Victorian Post Mortem Overture No.1 in C-Major

Summary points

I talked about counterpoint (and yes you seem to get the "gist" of what I am saying) as a function of Rythmn.

In particular --- this is my term so I don't know if this is clear --- Staggered Voices.

Let me use Mike's music to demonstrate.

( Now... I have no idea if ever talks about this in any of his classes. It may, or may not be a conscious thing he does.
It does not matter too much as it's clearly in the music. I am just pointing to you something I hear in Mike's music a lot, that I don't in yours)

Melody, whether played or sung (and in any register) is almost invariably accompanied by one or more instruments. There are three ways in which this occurs: 1) Melody first, then accompaniment 2) Accompaniment, then melody 3) All together (“tutti”)


As a "tough love" I am going to put your opening from version 9 in between each example. Then we will hear the opening of composition by Mike two times;
First, as he wrote it. 2nd-time "Un-staggering" the music.
Notice is the last Verta example we get 2 uses of this device right away.





Remember you are at a very advanced level.
You can already skate by posting on VI-C and get nothing but glowing reviews.
By default, things become more "detailed". I mean...... We have spent what 3-4 hours on the very first note of your piece. Actually on what comes before the first note.


I too am feeling sleepy. Will finish summary later on

 

Wow. I have never replied to myself before. MEME (TM DG)

Hope ya'll don't think less of me for it. (Psst. it feels kinda nice)

So is anyone going to answer my question? :-(

 

Don't be silly. You know how bad I am myself at this. Didn't I take 2 months to reply to you recently?

Let's not make his trick TOO meaningful

 

Well the new stuff is the best. Keep on going !

 

Well.... if I was to (not that I am) nudge you (not that I am that type of person) and ask if so obvious, how many pieces (or what %) around here show that degree of varied repetition?

 

The ONLY one spot I personally implore you to change it the very first one we hear. Do....anything else you want. Music is endless.
Every time we learn one new thing, 3-4 things open up to explore.

You already can just post this or another orchestral piece of yours on VI-C and get 100 likes. However, I believe you mentioned to me an open-ended question of wanting to learn something new.

The piece is cooking along, sounds great etc...etc. . It's also now at a dense stage and changes aren't practical, so as I've mentioned it's time for me to "butt-out".

Except for the opening sound. Don't do it. It's half as bad as black metal. (ok, I am exaggerating. 25%)

Do something you wouldn't. It's the easiest place to make a change. Just Measure 1 and 2. That is all I am asking.

Melody, whether played or sung (and in any register) is almost invariably accompanied by one or more instruments. There are three ways in which this occurs: 1) Melody first, then accompaniment 2) Accompaniment, then melody 3) All together (“tutti”)

Yours is 3) All together (“tutti”)

Next - with voice leading, we have three options (I'm omitting textbook definitions like "similar motion" and letting parallel count for the same direction)

1. Contrary Motion - voices move in the opposite direction
2. Oblique Motion: One voice moves the other stays the same
3. Parallel Voice Leading: All voices move in the same direction

Yours is 3) All voices move in the same direction. (Parallel octaves with the E to F) It's quasi-Oblique as you re-attack the G and B, but ... that is a stretch at best.

So there are 6 factors. It is finite. You have 3 & 3. Do anything else but returning to 3 & 3.

If just nudge the melody in either direction the 8th note we would get 1&3 or 2&3.

A different inversion of either of your two chords would also avoid 3&3


Yes, we can go around and around and have 20 different ways to write this.........but don't do this to me...

_________________________________________________________________________________

Two separate examples below in the same audio file.

1. Taking your same motivic “gesture” of skip by 3rd and step in the opposite direction.

2. This is from my sketch "Grave Yard". It's NOT A COMPOSITION. It's subjective of course..... I often create a few examples of the same "moment" and then later try and figure out where they all go. So you are just hearing the same moment/gesture. Like I said....it's dead and buried in the graveyard, but this show contrary motion with voice leading and "some-what" in the sound world you like.





In this example, as part of a BMI film scoring workshop/contest, I was asked to re-compose something in the style of Hermann for the first Madeline scene - in the restaurant. Voices enter separately. Melody first. (1)

Here is accompaniment first:

Or how you can look at the cut-off of durations and use that

(from my video course grave yard ) I should just put them all up on RB as I don't think I'll ever finish it.

 

Hey!

I'll give you a longer, better reply later today. In the meantime perhaps @Thomas Bryla has some opinions he could share?

Keep on going with the writing !!

One thing....to be honest, and I hope it does not land negatively, I personally don't like the 40's emulation rendering. I like the "natural" (oh the irony)
version better. It has more life/zest to it IMO before the emulation was added

 

I don't have any comments at the moment but if you ever do create a score for performance/recording I would definitely have a look at it.