Once Upon A Midnight Grimm - A Symphonic Halloween Tale

I only had time to skim through it:

If it was I, more variations in Tempo. In the middle --- around 3;30 - 4:20 (love that number) and onwards, it gets too "plodding" for my liking.
You are @ 90 - 92 bpm ? I have not looked at the score. Just my first impression that this is really keeping the energy away.

 

Because it's Halloween stuff and I am an elfmaniac, I feel obliged to leave a comment.

Your piece becomes better and better as it develops but there's two things that bothers me a little.

First is the intro. It starts great but it's getting too 'major' between 0:50 and 1:05. Is Zarathustra buried in that cemetery ? At my ears it sounds like a stranger part with some dissonances to justify its presence.

Second is the part at 1:31. 'Only bass and melody' is ok for me but the harmony take long to come and only for a really short time it's really frustrating because just next to it you do exactly the same thing with a more long period whithout the harmony. Arrrrrgh.

Voilà. It's just a humble opinion cause I'm far far away to write music like this. Paul, your piece is great and I'd like to have your talent.

 

I don't really have the time to be as extensive as I'd like to be, but here are some notes anyway. Disclaimer: I'm just a meddling hobbyist at this point, take everything I say with a grain of salt.

0:00 - 0:34 Good opening in my view. Sets the mood nicely. The bass clarinet is very appropriate here. The only suggestion I'd have is to perhaps have a quiet, low piano note double the tubular bell, it'll give it more weight, more ring, and a bit more tonality. Tubular bell + piano is a really nice combi, I've found. Up to you though!

0:34 - 1:28 For me, all of this works just fine too. I'm still very much with you here and there are some wonderful chords in there. They do sound very classical, which is probably not just the chords but also the instrumentation. I don't see any markings for mutes on the brass in the score, but that's something you might want to try. I personally find that muted brass can add some real bite and make things feel more mean. Could be worth trying on the trumpets here?


1:31 Tamtam transition was nice and effective!

1:32 This section with the bassoon and bass clarinet is just begging for some pizz support from the cellos and/or basses, just to give little accents to this quirky start. I'm thinking of In The Hall of The Mountain King here. Not saying you should replicate that, but that's the sort of tone I imagine would be fitting here. From here on out I was starting to feel that some bits were a bit bare and could use a little embellishment. It's always slippery slope to add things, but I think some of your ideas from here on out can really be enriched with a little support from instruments, even it's just throwing in some accents. That said, the high woods have a really nice line here. Really good stuff. I just miss the "swing" or... waltz like feel that I think you're going for, and that's where I think throwing in some pizz could help out.

1:56 I can see that you've written fp in the score here, it's just the samples letting you down here. I expected a stronger attack/accent here... basically the fp you wrote but that your samples just didn't provide.

1:58 Okay, I can't really put my finger on it, but this bit feels a little too static/robotic to me. I'm missing some element of forward motion. In my head I'm hearing high woodwinds playing quiet 1/8's (on F) over this with light accents on the 1 and 4. So: ONE-two-three FOUR-five-six, ONE-two-three FOUR-five-six, etc (so that's on bar 65-72). Not saying that this is what you should do exactly (nor do I think should you have eights for 7 bars straight, those players will need to be able to breathe), my larger point is simply that I'm missing some forward motion. I guess what it comes down to is that, since this is a restatement, I want to feel like we're progressing and developing beyond a simple color change, if that makes sense?

2:10 This could be your samples, but the Xylophone here is very intrusive in my view. I don't think it's the appropiate color for having the melody. Now, this is probably my bias, but I tend to use Xylophone for accents, rolls, gliss, arpeggios, that kind of stuff... it doesn't feel right to me to have it on the melody. What I think you're trying to do here is add a quirky, somewhat comical quality... I think you'd be better served by a Celeste here and just use the Xylophone for accents. You're use of the xylophone at 2:18 feels exactly right, I love that trill effect it has there. But everything before that? I don't dig as much! (purely talking about the Xylo here, the rest is fine!)

I'm going to have to stop here, though I did listen to the rest of the piece. Overall I think you have very strong ideas and I can't argue with most of your instrumentation. My general remarks would be that there are sections where the overall piece feels too bare for my tastes... it's like there's only two gnomes and one troll coming out instead of a whole army of them. I'm missing some depth or richness here and there. Thankfully, this is much easier to solve than having to remove elements! In plain English: I feel like some sections are underwritten and could do with more embellishment or counter movements...just to add a little more interest.

