(Part 2) Best products from r/composer

Just 2 main comments:

1. Pay much more attention to your orchestration. It was too blurry to see the finer details, but there are many things that can be done better. For starters: there is no need for there to be 6 key changes in the first 30 or so measures. Aurally it works, but just add in accidentals for sections that modulate successively, otherwise it looks sloppy. In a similar vein, never show people a non-transposing score. It's great for a composer's purposes, but it actually makes reading it more difficult for others (especially conductors). Little mistakes like random dynamics in resting instruments and unnecessary subdivided rests can add up; and there are places where you obviously want it slurred, so be sure to add them. Also, I don't know if you are a singer, but generally in instrumental scores crescendos are notated below the single-staff instruments and in-between instruments on a grand staff. These are a just a few of the problems I saw, but just know to always go through your piece with a fine tooth comb. I very much recommend this book and looking at other scores as much as possible. It pretty much will answer any orchestrational and notational question you may have (that is, aside from many contemporary techniques)
   
   
   
   
2. Aurally, the piece is interesting, and although I understand that you meant to not repeat any of the themes, I disagree with the final outcome because of it. It needs to have some sort of form or unifying factor for the listener, especially in a piece this filmscore-like. The piece is so harmonically and melodically standard that the lack of form just seems odd and causes the ending to be abrupt. Hell, the unifying factor could be something as simple as a single triangle attack or snare drum role, just something that makes if feel less like a random assortment of themes that for some reason ends in the middle.
   
   
   
   That all being said, the themes are very intriguing and I would love to hear them expanded and varied a bit. You plant many seeds for a large scale work, but it ultimately ends before it come to fruition. Of course, you can disagree and disregard any or all of these comments if you want, that's your right as the composer. However, I do think you should take my first comment to heart. I reiterate this mainly because you are using this as an audition piece, and the very first thing they will do is read through the score without the music (so you want your first impression to be a good one). People really do appreciate a clean score, though it is the most tedious and time consuming part of the compositional process (and the part I personally hate the most). Good luck in your endeavors and never stop composing.

I recommend you start by picking up a good book on the analysis of musical form, something like Green's Form in Tonal Music (but from the library as it's obscenely expensive). I believe it's very important to comprehend the overall structure of a piece of music so that you can break it down into its logical constituents. Deep formal constructs often dictate the more surface level structures that we perceive as harmonic progressions and rhythmic motives. These kinds of choices do not happen in a vacuum; they are very much tied to the long range form of a piece of music, even when these structures are the germinating idea for the rest of the work (see the sketchbooks of Beethoven for examples).

To this purpose it's usually easier to start off with small pieces from the Baroque era as they're formally straightforward. For example, the structural simplicity of the binary form makes the harmonic and rhythmic choices of a composer much more clear. Once you have this as a foundation, the music of Haydn and Mozart will be much more readily digestable. I do not recommend starting with music written after about 1750 if you're new to analysis.

Once you feel comfortable with this, studying sonata form is perhaps one of the most enjoyable analytic endeavors one can undertake. The work of the Classical masters is overflowing with good examples of this, and the obvious oeuvre to start with is Haydn's piano sonatas. This alone could keep you busy for years to come, and the revelations you gain will be both numerous and surprising.

>It starts in one month.

Good luck! Do you have any idea on what the program looks like? Core requirements, etc.?

When I started my Bachelor's in comp, we had to submit a composition portfolio and do an interview with faculty. On what basis were you admitted? Which requirements did you pass? Also, most programs have a placement exam. This sort of thing. If you don't pass, you'll likely have to take a course or two to get you up to where you need to be. No big deal. You should welcome the opportunity to fill any gaps you may have.

>How would you suggest warming up for this? How should I go about teaching myself the basics of composition?

The first time I interviewed for my undergrad composition program, I was rejected. Plainly, my portfolio sucked and I didn't know what I was doing. I asked the interviewer what I could do about that and he gave me a list of graduate students whom I could contact. Over the summer, I paid a guy for a few sessions and he helped me to strengthen my portfolio. Those lessons were an essential step for me to get into that program, and they furnished me with concepts that I still find relevant 6 years later.

While you can teach yourself, I think you'll go farther faster with a teacher. Make sure to mention what your goals are, and that you are taking lessons to prepare for academic study.

>What are the things everyone knows?

Everybody knows different things, and different departments emphasize different repertoire. What do you know? You have a jazz background, so I assume you know what a 12-bar blues and an AABA head are. You probably don't know what a double exposition sonata form is. Emphasize the things that you do know, work on the things you don't know.

I spent last summer studying for a music history exam. By far, the most useful resources were the following:

http://www.amazon.com/The-History-of-Classical-Music/dp/B0000546YW/

http://www.amazon.com/The-History-of-Opera/dp/B0000546Z1/

The above audiobooks are very general and pretty short. This might be your best bet for "catching up," since nobody is going to quiz you on minutia, like Mozart's least favorite instrument (the flute!).

Robert Greenberg has several music history seminars available through The Teaching Company that I am enjoying:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Chamber-Music-of-Mozart/dp/B00DTNWAYE/

http://www.amazon.com/The-String-Quartets-of-Beethoven/dp/B00DTO68TG/

http://www.amazon.com/The-Symphonies-of-Beethoven/dp/B00DTO4LKY/

>How do I not look completely ignorant?

