Hello, I'm new to this site, but I'm not entirely new to composing. I really hope that you'll like these songs, but if there is something wrong, tell me so I can learn. ^_^

The first peice I've written in the past few weeks or so, and the second was a long time ago. Learning to Fly is made of 6 instruments; 2 bass clarinets, 3 cellos, and 1 trombone. It's the first song that I actually used a specific number of instruments on. ex; in The Silence of War, I change the number of oboes being used. In my next few peices, I will restrain myself from using layers, and will actually make enough parts for everything. :heh:

I pray that the attachments work and that you will enjoy my music to your fullest extent. (I think i spelled extent wrong :cry: )
Please leave comments!

Oboes doing rolled chords :huh: ? Unless they're [the oboe player(s)] are really good at that stuff, I don't think it's possible. I don't think oboe can go down to a Bb...

Learning to Fly~ It's pretty good :) . I'll get specific later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And... welcome to Ichigos! ^_^

What do you think oboes are? Third hand for piano?! Hell no. It's not. In your piece, it's totally out of range, and it's impossible to play rolls (yes, they can play arps. not rolls). And you need at least 4 oboes play that piece. As for the octave doubling thing that clarinetist said: no, it doesn't matter if oboe doubles, they have the same timbre, so it's just going to make the sound a little thicker.

Well, I don't exactly know how to play oboe, (probably because I've never touched one,) and at that time, I was just using finale notepad to make it sound like I wanted it to. Thanks a lot for the reviews.

Here's another song I just wrote... In about 2 hours :\
I'm not sure if all the parts are playable, but I have heard some pretty good saxophone players.

I would also like to know how you can use sforzandos and stuff like that on finale notepad 2007. I know where to find the accents and trills and stuff, but I'm missing a lot. :think:

You cannot use sforzandos in Notepad. If you high speed internet, I would suggest downloading the trial version of Finale Printmusic. ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Watch it with the Bari Sax. If you take the whole score out of concert pitch, you can see that you made it hit a D above the staff, which I believe, is one of the highest notes it can hit. Oh, and start adding some accidentals (sharps, flats, double sharps, double flats)!

It's weird having all those repeated notes in the saxophones. It makes it sound like it would be better suited as some kind of vocal trio with lyrics. You could just make those notes held out instead since it's just basically accompaniment at that point.

Ok, I've added some accidentals, (Which for the most part just change it to another note in the key signature, except for near the end,) and I lowered the entire key signature so the bari sax is in its limits. On the topic of key signatures, I have switched the instruments back to their concert pitches. ;) There are also 4 extra measures at the end. (which makes it sound a little funky)

As for the vocal thing, that isn't an option on finale notepad, but If you request, I could make could make it a version for strings, but that would be a slow version.

As for the oboes in The Silence of War, I may be taking away the double octave-ness, along with switching the lead part to a clarinet. @_@

blah, can't open any of the files :/

blah, can't open any of the files :/

oh, I'm sorry :cry:
it's a consequence for me using finale notepad, if anyone knows how to change them to midi, i would like to know... : (

i have finale notepad, too.. that's why i mention this problem at all, it's quite strange

Here's a MIDI. spot0914, if you want to know how to convert the files to a MIDI, all I'll say is that it's not free
(see www.finalemusic.com/printmusic ). <--- That's as cheap as it gets.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the song; yes, it would be more suitable for vocalists...

Thanks for the midi, and the info, though my parents would never let me buy anything over the internet... : (


i have finale notepad, too.. that's why i mention this problem at all, it's quite strange

Try downloading Finale Notepad 2007, It's probably because you're using 2006, right?

you're so right, i still have the 2006 version ^^ thx!

Here are some more ideas for songs. A Pirate Song reminds me of a corny sea voyage... Scary might scare you... :ghost: (watch out for consonant chards) Harmony's Dreams is probably the best, but, like the prior 2, it's not complete. And about the Mitosis Song, I wrote it for a science project a few weeks ago. Just fight the urge to laugh at that one. :comfort: I really dont think that one is going anywhere though...

Remember, these are just ideas. Tell me what you think. Also, I don't expect the alto saxophone or french horn to be playable in the pirate song... The clarinet parts may be somewhat challenging in scary as well...

