After a break from composing (as I just couldn't do it - no inspiration and stuff), I decided to start composing again. Now I got inspiration but I just can't get it right :(
One of my best friends died in a car accident and I decided to compose a song about it, but I just can't get it straight. I like the piano intro myself, but as soon as the flute + piano start, I just don't know what chords I should use and in what kind of way (do you think the way I use the piano is fine, if not please give suggestions).

This composition is still called 'Test' but I'll change name once it's done.

Help is appreciated.

(Sorry for only posting the .MUS, I got Finale Notepad and can't afford the real Finale, so I can't turn my .MUS file into a midi or whatever)

O.K. Well, first off, the drums seem kinda random. It makes no sense why they're there. :blink: Also, can you really play a seven-note chord with your right hand alone? ;) I think the timing's kinda weird sometimes - maybe that's why you're having troubles composing the second part (the part with the flute).

Keep working on it; I'm sure you'll make something wonderful. ^_^

Yea you can do the 7note chord by jumping your left hand over your right hand (my teacher learned me =p) and the flute, yea my timing sux, I think the half notes should be there and then something like rest after it. And the drums, well, I seriously need some help on drums ^^, I want it to have like a solo, then a whole note chord in the end, and at like half the bar a little drum part to show it goes to a second part of the song but I don't know how too :(

Why dont you try something like this...

the timing is good but I don't like the flute that high ^^

EDIT: I added a new version of what I had so far with a different timing for the flute, I found I prefered to keep the piano intro for what it was, and I'm going to try and fix the drums in some way, but I don't know how to do drums well on notepad (I took 'drumset'), help please? ^^

PS. Criticism is accepted, but when critizing please tell me how to do it better so I can learn from it ^_^

In some way I'm pretty proud of what I got so far, but I seriously need help on drums!!! >.<!

PS. sorry for double post, wouldn't allow me to edit the attachment in the other post.


EDIT:

This morning I finally got Finale 2006, so I decided to go and try some stuff ^_^
This is what I got (test12345).
My friend (who seriously doesn't know anything about music) said: Chaotic, random, doesn't flow well.
This is what I say: Boring, same chords over and over, no melody.
What do you think? ^_^

PS2. I added a mus and a midi, please listen to the .MUS if you're actually going to listen to it, as the midi really sucks.

Test12345v3 was actually the only thing that seems accectable for a song here.

The versions of the other song seem so ill-ly done actually. I may have stumps, but my drafts sound the least bit substantial where they could be devolped. About 5-7 (?) versions are here of that song and it still doesn't seem to be better from the first.

I would really advise to take a step back, and get critical with melodies. Listen to Chopin more and you'll pick out how to write melodies correctly.

Thanks for the advice, I know I have problems with the melody. I can play pieces by Chopin on piano, but I'll listen to more pieces.
Also, usually when I do have a good melody, I can't come up with a good with the bass or what chords to use and stuff :(

Well, just by 'playing' Chopin won't do it. The trick is to analyze a piece and try to understand what it is in it that sounds good.

Okay, I know I shouldn't be too picky, but unfortunately, I can't stop my instinct. :P So I heard your Test12345 piece thing, and yes, it's acceptable for a beginner. Firstly, string ensemble is an ensemble with 5 instruments; violins 1, violins 2, violas (viole), cellos (celli) and contrabasses, not just a staff. Secondly, you lack bass notes, it's not foundation-ed enough. Thirdly, your sense of instrumentation isn't sharp enough (I know I shouldn't get into this, but I'll go briefly over this topic), such as you make the piano do unnecessary doublings, and glockenspiel doing arppegios (if you want the same effect, celesta should be used rather than glockenspiel), and there are more, but I won't go into that cos I don't want to confuse you. Fourthly, you repeat your melody too much, and it's boring after like the third time. Fifthly, the piece is too held back, the atmosphere never went anywhere, except for repeating. Sixthly, you tried to build a tension with percussion, but you resolve it too quickly by repeating your theme over and over again. Seventhly, you don't have a proper ending (maybe you're not done, I don't know but it's still an issue right now). Finally, my suggestions for you would be to study more about harmony, and do more solo piano piece first before moving on to pieces with more instruments, and practise more with composing. Good luck. ;)

I'm working on a new composition:
It's called Sparky's Theme.
Sparky is a character, he grew up without family and friends, and now he's been chosen to fight the evil guy with some other warriors.