Be fastidious. Do your homework and make your education worthwhile. Be a mover. Volunteer to help at concerts and events through your school, become friends with performers (buy them a lunch every now and then; this works wonders), perform on other composers' works, hang out with your professors outside of class, and try to stay interested in something outside of music so that you have another life to draw inspiration from. This can be anything from golf to neurobiology to your daily fart journal. What you know does not matter as much as what you do.

>I was doing a jazz degree prior to this, so I've got a fair understanding of music, but writing anything more than lead sheets seems sorta foreign to me.

Have you done any ensemble writing? I'd say that if you are writing lead sheets, you have a good foundation already. The challenge for you is going to be learning to expand upon your ideas. However, consider that you have a unique perspective: many people in that program will not have jazz experience. Perhaps you can capitalize ton that.

In no particular order, here are some things that come to mind:



Modes of Rhythm

Anthony Wellington teaches slap bass and rhythm using the "Modes of Rhythm" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asYfvMzjk7M

This is an interesting approach to working with rhythm.


Arranging for Large Jazz Ensemble by Dick Lowell

https://www.amazon.com/Arranging-Large-Jazz-Ensemble-Pullig/dp/0634036564/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=dick+lowell&qid=1554352576&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Good resource for jazz arranging



The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler

https://www.amazon.com/Study-Orchestration-Third-Samuel-Adler/dp/039397572X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=270ZIQBMLZL3O&keywords=study+of+orchestration&qid=1554354116&s=gateway&sprefix=study+of+orc%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-2

I have the 3rd edition. Get it used rather than new. This is a popular choice when studying instrumentation and orchestration for orchestral/chamber music.


Other good orchestration online resources:

http://resources.music.indiana.edu/isfee/

https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Academy/Instrumentology/


The Secrets of Dance Music Production

https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/0956446035/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=attack+magazine&qid=1554356008&s=gateway&sr=8-1

I haven't checked this one out completely, but it's an interesting resource for electronic music with great visual analysis


And if you're looking for things to improve your composing skills, definitely study counterpoint. Start with Species counterpoint then move to other styles/eras. Learning this completely changed my perspective of theory and why we learn it.


Hope that helps.

Of course. (Even though I will only give some of the important things)

1. A piano is written with 2 staves (one per hand)
   
2. You have to specify what strings play (violin, alto, cello, DB ?) here you just have a staff that says "strings". That makes us wonder "who plays and when ?"
   
3. Same thing apply to woods
   
4. When it's done, you need to make groups the way it's supposed to be.
   
5. Normally, it would be : Winds, piano and then strings. I can understand the fact that your piano is above (since it's kind of a soloist), but the winds must still be above the strings nevertheless
   
6. There a no specifications of articulation
   
7. There a no specifications of dynamics
   
8. Your notation of rythm is a little off : In a 4/4 we need to see the 3rd beat. (exemple : your 13th bar)
   
9. You would not need so many ties in your piano if you simply noted how the sustain pedal should be used
   
   It's a start. I invite to you read orchestral (or chamber music) scores. It will provide you with great knowledge.
   
   I invite you to consult some book on the subject, like this one : http://www.amazon.com/Music-Notation-Manual-Practice-Crescendo/dp/0800854535 (don't really know if it's good, never personaly read it)
   
   Don't worry, people don't expect of you to know all these things to begin with. It's just important when you present something to fellow composers.
   
   Keep up the good work !
   
   (if you want to know my sources, I'm a composition student in a university in Canada)

Yeah! They came with this book: The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's Scores (Book and Rarities CD) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739071572/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_eXWPDb2SDB29K

This isn’t an affiliate link, but I HIGHLY recommend this book. IIRC the author interviewed Howard Shore during production (so it wasn’t done well after the fact) and the book gets pretty technical so it’s not a fluff piece. It’s not a biography of any kind, it’s about the music (and development of it) for LotR. The book came out... 3-4 years ago?

Anyway the book is fantastic and it includes a CD with MIDI mock-ups, including a few themes that ended up not making the final cut. There’s also like 20 minutes of interview audio with the author and Howard Shore.

For orchestration, the Adler book is definitely the modern day definitive book, but as a high schooler, paying for the Adler is probably not on your to-do list. Instead, I recommend the Rimsky-Korsakov because it's free on IMSLP.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Principles_of_Orchestration_(Rimsky-Korsakov,_Nikolay)

For composition, I recommend Persechetti's book, Twentieth Century Harmony. It's not really about telling you how to compose, it's more like an encyclopedia of possibilities and descriptions of what those possibilities sound like.

As a long-time user and refuge of Sibelius, I begrudgingly recommend Finale. It's actually pretty decent. The most important thing is that when you make your choice to learn everything you can about the software itself. If you can master all of the shortcuts and hotkeys it will make your life much easier.

Also, I recommend buying a book on instrumentation and orchestration. Alfred Blatter's book (link below) in particular was the one I used throughout college and even now. Good luck!

http://www.amazon.com/Instrumentation-Orchestration-Alfred-Blatter/dp/0534251870

Amazon has some pretty good stuff. This is my favorite brand of staff paper, I like the 12 x 16 size but there is also a smaller size.

Composers also tend to collect musical scores. There is a publisher called Dover that sells anthologies of scores for cheap, I own about a dozen myself. I really like the Beethoven Sonatas and the Ravel Masterpieces. Something like that might be cool.