A Pirate Song- Do you know how hard it is to play the Horn Part? :P They only use the valve-like things... (I read the note. Just clarifying...)
Scary- That is possible on clarinet. Just add some slurs. Meas. 2 and all other measures like that, the C and the C# don't really work well (much).
Harmony's- You should probably put the Flute an octave higher, instead of putting it in unison with the Clarinet(s). The Cello, in my opinion, would be better off with Bassoon. ;)
Mitosis Song- Tenor Sax + Trumpet didn't sound right to my ears.

Lol, like I said, I didn't expect Pirate Song to be playable, I just wrote that to have fun. I'll make some changes with Scary and Harmony.

"Scary"
Ok, now the Bb Clarinet (3) part at meas. 9-12 is TOUGH. There's so much right-left-right-left hand switching.

*goes to download Notepad* I hope it'll run under Wine. I use Linux.

EDIT:>.< Argh! It won't install. Spot, can I pm you with my e-mail address and have you e-mail all the file to me?

For finale notepad, or the songs?

notepad

I don't know if I can do that... and I can't change my songs to midi. either. I'm so sorry! :cry:

I'll send you the e0mail anyway with the files I'd need. please try to get to work; I'm interested in your work.

Here's a MIDI.

I don't have the file for the install, and anyways, it has you put in a code that you get at the website after installation, it's different for every one. I could however record my songs and put them in mp3 format, but you'd have to request individual songs, because I can't do them all at once... I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but I also kind of agrred to the user's terms that sais I'm not allowed to transfer the software.

I also wouldn't want anyone else with a higher version of finale to post my songs in midi. here. If you ARE using a version of finale, then you have paid the money to have that privelage. I, on the other hand, am using it for free, and really dont desarve the same privelages as those people. Thank you, clarinetist, for what you have done so far. If there IS a (legal) way for me to change my songs to midi, I would like to kniw that. If there is no way, then I'm stuck with recording and posting, if I can even do that. :\

I also wouldn't want anyone else with a higher version of finale to post my songs in midi. here.

What do you mean by that? :unsure:

I use Finale Printmusic; the cheapest program that can convert .MUS to .MIDI, and it lets you use up to 24 staves :) . It's $100, though :\ .

I mean that I don't feel like you should be doing that for me, when you paid that $100 and I didn't. It just makes me feel like a mooch... I didn't say that because you were doing something wrong.

P.S. New songs! I'm starting a new piece with different movements. The entire thing is going to be The Death of a Loved One, Told by Woodwinds The first is my first piece written in a minor key, and I don't have much experience with that... Anyways, hope you like them! There are more to come in the series! (more like prequels than sequels) Sweet memories is probably going to be the last one.

In "funeral", the bass part(s) get repetitive. It gets boring at around... 13. Try to avoid making slow quarter note bass parts any longer than 8 measures. It's sort of low for Bassoon; meas. 20.

In "Sweet Memories", (I learned this from my band teacher) it's probably best not to put Bass Clarinet and Tenor Sax in unison; try to soften the Tenor Sax somehow (~may be a bit complex for you~). At some points, you need other instruments to support the melodies/harmonies you want.

First Piece:The bassoon's range was okay, but Clarinetist is right: it's boring. Doubling oboe a third higher than clarinet isn't a bright idea either (unless you treat oboe as a filler of the ensemble, but this isn't the case).

Second Piece: The bass figure got annoying after a while, and wow, doubling oboe with piccolo in octaves, not too good, same with the flute being a fourth or fifth higher than oboe.

Thanks to clarinetist for converting those files for me. I finally got to listen to Scary and Harmony. They were good, but they end abruptly. Maybe add a few measures to the end of them. (unless they are works in progress) Otherwise they are great.

I'm sorry that I couldn't get notepad for you Isantop, but thank you for listening to my music! I never made an ending to scary; it was just for fun, and it's a reference for future pieces. As for Harmony's, I don't know where I'm going with that. Don't expect it's an ending unless you see the ending mark, because it means I haven't made an ending.