You guys will probably think it's random, and I'm working on that, but I need more tips/help on this one ^_^

I have the same problems as you with solo piano composing :heh: ...

The bass part keeps on repeating over and over again @_@ + the rhythm keeps on repeating (3 times...). It doesn't sound like how you wanted it to be...

Try looking at ichigos.com for sheet music, and analyze it closely...

Well what I got so far is basicly how I want it, but as you said, the bass + rythm keeps repeating, so I want to change this, but I want to keep the song in the same style, that's what I need help on ^_^

Well... it seems that you are creating 4 measured phrases.....

Try creating ..... 5 sets of 4 measured phrases first. Then see what else you can add to it.

(Don't repeat the rhythm on the bass part... unless it's really active (but have some variation with the notes)... for example, in my piece, the bass part was all eighth notes for one measure, but no one seemed to complain about it)...

Do you need the example I made?

(Don't forget- I'm new at this too :heh: )

Lol don't take this serious

Me shitting around a bit (esp from 0:45).
My friends thinks it's awesome/happy, I think it's funny but shit ^^

@ Clarenetist , I'd love to have an example ^_^

:heh:

Here's the example I made (in my composition thread- III) (no title): click here (http://forums.ichigos.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2948&d=1156629912)

:unsure:

The melody repeats too much and there's more I can pick out from, but I'm too tired to. :heh: But compared to your other compositions, this is a better one. Well done. ;)

Thanks ^^

No comments about randomness or something like that yet =]

Yea, that progression gets pretty old after the second time it comes around, but other than that it's a good Prelodic Theme.

Thanks for the comments, I decided to try something new and not to repeat the same rythm + melody over and over.

Some points sound kind of weird, but I'm trying to fix those.
It's not done yet by the way.

Overall, it's fine, nothing wrong with melody and all that. But the progression is too unjustified, the chords doesn't work well. ;)

First off-it isnt a ballad really. More of a theme or "melody" if that matter.

(Ballad has many different phrases and-doesn't need-a partial or varied theme or "refrain")

It's OK right now, but I can really say at the moment : ENDING. Seemed a little abrubt. You migh also want to have a stop in the music for like a half measure--a climax works well for that.

Keep it goin! ;)

ENDING. Seemed a little abrubt.

I second this; the ending was really sudden and out-of-the-blue. x_x Otherwise, I thought it was a rather nice song. Very mellow, although some of the chords didn't blend well with the rest of the piece. Good job - and keep it up. ^_^

Yep, the ending was really sudden... and I felt the song was "stacked"... (1 part here, 1 part there, not much transitioning)... Good luck ;)

It's pretty. I'm guessing the ending isn't done...

The chord progressions are very similar to Christina Aguilera's Beautiful. XD

Crap, I was trying some instrumentation, and I found this was pretty funny ^^

Any criticism on the harmony/instrumentation would be nice. Also, I might go on with this, making it a real song instead of just a 'try-out'. :)

I personally thought it sounded nice. I liked how all the instruments kinda blended together. I think it can be turned into a piece. Good job. :)

it sounds nice, i think it can be used in an RPG where you get a elvel up or something xD

Haven't posted anything since a while so I'll post something:

'Away From Home' is an old piece that I've recently finished - thanks goes to One_Winged and Shizeet for helping me with this.
'Rock' is a 'rockpiece'. We were sitting with our band and I got this idea and told people what to do. The Lead guitar is supposed to be an improvisation - as I suck as guitar I just put in something random - ain't very good but not that bad either I think.
Rock is unfinished - enjoy these songs :)

PS. Away From Home IS playable - some friends thing it's unplayable, but it really is. Actually, I'm playing it at the school concert next week. If anyone's interested just tell me and I'll post the sheets.
PS2. The Pedal in Away From Home isn't supposed to be like that - I started that composition on Finale Notepad, and finished it on original Finale 2006. For some reason it won't let me remove the pedal now :(

Away form Home: It's not much of a biggie, but how about putting that last note before the B Minor Key change to an A#?

