Age/Gender: 16, Male
Location: My home.
Job: Composer
'ey folks! I'm usually quite fan-friendly, so please do tell me if you like my music. I Really enjoy reading your reviews! On the rare occasion that I'm having a bad day, please forgive me. Anyway, since you're here already, why not listen to some music?
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169 Reviews | 114 w/ Responses
How go the pursuits at Juilliard?
I'm sorry the movie project didn't pan out, but endlessly grateful that you decided to post this here. There's honestly little I can suggest to you to improve this, knowing the discrepancy between your musical knowledge and my limited musical resources.
However I'll attempt to share my thoughts.
At the very beginning, the sparse instrument is certainly nice, but it feels lacking in thematic material, which is by no means a bad thing given the contrasting lyrical melody that comes in about 0:50. I feel that you let the momentum of the very powerful change from sparse to thick texture dissipate a bit too quickly. It seems like you allowed a very workable theme to remain underdeveloped, perhaps for the sake of the film's demands, which is completely understandable in that case.
That aside, this, along with all of your work, is truly the work of genius. Thank you.
I'd appreciate to no end if you listened to my fourth etude in C# minor. There's a youtube video in my latest news post that includes the score to the piece. Your advice or even just an opinion would prove to be an invaluable help, and I'd be overjoyed to hear your thoughts.
With deepest respect and admiration,
Matt
Author's Response:
You are right on to note lack of development here, I had hoped that as the project progressed I could revisit material here and flesh it into a meaningful character and theme relationship. Unfortunately this piece will have to stand on its own, but it was fun and hey, no regrets. I really appreciate your comments, I left you a review that I hope you'll find helpful!
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I love it man. This is really well written, but pretty poorly mixed. The drums are basically the only thing I can hear in the mix, making it tough to really enjoy the rest. My favorite part of this particular part is where the snare drops out and the winds are accompanied by just the ride cymbal and the bass. The bass is the foundation of any ensemble, so PLEASE turn that up, you've got a really nice walking bass line, and between that being too soft and your drums being too loud, it wrecks the otherwise solid groove. A really great arrangement though. Almost sounds like Goodman at times.
Pleasee, please pleaseeeee! Make a few quick fixes in the mix, and this will be a formidable submission to the competition!
Author's Response:
Thanks for the positive feedback!
I unfortunately can't do anything about the lack of bass, the volume being set at maximum. The drum's volume was a personal choice, but then again, I had multiple problems that occured during the conversion. I'll try to fix it and re-submit ASAP.
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I'm a huge lover of jazz. My own submission was classical, as were many others, but this is really great. Brings some fantastic variety to the piece. I'd really suggest putting this under jazz.
Although when I asked nathan if solo piano was considered orchestration, he said no. :/
Good luck mate, i do hope this counts.
Author's Response:
I thought Nathan said he thought it would be too simple, but I dont think he said "no." I could be wrong though.
Yeah the chords are very jazzy, it's kind of my specialty. I'm glad you liked it :D
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"I love the Russian school of music!"
5/5 for having good taste. :)
You should look into the works of Scriabin and others as well.
Author's Response:
TY, working hard to be the piano master! I just have a wonderful teacher :P
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It's got promise for a first try at classical music. :)
I feel it could be improved if you invested in getting some better instrument sounds, there are plenty of free ones on the web. You just have to look for them.
I'll give it a 5 since it's your first try. Keep it up!
Author's Response:
Thanks! I'll have to look into that. Yeah, I got a new 8000 techno sound pack for 50 bucks last week, but it didn't come with any classical sounds. I'll look into it.
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I really enjoyed the mood this piece brought to the table! I can't really think of anything that needs fixing.
5/5, 10/10
Good choice of instruments, coincidentally the only 2 instruments I play. :)
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It's almost like a study in listening rather than piano. No offense of course, but this isn't written very pianistically. No matter though. I was initially taken aback by the unpleasantness of the sound and its quasi-arbitrary nature.
But then the Cmaj7 and the dissonance eventually became nothing more than a drone over which the piece was really played. Fascinatingly beautiful. Nothing emotionally moving, but it tweaks my mind rather than my heart.
Wonderful experiment my friend.
Reading your description it really does develop a kind of story, you can really sense the lost-ness of it now that you mention it.
Good work my good sir, I shall look forward to hearing more from you.
My main suggestion would be to continue with your more abstract work, but familiarize yourself with practical methods used from the baroque era through modern day. By growing "inside of the box" so to speak, you'll greatly expand your horizons in the field of the advante-garde movement in modern music.
9 points for a great treat for my mind, 1 point off to remind you that you have potential and you could go so much farther. :)
Author's Response:
Thank you for such an in-depth and wonderful review, my good man!
I've uploaded four of these studies (the fifth will come late tonight, darn upload limit), and you're the first to pick up on the whole idea; the idea that the repetition just kinda melts itself, it disintegrates while the music is playing. I love emotional music myself, but I equally love music that makes one think (like Schoenberg).
I thank you for the advice. Actually, for the longest time, I would only write music that was considered quasi-Romantic or quasi-Baroque, and I definitely still have that twinge in my more 'regular' works. I am of the opinion that you have to know the rules before you can break them. So while this piece is not too much a technical showcase of skill (the repeating chords actually start to hurt after a while), it's meant more for the sound study.
Aside from that, I still have a lot to learn and will continue to learn. I remember hearing a quote that the modern composer should be compelled by the impulse that "modern music could be so much more than it is today". I think some feeling of that sort should try to drive us when making music (That and having fun of course!).
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Though perhaps not the best piece of all history, this piece is certainly a work of considerable talent. Very well written. NOTHING at all in this piece even REMOTELY hurts my ears. And unlike MarkySpark here, who has apparently little experience with classical music, I am actually a classicist.
Don't let idiots tell you you can't compose. You most certainly can.
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In fact, very well-written. I adore your sense of dissonance and resolution. I feel like, given its more modern style, it could benefit from a more complex motif than the chromatic descent. i love 0:40-0:48 and then when the violins come back, it's fantastic. back on topic anyway, i feel like this would make a haunting lyrical piece if you only just gave it a melody that could be easily sung. surely you're familiar with samuel barber's adagio for strings.
everything after 1:58 was absolutely divine. there seems to be a kind of motif to it.
also, on writing for strings. my composition teacher always tells me not to write "football charts", meaning that you shouldn't just have a bunch of half and whole notes if possible, because string players will frown upon it, and your chances of getting a live performance of it are significantly decreased.
this is really quite a gorgeous piece of art.
Author's Response:
Wow, thank you so much!
For a first review I'd never have expected to get anything as in-depth helpful as this. xD
I really appreciate the advice; I'll try and implement some (if not all) of your suggestions next time.
Off-topic: Barber's Adagio for Strings is such a beautiful piece. If I could write anything a tenth as good as that, I could die so very happy.
Thank you again for taking the time to review this. (:
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"You already know how i feel about this piece."
get at me on aim. I wanna know how it went.
Author's Response:
Lol k.
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