As for Clarinetist and Sir Dotdotdot, I'm really not that knowledgeable in music theory, and most of these pieces are just ideas for the future that I have to write down. So; either I won't understand what you're telling me, or I won't be able to completely fix it with Finale Notepad. I could stick to simpler arrangements, (i.e. not using a lot of instruments,) because I don't really think I'm ready to make these kinds of pieces yet. After I take some music theory classes in high-school, it should be a lot easier. :bleh:

tis okay, spot. Maybe I can get it installed on my dad's compy. It runs windows, so it should work.

... i cant open the file... :(

I just listened to "Sweet Memories". I liked the idea and the progression, but it got really boring after a while. The dotted quarter in the bass is WAY to repetitive. You need to spice up the rythym and add some more support in the form of harmony. Try not to double so much. Give each part just a little more flare. You've got a good, rough idea, but you need to refine it. :)

I've just went through your compositions, and it seems you have good talent in easy and catchy melodies. Harness that, and now build good harmony and counter-point. ^.^

Good luck!

I'll try adding some harmony and stuff to sweet memories, which I'm really bad at... :think: (which is a good reason to practice with harmony.) I'll try making an echo effect in the melody or something to make a counter-part, which hopefully give the lower instruments a chance to play more that dotted quarter notes.

Meanwhile... I just got myself a pocket music dictionary!!! And I figured out how to write a 'turn' manually because the graphic turn is completely graphic on finale notepad... :\ So here's a piano piece I'm writing. It's short for now, but I wanted to know how things were in it before I continue. I want to know how the introduction is, and if the bass line is alright for the treble melody in measures 5-8.

P.S. I know I spelled piano wrong in the file title, but I'm too lazy as of now to change it...

Meas. 2 was sort of "awkward"... I don't know what it is.

It's probably the accidental I put in there... Try this.

*bump*

Ok, so I've started that one song over again, and I'm coming up with a new name for it too. I want to know if my bass line is better, and my harmonies and stuff... I'm really just trying to be more creative now, as I've completely stopped using the 'mass editing' button. Also, I want to know if the clarinet solo is playable. Any comments or suggestions.

I know that the part starting at pick-up to measure 11 should be in 6/4 time, but I don't know how to change the time signature mid-song, (if I even can with finale notepad.) One strange thing is that I swear I can hear a french horn in measure 6, it's really creepy... :huh:

1.) The opening's theme is too unfitting for it's tempo and it reminds me of the song 'Memory' (from Cats and by Andrew Lloyd Webber) due to its time signature (though that piece was in 9/8 but nonetheless, there's a weird resemblance).
2.) A lot of unnecessary doublings (i.e. alto sax and oboe in the opening). People tend to do this because they always think more instrument = louder. But I hereby tell you, it's not. You can think of doubling instruments as mixing colour; if they don't blend, you'll get ugly colours like brown or whatnot, but if you do it carefully, you can make interesting colours.
3.) Very weird chord progressions after the opening.
4.) Clarinet solo seems awkward and somewhat unnecessary.
5.) Too bangy and chordy in the ending part; it all felt like a blurb.
6.) Your piece lacks structure and form; everything is just 'come and go and never come back again'.

I'm probably going to delete that second part. It all started with the bari sax and tenor sax melody, and I went random from there. The opening was originally supposed to be the main structure, and not the opening, so I'll slow the tempo down. (Another bad thing about finale, you can't change the tempo mid-song, unless there's some secret button I'm missing... (point it out to me if I'm crazy.))

I would rather the soprano sax go with the flute, but the flute is off being busy with the melody... (The soprano and flute have the same tone more or less, (to my ears at least,)) and I actually doubled the instruments to make it blend more instead of having the oboe louder and by itself. It wasn't to make it louder at all. What I need to know is what instruments DO sound good together, because I'm getting a fine color from the oboe and soprano sax, so I obviously can't tell... :cry:

The opening was originally supposed to be the main structure, and not the opening, so I'll slow the tempo down. (Another bad thing about finale, you can't change the tempo mid-song, unless there's some secret button I'm missing... (point it out to me if I'm crazy.))

You can do that on ANYTHING better than Finale Notepad.

