Hello all,
This is my first post, and one of my first pieces. Please tell me what you think- specifically. "That's really awesome," and "That's pisspoor filth," are wonderful, but I'd like some specific criticism. This is the second movement of a brief organ prelude I almost have completed. My greatest fear is that it sounds like a rap back track.
Thank you for generously donating your time to Alfonso de Sabio. It is appreciated.

Sed signifer sanctus,
Michael
P.S. many midi output devices are terrible when it comes to organs. It should sound very firm and strong. Also, many times it plays notes in the wrong octave. So, at the end, if it seems to repeat itself, it is because the output device was crafted by Satan.

I like it. :) I like the rich chords later on during the piece, only to be taken away by another entry of the simple melody again. :) I can picture a necromancer raising an army of undead and marching when I hear it. :) Very sinister, yet a GREAT prelude! The dissonances occur in all the right places! What MIDI program did you use?

Yeah, I was right, the output device absolutely murders the ending. Thank you for your post. Necromancy wasn't what I had in mind, but it worked. Well, devilish resurrections are a far cry from rap back tracks so I guess I'm safe in that department. Also, I just tried to play that sucker. It is ungodly hard. The really loud bass part about halfway through is completely played with your feet. And trying to keep all the different melodies straight in your head sucks. But that's the kind of sadistic crap organ players sign themselves up for anyway. Any one of Bach's fugues is still harder though. I'll post the MUS file. I use Finale 2002 (not notepad), and then I mess with it further in Anvil Studio.

Ok, here's the first movement. This should be played with softer diapson stops at fisrt and then pull out some louder reeds as it goes into the faster middle section. Unfourtunately, my midi program does not have that kind of capability, so use your imagination. Once again, I'm begging for some specific, or actually general, criticism.

At first this was going to be the opening of a Requiem, but then the Requiem sucked, so here it is. Now the first movement of my Organ Prelude.

A requiem eh? Quite the commitment, but too bad you didn't keep on with it.

Um, I felt you could have used a longer intro, like prepare us for the sad mood (especially since it was originally conceived as a requiem) instead of starting off with the theme.

It's for an organ, so don't be afraid to show us its full potential, hehe. You don't have to do it in this movement necessarily, but for sure in the later ones.

Maybe you could give us some warning or transistion before the middle part, where you switched sections and went "fast" with the 16th notes (or was it 8th?).

I think your ending needs to be made more obvious. Try to make it sound like an ending to a movement, rather than an ending to a section. Perhaps slow down? Use the climax and resolution effect?

Other than that, you've got the style and mood down pretty good. ^_^

Actually, I did get pretty far with the Requiem. I was about half way through the Recordare, but I realised that all my earlier movements were terrible and absolutley horrid. The requiem was my first shot at composing. I don't recomend that to anyone else. Don't try to tackle a massive project like that first thing.

Yeah, the first movement isn't too impressive. I like the second much better (which is, strangely, my first post, while the first movement is my second). I will definately employ your suggestions to the best of my ability. The second movement uses many more faculties that test the organ and organist, when it comes to showing off. It's an absolute pain to play. Did you think the second movement sounded too much like a rap back track? Writing for an organ is hard, because so much is expected. As Mozart said, it is the "King of Instruments."

Wow, your first song was an attempt at the requiem . . . admirable ambitions!

Alright, to me, since the organ is so "big", it should sound big (doesn't necessarily mean loud). Maybe some chords could do the trick for you, instead of just a "duet between two hands that are playing one note at a time". Don't know if that made sense, hehe. Well, there are some parts where you do use chords, but I'm talking about the other parts, where it feels harmonically empty, the "one note at a time" thing. So when I say chords here, I don't mean you play triads or four-note chords. But there should be more harmony . . . damn I don't know how to explain myself, haha.

Anyways, I guess it's because you're more concerned with the rhythmic motive which you've got going on through most of the movement. Don't worry yourself with it all the time, because you've got it established already. You might as well expand on it and make it do more stuff. I think it's this rhythmic motive that makes you think of a "rap back track". Well, only because you mentioned it did I think the same way, haha. But as I said before, you can fix it by making the motive do more.

