TKO!

Last blog post from me!

It was a great year! 

I expected these courses to be very difficult for me but it definitely turned out to be a positive experience.

I really did like what I wrote and I'm glad I was sort of forced into being creative and composing. I think it would've taken me a lot longer to complete the music if I didn't have this course pushing me.

I want to thank everyone for the feedback. It was greatly appreciated.

Everyone should keep composing!

Thanks again.

Have a great break.

Melissa

Round eleven. Fight!

This week I've basically been editing. I would still like to write a little more, but I'm not really concerned. I really wanted to get all the dynamics in and that sort of thing.

I presented and I got some neat suggestions. I have added some in already and some I've decided not to incorporate. Some notable ones were adding a higher cluster in the beginning part, adding a descending scalar passage into the low octave notes in the bass, and adding more to the gliss. part.

On to the most important thing I've done this week. (Not really)

Title!

My piece is now entitled Omega Centauri (NGC 5139).

If you want to see a photo of this go here:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090301.html

I absolutely love this site. 

I thought it was cool that this is the largest nearby globular cluster and my piece is based on cluster chords. I don't care if that is cheesy. 

I really wish I had better math skills so I could be an astronomer.

For now I am just a regular observer but who knows what will happen! Maybe I will be like Brian May and do both music and astronomy!

:)

Goodnight.

Round ten. Fight!

So this week I presented a little more of my work.

I like what I had written this week a lot more than what I wrote first.

I got some really positive feedback from a lot of people and that was greatly appreciated.

Some things I need to work on are:

Varying the passages a little bit. I need to keep things a bit more interesting.

Changing pitch centers/modulating

I had intentions of modulating so I guess I will start putting that in now!

Have a good night!

:)

Round nine. Fight!

...

so this journal should bring me up to date!

I presented what I had written on Sibelius this past Monday.

I am a little unsure of what I have but I got some feedback that made me feel a bit better about it.

I feel like I really need reassurance to keep going.

Simon said he definitely got a darkness and a lightness from my piece and that was really nice to hear. Others seemed to enjoy it as well.

Some things I could add are little melody lines that connect the chords and having different ranges and broken chords as well.

I was told to keep going and I think that's because there is not a lot of time left!

I'm sure I'll write something that I'm content with. (hopefully)

:)

Round eight. Fight!

Alright.

I'm a little behind with my journal making but that's just because I've been busy with other stuff.

So this post is for March 9th!

I presented what I had on the piano and it seemed to go over well.

I got a lot of feedback that day.

We took a sort of tally of what I had and went from there.

What I wanted to create was something that was based on clusters and that sounded spacey.

I was told that I should widen the space between the notes because that'll create a very "space-like" effect. I'm definitely going to try that.

I was also told that I could have a cluster in the piano and have the strings create another chord that crescendos out of that chord. That's definitely a neat idea and I plan on using that as well.

I was really appreciative of the feedback and although I haven't used it all yet I definitely plan on incorporating it at some point!

:)

Round seven. Fight!

Hello all.

Just doing a quick little update here.

So composition number one is complete and has been preformed. 

Overall I think it went well. A lot of people seemed to enjoy it. (and the tree... I mean and I was happy.)   

...yeah that was lame.

Anyways. On to composition number two!

I was going to write for string quartet and piano or as Dylan pointed out a Piano quintet.

My main idea for this is to use cluster chords and suspensions.

I might play a little somethin' somethin' on Friday to get some feedback on the idea.

I might even change the instrumentation because what I want is more piano based I think.

Oh well, I'm sure the class can help me out with that.

That's all for now!

Round six. Fight!

So I finally complete my piece. It felt like it took FOREVER to do.

It's 16 pages and 6 minutes long! To be honest it felt like this one piece took as much time as everything I did last year combined! 

Putting the X's in the narrator part took forever, as did lining up the text in the actual parts.

... but it's over now.

I'm kind of excited to see how it turns out. I am not sure if I'm going to narrate it or not yet.

I would kind of like a male voice, but we'll see what happens. 

I think I might do it myself because I know exactly what I want.

As for the next project I'm thinking about a string quartet or a string quartet with piano (if allowed.)

NO TEXT. :)

I'm really glad some people are thinking about writing for concert band because I would love to hear/see the process. I just don't think I am ready for such a project myself in such a short amount of time!

Good luck for everyone next week!

Round five. Fight!

I'm really starting to get stressed about finishing my piece.

I know what I want to do but I don't know if I'll have enough time!

I'm going to try to get a copy of the score to the performers tomorrow. 

This week I got some feedback from Dr. Staniland  

He seemed to really enjoy my piece. He encouraged me to change my narration to Sprechstimme.

I'm going to use that as my alleatoric element as well.

:)

Round four. Fight!

Last class I got a lot of feedback on my piece.

-I had thought of creating better transitions between the sections and it was said that I should.

I am not sure how I'm going to go about doing that but I'm sure something will come.

-I think I'm going to add a narration to the piece. It will tie everything together and I think it will be new and interesting. I might add pictures as a background thing to view as the piece is played.

-Writing more traditional parts for the cello and violin and adding some cello notes in the marimba passage and vice versa.

I spose I should get on all of that.

I am going to try to finish it as soon as possible so my players can get the parts.

:)

Round three. Fight!

So I edited the first part of my piece. 

It took me a very long time to do.

My had showed my piece to my friend to get some criticism and he had said that it lacked direction.

I feel like it's way more clearer than it was at first.

I did like what I had written but I understand that realistically I needed to be clearer.

The comments I received reaffirmed that it was indeed a lot clearer than it was the first time.

I was also told to watch the register of the flute and to make sure the marimba part doesn't get too complex. (It needs to be playable! Unlike everything I write.) :)

Also, it was suggested that I should flutter tongue the second line in the flute part. I really liked that idea.

Anyways, I feel like I'm off to a decent start now.

I am not sure what aleatoric elements I'll be using but I definitely want something in there.

I'm hoping to finish this piece fairly quickly so that I can started on the next one. Writing for concert band/orchestra scares the crap out of me.

Anyways,

good work by all so far!

'night! :)

Round two. Fight!

So I presented what I had written today.

Overall I like what I'm writing. I knew I wanted to base my composition on "The Giving Tree" but I didn't know how.

I just started writing and it seemed to fit perfectly.

I was really unsure of the instrumentation I wanted but I think what I have now is absolutely perfect.

Some comments from today were:

- My piece sounds breezy and like it is set in a forest or a garden. [Goal achieved. :)]

- The instrumentation is perfect for what I'm trying to achieve.

- The break between the two sections was good.

-Using different mallets to get different sounds (I think this would be a cool idea although I'm not familiar with mallets and percussion at all.

-Getting my score to a percussionist ASAP because it seems like it might be tricky.

I am really excited about writing this piece.

Hopefully it'll work out alright. :)

-

Round one. Fight!

I'm not totally sure if this is going to work or not. (Meaning - if it will show up in the 3100 section)

Oh well.

I presented in class yesterday. 

I liked the chords that I had written, but my scale ended up being two pentatonic or something.

Ugh.

I'm going to try again until I come up with something a little more original that will work.

Hopefully we'll find out what instruments we'll be using because I think that's very important to know before actually sitting down and writing anything.

I am incredibly nervous about the concert band composition.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

:)

One more thing!

I was asked today if I would play in one of the Newfound Music concerts and I accepted.

I will be playing Metamorphosis 3 if anyone wants to come hear a beautiful piece by one of my favorite composers (if not my favorite).