Jacktheawesome's Fuckin' Awesome Classical Music

[Anton]

Anton! I was hoping you'd show up. Thanks! Unfortunately, as Rew said, that's only with Finale 2012, which is a bit above my budget. I have Printmusic 2011, which is short a few features. Funnily enough, I still prefer the Finale strings to the Garritan strings. The rest of the sounds seem to be pretty good, though. Do you use Finale in your work? It seems like I usually see you using Ableton Live in your demo videos.

Ah, for some reason I figured you were using a full version of Finale... I understand how that can be a little difficult. I personally don't like ANY of the Garritan library or Finale sounds... but I never really do my mockups in Finale.
But yes, I use Finale all the time, it's my main notation software. I rarely do notation while streaming, because it's not the kind of music that usually needs to be notated. But, I certainly wrote out part of the Receiver soundtrack in Finale while I was working, so people could see how I wrote the melody, and derived the harmony. (Mostly on the track "I Am Listening") And I know you guys see me using Ableton Live a lot, but it's almost always streaming inside of Digital Performer, as kinda a plugin... but that's a whole different topic...

omg a real professional composer is looking at my stuff I hope you enjoy it!

I have been enjoying it so far... will continue listening later this evening...

[Jacktheawesome]

Anton! I was hoping you'd show up. Thanks! Unfortunately, as Rew said, that's only with Finale 2012, which is a bit above my budget. I have Printmusic 2011, which is short a few features. Funnily enough, I still prefer the Finale strings to the Garritan strings. The rest of the sounds seem to be pretty good, though. Do you use Finale in your work? It seems like I usually see you using Ableton Live in your demo videos.

Ah, for some reason I figured you were using a full version of Finale... I understand how that can be a little difficult. I personally don't like ANY of the Garritan library or Finale sounds... but I never really do my mockups in Finale.
But yes, I use Finale all the time, it's my main notation software. I rarely do notation while streaming, because it's not the kind of music that usually needs to be notated. But, I certainly wrote out part of the Receiver soundtrack in Finale while I was working, so people could see how I wrote the melody, and derived the harmony. (Mostly on the track "I Am Listening") And I know you guys see me using Ableton Live a lot, but it's almost always streaming inside of Digital Performer, as kinda a plugin... but that's a whole different topic...

Unfortunately, no. My music teacher of next year is contractually obligated by his publisher to use Sibelius, and he said he might be able to give me an older copy of Finale, but I'm not sure how that will go.
Oh, cool. Right, that's why I was wondering; most of the stuff you do for David seems to be more about building sounds than writing parts. Hah. Yeah, I'm really interested in all the types of music software, mostly because of how awesome a lot of them are. I think my all-around favorite company for these has to be Eastwest. Logic has some pretty great sounds though, if you're not concerned with Classical music.

EDIT: New version of the Symphony WIP. Tweaked upper flute part, improved end bit.

[Rewjeo]

I still feel like the opening needs to be shorter and/or filled out more. Less parallel motion. I also still want more to be done with that second bit before you start messing with the keys.

The ending feels kinda cliched to me. I really like the part going into it, but since that's clearly not D Major (I assume B Minor?) you just sorta jump back into D Major and at the same time it drops away from the climax really quickly, although part of that could be how poorly the Finale strings sounds hold up on their own. As a listener, I think I would prefer if it just stayed in B Minor and you changed the name. Honestly, my favorite parts are the ones that sound more minor anyways. There's a very distinct sounds a lot of classical type music has when it's in Major keys, and I think that's what sounds cliched to me.


Also, working on my first quartet again. Edit: Wait just a moment, Finale freaked out with pizzicato and glissandos. For some reason the Viola and Violin I parts get tied together when creating an MP3, so there's one part where the viola should pizz but it doesn't because otherwise the violin flips out and there's one part where the viola does weird sliding stuff. Lesser of two evils, I guess. It should be up in a few moments.

[Jacktheawesome]

I still feel like the opening needs to be shorter and/or filled out more. Less parallel motion. I also still want more to be done with that second bit before you start messing with the keys.

The ending feels kinda cliched to me. I really like the part going into it, but since that's clearly not D Major (I assume B Minor?) you just sorta jump back into D Major and at the same time it drops away from the climax really quickly, although part of that could be how poorly the Finale strings sounds hold up on their own. As a listener, I think I would prefer if it just stayed in B Minor and you changed the name. Honestly, my favorite parts are the ones that sound more minor anyways. There's a very distinct sounds a lot of classical type music has when it's in Major keys, and I think that's what sounds cliched to me.