Oh, is it possible for you to use a third hand? You know, the pedals, as played by the feet? That should add more sound and substance.

By the way, in the middle, there is a very short phrase which is almost exactly similar to Danny Elfman's Batman theme, haha. I know your intention was not to plaigarize, but some people will think otherwise.

Hmm, I felt your first movement used up more organ capabilities than the second . . . and that's all I have to say. ^_^

Oh crap, what part of what Batman movie? It honestly wasn't even coming from my subconscious, because I've only seen Forever and Batman and Robin. Did Elfman do those?

Yeah, throughout most of the thing I have the feet playing either whole notes or accenting the first note of the measure. I'll look around and see where I can spice that up. Actually towards the end I'm seeing some possibilities. And all over now. Thanks a lot. Honestly. I've been looking for and needing this kind of criticism. I've been showing this stuff to my family and friends and all they've had to say was, "wow, it sounds good." The most prolific musician in my immediate family is my father. His education stops when he stopped being a drummer for a band in High School.

I'm not trying to justify my lack of polyphony, but I'm afraid that if this is performed, some idiot organist will over do it with a bunch of mixer stops. Because one note on a page of organ music can equal around seven in actuality. But you're right, it needs some more harmony. And it's kind of silly of me to think anyone will ever be remotely interested in performing this.

You really think the first movement shows the organ off more?

Thank you for sacrificing your time to this. As you can tell, I really need some criticism if I want to improve.

Yeah, I think Elfman wrote music for the first two movies, not for the last two. (And if you didn't know, the 5th one is coming out next year!)

Oh, so you were using the pedals after all? Hehe, yeah, just using whole notes or accenting beats makes it hard to notice. Bring it out more, and let it have its own solo or something to that extent, if possible. ^_^

The second movement is difficult to perform because of its technical requirements, but it's the first movement that uses more organ sound. That's why I think (I may be wrong, haha) I think it shows off the organ more. After all, it's the sound that people notice, not how it's played, etc.

Absolutely true about the sound vs. techincal ability. Music becomes pedantic when it places skill over sound. I'll try to do the organ more justice. Jeez writing for voices is much easier in that regard.

The pedals have one solo. It's that part towards the middle where it's a motive of six quarter notes and a tied half and whole. But yes, they are ridiculously under played. That stems from my own fear of the pedals, which I need to overcome. When I play in church I usually just try to susbstitute them with other stops on the great manual. I'm a coward, and that will never get me anywhere.

Ok, I have a really exuberant, happy movement about a quarter of the way done to tie the whole thing up. I've also made all of the adjustments that Alphonse recomended. So soon, I'll have finished it! I'm so excited, this will be the first thing of any kind of scale I've actually finsihed.

Heya - I've just listened to your Organ prelude :) I found it interesting and different because it's not often one comes across an organ player, let alone a composer whose works in progress you can listen to! I did enjoy the piece, but it seems to be drowning a bit in themes/motifs, making it a bit difficult for me to identify its structure - hence I felt slightly unsettled while listening to it as it seemed a bit unpredictable, though that may be my ignorance of prelude structure (having listened to few and composed none!) However, you've selected some very nice themes and I do like your melody line inversion of the bass line in the last couple of bars - nicely done and better sounding than serialist pieces! ;) It must be extremely difficult both to play on and compose for the organ, so as a first complete effort (I'd be interested to hear the requiem!) I hold thumbs aloft to you :D Have you been playing long?

I've been playing piano for a while, but I've just recently started the organ. And they are vastly different. Lots of people think that because they're both keyboards they should be similar, and to an extent they are. But they're about as similar as a Xylaphone and an accordian.

You really would only want to hear the Dies Irae and the Recordare. The rest is terrible. Absolutely terrible. It has nothing that vaguely resembles structure or logical transitions. And the Recordare isn't even finished.

Hey, stick 'em on here anyway - it's always nice to hear new compositions!

So do you play organ IRL?

Yeah. I'm a back-up organist for my church.

Oh yeah, the finished project (complete with third movement) is posted under "Shizzam!" which has like 15 views right now.