MaestroUGC's Compositions *In Progress - Symphony No. 2 in D minor - Mvt. I-IV*

[MaestroUGC]

Video games need music sometimes that isn't so dynamic and more of a space filler. Like Pause music, or Battle Results, or something.

Calm Music 1 - D2
The original draft was literally just the piano part solo, I added a solo flute and strings to give it some harmonic support. The piece just moves between C and D7, with the strings and flute acting as a stripped away rhythm section. The piano is the star here, which is a shame because it's only like 40 seconds long.

[Jub3r7]

Someone once pointed out to me how little music I write for the piano, with most of my output in the area being my arrangements (which hardly count as original compositions). So in an endeavor to write more music suitable for private, singular performances and performers, I set out to write some pieces for the piano. One of my first ideas was to write a collection of short pieces in all 24 major and minor keys, because every good composer needs to have a set of music like that (I'm looking at you Bach and Chopin).

This was about three years ago. I write the first 4 (Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 11 in this set) within a few weeks of each other, but then just forgot about the project altogether shortly thereafter. As time went by I'd remember this little project and try to work on it, but it would just end up being a review of what I had already written. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I stumbled upon a theme that worked well for this project and now I've finished the first set of 12.

This first set of 12 pieces is in all of the Major Keys, following the circle of fifths. I plan to return to this and write the other 12 minor keys, but going in the opposite direction, and combine the two into a single collection. This first set is around 31 minutes in length.

From the start I wanted these to be character pieces with the idea of a traveler wandering around, experiencing and meeting all kinds of people, seeing all kinds of places and events. So naturally it begins with our traveler setting out on his adventure, ready to see the world.

12 Short Pieces for Piano - "The Traveler Suite"
ZIP

Program of the pieces

No. 1 in D - "The Traveler"
It starts with our Traveler, a young man, setting out into the vast world eager to see all it has to offer.

No. 2 in A - "The Gypsy"
One of the first persons he encounters is a wandering Gypsy, who stops him suddenly along his path. Warned of the Gypsy people he is cautious but soon joins her and her clan in a dance. As the night wears on, he grows intoxicated by her presence and without warning they all vanish without a trace.

No. 3 in E - "The Soldier"
Nearing a city he happens upon a Soldier on Patrol, who regales him of some of his adventures while in the line of duty.

No. 4 in B - "The Widow's Dance"
Wandering around, he sees and old woman in the middle of a plaza who's watching a young couple dance to the band that's playing. He doesn't speak to her, but her eyes tell him of the love she once knew, the man she once held in her arms, and the nights they danced long ago.

No. 5 in G-flat - "The Worker's Song"
On the outskirts of the city the Traveler comes across some men cutting trees in the forest. All the while they're singing a song, keeping time with the pulse of their axes and saws. Night draws near and the men end their work day and head for home.

No. 6 in D-flat - "Festival of the Forest Spirits"
Further along his journey, the Traveler comes across a small folk festival celebrating the Forest Spirits. He joins the fun and learns about the annual forest lights, once attributed to benign Wood Faeries, and witnesses the spectacular light show in the distance.

No. 7 in A-flat - "The Rebel"
In another village, the Travel sees a young boy running through the streets, apparently care-free and having harmless fun. The boy is a bit of a prankster and causes some mischief for the townsfolk who are none the wiser to his antics.

No. 8 in E-flat - "Night in the Forest"
Lost in a dense forest, the Traveler settles down for the night. He hears all sorts of creatures and noises, and the song of a woman far in the distant. Trying to find it, he wanders in the dark, but it only seems to get further away until he stops at the edge of the woods, in total silence.

No. 9 in B-flat - "The Monastery Bells"
Off in the distant mountains, the Traveler can hear the bells of a great Monastery ringing. He pauses, listening closely, and can faintly hear to chants of the monks through the mist.

No. 10 in F - "The Children's Game"
One day the Traveler comes across a stream and decides to rest a bit. Some children run past him, playing a game, and they ask him to join them. He jumps in and spends the day laughing and playing their games.

No. 11 in C - "The Farmers at Their Fields"
Wandering through the country side, the Traveler comes across a small group of farms. Hungry from his journeys, he offers to help in exchange for some food for his travels. He spends the day working the fields, listening to their stories and songs, and leaves the farm lands humming their little tune.

No. 12 in G - "The Voyage Home"
Having travelled far, our Travel begins his voyage home. Has he rides back his mind reminisces on the people he met, the things he'd seen, and stories he heard. As he nears home, he glances back on the road he just travelled, and thinks of the next time he'll journey again.

[close]

I finally got through these, I really enjoyed them. Thanks for investing your effort into all of your compositions!

[Sebastian]

Great job with that song, Maestro!
So...where is my cello solo?

[MaestroUGC]

What cello solo? I don't work unless I'm paid.

[Jub3r7]

how much do you charge for a 1 page of whatever instruments you feel like with a given theme

[MaestroUGC]

It's all relative. It depends what I'm writing for, the context. What kind of forces are needed, live instruments or will digital do? Depending on the medium, I can charge either for length vs. size of the ensemble, I could ask for a percentage of the budget/proceeds from a larger production, I could charge based on hours spent writing (this only works best for smaller things), or I could just pull a number out of my head.

Generally I would prefer either to charge for the length of music I need to write, and/or a percentage of the budget/proceeds. The latter if I happen to be involved with a huge project (film, video game, etc.) Overall it's an art of negotiation; how much I think I'm worth vs. how much others think I'm worth.

[MaestroUGC]

Today turned out to be surprisingly productive in that I hammered out some more VG music for that great unmade game.

