Hey everybody. College applications are coming up, and I just finished what I hope to be the final piece of my portfolio. The two counterparts are romantic and impressionistic respectively, and should be up soon too. This one is clearly contemporary. Check it out please and tell me what you think. It's a rough draft.

Oh and I am aware of the Copland piece. There is no connection between mine and his, I just knew I was gonna make a Rhapsody, and thought the name sounded witty xD. And hey, the sound of the piece clearly is NOT for the common man ^_^.

Here's a better version of it (with words and dynamics and articulation).

Very interesting instrumentation you have there. Comments later.

Working with these 3 instruments can be challenging. To cover the whole "aura" can be hard and need a deep thinking for make these instrument to sound thick and powerful and not weak. In a way, there were interesting things that called my attention. But the piece need to be worked on more. About the visual aspect, the piece makes me think of sailors. P:

One idea I had while listening to the first section is that you should try playing around with using harmonics to create those notes in the extreme upper range of the violin because I think that might compliment the sound you were going for very well. In measure 18 this would probably be your only option; I believe that an E below the G you have written is the highest the violin can go unless using harmonics.

I also kind of feel that you should maybe try adding a piano part. As this is, it seems to me to be incomplete somehow.

In the section starting at 40, how did you come up with the dissonances? Is there some modal/polymodal/polytonal system you are using? It doesn't appear to be atonal, exactly.

In the last measure, I feel like the anticipation in the cello should be tied to the rest of the note or else somehow accentuated so that it is brought out and given purpose. The C# also needs to be given a purpose; I would either hold it out, or accent/staccato it. I think I would also give the violin some note that would compliment the dissonance (if that makes sense...).

Overall, some interesting ideas, but I think you need to bring your organization of the piece to the forefront a little more.

In the section starting at 40, how did you come up with the dissonances? Is there some modal/polymodal/polytonal system you are using? It doesn't appear to be atonal, exactly.


Thanks a lot! The section at forty works like this: If you think back to the beginning where the violin had its little call and response, there were always two sets of chords that were dissonant for every three that were tonal. At 40 I took those 4 sets of dissonant chords that the violin played at the beginning, split them between the cello and viola, and then repeated the pattern in terms of thirds of itself (homage to the end of the violin solo). Does that make sense?

One idea I had while listening to the first section is that you should try playing around with using harmonics to create those notes in the extreme upper range of the violin because I think that might compliment the sound you were going for very well. In measure 18 this would probably be your only option; I believe that an E below the G you have written is the highest the violin can go unless using harmonics.

How do you go about notating and writing harmonics? Like, could I keep the same notes I've written, and just put them down a few octaves with a special symbol on top of them? Not sure how it works..

One other question. Starting at 12 you probably notice that the violin breaks into a sorta free-form solo. I was hoping to get rid of the bar lines from the start of it to the last high G. Does anybody know how to do this in finale? Thanks!

As long as you have a well-defined system that makes sense to you, and follow it in your music, that is all that matters to me.

I'm not an expert on string harmonics, so you'd have to do a little research. Maybe try here (http://www.composershop.com/public/Strings%20harmonics%20table.pdf) or here (http://www.musicalobservations.com/publications/harmonics.html) if you can make any sense of these. If not, then I would ask someone who is well acquainted with playing the violin.

As for the cadenza thing, you could just make the barlines invisible using the measure tool, or you could look in the "Finale--Common Problems" because I think someone answered that question recently in there.

Edit: I just figured out how to notate it using the "Easy Harmonics" TG Tools on Finale if you end up needing help with that.

As a side note, please try not to post several times in a row if you don't have to; that's what the "Edit" button is for.

After listening, it appears to me that you are going for something outside of the standard practices of composition; something more contemporary. Keeping this in mind, my comments are the following.

You need more. Not more measures, but more instruments; more textures. I think I can hear some great opportunities for interesting textures in your composition. The problem is, you need to know a little more about orchestration AND gain the experience required to get it just right. It will take months and years most likely to figure this out. Experimenting will be the key to success. Reading books on orchestration only serve as a guideline; only through actually trying things out will you be able to get a hold of this valuable skill.

Another thing I would suggest is to take a step back from this composition. Let it sit for weeks and months before you listen again. Get it out of your head. Then come back to it and listen critically. I find myself in the same position all the time. I write something, thinks its awesome-sauce, and label it as finished, but when I come back to it, I don't hear it in the same praise-worthy context I had in the past. Take what you have as a sketch to expanded upon and build a larger work. Keeping working at it until the time that when you come back to it again after letting it sit the 1,000th time and you wouldn't change a thing. Then and only then will your composition be finished.

One last thing, I'd check out the double and triple stops you have indicated in the score to make sure they are playable. If you did not intend for them to be stops, you should notate this split in notes with a divisi and then unison to play together again.

Keep at it! :thumb:

Thanks ^^.

got a midi?