Also, working on my first quartet again. Edit: Wait just a moment, Finale freaked out with pizzicato and glissandos. For some reason the Viola and Violin I parts get tied together when creating an MP3, so there's one part where the viola should pizz but it doesn't because otherwise the violin flips out and there's one part where the viola does weird sliding stuff. Lesser of two evils, I guess. It should be up in a few moments.

I guess I could try building up more, though I don't really want to. There are so many pieces that take a while to build; it really doesn't seem that unusual that mine takes a little while. It doesn't take all that long, either. The one thing I definitely don't want to do is shorten it. By second bit do you mean the part immediately after the intro? If so, yes that is in my opinion my weakest part right now; though I don't know how to fix it at the moment. I have a feeling it will take some significant rewriting, so I'm saving it for now.

I think you get it anyways, but just to be clear it's not the real ending, just a transitional passage. By the part going into it do you mean the part where I repeat the D major bit from the beginning with the D# diminished chord worked in, or the part with the repeated long chord progression
(i-v-vi-V-I-vi-V-viiº-i in Dm)? Anyways, the piece so far has been pretty much solid D minor, with some A minor as well I think. I don't really want it to be all in minor keys, as I think that would get a bit boring.

That was good! Definitely my favorite piece you've put up. I know what you mean about Finale doing weird things to recordings, but it seems to have come out fine, to me at least.

[Rewjeo]

Here's something I just put together. It's probably not what you want, but that's the kind of thing I'm imagining for the beginning. It should probably not get so loud, though.

The part that starts at 1:22. I feel like it's really good for seven or eight seconds, but then you don't go forward with the melody like I want you to. I think I've said this before, but what happens there isn't bad in and of itself, I just want to hear that melody more before you start changing it around.

Er, like I said, I don't have much real training when it comes to writing. The part at 3:50. That part feels kinda forced to me and really abrupt. Maybe this would be a good time to take that bit from ~1:20 and use that to change to D Major here? Or maybe just rework that all strings chord? I think that's the one that's really deflating the energy of the song there. I dunno, I'm just throwing out ideas.
My new piece is all in minor keys

Well, there are two parts that sound weird if you know what they sound like in Finale, but I guess since you don't they sound fine to you. Finding old stuff is pretty awesome. Reminds me of the mindset I was in when I wrote that stuff. Here's hoping it can inspire more good stuff.

[Jacktheawesome]

Ok, I wasn't clear what exactly you were getting at, but I see it now. My problem with your mockup is that it felt too stable. I want my intro to remain sort of on edge, leaving the listener with a constant anticipation. That's why I put the little spikes of Dm in, with the horns and timpani. Yours was nice sounding, but I felt like it was too content with itself.

Hm, it's interesting you say that; I'm starting to dislike that section altogether now. I think if I change it I may change that passage to fit the rest of it better, though I do agree with what you're saying.

Oooh, I see. Yes. It is a bit abrupt. I'm still wrestling with that bit. I know I want to get to D Major, and I know I want to briefly bring back the bit from the beginning in the basses. I'm not using the 1:20 bit again to modulate; that's how it used to be and it sounded terrible I feel like, though, it could use a little deflation at this point. I've been leaping around in fervent minor, and I'm trying to let the dust settle a bit, so I can introduce the main theme, which should be in major. I'm just trying to set myself up for it.
Well, I think they're written in different styles. I don't know. Good music, of course, isn't one thing or another, but I like tonal variety.

Oh. Yeah. I didn't notice. I'll leave you to be tortured by it The worst is when Finale ignores dynamics after repeats.
Yeah, I always scavenge through my old work every once in a while. Not too long ago I really had no idea what I was doing, and simply guessed at chords. It's pretty amazing I made anything sound halfway bearable.

[Rewjeo]

Well, I wasn't expecting it to be perfect, but I could tell I wasn't getting my point across through words so I decided to make a quick example of what I meant. Also, regarding those spikes, to you have them stutter in the score, or is that something Finale, er, decided to "help" you with?

Well, whatever works.

Listening again, my problem is definitely the strings chord there. I don't know if this makes sense to you, but I feel like the energy of the piece is being lost rather than released. It's not so much a reprieve (which is what I think you want there) as an "Oh, okay, guess that part's done." Does that make sense? It may just be the Finale sounds that make me feel like this, though.
Thus the

Or when you write something, decide you don't like it, erase it, but then all the old dynamics, trills, and whatnot are there but invisible and you can't do anything about it? Or: I was just trying to collect a bunch of melodies into one file. The first one was at 94 bpm and the second was at 120 bpm. After the switch to 120, it immediately started to ritard back to 94.