Rock- I honestly, don't like rock music in general, so I can't say anything about this.

~I didn't listen to any of your songs throughly enough, so just think of this as being "basic comments".

The ballad rocked! I loved it. I think what clarinettist said about the chords isnt true, it totaly works... exept the ending chord =)
Away from home also rocked big time. I really like your piano stuff, thats your thing imo. the rock song needs some slow melody, and the fast soloing needs looking into...

all in all, good job!

Well, in reference to your rock song, it sounds.. okay. Not too shabby, but nothing amazing. Eh, and the solo guitar was a little random at times. Also, your rhythm guitar seems to've been playing single notes - which is usually not a good idea. It would be better to use chords (most rock music uses power chords, which are basically fifth chords). Since power chords may be a little bland, I like to use punk chords, or octaves, on top of the power chords to create interesting harmonies and whatnot.

Other than that, it seems to have a nice beat to it. Good job; just keep making Music, and it'll get better as you move along.

Thanks for the comment guys

About the guitar, it's playing double notes, not single notes :P

Ok guys, I started a new piece called 'Same Difference'. I don't know why I called it this way but oh well ^^
I made this song with piano at first, and One_Winged suggested adding strings + flute.
Then One_Winged changed it into MP3, changed the piano in harp, and added cello :)
All of this together, will give you this (unfinished) song.

Sounds pretty nice so far. How about continuing that F major chord in to an F minor, then leading it into C minor? Just a little minor/major twist I would've used there :)

Thanks for the comment :)
I added a .MUS file with some more instruments at the intro - I posted this .MUS because I don't have a .mp3 for it ^^

I think it sounds less 'empty' like this.

EDIT: don't worry about the pedals at the flute etc. I know there's no pedals at flutes! But as I said, I started this as a piano solo and then switched it to make it an orchestrated version - so I just copied the melody line from the piano which still has the pedal marks. I will remove those later!
EDIT2: Just found out I can change .MUS files into MP3 too, not the same quality as One_Winged's, but I think it's better than midi, and this way everyone, also those who haven't got Finale, can listen to my pieces :) So I changed the .MUS with a .MP3
EDIT3: Changed the file from EDIT2 with a longer version (1 minute instead of 30 seconds). Hope you guys like it :)

Ok, I really need some suggestions now: So far I got this Intro, the verse, and now it's time for a 'chorus'. I need some suggestions on how to start the chorus - I got some basic ideas, but I think I'm going to lose the power I'm building up in the end with those. So any suggestions @ Chords, Instrument Choice, and anything else for the chorus are welcome.

EDIT: edited in a more powerfull prechorus :)

Can I see a .MUS, please?

Ver nice build up so far, pretty good calming melodies; I think the strings should have a little more emotion and possibly "over-dramatic" dynamics.

Good job so far PFK--keep it up!

Ver nice build up so far, pretty good calming melodies; I think the strings should have a little more emotion and possibly "over-dramatic" dynamics.

Good job so far PFK--keep it up!

I agree with the strings - I believe they get very boring when the 'verse' (after the intro) starts. But I haven't really taken time to change them yet :)
And thanks for the comment

Clarinetist: I'll post the .MUS when I'm on the other comp later. If you're interested I could also post a .MUS with a full orchestra (I can't post the MP3 of it, because midi/finale mp3 can only handle 10 instruments and the full orchestra has about 25, so the sounds will go weird.)

Post both :P . I'll do an orchestration check, and range check ;) .

Post both :P . I'll do an orchestration check, and range check ;) .

You'll probably find loads of mistakes, and for the instruments I used for the 'full orchestra' were just those which were in the Full Orchestra file @ Finale 2006. I think I added 1 instrument only.

I'm liking the orchestrated version very much! Good job!

