<Pony><Original> Descent (Orchestral)

[EverfreeLuna]

I finished it up added it to youtube



Thanks to all that helped

Enjoy!

[Dr_Dissonance]

I really enjoyed the beginning. It kept adding more and more, which kept it interesting.

The transition wasn't great though. Very abrupt and no sign or feeling of movement. Just felt like "I'm bored of harp, have some brass in a different key!" Which can work in some scenarios, but not in this case. Try building up to the key change through a proper chord progression, such as moving to a V7 in the new key before actually going to the new key.
I am now hoping you understood that...

[EverfreeLuna]

I really enjoyed the beginning. It kept adding more and more, which kept it interesting.

The transition wasn't great though. Very abrupt and no sign or feeling of movement. Just felt like "I'm bored of harp, have some brass in a different key!" Which can work in some scenarios, but not in this case. Try building up to the key change through a proper chord progression, such as moving to a V7 in the new key before actually going to the new key.
I am now hoping you understood that...

Thanks for the input! I'll try to change the key change.

As for whether I understood that or not... No I didn't Do you mean build up to the leading tone for the second key?

Edit: Even though the intro was adding more and more instruments (And mixing them up a bit) it was the same melody repeated over and over. One thing I get paranoid with is "Am i repeating this TOO much?"

I also noticed a lot of the subtleties of the brass part were lost to the .mp3 format ;\

Edit2: Nvm V7 = Dominant 7th chord

[Dr_Dissonance]

Kind of.

So, in basic music theory, a V chord will feel the need to move to a I chord. For example, G to C because:
C D E F G A B
I II III IV V VI VII

A V7 enhances that need to move by adding the 7th onto the chord. In G's case, it would be F because:
G A B C D E F#
I II III IV V VI VII

But wait a minute? That F is sharp!
That's because F# is in the Key of G Major, not F. If it was an F#, it wouldn't be as unstable and as such, wouldn't have the urge to move to C.
That F would make the chord more unstable and give it a real need to change into something stable. Because that F is in C major and not G major, the chord feels like it should move to C.
With whatever key you're using, you want to move to the minor equivalent, correct? For example, C Major/a minor.
With moving to a minor, an E Major7 chord would be ideal for signalling the movement. So E G# B D. That G# is NOT part of C Major, but is part of a minor, so that foreign note is the signal! The 7th adds instability, so the key switches to a minor nice and neatly.

I'm sure that was probably more confusing than anything as I don't explain stuff as often as I used to, but I hope it helps!

[EverfreeLuna]

Ha, your explanation was perfect. I understood exactly what you meant (I hope).

I've edited the transition a slight bit, added brass leading up to the large crash and changed the velocities of certain instruments at certain places. I've also added the harp back into the brass section to address the "i'm bored of harp" part

And thanks for the free music lesson

[EverfreeLuna]

I've updated it.

I've added a second key change (back to c major). It feels a bit off though. Sound really cheesy in a way.

It is going to continue with the starting melody once I perfect this second key change.

I'd love some more feedback from people

[LunchBagMusic]

Looking at it from a texture point of view, it seems that you haven't got all that much contrast in the first section - before the brass (and this sort of applies after the brass as well).

You have a repeated melody, long bass notes and an arrpeggio accompaniment to give solid chords. This is a foolproof way of communicating your ideas, but it's also quite bland. It's difficult to describe what is the best thing to do here, as subtle orchestration and variation is the most difficult thing to master.

Perhaps try and make the arrpeggios more "melodic"...that is let them follow a stepwise or interval pattern, or even construct a counter melody, to make the music seem less static.

The melody repeats itself exactly; I reckon it would add a lot to your sound to add subtle changes each time it comes around...just so that the ear doesn't loose interest.

The long bass notes are fine so long as they aren't too exposed. If they are, your song will sound hollow.


Aside from those issues I hear, this is sounding really good! I'd love to hear it when more of it is done!

[EverfreeLuna]

Looking at it from a texture point of view, it seems that you haven't got all that much contrast in the first section - before the brass (and this sort of applies after the brass as well).

You have a repeated melody, long bass notes and an arrpeggio accompaniment to give solid chords. This is a foolproof way of communicating your ideas, but it's also quite bland. It's difficult to describe what is the best thing to do here, as subtle orchestration and variation is the most difficult thing to master.

Perhaps try and make the arrpeggios more "melodic"...that is let them follow a stepwise or interval pattern, or even construct a counter melody, to make the music seem less static.

The melody repeats itself exactly; I reckon it would add a lot to your sound to add subtle changes each time it comes around...just so that the ear doesn't loose interest.

The long bass notes are fine so long as they aren't too exposed. If they are, your song will sound hollow.


Aside from those issues I hear, this is sounding really good! I'd love to hear it when more of it is done!

Thanks for the input. I've tried some of your suggestions and I wasn't able to make them "Work".

I've updated the WIP to complete length and made a few melodic changes.

I fear I may have killed it though. I would love some feedback

[EverfreeLuna]

Ok, so i changed it up a bit and have 2 versions again. One adds a little "variation" to the long bass notes. Which do you guys think is better?

[Wintergreen]

I'm not sure what it was, but I think I might have liked the first of those two better. This is a really good orchestral piece, you made very good use of the woodwinds in particular. The first thing that struck me was that this almost seems like it could be in a Final Fantasy. I don't know, it just kinda has that feel to it for me, I guess.

[GhostXb]

Looking at the piece as a whole, I feel like it isn't very coherent. Like I'm not sure what emotion I'm supposed to feel, you have ideas coming in from different directions. I think a good piece should start at a feeling, and progress from there. The execution of the piece itself is good, but I think the concept and composition of the song could use some work, because I get the sense that you were playing with ideas rather then trying to arrange feelings through time.

Other then that, I can't really comment on the technical parts of the song as others have.

[EverfreeLuna]

Looking at the piece as a whole, I feel like it isn't very coherent. Like I'm not sure what emotion I'm supposed to feel, you have ideas coming in from different directions. I think a good piece should start at a feeling, and progress from there. The execution of the piece itself is good, but I think the concept and composition of the song could use some work, because I get the sense that you were playing with ideas rather then trying to arrange feelings through time.

Other then that, I can't really comment on the technical parts of the song as others have.

You raise a valid point. Being new to this I didn't take a normal approach to the feeling of the song. Rather than focusing on a specific emotion and expanding from there I imagined a scene in my head (A made up scene of NMM's descent and eventual conversion back to luna) and tried to create a sort of "more powerful background music".

As I said. I'm new and I realise this was probably a bad idea seeing as i am the only one with this scene in my head

[GhostXb]

Looking at the piece as a whole, I feel like it isn't very coherent. Like I'm not sure what emotion I'm supposed to feel, you have ideas coming in from different directions. I think a good piece should start at a feeling, and progress from there. The execution of the piece itself is good, but I think the concept and composition of the song could use some work, because I get the sense that you were playing with ideas rather then trying to arrange feelings through time.

Other then that, I can't really comment on the technical parts of the song as others have.

You raise a valid point. Being new to this I didn't take a normal approach to the feeling of the song. Rather than focusing on a specific emotion and expanding from there I imagined a scene in my head (A made up scene of NMM's descent and eventual conversion back to luna) and tried to create a sort of "more powerful background music".

As I said. I'm new and I realise this was probably a bad idea seeing as i am the only one with this scene in my head

It's cool, writing orchestral pieces isn't easy. It's something I'm trying to learn as well.

[EverfreeLuna]

I finished it up and added a youtube video with a subtle animation