Emeraldshine/Sum1's Compositions

[Emeraldshine]

So when I joined this site, I didn't know that "sum1" was too short for the system to handle...anyway, here's my stuff. I've only taken a year of theory so far, and it REALLY shows, but I'm slowly getting more competant. Anyway, here's a string quartet I wrote a while back, loosely based on Irish fiddling tradition, and it's probably the most polished thing I've ever written. Not very interesting harmonically, and the themes doesn't really develop, but hopefully the accompaniment and counterpoint are interesting enough to make up for that. This piece is VERY idiomatic...

And yes, I know the MP3 is HORRIBLE. It's meant to be played on actual instruments, and I don't know anything about MIDI rendering.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/735783/Fiddle%20Quartet.pdf
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/735783/Quartet%20Final.mp3

[Ander]

makes me wanna tap dance... or watch someone tap dance. Patatata patatata patatatatatata. haha. I liked it.

[Von Hohenheim]

hmmm... really folky. It's pretty. I like it. A year's theory is enough, especially if you're you. Congratulations on the piece. Oh, I'm quite knowledgeable when it comes to theory, if you ever need anything. Doubt you will, though. Truly love the piece.

[Emeraldshine]

Thanks a ton! Almost everything I write dissolves into a formless pile of cluster chords, so this one was a nice change, though it took me about a year or so to get it finished. The theory will have to come in when I want to write slow pieces that require more harmonic variation, or write for a less homogenous medium.

[Alfonso de Sabio]

Are you a violist? I love string quartets! I just joined a new string quartet (as a cellist), and I'm about to write one myself. I really like this one; you seem to know what you're doing. You have pretty good balance and fun give-and-take, which is what a quartet is all about. WANT HEAR MO-AH!

[Emeraldshine]

Violinist, I'm afraid, but I'm always very focused on making sure everyone gets the spotlight at some point. Though in actual practice, this means that EVERYONE in the quartet needs to be very skilled; this piece is much harder than it looks. Oh, and if anyone wants to perform this, they're perfectly welcome to, as long as they send me a recording! PM me if interested.

MO-AH hopefully coming (this is the third movement of a hypothetical larger work), but I'm not a prolific writer, and it'll be a while before I have time to finish this.

[Solaphar]

Yeah, it's always good to have more composers who think about each instrumentalist they're writing for in their compositions. Kudos to you for that. =D

It's one of my peeves when composers add in an instrument almost as an afterthought, where it basically only has 24 measures (or fewer!) of play in a 120 measure piece. Or if the part has more than 24 measures, it's a very boring and/or repetitive line (I'm looking at you Pachabell, with your stagnant cello part in D Canon). So it's cool that you're thinking about the players. =)

[PorscheGTIII]

Sounds great and you put out a decent score too! One thing you may want to consider is adding some rehersal letters.

[Emeraldshine]

Yeah, rehearsing this piece was a bit of a nightmare, so I'll add those marks eventually. I'm glad the score came out the way it did; Lilypond can be a pain...

Two short little pieces, much (MUCH) rougher than my quartet. "Space Canon" is a composition exercise written last year, and "72° and Breezy" is a pretty good example of what I can do in a day. The latter is me trying to learn to write background music, and will probably double in length before it's really finished.

[Emeraldshine]

Another more polished piece. This was written after an analysis of Maeda Jun's To the Same Heights, one of my favorite tracks from Clannad, and I tried to imitate the pattern of setting the chord with the first note of the phrase and then riffing on the pentatonic scale. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

[Alfonso de Sabio]

MMMMMKAY, I like the cadences at the very end. They're quite good. This style isn't really my cup of tea, but it works within the genre pretty well. One tiny suggestion, though. From 47 until you modulate to G, while you're dropping those fifths in the left hand, I'd like to hear the middle note of the chord sometime. The harmony sounds hallow without it, and actually the fifth isn't as important as the third, since the overtones of the root note are heavy on the fifth anyway. Overall, though, it's a really pleasant piece, and I think you accomplished what you were setting out to do, so bravo!

[Emeraldshine]

I'm not really a big fan of this style either, unless it's done really well (To the Same Heights), but I'm trying to learn how to write background music, and how to write melodies. It's difficult to make things repetitive and unassuming without being inane. This piece leans pretty strongly to the inane side of the spectrum, but I'm slowly improving.

The bit from m. 47-54 is tricky. I don't want the harmonies to be quite as full, in contrast to the note-heavy passages that it connects. That part always seemed weaker to me, but I don't know what to do with it yet.

The chords at the end are more representative of my usual style (I love writing for choir), except with flat-sevens and flat-sixes. The problem is that you can't always make an entire piece out of them.

EDIT: Here's a snippet of my usual style, on one of the rare occasions when things actually fit together.

[Alfonso de Sabio]

Oh my dissonance!

[Emeraldshine]

Yeah...Eric Whitacre was my ideal for a while, and it shows pretty dramatically. What I'm trying to learn how to do is write more simply, and learn how to use chromatics without changing keys like a madman. Economy of expression, ya know?

[PorscheGTIII]

Sounds good! But it also sounds like your missing a chord to resolve the composition at the end (Bass going to G?).