Death Theme 1 - Draft 1
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/maestroz-1/death-theme-1-d1[/soundcloud]
Every good game needs a track that signifies death of some sort, either the death of a character in-game or game over of the player.

Death Theme 1 - D2
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/maestroz-1/death-theme-1-d2[/soundcloud]
As such this is a pretty morose piece for strings alone, no real flair to it except that the melody is with the basses.

Level Theme 16 - Draft 1
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/maestroz-1/level-theme-16-d1[/soundcloud]
This is written for a sort of cave-style area. Very low and hollow, the entire piece is built on open 6ths in the melody and harmony with the bass chugging along on single pitch in an octave drone. Written as kind of a companion piece to my earlier Level Theme 15.

Level Theme 16 - D2
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/maestroz-1/level-theme-16-d2[/soundcloud]
The orchestration is much like the earlier piece, strings alone with only a tambourine to add some texture. The strings come into their own as the melody /harmony is on the violas and cellos, with both violin sections sustaining a drone above them for half the piece.

Like what you hear? Check out the other pieces I wrote, in what is steadily expanding into a make shift portfolio.

[Xaoz]

I just listened to some of your drafts. Although I did not make it through all of them, I will tell you my thoughts until now:

Spoiler

Good job.

[close]

[Maelstrom]

You could use some better soundfonts and programs and such. Don't get me wrong, it's great. It could just be that much better.

[MaestroUGC]

Sure, but this is all very academic at this point. First is the writing, then I can worry about how it sounds. And even then it's all irrelevant if/when I can muster the finances for proper recording.

[Maelstrom]

^Point taken. I always forget how much work and money it takes.

[MaestroUGC]

I've debated about posting this at all; I'm not a fan of posting concert works in incomplete states unless the work has basically been abandoned/forgotten for a few years. However this one means so much more to me and it might actually the first truly emotional piece of music I've ever produced. As such I can't simply sit on this for likely a year while I continue writing the rest of the work; I think it has enough weight and depth to stand on its own merits outside of the fuller Symphony.

I started this new Symphony back in November, 2014; though I came up with the principal idea behind it a few years earlier, just after completing my F minor Symphony. As it is planned, it's scored for a large romantic orchestra, though the first movement is the most reserved in terms of orchestration and grandeur. Overall it has a standard orchestral compliment:

Spoiler

3 Flutes (3rd doubling Piccolo)
3 Oboes (3rd doubling English Horn, 2nd tacet in first movement)
3 Clarinets (3rd Doubling Bass Clarinet, 2nd tacet in first movement)
2 Bassoons
Contrabassoon
6 Horns (5th and 6th tacet in fourth movement)
5 Trumpets (5th doubling Flugelhorn, 5th tacet in first, second, and fourth movements)
2 Tenor Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba (doubles as Bass Trombone in first movement)
Timpani
Bass Drum (2nd and 5th movements only)
Snare Drum (tacet 1st and 4th movements)
Cymbals (tacet 1st movement)
Gongs (Various sizes) (4th and 5th movements only)
Triangle and assorted toys
Glockenspiel (3rd and 5th Movements only)
Harp (1st and 5th Movements)
Piano (4th movement only, doubles on Celeste)
Celeste (4th movement only)
Chorus (5th movement only)
Strings

[close]

The content of this simple is actually very simple. It's modeled after the Five Stages of Grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I had the idea for such a work and had planned it to be my third symphony with the idea that this would be written as a pair of symphonies, with the one proceeding basically presenting a subject who would live and then die in the second symphony. (Akin to Mahler's 1st and 2nd Symphonies.) However after some time had passed, and after of a period of dealing with my own grief, I felt I had to begin working on this in earnest and let it stand less as a programmatic duo, and instead live as a single emotional work.
[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/maestroz-1/i-denial-funeral-march-adagio[/soundcloud]

This first movement is centered on Denial, and fittingly it is a funeral march. The central plot of the work is that the unnamed subject of this symphony has learned of his impending death, and follows is own grief as he comes to terms. The orchestrations is handled largely in sections, with each significant part of the movement bearing different instrumentation. It opens with a soft timpani roll and a pair of trumpets heralds in the news.
The strings then present the first theme, a dual-natured theme of grief and regret: the wake of grief.
The second section prominently features the harp as it navigates a new dream-like phase: blissful denial.
This is rather harshly interrupted by a brash anthem featuring the trumpets, trombones and timpani; crashing our subject back to reality: the anthem of reality
The movement develops cyclically, with each iteration of the three sections growing more elaborate and contrary to each other. Above all is the single unifying motif, in which our subject denies his present fate: "I am not dy-ing." over pulsing, cadencing chords. In the end, our subject's reality wins out, and he is forced to cope with his fate...

Overall I feel that this is the first thing I've written that is bigger than me, and could mean something more to others who have known loss. It feels more like a painting of vague feelings and notions rather than a carefully crafted work. This is certainly to be the most restrained movement of the work, with the following four movements each exploring the remaining stages of grief.

[MaestroUGC]

Was messing around and accidentally made this:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/maestroz-1/night-in-the-arcade[/soundcloud]

Some bits don't quite work, but I felt it was worth the upload. Makes it feel more...authentic? I almost want to try and make a true chip tune/orchestral hybrid take in this.

Maybe later.

[MaestroUGC]

This is just too much fun:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/maestroz-1/swing-200-chiptune[/soundcloud]

[Jompa]

If that had been an old-school video game's ending theme it would be one of the greatest video game ending themes ever.