Scherzo For Woodwinds - Piano Sketch

It's pretty good man! Can't wait to hear the orchestrated version. The only big thing that my ear caught is the final descending run - the piece is clearly in minor and you should have used a minor scale instead of a major.

There's a couple of other moments in the piece where it's not clear whether you're in major or minor, For example at 1:17 you play a very clear Dmaj7 and yet the melody on top is in D minor... I guess you could make this work depending on the context, but in that case (with that Dmajor being so strong) it felt as if you were not in control.

 

@Mattia Chiappa nice piece. Lots of energy. I look forward to hearing it with woodwinds. My one request would be to lengthen the trio. The form of the piece is presently not balanced, which leaves the listener feeling as if the piece is unfinished.

@Claude Ruelle the major/minor rubs you mentioned do not bother me. In fact I sort of enjoyed it, like a little spice in the dish.

 

Whoa..... you look so different when not behind the bass (or guitar ?)

 

I don't know man. I don't get it ...... at all. Now before I go into it, please know I am trying to be an asshole. Ask my wife: she will tell you I just have so much practice at being one that mastery comes effortlessly to me now.

The thing that somewhat baffles me the most, is hearing this as a piano reduction. I mean if it was the orchestration that was a problem........ wait..... this is more to the point.

I am surprised that the piece is already "orchestrated" even though it has not been orchestrated.

Clearly what you have done is listen to some woodwind only pieces (M.V in particular) and transcribed some of them.

You know, and I just got say it because for me it's my honest thought, I never understood the minor triads descending in Mike's piece. It always seemed out of place to me, and such a direct quote of Williams. It was always where I felt the piece just falls to the ground 100% like a house of cards, or being put on hold. It had nothing to do with what came before or after in the demo. I bring that up, as you quote it and try and run with it. So it becomes like a "Fruit Cake" or musical "re-gift".
You are quoting Verta, who is quoting Williams, who is quoting Grieg.

Don't do that. (transcribing woodwind pieces to make one)
Not that the strategy is inherently flawed, but in this case it is cutting of tons of your musicality.
You have much more to say than this.
Just write a piece. Write something you really like. Then orchestrate it.

DO THIS INSTEAD:

Take a piece you have already composed that you really like. Now orchestrate THAT for woodwinds.
That will be 10x's more successful. Don't write new material yet for them. It's pulling you too much.

If you want, I can go thru the what and why of where you piece makes me go WTF, but I think you already know this, and can tell from your comments.

I mean you have at least three different pieces in there. I have no idea what the hell happened at 1:04. Did you turn the radio dial ?

You are now at a high level of composing, and so I think you need to watch out as things get a little trickier.
You are going to get a lot of "likes" with no matter what you post.
This is where one must learn "self-teaching". Not that you will know all the answers
from now on, but filter out who to seek guidance from, and sort thru what is valid/not.

BTW.... I am not saying you should listen to me. Not at all.

If you don't have anything of your own you feel you want to arrange, arrange a cover you really like.

The point is : Is the foundation of the song is really song, you can't go too far wrong.
Example of this below:

Or plan B. Why not just write a tune and include one or two max, woodwinds that will explore to understand how to write for. Something real simple

 

Hey Mattia,

I like what you did here. I like that you don't really repeat your material. Instead you always change the harmonics and your melody. I never got bored, so good work. BUT, there are some things I noticed:

1. the major/minor "rubs" or descending/ascending lines (especially the final major line) sometimes feel out of place and don't work for me in context with the overall piece, so some little adjustment here could fix that confusion.

2. the part at 1:04, yeah, I am with Doug on that, it's a totally different piece. I know what you are trying to do here, but I guess you should work on that part and try to replace it with something that actually uses parts of your original idea in order to make it a cohesive piece of music. Always remember, everything you need is already in your original idea.

3. The descending minor triads: yeah, just cut it out, you don't need this "Williams" quotation. I've heard it too many times now in so many pieces, I think Doug has already said everything you need to know about it, just leave it out.

Overall, I like the structure and developing of your piece. I think if you do some adjustments it will be a nice magical bit for woodwinds, hope you have a good woodwind library to make it work.

 

Also, the reason why this seems to come up is because:

Consider this part well!

For the record I have no commentary on your piece as it's well above my writing ability and I echo the like and recommendations of what a few others have posted. Just my impression of what Doug wrote, as we tend to miss the intent and core of what people say on forums (especially when our work is on the line).

 

Nice work ! Bravo !

 

Man, if this is a shameful mess then I'm doomed. It sounds great orchestrated.
What I haven't figured out how to deal with is "piece burnout", other than just walking away from it for a while. Being relatively new and frequently frustrated, this leads me to feeling burnt out from music in general as I feel like I never actually get to finish a piece.

 

Seriously. Better than the generic sound in a lot of film too, for the record.

Feedback and critique can get tiring, but bear in mind the highpoint of what was said here: You'e reaching a high level of composing, such that in "trying to write something" as an exercise you will impress most people, including fellow composers. That' a big deal. I think the end goal of this forum is to push people beyond even "good" into "great", the only meaningful competition being against yourself.

 

It sounds great Mattia! Could we hear a version without the Piano, Harp and Perc?