Clarinetists, here are the .MUS files, I assume you'll find very much mistakes @ range and such though ^^

"Same Difference Orchestrated- 2"

Flutes and Oboe- SLUR at some time!

Violin- it's hard to play 3 notes at a time like that consecutively (different "triple stops" every measure). Or you could just put in "div.".

Bassoon- Give it a very unique harmony part; not just long tones.

I would suggest adding a clarinet part.

"Same Difference Orchestrated- 3"

Same as above...

I don't think it's a good idea to put Viola and Cello in direct unison at most times.

If you're going to do a cymbal crescendo, at least have some other instruments crescendoing also :P .

At times, it's not a good idea to do what you did with the bass parts at 8-9. Trombone and Tuba by themselves are fine. ;)

If you're going to have THAT many strings playing, and you want the harp to be heard, lower the amount of notes played by the strings (Meas. 12 and beyond...). By A LOT. Especially when the strings are playing loudly.

Piccolo was sort of annoying at 23. :P Use it only if you WANT VERY, VERY high notes. Piccolo has some of the highest notes found in the full orchestra.


~Some of this stuff, I may be wrong, but I was as accurate as possible ;) .

"Same Difference Orchestrated- 2"

Flutes and Oboe- SLUR at some time!

Violin- it's hard to play 3 notes at a time like that consecutively (different "triple stops" every measure). Or you could just put in "div.".

Bassoon- Give it a very unique harmony part; not just long tones.

I would suggest adding a clarinet part.

"Same Difference Orchestrated- 3"

Same as above...

I don't think it's a good idea to put Viola and Cello in direct unison at most times.

If you're going to do a cymbal crescendo, at least have some other instruments crescendoing also :P .

At times, it's not a good idea to do what you did with the bass parts at 8-9. Trombone and Tuba by themselves are fine. ;)

If you're going to have THAT many strings playing, and you want the harp to be heard, lower the amount of notes played by the strings (Meas. 12 and beyond...). By A LOT. Especially when the strings are playing loudly.

Piccolo was sort of annoying at 23. :P Use it only if you WANT VERY, VERY high notes. Piccolo has some of the highest notes found in the full orchestra.


~Some of this stuff, I may be wrong, but I was as accurate as possible ;) .

Flutes and Oboe - I don't know anything about woodwinds, but I'll add some slurs :)
Bassoon hasn't got only long notes :)
Clarinet, any tips on how to do this?

Cello + Viola, I'm not sure, but I think I've got them playing different notes, right? :P (Also, one of them has some 4th notes in it too, while the other is all whole notes, so they definitely are different :))
Cymbal Crescendo, will do.
I don't know if it's right for an orchestral song, but it sounds just as how I want it ^^
The harp isn't supposed to be heard above all the other instruments, it's, together with the other instruments, backing up the melody.
I like the piccolo how it is =x

Anyways, thanks for the comment :)

Long tones= half notes and higher in this case ;) .

Cello and Viola MOST of the time are the same notes. :P Copy the Viola into the Cello part and you'll see.

Harp, in a way, should be treated as a percussion instrument ;) , if you get what I mean. It's almost like how Piano is used for accompaniment.

Piccolo... sorry, but the high notes are VERY annoying. What you could do is put Piccolo in direct unison with Flute (NOT IN CONCERT PITCH). You do know that Piccolo sounds one octave higher than written, right?

:P What instrument(s) was this originally written for? If this is Piano, this is going to be tough for you :\ .

Long tones= half notes and higher in this case ;) .

Cello and Viola MOST of the time are the same notes. :P Copy the Viola into the Cello part and you'll see.

Harp, in a way, should be treated as a percussion instrument ;) , if you get what I mean. It's almost like how Piano is used for accompaniment.

Piccolo... sorry, but the high notes are VERY annoying. What you could do is put Piccolo in direct unison with Flute (NOT IN CONCERT PITCH). You do know that Piccolo sounds one octave higher than written, right?

:P What instrument(s) was this originally written for? If this is Piano, this is going to be tough for you :\ .


