Thread: 'Romance in D minor'

Here's an orchestral piece I wrote. It lacks proper dynamics and some of the changes are a bit abrupt, but see what you think.

Ogg audio
Score

(If you don't have a media player that can handle Ogg, visit www.playogg.org)

Wow, that was very beautiful. Especially 0:00-0:28. Isn't there a bit to much hall effect?

Do you have a midi to share?

No midi, but a MuseScore file (.mscz).

http://dev-null.chu.cam.ac.uk/tar/Romance.mscz

Sadly, although MuseScore does have a midi export function, it doesn't seem to work (it muddles up the tracks somehow).

There is a lot of hall effect, but it's generally hard to get these things right with software. There's really no substitute for a live recording (yet - but software is always improving).

Originally Posted by soundandfury

There is a lot of hall effect, but it's generally hard to get these things right with software. There's really no substitute for a live recording (yet - but software is always improving).

In MuseScore, go to Display > Mixer (or hit F11 on the keyboard). For each part play around with turning down the reverb and the chorus.

Other than the muddiness caused by the computer, I rather liked the piece. How did you choose your notes?

Originally Posted by Kopachris

In MuseScore, go to Display > Mixer (or hit F11 on the keyboard). For each part play around with turning down the reverb and the chorus.

Ah, you misunderstand me. I do know how to control the settings, the problem is judging how much of each to give it. I was trying to ensure that neither the guitar nor the muted cornet were too intrusive.

Other than the muddiness caused by the computer, I rather liked the piece. How did you choose your notes?

Well for the most part it's just a case of sticking to the key and (fairly) normal chords, with the odd suspension. There's nothing 'clever' in this piece, I just made sure I avoided anything surprising, prepared and resolved any dissonances, etc. As for the melodies, I just played around on a synth until I had something I liked. Essentially it's a combination of two things: 1) I'm quite a lazy person, and 2) I think composition shouldn't be too deliberate - go with what sounds good rather than what fits arbitrary rules.

I'm going to go slightly off-topic from your question and say that, in my opinion, what makes a good piece of music is to do something which the listener doesn't actually expect, but with hindsight feels that they probably ought to have done.

Is that an appropriate way to answer your question? It's not entirely obvious to me what the question means, outside of rigid systems like serialism.