Jess' Compositions

[Mahlerian]

Audacity just to edit the improvised sections together into a coherent piece. It's built from a few improvised phrases i played on a Roland Aira system 1 synth.

Nice.  I certainly understand wanting to capture the sentiment of the moment, too; maybe you should take the idea and expand it, though?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I am the furthest here from a position to give any composition advice.

It works, imo, in the middle of the piece, before the voiceover, as it does not stand out in the foreground and it sounds as a short inconscious introduction to the "real world" apparition of the voice.
At the end, instead, it is given too much prominence and it just stands out as a dull rain effect.
Maybe it'd be better even by simply removing it, as is, and leave those heavily manipulated "breaths" to do the work. There is a "dry" quality to those breaths, that fits the overall work better than the (obviously wet) rain effect.

Maybe manipulate it to make it sound (or replace it with something that sounds) like "drops of powder" instead?
I'm just typing out loud

Ah this all makes sense and is a good perspective I hadn't thought of. Thanks. To tell you the truth, the 'rain effect' is actually white noise....and I usually add some of that in if i don't really know what to do lol. Thanks for the comments.

[Overtones]

Ah this all makes sense and is a good perspective I hadn't thought of. Thanks. To tell you the truth, the 'rain effect' is actually white noise....and I usually add some of that in if i don't really know what to do lol. Thanks for the comments.

I'd be happy if it helps.
I wish I was able to use this kind of software...

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

hahahaha wow what a way to end the year! I just found out I have been selected for this http://www.plexuscollective.com/composers/



So I will have about a month to compose a piece for this ensemble. It has been my dream commission since they formed in 2014 and their concerts are truly something! One of the best new music ensembles in my city.

[North Star]

Congratulations!

[Karl Henning]

Terrific!

[Overtones]

Wow! Congratulations!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Thank you! Details are currently being put online.....

http://www.plexuscollective.com/concerts/

[Mirror Image]

hahahaha wow what a way to end the year! I just found out I have been selected for this http://www.plexuscollective.com/composers/



So I will have about a month to compose a piece for this ensemble. It has been my dream commission since they formed in 2014 and their concerts are truly something! One of the best new music ensembles in my city.

Congratulations, Jessop! I hope everything goes well and you'll be selected.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Congratulations, Jessop! I hope everything goes well and you'll be selected.

Thank you. I was selected out of 18 applicants for this commission. I don't know exactly what piece I will have to compose, but this ensemble consists of violin, clarinet and piano. The premiere will be 9 Feb, so I only have a very short amount of time!

[Karl Henning]

Great opportunity!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

The piece I compose has to be between 5 and 12 minutes and the pianist of the ensemble has said they wish to give me as much freedom as possible..........that's always very daunting! I feel as if I am going to write a piece around 7 minutes in length which goes through a few different 'sections' all related by a common theme or motif. Not exactly like a series of 'variations' though....

Because this concert is actually during a local annual Beethoven festival I might quote a snippet of Beethoven as a unifying theme of the piece. What do you think?

[aleazk]

Because this concert is actually during a local annual Beethoven festival I might quote a snippet of Beethoven as a unifying theme of the piece. What do you think?

I think the idea of a Beethoven homage is okay... but it really has to be that explicit? 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I think the idea of a Beethoven homage is okay... but it really has to be that explicit? 

Perhaps not especially explicit. I could just title the piece 'In Beethoven's Shadow' due to the idea that composers who were working just after Beethoven sometimes ended up with a feeling of slight inferiority when compared to the incredible music that Beethoven composed. Also, how will a concert of premieres really sit within a Beethoven festival? 'In Beethoven's Shadow' could be a potential title.....

Even an article written by Boulez begins by addressing the insane amount of comparisons there are with Beethoven and other classical music.

[aleazk]

Yeah, it could be.

If it were me, I would take some other, less well known and perhaps subtle, musical aspect present in or characteristic of Beethoven's music and I would try to incorporate it into the piece. In this way, one shows that one has truly studied Beethoven's music in deep.

For example, that's what Ligeti did with african music: he, almost never, quoted african rhythms directly; instead, he used the rhythm technique present in the music to make his own original rhythmic combinations.

Or Ravel and Debussy. They both, inspired by oriental music, use the pentatonic scale. However, after some early attempts in which there's some mimic of that music, they start to produce their own stuff* based on that basic element (the pentatonic scale) taken from this other music.

And one can go on with many examples... Bach and other styles of Baroque, Boulez, etc.

*or, in some other cases, they make interesting, maybe parody, reinterpretations of those passages, which is not the same as mere quotation and then re-work.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

That sounds like a very good idea, aleazk! I'll have to go really have a look at some scores though, not sure exactly about even having any Beethoven reference at all any more though.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I've dropped the whole 'beethoven' thing........it seems as if there is a possibility for a few more performances after the world premiere

I have written just over a minute of music so far. Finishing this as well as completing a summer intensive course at the conservatorium is going to be a near impossible task...............

[Karl Henning]

You've already written a minute against a seven-minute piece, and you think finishing it is impossible? Yoda himself slap you he would 

[aleazk]

That sounds like a very good idea, aleazk!

I've dropped the whole 'beethoven' thing........

lol... oh, why do I even make the effort... 

As punishment, I hope your summer course is really hard and full of equations! 

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

You've already written a minute against a seven-minute piece, and you think finishing it is impossible? Yoda himself slap you he would 

One minute of crotchet = 40 in 4/4 time is probably a little quicker to compose than one minute of very very fast music....which is what will happen soon.