Oh yes, the piccolo at 23th measure really was annoying, thought you meant those at 9th measure. And I had no clue what I was thinking when I added piccolo at the 23th measure.
And I only had the first 30 seconds written for piano.

Another note: seriously, get the strings off the whole/half notes; they have nothing shorter than a half note (except the Viola part at meas. 2) :mellow: . Strings can be used for something except chords :P .

Another thing: PM me; I'll give you a link to a tutorial about orchestration... which is how I learned. The catch? Well, you will probably need a fast internet connection, and there's 25 LONG lessons :P .

It is also required that you are able to read treble/bass clef. Plus know terms, such as: con sordino, con brio, dolce, dolcissimo, fluttertounging, Allegro, Andante, "poco", "assai". When you get the link, I advise that you shouldn't skip the first two lessons, even though it says you could.

Well, I'm working on a piece for this year's dutch new years compositions contest.
I decided to change style a lot, instead of all the classical entries, and some rap, of last year, I decided to go for "rock".
So far I kind of got my inspiration from "Search And Destroy" but I didn't copy anything (Just the chord progression looks similar). As the theme is "Night", my friend came up with the idea to start somehow slow (I did a woodwind/brass intro) as in, the night is quiet and peaceful, and then suddenly put in guitars as in, more things happens in the night than you expect. That's kind of the main idea, well this is the first 30 seconds on the guitar intro.

I hope someone has comments, good tips for a nice guitar riff, some tips for the drums and perhaps even a good chord progression idea for me to use in the chorus (perhaps I could use the woodwind/brass intro theme for guitars as the chorus (Look for "Same Difference", the first one posted, that's basicly all the intro!).

So, I've been trying a completely new concept for the contest. This is only the intro, I've been trying to keep the piano bass line as diverse as possible, and I think I did a pretty good job at it.

I'm going to continue the verse in minor to then go back to major for the chorus etc.

I will use a basic like this Intro (A)-B-A'-B'-A'-C-Solo(D)-A"-A"-Outro

Or something like that.

Any tips, comments and help is appreciated.

looking forward to hearing the rest =)

Updated the composition.

I went in a total different style than I usually do.
The last chord sounds somewhat weird :(

Tips/comments please ^^

PS. My solo writing isn't too good, but my friend (who will do the solo guitar) will improvise a little :)


Enjoy.

http://media.putfile.com/PFK---Composition-v2


Another update:

http://media.putfile.com/PFK---Composition-v3

Yet another update:

http://media.putfile.com/PFK---Composition-v4

The mainline is done now, now I just have to change some parts (outro) and the piano at the "second" part (bit repetitive right now).

ANOTHER update:

http://media.putfile.com/PFK---Composition-v4

What I picture in this composition:

The Night...

Sun goes down, part 1.
It's dark, early in the night, youth on the streets making noise, part 2
It's later in the night, everything's calm and quiet, not too many noise, part 3
The sun is coming back up, the first birds starts whistling, part 4

Nice composing, but it leaves me wondering what you were going for. To me, it sounded like three entirely different songs put together. The count off on the cymbal at 30 sec didn't do it for me either and the retard. was unexpected to me.

It did remind me a lot of a Nintendo or Sega game theme from back in the day.

Keep playing with it. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. ^_^

Like I said before I'm trying to picture different parts of the night ^^ The count off wasn't really supposed to be a count off - actually I'm not sure if I even want those cymbal crashes but I guess most Finale users know how weird Drum Set notation works, so I just picked the sounds which sounded most like how I wanted it to sound.

HELP NEEDED

So, I've been working on a new piece. I've found it all sounding nice in the Finale MP3 file. I then asked if One_Winged could turn the midi into a mp3 with better soundfonts. He changed the acoustic guitar, by raising it up quite a lot. Anyways, with this change, there suddenly seem to be some weird notes in the melody, which sounded fine to me in the Finale MP3.
So I was wondering if anyone could help me out on how to fix this.

Please note: In the One_Winged MP3 file there's no electric guitars, the bass is a tad bit low (So you don't hear all notes because it's too low) and the dynamics aren't too good, because I adjusted the dynamics for the Finale MP3 and the dynamics all sound different in the midi.

