As with most of my beginning titles, the name of the song becomes less and less fitting as the music progresses. Although this doesn't quite fit as well as I had first thought, it isn't too bad of a title.
Anyway, that's not very important right now. :tpg:
This is, again, just a straight mp3 from Finale, no VSTs, no effects, no anything. So there are certain oddities I don't want in there (such as cymbals cutting out when too many instruments are playing, etc.). That's more of a sound card and general MIDI problem than Finale's, though. When I add the VSTs later it'll all be fixed.
Most likely this is complete. I don't see myself adding anything to it to make it longer. The first 20 measures or so may change completely or just be removed.
But most importantly for any listeners to know: this isn't intended to be a very difficult piece. Intermediate is more fitting. Perhaps a grade 4, or 4 and a half. 5 at the absolute most, but that would be due to the tempo and very large number of meter changes rather than much technical difficulty.
Well done, as would be expected of all your compositions, particularly in its own comparative simplicity (which doesn't say much, considering the degree of complexity involved in what you label a "less difficult" piece).
Once again, you utilise orchestral bells and pitched percussion to great effect, entrusting their clean, concise sound with a role of considerable importance instead of simply using it to emphasise a pre-existent melody (a trend I'm observing among composers using notation software).
The usage of standard/atonal percussion is also expertly played, chiefly the steady snare. the measures consisting solely of the timpani and the ethnic percussion, and... is that a tambourine?
Holistically, it's delightfully dramatic, each instrument collectively and individually conveying a palpable sense of urgency... though perhaps an urgency too strong to maintain the title of "Monsoon." Whereas the piece suggests an immediate situation, the title refers to a period of rain so incessant that it soon becomes routine--ask anyone who has spent several months in central Asia (my father was in Vietnam for around a year, only to be stationed in Seattle shortly thereafter... lol, a life where the sun never shines).
Lastly, I'm compelled to comment on how nicely your standard MIDI soundset emulates brass instruments.
I'm looking forward to hearing the final version. As it is, it still bears the marks of a composition program. Instruments panned 100% to the left, for instance.
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It's not standard MIDI it's Finale's SoftSynth soundfont. And the panning is set to the seating position of the instruments.
And lol yeah that's a tambourine. I'm finding more uses for it of late and once again it happened to wander in to this piece when I was going back and adding color. I suppose I'm a bit biased when I write as I do tend to give a lot of parts to pitched percussion. Many composers have a staple in most of their pieces and I guess this is what mine will be. :3
The title will change, but at the moment it's not a major concern of mine. I have to go back now and put in breath marks because I kinda forgot wind players need to breathe lol :x Not that it will really affect the listener or anything ::)
Quote from: HaloOfTheSun on May 21, 2008, 07:44:34 AM
It's not standard MIDI it's Finale's SoftSynth soundfont.
Then Finale succeeds in that arena. I should look into actually acquiring that. Sibelius has betrayed me one too many times
...but it would've been awesome if your system just intrinsically didn't suck at reproducing sound.
Quote
And the panning is set to the seating position of the instruments.
I know, but communicating that an instrument is seated to one side doesn't require that instrument to play out of the right channel only.
I usually go to 80% at the most.
Maybe it's just because I have this mental image of a couple from my highschool who used to listen to music together by having one person take the right earbud and the other person take the left... that was before I knew anything about music, and even then I was bugged by the thought that one of them could be hearing something the other wasn't. lol
I usually don't go all the way to the left or right either but apparently I forgot to adjust that this time around. Fixed~
Oh man this is so cool.
HALO, MAKE ME A LOVE SONG <3
UGH
I'd listen, but as usual, whenever something is attached to a post and it larger than 1 mb I can't download it without it being corrupted.