Hey guys,

This here is my first real composition. It was a project we did in music theory to write a theme for a character, then compose something based on that theme. Here's what I came up with.

Please just try to keep in mind that I really have no knowledge of orchestration, but our teacher wanted us to use winds/strings, so feel free to comment on that - I'd love to learn some things about it.

I hope you enjoy it! :P

I didn't have time to listen through it, but I will when I have time. You know what? I actually look forward to it. Good job ;)!

For someone with no knowledge of orchestration, and for a first composition, I am impressed. And it's kind of rare for me to find things impressive, especially for newbie composers.
~~~

Even though I'm not a fan of your melodies or foreground motifs, I do realize average ears would really like them, since they're simple, clear and well harmonized in most parts. Your harmonies and background elements are quite simple, and elegant. That's a good thing. But the only thing that I think that's really taking you away from being 90% awesome to 100% awesome is the fact that your middleground elements are... underdeveloped. Or maybe that's not a good word to use... Well, in another words, I'm just trying to say that you could've done more. Orchestration consists of 3 main parts: foreground, middleground and background. Pretty obviously, foreground is the main melodies and motifs. Middleground is motifs that supports the melody or countermelodies, and finally, background is like chords and anything that puts everything together in place. You did well in both foreground and background in most cases, but I felt that you could've varied more things in middleground. In every section of the piece, you almost had instruments that are not playing the melody or partly harmony instruments play repeated motifs (i.e. the harp in the opening section) that get tiring after a while. So I think variation on that is something you can improve on. Your voicing is also something you can improve on. I notice that you only used flute, clarinet and trumpet for most melodies. You could've exposed more instruments so that the piece will sound fresh even if you repeat your melodies. You could've also done more with strings. I know most people thinks strings are good for long, held notes, but I think it's good if they get exposed in melodic elements more.

Asides from being too technical about orchestration, you'd also have to pretend that you're the performer. For every instrument you write for, you have to consider their limits, their abilities and whatnot. I noticed that you used the harp extensively throughout your piece. That's not necessary a bad thing, but can you imagine how tiring it would be if the harpist continuosly played your piece for the straigh 6 minutes? Also, what about the audience? Don't you think the timbre of the harp will sound tiring after like... 5 minutes of the harp playing non stop? So yeah, when orchestrating, it's good to think of yourself as the performer and the audience.

I think that's all the advice I can give for now. I hope to hear more of your work soon. Good job.

Thanks for the comments!

Sir_Dotdotdot, it's funny, my teacher actually said a lot the same things. I know I definitely need to work on using more instruments to create color changes. I was thinking of making that melody in the second section for soprano sax, but I haven't done it yet.

As for the harmony comment, I would agree that I do need work on that. Was it okay in the first section though? I thought I did a relatively good job with harmony there. Specifically, I'm trying to work on some ways to incorporate it into the second and last sections. As for the third one, however, I had written an oboe countermelody, but I decided to scrap it, as I liked it as a more soloistic section.

Thanks so much again to both of you for your comments! :lol:

Im just going to be lazy and say that I agee with sir dot...
I am really impressed!

I liked the energy, great job :)

I was also really impressed that this was your first orchestral piece/real composition. I thought my first orchestral piece turned out well, but I had been composing a bunch before that.

I just have to say that some of it reminds me of FFVII music so much! Good job. Keep it up!

Some of the better progressions came in the latter parts -- even though the harp made those FF-ish runs. Overall though, there is no element to hook the listener up!

Hey guys, thanks a ton for all of your comments!

Well, I was working on writing in some harmonies for parts that lack them, which led me to realize how bad I am at writing harmoines. :P The only part that still sounds good with my new harmony is the four measure horn fanfare before the main melody of the fourth section. All the other ones don't seem to fit quite right with the melody. Could anyone offer any advice/suggestions /tips as to how I can write better harmonies?

Thanks again. :lol:

Character Thing

I half-expected the piece to start in Ab minor, as the introductory string part doesn't include the third. Lovely arpeggiation in the harp, though it does make me wonder why you haven't allowed the harp to work with the melodic line a bit more. The first section's chord progression is really slow, almost dragging, but still the progression itself is lovely, and the woodwinds sound really great over the supportive string parts.

I really like the abrupt change of mood with the timpani's tremolo, too. Really cool use of an augmented chord right before the transition to the minor passage where the harp takes over for just a little. Speaking of this part, I really admire your chord choices and their progression -- your passage in Db Major is great! Right when I thought you were going to end the piece near the last few seconds by lingering on that Db Major chord with the timpani rolling, the harp arpeggiating, and the rest of the orchestra holding onto those notes for so long, you surprised me with a little fast upward run and another Db Majord chord!

I wish I could orchestrate like you can... or even just write something so over-the-top as you have here! Your work is certainly worth another listen (or a dozen, for that matter)! I'm genuinely impressed, SilverHawk.

I'll keep mine short - you've got talent. I can feel you move your progressions nicely, only the beginning is a bit dragging but other than that, Great work.

I have nothing to say other than that the piece is very well written and conveyed very well. If you listen closely you can almost feel what the the theme was supposed to be conveying about the charaters actions or the storyline chuncks. Kind of like a movie trailer xD. I may have only been studying music for 2 and a half years but if you made a cd I'd buy it.........(or get lazy and download it xD)
I am looking foreward to hearing more from you in the Future