I would rather the soprano sax go with the flute, but the flute is off being busy with the melody... (The soprano and flute have the same tone more or less, (to my ears at least,)) and I actually doubled the instruments to make it blend more instead of having the oboe louder and by itself. It wasn't to make it louder at all. What I need to know is what instruments DO sound good together, because I'm getting a fine color from the oboe and soprano sax, so I obviously can't tell... :cry:

Don't doubling anything at all. Just because you have like gazillion instruments at your fingertips, doesn't mean you have to use them all. Soprano sax and oboe gives a weird tone, in my opinion. But of course, the performers can make them sound seamless, but don't count on it. Besides, oboe can tend to be more nasal than the sax, and because you're using soprano sax, you literally asking for shrillness + nasal quality (if you need to visualize the sound, think of a cat scratching the blackboard). But again, performers can fix that problem with their musicality, but hey, one of my principle in composing is: assume the worst for your performers, for you never know how it'd turn out for your piece.

I'll say it again-- when you're a beginner, make REALLY simple pieces. No one here is a Romantic-styled master just yet. x_x Make easy melodies and easy back-up layers.

I'll say it again-- when you're a beginner, make REALLY simple pieces. No one here is a Romantic-styled master just yet. x_x Make easy melodies and easy back-up layers.

Sorry if that last bit hurt your ears :lol:

Oh no, don't get me wrong, it was quite nice for a while, you just need to start from basics and then you learn to pick up on harder stuff. I still wish I wrote easier piano pieces before I got into my more virtuostic preludes and such. x_x

Ok, so in that one song... I switched the instruments around a little to see what would happen. Tell me if I should revise anything, I mean ANYTHING before I go on... (top one)

I'm also writing a song for cello and piano, and I might be taking out the cello to make it a simple left-hand right-hand melody thing, but that depends on what opinions I get. (bottom one)

@ Mazeppa: I'll try to stay away from virtuosoic preludes for a while. :P

I really enjoyed the second piece, and I hope you decide to do some more with it; you're off of a great start with that. It has a nice melody and a pretty nice accompaniment, though you could add a bit more to make the piano part more interesting. However, the first one was a bit dull. When you're writing for an ensemble like that (or any other time, really), you want to make sure that at least one part has motion in it. This means you don't want to frequently have the entire ensemble sustaining a long note, unless it's the end of a phrase, or a fermata or something. You're doing well though, and I hope to hear more of your compositions.

I really enjoyed the second piece, and I hope you decide to do some more with it; you're off of a great start with that. It has a nice melody and a pretty nice accompaniment, though you could add a bit more to make the piano part more interesting. However, the first one was a bit dull. When you're writing for an ensemble like that (or any other time, really), you want to make sure that at least one part has motion in it. This means you don't want to frequently have the entire ensemble sustaining a long note, unless it's the end of a phrase, or a fermata or something. You're doing well though, and I hope to hear more of your compositions.

You really have to use the song names in my thread, otherwise I'll get confused and die... :lol: Were you talking about my first two songs?

Anyways... I have a song that's going well, but I don't know if I overdid it with the harp part. The first version is the regular one, and the second has more notes for the harp. I want to know which one sounds better, or how I could fix one of them to make them the better one.

P.S. I know that having the tuba and cello is kind of odd, but I don't enjoy any of the other low brass/string instruments on finale, (and I have almost no education on how to orchestrate something like that on more than two or so instruments. :huh:)

The first version- Try not to always have harp on always arpeggiac (sp?) movements. Cello is off range; I don't believe it's possible to hit that low Bb. The bass part(s) is/are too boring; Bb.... C... D... then you tried to add a G, which didn't help much, because you just descended, thus making it predictable.

The second version- What was the point of the 7th interval (chord) in the harp? (2nd measure, 1st one) It really didn't sound good. In my opinion, harps aren't very suitable for counterpoint such as this, the type used in order to "work" with another instrument. I suggest giving this part to the piano with the melody.

