i've always shyed away from composing as i used to get really agitated that my pieces didn't sound anywhere near as good as the ones i was learning. it was only when i took up AS music last year and HAD to compose as part of the course that i found i actually enjoyed composing.

so i have 2 compositions for people to listen to :

And here is the other one (the one I used for AS music composition)
Please post any feedback you have

They let you do the AS without having to do the GCSE? Man do I envy you - if my school shared that viewpoint I could have spared myself so much suffering :( I'm a bit tired atm but I'll review your compositions tomorrow if I get the chance :)

Hm, I don't think they show off their true potential. Ocean Waves has a good melody, but it's hidden among crazy arpeggios. I like the part after 1:10 though.

Both songs sound original, and match their names really good. If I didn't know their names, I would have guessed on some of these names. I'd say they are both in the 6-7/10 border. :)

I see what you mean about the arpeggios, Noir7- i was a little unsure about whether i was overdoing them a bit. You see, I got the idea for the piece, Ocean Waves from a piece i was playing at the time (Ravel's "Une barque sur l'Ocean") which also uses many arpeggios. If i ever get the time (i'm composing something else at the moment) i may try and change some of the accompaniment to make it less repetitive

I think the arpeggios fit, but they're overwhelming and destroys some of the melody.

I really wish I could compose music in this style . . anyways, I think the arpeggios fitted perfectly with the wave theme. Are the two songs connected by any chance? The second song won't load for me . . but the first one sounds very professional!

Originally posted by Alphonse@Oct 14 2004, 03:35 AM
I really wish I could compose music in this style . . anyways, I think the arpeggios fitted perfectly with the wave theme. Are the two songs connected by any chance? The second song won't load for me . . but the first one sounds very professional!
you should definitely try the second.
there're some very interesting movements. I personally think these movemetns are awesome, but again, it will be much better if they can be organized in a clearer way.

Thanks Darren, it works now! I personally don't think they need to be "organized in a clearer way". That's the post-impressionist style I think Thorn was going for . .

Thorn, I liked the randomness and the flow. Same with the first piece, this sounds very professional (meaning, a real real song) . . but sorry, I'm not too fond of the title. I usually imagine shadows to be softer, a pale "reflection" of the object . . *shrugs* that's just me.

Al- i didn't mean for the two songs to be connected- but i suppose their theme of the ocean does connect them. "Ocean Waves" is the ocean in the day- with rays of sunlight reflecting from the waves- ( i won't say where they are as that would spoil the piece- it's down to your interpretation), and "Shadows on the Waves" is the ocean at night- sorry about the MIDI of this piece- i created it from Sibelius, which overdos the dynamics- the loudest point in this piece is only mf , but Sibelius plays it back as ff- and the ppp dynamic can't be achieved on Sibelius. If I ever get the equipment- i'll record this myself and post a proper sound file of it.

I've changed a few things with "Shadows on the Waves" (a few new bars, some notes changed) and will post the new version here:

by the way- if anyone wants the sheet music for either of these pieces, feel free to e-mail me.

i am also just tweaking a new composition- and will post it when it's ready

Excellent piano arrangements! I only wish I had the piano background to know how these things are supposed to be played/written. One of these days, one of these days...

Ocean Waves:
Parts of the beginning struck me funny. It was hard to place the flow of the song because of all the strange chords. Just as you got a grasp of the wonderful melody, the feeling is washed away in a succession of random notes. The waves in and out feeling was evident and you write it well. The entire beginning is very artistic, but to an ear unaccustomed to the style it can sound like a bunch of banging on the piano. I'd suggest sparsing out the confusion and increasing the occurence of structured chords. Does your editor allow for individual note editing? (i.e. a MIDI list?) This would allow you to tone down the color notes so they can blend together a little better, which you would probably normally do when playing the song on the piano.

The chorus was just incredible in this song! Once can't comment much about good things, but I will say that it was Fantasia caliber! After that, the conclusion just had too much confusion and at least for me tore down the majestic feeling from the chorus. Then again, that may have been the feeling you were looking for!


Shadows on the Waves:
This one was better in some respects, and worse in others. The edited version flowed a lot better than the original, so good job with that. This song seemed to make a lot more sense compared to Ocean Waves, but it felt a bit repetitive and, unlike the first, didn't seem to really go anywhere. The ending was also inconclusive or ominous, however you'd like to think of it. My philosophy of a good song is that it should make a complete statement, leaving no feeling of doubt or question in the listener's mind when it's over. Thus, all of the above is merely personal opinion.


Regardless of my criticism, these songs are spectacular and far above my current level of musicianship. I may be coming across as a moron by criticizing on the basis of the very intentions of your writing. If so, I congratulate you for getting the feeling across. :) I look forward to hearing what you may write next!

I've finished tweaking my new composition!
I wanted to do something different- keeping away from the wave/ocean theme- but not away from the style.

The piece is called "Night Fantasy"- it involves a simple floating melody which recurs throughout whether in full or fragmented, decorated by light breezes, illuminated by the moon- which leads into a swirling virtuosic fantasy of strong winds, then, as the moon is covered by dissonant chords, the peacefullness of the night returns with a fragment of the melody, which is carried away by a light breeze.