My other general remark would be that I think the tempo is too slow. Not for the start, but ones these creatures start to come out, it feels too casual and relaxed to my ear. I'd imagine this dance of Halloween monsters would be more frantic. You don't have to go fast everywhere, but some variations in tempo would do a lot for your piece, I think!

And yeah, I think you can still easily bring this down to 6 minutes! (tempo changes can help here haha, you won't have to throw away any notes!)

 

Sounds like an excellent plan to give it a break for a little while. That remains to be one of the most useful strategies to get a fresh look at one's own work.

You're right that Celeste is perhaps a bit overused, but should that really deter you? Don't get me wrong! I have my own set of instruments that I tend to steer away from and I'm utterly biased in regards to Celeste since I personally find it one of the most beautiful instruments there is in the orchestra. Having said that, I distinctly remember disliking oboes...then I had a project (I do some student projects sometimes) come up where it simply was the right fit. Since then, I've really learned to appreciate that instrument. My main complaint against it was that I often found it too piercing and nasal, but after I simply had to use it... I've turned my stance around completely.

All of which is a very roundabout way of saying that, while I have my own biases for/against certain instruments, sometimes it worth a try to just try things. It can really lead to surprising and interesting results. Which doesn't mean you have to use Celeste! Just use whatever you feel gets the emotion you're going for across best. Best of luck with it! For the record: I really enjoyed listening to your piece, so don't let my comments lead you to think that there's something wrong with your piece. I'm with you (and the piece for that matter) about ~80% of the piece, and some things are simply a matter of differing tastes. I'll gladly take another listen if you've made changes, and I'll see if I can find the time to continue comments for everything beyond the 2nd minute.

 

Compositionally and orchestrationally, I can't really add to this much more. More advanced composers than me will be able to point out a few more things, I'm sure, but I can't find much flaw with it at the moment.

I do like the tempo changes! Feels much more lively now. There are a couple of places where the samples aren't working so great (though I do like the sound of your muted brass quite a bit!). it got a bit chaotic toward the end too, but that's largely down to the samples again. Overall, I really quite enjoyed listening to this piece! Well done! I can only hope that one day you'll get to record it with a real orchestra as I think they could inject that last bit of life into the composition.

EDIT: the only nitpick I can come up with is that I still feel the piece could be just a smidge shorter, but this is a hard balance to achieve. The first four minutes are absolutely fine and feel very fresh, but after about halfway through the piece things are restated a little too much for my personal taste. This is a minor nitpick though! Again, I must emphasize that I enjoyed listening to this piece! You really managed to capture the mood, in my opinion!

 

Hi Paul,

First of all, what an atmospheric piece of music. I really like it, and I am finding some interesting things in your score (thanks for that BTW) for me to chew on.

The thing that stands out most for me is that dancing section, and I can see that you are musically suggesting the smaller ghosts and ghouls coming out to play.

I see that you have been playing around with the tempo to suggest a little more life and movement, and, well, a sense of mischief - but I don't think that is where the solution lies. In the initial dance section you have the Flute and Clarinet playing together. I think the that problem here is the articulation used, what seems to be a constant key velocity and too perfect timing.

I would suggest you could try using Staccatissimo on the Flute & Clarinet, and then dub it live over the top. This is main theme, the ear will latch onto it, and humanising the velocity and timing a little will make your ghouls seem little more chaotic and real. The Bassoon and Bass Clarinet lines will keep your timing reasonably honest,

Here's a couple of bars of Berlin WW Clar/Flt Staccatissimo. (just doubled for now). I think it sounds more playful.

Ghosties & Goulies

I'm still working my way through the rest of the piece, but this is a thoroughly engaging piece of music that marries with the story beautifully.

Great work.

 

On a scale of 1-10 how happy are YOU with the final version ? Do you have any specific questions, or just gauging listeners feedback.
(both are perfectly valid)

Basically, if there is anything specific craft wise you are questioning I am happy to offer my 2 cents.

If you are perfectly happy with everything, then that is a great blessing too. There are times when one just needs to say " this work is done"

Wishing you all the best