I update both the Finale MP3 and the MP3 One_Winged gave me, please help me out!

So, I've been working on a new piece- first I wanted to write something in Cminor - that's why I gave it this title - after I'd been fooling 'round on my piano.
I changed mind though and decided to do something with my obsession for key changes.
I got 40 seconds so far - criticism (sp?) is appreciated :)

Although it's very cliche, you should wait until you find or make up a melody for this. It could turn out pretty well, actually.

Was a busy month at school!
I'm back now, tried to compose something new, another piano solo. It's only the first verse but I hope you enjoy it.
Tips and critiscm is appreciated.

The progression seems to want to go a little longer in the beginning few bars. I would suggest you to extend it. Though the progression, undoubtedly, was a little cliched, you can try varying the accompaniment to create something more unique. Also, try to be more creative and daring with your melody. A composer should try to surprise the audience, if you keep giving them what they already heard more than like 3 times, it becomes quite tedious.

Ooh, after that second Gm/Bb chord (00:24) I was wishing it would go to a A7 --> Dm/F. Anyway, the following F --> Fm chord change was pleasant. As for melody; well, there isn't one. At least not for me to grab onto, it all seems very imporovised and more 'harmonic' than melodic.

http://media.putfile.com/Composition-36

Updated version.
About the chords, I'm trying to keep it as less cliche as possible. Some things (especially in the "chorus") may sound odd, but I like it this way.

Sir_DotDot, I've tried changing the first part a bit. I might extend it, as compared to the "chorus" the "verse 1" sounds very short. I don't think the accompaninent was cliche, not unique either though. I'm now making some major/minor changes to make it sound more unique. Also, I think the "Chorus" will pretty much surprise the audience. I just hope I placed the sound I wanted right.

Noir7, there wasn't really supposed to be a main melody, because when I started writing this piece, I was basicly aiming to possibly orchestrate it, starting with the main idea for the piano. Anyways, now that I decided to keep it a piano solo I'll try and get a better melody. I tried the A7 --> Dm/F idea and it sounds pretty nice. If I'm going to extend the first verse I might add it. Although, it's a bit weird but at the F --> Fm part, the right hand is basicly playing a Ab chord with some neighbouring (that's what you call them right?^^) notes.
Anyways, I hope you guys like the chorus. Before I go on with a second verse I'll change the first 1.

By the way, my idea was to also add a real intro. I'm aiming to get something like
"Intro - A - B - A' - B' - C - B" - A" - B"' - Ending", well, something like that, not very sure yet ^^

So I basicly added a melody over the accompaniment I had before. I hope it worked out well. Please tell me what you think :)

Also I had a small chord change (no A7 DM/F yet though :()

I hope you like it!

-Unfinished-

The piano hangs around too much in the right part of the stereo field in the beginning I think, it was pretty annoying. Furthermore, the guitar...? I'm sure that's a guitar font, but guitars don't play that way which gives it an unreal feeling. The melody that begings while the drums came in was good, but the drum usage was poor aswell. They end way too early and abruptly.

The piano hangs around too much in the right part of the stereo field in the beginning I think, it was pretty annoying. Furthermore, the guitar...? I'm sure that's a guitar font, but guitars don't play that way which gives it an unreal feeling. The melody that begings while the drums came in was good, but the drum usage was poor aswell. They end way too early and abruptly.

The guitar is supposed to be strummed, but I don't know how to do that in Finale. I'm not sure what you mean about the piano =x The drums, I'm pretty bad at doing them, especially on Finale were drums are notated pretty weird.
Anyways, thanks for the criticiscm, I'll see if I can do anything with the drums :)

So, after my house burning down and not having internet for months, I'm finally back.
First of all I'm sorry for disappearing all of a sudden and never posting from another location. Also sorry for disappearing while me and my partner were working on the "Team Composition Contest".
Anyways, during my absence I've worked on stuff still, I'm here to post my latest piece. I hope you enjoy it :) (Unfinished)
Criticism would be nice.

http://media.putfile.com/Piano-song-81