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your Country52798 Posts
Hello. I compose for strings orchestra and occasionally other instruments as well on Sibelius 7, using Sibelius Sounds to playback the music. Recently I posted some music that I composed onto soundcloud.
The first piece I composed was for my high school's strings orchestra back in November/December 2010, named Gates of Fire. We played it at the winter concert that year but it was totally out of key so I'll leave you with the playback. I didn't really have a plan when composing this song and I ended up repeating a lot of stuff which I think worked out pretty well.
https://soundcloud.com/the_templar/01-gates-of-fire
About two years later, I composed another piece which was originally named Sacrifices and Summonings, but it was renamed to Summonings. The piece was also designed for my school's String Orchestra, which means it was way easier and shorter than it should have been, but it was never played due to a time crunch.
This recording uses MIDI instead of Sibelius sounds so it sounds a lot different than it should.
https://soundcloud.com/the_templar/02-summonings
Last summer, I became interested in pieces with multiple movements (mostly inspired by this piece which we played in band, which is basically divided into two movements), as well as music that used unconventional time signatures so I attempted a 3 movement piece that used 5/4 time throughout. Since the piece became more chaotic and unfocused as it went on, I named it Entropy.
https://soundcloud.com/the_templar/03-entropy
Around the same time, I started listening to band music by Robert W. Smith, mainly Into the Storm, and composed a somewhat unoriginal piece named Storm.
https://soundcloud.com/the_templar/04-storm
Over winter break, I composed a piece similar to Entropy, named Spectrum. While the three movements are totally independent and different from each other, I thought of them at the same time so they are as similar as possible. I conducted a woodwind quintet playing a slightly modified version of the first movement for my school's required final project.
https://soundcloud.com/the_templar/05-spectrum-strings
Thanks if you listened. I'm not looking for feedback on these pieces specifically but I'm hoping to improve my composition skills and become a bit better known, so please let me know what I can improve in the future. I've never taken a composition class so I don't always know what I'm doing.
TL;DR: + Show Spoiler +I composed music, click on soundcloud links please
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wow, like a minute into entropy, im actually fairly impressed.
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I like 
In Entropy, from 4:17-end it felt like an entirely different piece and really threw me. It would've been nice to return to some of the themes from beginning of the piece to end on, but that's just my opinion. I really liked the first part of that piece a lot.
I think Gates of Fire was my favorite. I'll definitely listen to these again later and might add other comments.
Very impressive for someone who has no formal training in composition. I had a friend that composed a few pieces for fun, I was always stunned that he could just do that. I spent half of my life in band and have always loved listening to and dissecting my favorite pieces, but I can't imagine understanding the workings of a composition well enough to write my own.
You should definitely post more in the future.
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your Country52798 Posts
On May 28 2014 06:31 Ideal26 wrote:I like In Entropy, from 4:17-end it felt like an entirely different piece and really threw me. It would've been nice to return to some of the themes from beginning of the piece to end on, but that's just my opinion. I really liked the first part of that piece a lot. I think Gates of Fire was my favorite. I'll definitely listen to these again later and might add other comments. Very impressive for someone who has no formal training in composition. I had a friend that composed a few pieces for fun, I was always stunned that he could just do that. I spent half of my life in band and have always loved listening to and dissecting my favorite pieces, but I can't imagine understanding the workings of a composition well enough to write my own. You should definitely post more in the future.
4:17 is actually supposed to be similar to 2:55.
I improvise a lot on the piano as well and it sounds (I think) really good.
I'll post more here in the future as I compose more, I have a few more pieces I'm working on/finishing already
Oh, and Gates of Fire was totally beginner's luck. I had no idea what I was doing at the time.
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I don't think midi files do these songs justice. Maybe give it to a small quartet or chamber group and record it?
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After having listened to many people's midi compositions which ignore all guidelines of music composition such a chords, key sigatures, and themes, your music is quite refreshing. Your understanding of what makes music actually flow shows through. While I think the pieces don't really fit together over a large timescale, there aren't a lot of discontinuities. I do piano improv a lot as well, and I can see a lot of the same effects of it in your music.
If you'd like me to give specific critique, I'd probably need to see sheet music along with the music.
Also, I'm sure you know, but you need to use a better (different) program than Sibelius if you want to be able to actually make nice your compositions actually sound good without having a real orchestra play them. Any DAW, like Ableton, FL studio, Cubase, Bitwig, should do the trick. But first you'd need to learn how to use a DAW, which takes a while. I bet you'd actually prefer composing on a piano roll to doing it on sheets like in Sibelius as well.
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Have you listened to Holst's The Planets suite yet? The first movement, Mars is an excellent example of a piece in 5/4.
+ Show Spoiler +
Not a huge listener of band music but one of the pieces I hold to be a truly excellent composition is El Camino Real, by Alfred Reed. I especially like the slow middle section. Might give you some clues on how to organize/structure your music better.
+ Show Spoiler +
Also, if you're getting into orchestral music, try listening to as much Mahler as possible. I suggest starting with the 5th symphony then branching off. Pretty powerful stuff.
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1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
mods listen to death metal not string orchestras
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your Country52798 Posts
On May 28 2014 07:22 jrkirby wrote:
Also, I'm sure you know, but you need to use a better (different) program than Sibelius if you want to be able to actually make nice your compositions actually sound good without having a real orchestra play them. Any DAW, like Ableton, FL studio, Cubase, Bitwig, should do the trick. But first you'd need to learn how to use a DAW, which takes a while. I bet you'd actually prefer composing on a piano roll to doing it on sheets like in Sibelius as well.
I've never heard of any of these o.O
On May 28 2014 14:10 Emerson_H wrote:Have you listened to Holst's The Planets suite yet? The first movement, Mars is an excellent example of a piece in 5/4. + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I&feature=kp Not a huge listener of band music but one of the pieces I hold to be a truly excellent composition is El Camino Real, by Alfred Reed. I especially like the slow middle section. Might give you some clues on how to organize/structure your music better. + Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3_eSrIefss Also, if you're getting into orchestral music, try listening to as much Mahler as possible. I suggest starting with the 5th symphony then branching off. Pretty powerful stuff.
I've listened to both, not as much of the second one.
Thanks for the advice.
On May 28 2014 14:40 lichter wrote:
mods listen to death metal not string orchestras
Errr… we're talking strictly about music here
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On May 28 2014 14:40 lichter wrote:
mods listen to death metal not string orchestras Pleb  Interesting Templar. I'd say the biggest thing that stands out to me is that you should think more critically about not chords and harmonies, but voice leading as there are a lot of "wonky" turns and movement there. A lot of this applies to the bass lines your writing as they have awkward jumps here and there, but also in harmonic movements as well. Some chromaticism would help, but buying a book on tonal harmony would help a ton in this. I'd recommend getting either of these two texts (I own the first one)
The Complete Musician
Harmony and Voice Leading
These are the two standards that are used in the collegiate world these days.
The other thing that struck me is that you are paying some attention to overall shapes, but I'd pay attention to creating more space and breathing room within your structures. A piece that generally sits in the same tonal space, size, orchestration, key tends to belabor peoples ears after a while, so you have to manage peoples attention carefully and not overwhelm their senses with the same stimulus, as they will tune out after a while. There's a ton of psychology involved with composition once you get past the general theory of things. But great start!
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EPT
