tuesday night I'm getting together with two wind players for beer and chat, and that is about the first thing that would catch their eye if you gave them a part . . . it would strike them as careless on the part of the composer.

And the sound of the piece is good;  I don't want what looks like notational inconsideration for the wind players to be an obstacle. Make sense?

I second the above.

I would also second Karl's prior comment on that ostinato segment -- it runs too long, the same, using the same instrument in the same register, and therefore becomes quickly dulling. The breathing allowances for the players are also a real consideration.

There are any number of ways to re-approach that without having to re-write the activity above it. You can alternatively distribute it around the several instruments -- and not in the same register, and / or by leaving one note of the figure out without changing the overall placement or 'motor drive' of it. Since the activity over it is occasional and somewhat pointillistic, there are, then, instruments strategically free here and there to take on the ostinato figure and 'let it travel a bit.' It could also, so placed, appear in retrograde, inversion, retrograde inversion and the ear will still 'feel' it is present. Once it is briefly established and before it becomes dulling, there are plenty of ways to skin that cat while keeping the cat's presence.

Best regards.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I second the above.

I would also second Karl's prior comment on that ostinato segment -- it runs too long, the same, using the same instrument in the same register, and therefore becomes quickly dulling. The breathing allowances for the players are also a real consideration.

There are any number of ways to re-approach that without having to re-write the activity above it. You can alternatively distribute it around the several instruments -- and not in the same register, and / or by leaving one note of the figure out without changing the overall placement or 'motor drive' of it. Since the activity over it is occasional and somewhat pointillistic, there are, then, instruments strategically free here and there to take on the ostinato figure and 'let it travel a bit.' It could also, so placed, appear in retrograde, inversion, retrograde inversion and the ear will still 'feel' it is present. Once it is briefly established and before it becomes dulling, there are plenty of ways to skin that cat while keeping the cat's presence.

Best regards.

I am thinking of rewriting it with more rests to make the subtle variety of colours a little less subtle, and the passage more breathable!

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

I am thinking of rewriting it with more rests to make the subtle variety of colours a little less subtle, and the passage more breathable!

Good!

[Monsieur Croche]

I am thinking of rewriting it with more rests to make the subtle variety of colours a little less subtle, and the passage more breathable!

After Karl's good, good no. two!

For another time, and a 'breathless' ostinato or continually fleeting sixteenth-note passages from any winds [note the plural] look at the two bassoons in the last movement of Stravinsky's Octet.

That is how that is done, effectively, and if you think and hear 'wind instrument,' that usage has its own rather startling effect because it sounds like it could be one player, but does sound as if it is done without the player breathing. 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

After Karl's good, good no. two!

For another time, and a 'breathless' ostinato or continually fleeting sixteenth-note passages from any winds [note the plural] look at the two bassoons in the last movement of Stravinsky's Octet.

That is how that is done, effectively, and if you think and hear 'wind instrument,' that usage has its own rather startling effect because it sounds like it could be one player, but does sound as if it is done without the player breathing. 

One thing I was thinking about when writing those bars was keeping the entire chord pulsating underneath through the subtle but regular timbral shifts. Perhaps I'm attempting something I can't achieve in my most desired way, but breaking it up between the instruments and omitting notes here and there should work too.....would that still be too 'dulling' though?

[k a rl h e nn i ng]

Give it a try and let's have a look/listen.

[Monsieur Croche]

Give it a try and let's have a look/listen.

A-yep. ^^^All good advice as per the situation / problem considered, there is nothing like running it up the flagpole to see if anyone salutes 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I'm about three quarters of the way through the piece now.....and I just called the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to find out that this composition I'm writing is purely an audition piece from which they will select young composers to commission for concerts next year. So yeah, it won't be performed any time soon....lol....I'll have to send it to a group like Elision or something like that.

also! Just bee asked to perform my arrangement of 'Gee Officer Krupke' for three guitars on the 17th of February at my old school. I'll try and get someone to record it so I can upload it here...........................