My main problem with this piece doesn't lie in the "odd" orchestration, but rather progression. You use three main chords for a really long time with repetetive accompaniment. It gets boring and ineffective. I'd suggest:

1) Modulating here and there to make it sound more interesting.
2) Another change I would make would be to replace the piano melody to a more suitable instrument. Since you seem to be like me, ignoring the "rules" of instrumentation and orchestration, you could use any instrument you want, but for me... the piano doesn't do well when just playing a melody.

To explain these in a more practical manner, here's a short remake which could give you ideas of what I'm talking about. And don't be afraid of using irrational orchestration, I never gave a rat's arse about off-ranging instruments or proper lineups.

Since you seem to be like me, ignoring the "rules" of instrumentation and orchestration...

Actually, I just don't know them... By the way Noir, you've been the most helpful person so far. No one has ever actually given me an example like this before, and it actually makes me realize what I could be doing with my music. :lol: However, instead of the mood aspiring, I'd rather have it stay at a relaxed tone, but I'll definitely experiment out of the key signature or something. Thank you very much. :)

Here's a song I've been working on for about a month or so. I haven't done anything with it recently; it's just been sitting on my computer for a while. I think it's definitely an improvement just considering my usual repetitiveness. Other than that, it is my first attempt at a trio, and I need another perspective on how it sounds. I also need someone to yell at me if the bass clarinet notes are too low. Note that just like all my other songs, this one is not finished. If I get one message saying the ending is bad, I'll have to cyber-slap someone across the face. :\

Edit: The beginning also needs more work.

Seeing the fact it is a tonal piece, your first mistake lies on the first bar: in tonal music, when you harmonize, two notes of a chord are vital and they are the third and the tonic of the chord. The third states whether a chord is major or minor, if you haven't noticed. Therefore, in your first chord (a seventh chord), you did not have a third until the third beat of the bar. Since you want to have a rather strong introduction, without the third, it's rather weak. At bar 7, I don't understand why you left quarter rests on the triplets in the second clarinet. You're leaving gaps in the chord by doing that, not to mention that people will go 'huh?' seeing a voice suddenly disappeared. Oh, and at bar 6, again with the third thing, it's not clear whether if you're minor or major in tonality. Bar 16, I felt that it should've been forte here instead of piano, and diminuendo down from that point.

Here's my edits. However, I don't see what was wrong in measure 6. It looks like a fine concert G minor chord to me. :unsure:

You don't have a concert B flat, how can you call that a G minor plus seventh?

Do you suffer from obesity?

Sorry, I just use the show in concert pitch tool under document a lot. That's why I said concert G minor. :( I was wrong anyways, and I might need help with that measure...

@Noir7: First of all, that's kind of a random question. :huh: Second of all, no. I weigh 115 pounds at about 5'10'', so I really suffer from being underweight more than obesity.

Do you suffer from obesity?

What you read or saw that made you ask that? :O

Ummm, what was up with the obesity question Noir?

I thought that it was pretty interesting. Some weird chords here and there. But still...ok.

I think you need to study up on your rules of baroque counterpoint. Then you can better know when to break the rules.

Bars 14-16 worked much better than the rest of the song. As for that very rest, your chording needs work.

Time for new songs. Both are quartets.

The string quartet was fairly weak in my opinion. You write it as if it was only melody and accompaniment. You have four different instruments for a reason; when you write a quartet, you have to think beyond just melody and harmony. There are so much you can do with the accompaniment, how to present the melody and etc... Think out of the box. As for your trombone quartet, I like this better, but it's too vertically built. Also, for your fourth trombone, you can't really expect a normal tenor trombone to play that low with those articulations and agility.

I intended the fourth part to be a bass trombone. The only thing I'll need to change is measure 7 in that part, as it's hard to go that B flat to that C. What do you mean by vertically built? :unsure:

In that case, yes, bass trombone would work, but you'd have to clearly say that the part is for bass trombone. By vertically built, I mean that it's too homophonic. So my suggestion is that you should incorporate more polyphony. This advice goes for both pieces.

I'm going to go look up homophonic and polyphony now.

Edit: Ok, I get what you're saying.
Edit #2: Is there a better way of bringing out specific parts without using accents?
Edit #3: Edits!

((Sorry for the double post.))

Ok. This is my final result. I still have some small notches to work out, but does everything sound nice?