StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I write music amateurly, and I'm looking for feedback and ways I can improve the music.

Music is hosted here; unfortunately, the host 'tis geoshitties, so if anybody knows of a better host, please tell me.

Thoughts?

Your stuff is pretty good, honestly. I'm not sure exactly what kind of feedback you're looking for, but the first thing that struck me is that your fugues aren't actually fugues. They're quite interesting, but they don't follow a fugal structure at all. So at the moment, all I really have to suggest is that maybe you name your fugues something else.

Dude, your the rockingest dude to have ever rocked. That's damn awesome.

Ford Prefect wrote:Dude, your the rockingest dude to have ever rocked. That's damn awesome.

You're much better at that than I am. Nicely done.

My thoughts, as I listen.

First Fuge in g minor: I thought it was good. Very basic, but so well-constructed its like a master-builder's dollhouse (that's a compliment). I don't know why, but I kept hoping it would surprise me, but it didn't.

First Cannon in a minor: I liked it. The way it picked up halfway through with all the arpeggios and little riffs, very pleasing to the ear. Felt like a germanic chant.

Sonata in B flat Major for Solo Violin, 4th movement: Blew me away. Very well done, it sounded light and strong at the same time. Some of the off-note riffs got a little a-tempo for me, but never quite enough to make me stop enjoying it. If you have the music, I'd like to give it to my brother, who's a violinist.

More later.

Very nice. Question.. What are you using to make the midi's?

Very, very nice. Thumbs way up.

Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone!

Tink wrote:Very nice. Question.. What are you using to make the midi's?

My mother is a semi-professional composer (she writes music for church), and I use her Finale music notation software; it has the option of saving the files as midis.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:If you have the music, I'd like to give it to my brother, who's a violinist.

Sure I could. Umm...do you have Finale? Or do you want me to scan the music and then send it to you?

Zaia wrote:I'm not sure exactly what kind of feedback you're looking for, but the first thing that struck me is that your fugues aren't actually fugues.

I was looking for suggestions on how to make the music sound better, and, naturally, corrections to the names I gave the songs . Also, how are the things I call 'fugues' not fugues? --I don't mean this to sound combative; I'm curious as to the ways the songs don't follow a fugal structure, because I tried to set the music up in such a manner. In my understanding, the fugal structure is a melody, then repeated again at different intervals, tossed around and broken up between voices. Is my understanding incomplete, or am I not good at translating the definition of "fugue" into actual music?

Zaia wrote:So at the moment, all I really have to suggest is that maybe you name your fugues something else.

What should I call them, then? I'm not sure into which category they'd fall.

A fuge is generally a solemn, mournful song similar to a dirge. Your Fuges are more like military music or just regular pieces.

Yeah, I don't have Finale, so a scan would be welcome.

What the fuck are you takling about, CaptainChewbacca? A fugue is not a solemn, mournful song; there are plenty hyperactive fugues. I know this because I had to memorize some of them, and a few of them completely kicked my ass because they were hard and fast. It's a complicated, regimented piece of music that can be any tempo. It has a lot of rules, which is why Surlethe's pieces aren't technically fugues.

Surlethe, I unfortunately don't have my old college textbooks at hand right now (am away from home dogsitting, bleh) to quote the relevant bits to you, but there are a lot of rules for writing pure fugues. I found a webpage that sounds familiar to the stuff I learned back in music theory in college, but here's an idea of what kind of rules I'm talking about:

A fugue has to have a short, main idea, called the subject, which is usually voiced by itself at the beginning. This is followed by what's called the answer, and it should be equal in length and (the most basic kind of fugue) starts in the dominant key to the subject. On basic fugues, the answer has the same or similar rhythms but the melodic line is inverted to be the flip of the subject. Then there's the development and exposition, and eventually it winds down and stops.

If you go to this webpage, it will give you a detailed look at all the rules. No joke, there really are that many (to be a true fugue, that is). You can always borrow ideas or take your inspiration from the fugue, but you probably shouldn't call something a fugue if it isn't one. Although I'm not a composer; maybe they're more lenient about that than I am. *shrugs*

Zaia wrote:Surlethe, I unfortunately don't have my old college textbooks at hand right now (am away from home dogsitting, bleh) to quote the relevant bits to you, but there are a lot of rules for writing pure fugues. I found a webpage that sounds familiar to the stuff I learned back in music theory in college, but here's an idea of what kind of rules I'm talking about:

OK. I was aware there were rules, but I wasn't aware there were that many. Damn. I'm going to have to study them to get better.

A fugue has to have a short, main idea, called the subject, which is usually voiced by itself at the beginning. This is followed by what's called the answer, and it should be equal in length and (the most basic kind of fugue) starts in the dominant key to the subject. On basic fugues, the answer has the same or similar rhythms but the melodic line is inverted to be the flip of the subject. Then there's the development and exposition, and eventually it winds down and stops.

Okay.

If you go to this webpage, it will give you a detailed look at all the rules. No joke, there really are that many (to be a true fugue, that is). You can always borrow ideas or take your inspiration from the fugue, but you probably shouldn't call something a fugue if it isn't one. Although I'm not a composer; maybe they're more lenient about that than I am. *shrugs*

Hey, thanks a bunch! I really appreciate the feedback and the website reference.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:A fuge is generally a solemn, mournful song similar to a dirge. Your Fuges are more like military music or just regular pieces.

That's incorrect, as Zaia pointed out in more detail above. As an example to which you might want to listen, the Bach fugue on my music page is a real fugue, and it's hardly dirge-like.

Yeah, I don't have Finale, so a scan would be welcome.

Sure. I'll PM you when I get the scans done.

*adds 'scan Sonata Bflat4' to to-do list*

Surlethe wrote:OK. I was aware there were rules, but I wasn't aware there were that many. Damn. I'm going to have to study them to get better.

Welcome to my life in college! It's not so bad, really. A lot of the rules are "If you do this, then do this" so there aren't quite as many as it seems. But there are still a ton, so have fun with that.

Okay.

If any of that didn't make sense, feel free to PM me with questions, or just post them here.

Hey, thanks a bunch! I really appreciate the feedback and the website reference.

No problemo.

Zaia wrote:What the fuck are you takling about, CaptainChewbacca? A fugue is not a solemn, mournful song; there are plenty hyperactive fugues. I know this because I had to memorize some of them,

You know what I love about band teachers, composers, and conductors? They always have cool stories about music they have aspired to play.

Surlethe wrote:

Zaia wrote:So at the moment, all I really have to suggest is that maybe you name your fugues something else.

What should I call them, then? I'm not sure into which category they'd fall.

Have you considered calling them "fudges"? That way if someone has a version labelled "fugue" you can claim that someone must have mistyped it.