[Jacktheawesome]

Ah, well yes. Yeah, they're written as either a dotted 8th and 16th, or a triplet with the middle missing; I forget.

Which one is the "strings chord?" Can you tell me the exact time? I'm not sure which one you're talking about. Hm, well I'll try to work with that; that is what I'm going for. I'm never quite sure how much the Finale sounds ruin the piece. I do know that when I put real composers' scores in they still sound pretty awesome though, so there must be something

Ooh really? That's actually never happened to me. Oh wow. Yeah it can be pretty glitchy. I remember I was writing a piece in 4/4 when I decided I wanted it to be in 2/2. When I changed the time signature it moved the whole clarinet line two beats forward.

[Jacktheawesome]

Here's an arrangement I just did: the last in my Nutcracker divertissement series. Dance of the Clowns

[Rewjeo]

Sorry for not replying. I had real life stuff come up.

The chord that starts at 3:51.

For the new piece: Still not a huge fan of Nutcracker, Finale still doesn't change the dynamics at quite the right time, but it still sounds like the original to me. So I believe that means you did what you wanted.

[Jacktheawesome]

S'all good.

Aahhh. I see now. Yeah, I can probably fix that.

I'll take that

[Sandurz]

So this is in response to your first post.

The quartet for woodwinds is good, I like it. It starts off great, but then it hits a part where the phrases just don't stop. They're kind of muddled into each other. This would be fine (for me) if the piece was built up to it, but it just feels like it was too soon.

This isn't even a problem, but at 2:00 it sounds like it changes movements, and you should probably have a longer pause. The pause at 4:46 is a couple seconds long.

I would have liked the section at 4:50-5:07 to continue into the theme. The flute was really fun to listen to.

5:46-5:54 was also really fun to listen to. You should expand on it more! It just sounds really fun and bouncy and playful!

My last complaint, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as contemporary composers sometimes do this, is that your piece doesn't really revisit themes or phrases. The only time I heard a phrase repeated was when they were back to back. There is no overarching theme in any of the movements, and so there's no recapitulation (revisiting of the "main melody"). It kind of just goes on. It doesn't make it sound bad in the slightest, I just think that if you're going to try to make it sound more classical, in stead of contemporary, you should implement a concrete theme for each movement. For someone with no formal training, I'd say job well done indeed!

I'll either edit this post or make a new one when I get around to listening to the others you posted. Would you mind editing your OP with all of the links you posted since it started?

EDIT: I absolutely loved the harp piece. A+

[Jacktheawesome]

Thanks! What time, exactly? I'm not sure which part you mean.

Yeah, some pauses between movements are shorter than others. I don't see it as a bad thing necessarily; I purposely had my third movement play directly into my fourth. I kind of like the way it is now.

You sure? I'm only following form.

Ah. Yeah that movement is a bit funky. I intended it as a sort of 18th century minuet and trio gone horribly wrong - beginning conventionally and spiraling quickly into chaos. That last bit there represented the pinnacle of the confusion, and I thought it best to cut it off short.

Well first off, I'd have to disagree that there aren't themes for each movement, they just might not all be obvious. I'd say the first is tied together by the passage beginning at 1:09, the second by the use of triplets throughout, the third by the conceptual theme in the paragraph above, and the fourth by the passage at 8:11. However, it is something I'm definitely still working on, and it's not at all perfect.

Yeah, I'll get on that. Thanks for listening

[Rewjeo]

Anything new on your end? Stuff's coming slowly for me, but this is what I've gotten done. Obviously a WIP. Oh, pardon the super quiet cello part >.> I'm having weird, weird playback issues with this one, and amongst that is the cellos randomly playing piano regardless of what dynamic I tell them to play at.

[Jacktheawesome]

Some small, barely update-able progress on the symphony. I am writing a sonata for violin and piano, and arranging some Led Zeppelin songs, but I don't think I have enough to share yet. Are you guys interested in string quartet arrangements of rock songs? I have a few...

As for the thing you posted, that was cool, seems to be coming along nicely. I liked the part near the end, but I guess I had a bit of a problem with some of your held chords nearer the beginning. Have you thought about voice leading? Changing the voicings of your chords so that each instrument's line flows smoothly between each chord? It seemed like the instruments were sort of jumping around, and though that is an effect, I thought it would have sounded nicer if the voice leading was smoother.