Hey guys, it's SilverHawk again. I've been working on something now that I'm out of school, and, though it's not finished yet, I figured I'd post what I have so far. It's not quite at the level of my other one (in my opinion, anyway), but I'm open to and would appreciate any and all feedback/comments/criticism.

What would come after what I have now is a transition into another section - probably in E minor. Unfortunately, I'm having a bit of copmoser's block with doing that...so yeah. Just thought I'd post that in case anyone was wondering.

Thanks in advance!

Sounds pop-music influenced. It's nice for an easy listening piece. You can also use more variated harmonies, like with more surprises as your progression right now is rather predictable.

Sounds pop-music influenced. It's nice for an easy listening piece. You can also use more variated harmonies, like with more surprises as your progression right now is rather predictable.

I second that.

Sounds pop-music influenced. It's nice for an easy listening piece. You can also use more variated harmonies, like with more surprises as your progression right now is rather predictable.

Okay, thanks for the quick response. :P

I definitely see what you mean, and I'll try to work on that in the next section. I just need a bit of inspiration for that transition. :P

I like what I hear!

I agree with Mazeppa and Sir Dot. Most definitely pop influenced. Maybe some chord substitutions would do some good for the varied harmonies.

Added a second section to the new piano piece. It ended up being in B minor rather than E minor, but whatever. :P After this will probably be a return of the first section (with some changes to make it more interesting). Parts of this feel a tad awkward right now, so any and all feedback is appreciated! :)

Also, thanks to Sir DotDotDot's sampling tutorial, I now have a nicer sounding version of my first song. There's still issues that I have to work out with dynamics and such, but the samples themselves make it sound loads better already. I'll post it as well for anyone who's interested.

Hope you enjoy them!

Character Thing: http://www.zshare.net/audio/2493104de48a66/
New Song: http://www.zshare.net/audio/2493122824816f/

I'm just curious, did you use GPO for sampling? Or did you use something else?

No, I used Kontakt Player Gold.

Yes, but that's not your sample library is it? I thought Kontakt was just the sample engine/plug-in.

Your file-sharing site is way annoying. It only let me download the first song, and then when I wanted to download the second, it said I had reached my download limit.

I already listened to this song, but you're right, it does sound a lot better this way.

Yes, but that's not your sample library is it? I thought Kontakt was just the sample engine/plug-in.



Kontakt Player Gold and Kontakt Player Silver are two special libraries specifically made for Sibelius softwares, but they are different from Kontakt, Kontakt 2 or Kontakt Player 2.

Your file-sharing site is way annoying. It only let me download the first song, and then when I wanted to download the second, it said I had reached my download limit.

Can you recommend a better one? It's the only one that I know.

Sorry about the bad file hosting site. I found another one, and reposted both songs. Check the above post, and you'll find them.

It says I have to log in...Better one than that: zSHARE (http://www.zshare.net/)

Ack...sorry...

They'll be updated with that new one in about a minute.

Yay! It was so much easier that way!

At :23, my ears craved a deceptive cadence (ending on a minor vi instead of a major I chord). I think that way, the major I chord that follows will feel more refreshing. Sometimes, your melodic ornamentation should be omitted within a given variation so as not to tire the ear of the effect they create. The sudden change in melody near the middle didn't really transition well. Overall, I think it would be valuable to you to leave out the notes between the arpeggios in the bass and the melody line in one of your variations on the main theme. The arpeggios can carry the chord.

So far, it is extremely beautiful. These are just some suggestions as to make it even more beautiful and more emotional.

I tried playing that first bit with a deceptive cadence, and I like that a whole lot more - it makes the whole introduction (up to the fermata) sound much more connected - I agree that the I was too "final" for that point. As for chords in the melody, I agree with that as well - a friend of mine actually said the same thing. I guess I just underestimated the amount of dissonance of a triad in that register. Fixing that transition between sections is on my to-do list. When I said that "parts of this were a tad awkward", that's the part to which I was referring. I have some changes made already, but I'm not sure they've made that much of an improvement. I'll keep working on it.

Thanks so much for your comments! I hope to have the rest up soon. :)

Character song:

The opening strings and harp really don't go well together; They have two different reverbs, and don't sound as they are played in the same 'area', so to speak. I liked the upcoming harmonies of the woodwind though, but the following 'break' sounds more like a technical error than a musical pause/suspension. From there, the song just went static X_X The harp is an utter annoyance, and the piece as a whole doesn't move at all. The third section was better than the other two I think, especially some of the chord progressions that you used -- they were quite effective! (Minus for the Final Fantasy prelude-harping).

New song:

This song stands good on its own, and although its originality is intact, it resembles too many songs of this type to stay memorable. It works, you did a good job on it for sure, but there isn't anything special to grab on to that will make this song stand out from the large heap of ~kawaii-anime-inspired piano solos.

Thank you very much for your comments! I do realize that my chord progressions could use some originality - I'm trying to work on this. Hopefully, parts of the piano piece had some slightly more interesting progressions than the first one - I did try to experiment more here, by using more vi chords and deceptive cadences, and trying some interesting ones in that section after the first time the main theme comes in at the faster tempo.

I guess my trouble is, when I want a section to sound "happy" (like the last section, for instance), I tend to use all major chords; that is, the I, IV, and V chords. This, in turn, tends to make my progressions boring, because I only use those three chords. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can improve on this?

P.S. Thanks again for the comments!

Using minor chords to get a certain progression (such as ii-V, or replacing a V chord with a vii 1/2 diminished 7 chord) can give you some more interesting chord progressions, as well as using secondary dominants (changing a minor chord to a major chord via accidentals, and then resolving like you would resolve a dominant chord, such as V-I or V-vi.