Let me know what you think about any of my 3 compositions. I can't upload the sheet music for some reason- but if you want it e-mail me.

It does remind me of night, and I like the fact that you explained and gave the full purpose and background of this composition. However, it reminds me more of a silent night than a night of fantasy. For the song itself I have nothing particular to say. It's not really my taste, but it did flow well. You've put effort in it, but it still needs to be more interesting to listen to it throughout the whole thing. The 03:30 parts did kind of ruin the song, and from there it reminded me of a rainy day than a night of fantasy. Hm, the ending was great, but why didn't you develop that part more? I liked the arpeggios in the ending, but not as an actual ending - It should've been used someplace else. Does that make any sense, btw? :mellow: I can't give you a fair rating since I don't know much about this kind of music, but from my liking and listening I'd give it a 6.5/10. :)

Right from the beginning, you've captured my interest for the duration of the whole piece . . I'm interested in this style and harmony, mostly because I know I can't achieve what you've done . . very nice imagery too!

I've just finished another two compositions that experiment with the sounds that are created after the keys on a piano have been depressed (if that makes sense).
obviously, these effects won't be heard on the poor excuse for an interpretation that is the MIDI file. By the way- i know the last piece sounds pretty random, but I like random- and it took ages to compose so please dont be too harsh about this, because it's supposed to be that way.

The other piece, "Dance", is an attempt at a different style- i'm not fully satisfied with it, but i'm always very critical of my compositions, maybe this stands out because it's different to the others...

I dont know how to post all 3 at once so here's the second

And the last

Dance:
Very creative and rhythmical, I like it . . it's so fun! And it's not dance as in something you'd dance to, but more along the lines of you're watching somebody else dance, like . . animals (x.x sorry, best example I could think of)

Soundscape:
Oh wow, you're so versatile, composing in different styles . . I highly admire that! I'm not a fan of this type of music, but I do know it's still good for its genre, and I do know you definitely achieved the goal of your title.

Reverberations:
*sigh* midi doesn't do justice . . you can only get the full effect of the "reverberations" you intended on a real piano . . try recording it, okay? For your own sake/interests =)

And it's not dance as in something you'd dance to, but more along the lines of you're watching somebody else dance

I was kind of aiming along those lines- more of an impression of a dance than an actual one- it was actually based on this painting http://raquelmartins.com/oilpaintingdance.htm I would probably confuse you if i tried to explain how, but people can find their own interpretations :)


Oh wow, you're so versatile, composing in different styles . . I highly admire that!

Thank you- attempting different styles makes composing more interesting for me- I enjoyed composing 'Soundscape'- and I have actually recorded it on a real piano if you're interested in hearing it- I just need to fix the CD writer on my computer so i can transfer it.... I know I should record "Reverberations" as well, and maybe when I get the chance I will- but it's not one of the better of my compositions, so I'll probably record some of the others instead.

I now have proper recordings of all my compositions except 'Reverberations' and 'Dance'. They are too large to upload, but PM me if you want to listen to them, and i'll send you the ones you want to hear.

I have finished another composition. It was inspired by the fountains at a shopping center where I live- i was sitting randomly on a bench and the first theme of the piece was playing in my head as i watched them.

Here it is- it's called 'Cascades'.

And while i'm thinking about it, here are two recordings I made of my compositions. The first is 'Shadows on the Waves' which has been altered again.

Cascades:
Bubbly and wavey ^^ although this doesn't have the traditional melody and phrasing, etc. I still quite liked it, the style impresses me. It's just so happy and carefree =)

now i call this a music art. it does sound like a fountain and you did a great job projecting that image with your music. very good although this is not my type of song but i like it.

Cascades is really neat; I agree with Al on your use of non-traditional approach - this sort of reminds me of the harmony that a lot of "newbie composers" use, but your skillful phrasing actually makes it sound quite nice. I also liked the fact that you've bothered to add dynamics and tempo changes (though outside of the cadenza section, I think you could've done w/ a bit more moderate tempo deviations; a slight decrease in tempo at the peak of a phrase or crescendo really adds a more human touch, and so on). And try to tighten up those pedal points a bit. "Shadows" also sounds like it's off to a good start, but is it really only about 25 seconds long so far? I'm not sure if you've simply posted a fragment, or I'm not downloading it right. Anyways, keep it up.

I'm not sure if you've simply posted a fragment,

:o yes there is only a fragment of it?? i don't know why that is- i do have the complete version!! maybe it didn't upload properly?

Cascades is nice. It's a bit too ethereal for me at parts, but you're definetely above most of the composers here.

I'm just re-posting my composition MIDIs because they got deleted before. I have other compositions too that ive done in between april and now, but my program is playing up so i cant save them as MIDI files... they will be uploaded when i sort it out.

(couldnt upload all 7 at once)

I was wondering if you could tell me something. I want to listen to your compositions, but I no links show up on my computer. Your's aren't the only ones that don't show up for me. Am I missing something?

The forums recently switched to vbulletin from invision board. During the change, all file attatchments were lost. It kind of sucks.

Oh...ok. Wait, but this one is newer than mine, and mine seemes to show up.

uh.. no it's not ;__; This is an old thread.

Yeah, sorry. I just figured it out....hehehehe...:heh: