OK, gentlemen: Pants down! ...

[musicpete]

Hi there!

Now that the deadline for the GPO-contest is over, everything is done and all decisions are left to the judges: Anyone want to show off, with which pieces they intend to entice the ears of the mighty and godlike panel of judges? ;)

Maybe we could even make a vote after enough people dared to publish their work and find out who the forum thinks made the best piece?

Admins! If this thread is wrong in this forum, then please move it! My only concern was that not as many people read the Demos-Forum...

------------------------------------------

Personally I submitted 2 pieces. Because 1 of them was 10:30 long, I had to split it up a bit through really bad audio editing. :( On the other hand, the outcome was not THAT bad....

* Piece 1 already was submited to this forum, but I remixed it from scratch (although this was BEFORE the GPO Updade).
"Join the Sith!" (1:00, 1MB) (http://abovethestaff.net/files/sith/Join_the_Sith.mp3) Score (for reading along and even purchasing) (http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=17162)

* Piece 2 also was composed back in 2002, but I think it is really the best I ever wrote. Intended as an exercise in composing and orchestrating, trying out some harmonic progressions (you'll notice the whole piece is moving up a 4th in every section and it also is built upon 4ths), I thought it would be very fitting. After more than 7 months of work it was nearly ready, then the GPO Update hit the street. So I decided to go back to field 1... Amidst mutliple exams and other important tasks I did some insane shifts and managed to finish a fairly decent mix in the end. Actually I am a bit proud of myself, because in this project I really started to have the feeling that I can contol the sound in the mix.

Gary, if you read this: Thank you for GPO! Thank you so much for this amazing update (Big thanks to the people behing the curtain, too!!)! Thank you for making such a brilliant product! Thank you for making it 200% better through this incredible upgrade! My hope is that this piece will be useful at showing off what you can get out of GPO.

Just listen to the accents on some instruments (and those WONDERFUL string staccatos at 7:19-7:25!) and the wonderful control one has about the sound of the solo strings (e.g. at about 4:00-4:30).

Without forther ado I present my other submission: A classic Overture for the Sith Cycle, including the following sections: The heroic good-guys theme, The inevitable love Theme, March of the Sith, Heroic good-guys theme reprise and finale.
"Overture" (from the Sith Cycle) (10:30, 10MB) (http://abovethestaff.net/files/sith/Overture.mp3) Score (for reading along, more information on the music and even purchasing *hinthint* :D ) (http://sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid=32085)
(My webserver is known for acting up and breaking off downloads. If ths is the case, then please tell me and I provide a mirror)



I would love to listen to YOUR submissions! Don't be shy! Show us!

Greetings!

Peter

[falcon1]

Bravo Pete - Very nice! Only thing that was started to bug me was the overuse of bass-drum, but this was quite a tour up and down. :D

[Styxx]

A, can I pull mine back up now? :o

Wow, nice piece of work here. Good luck! ;)

[Joseph Burrell]

Here's mine...

Click Here

:p

[Styxx]

Here's mine...

Click Here

:p

Hey JB... dahhhhhhhhh, I can't get it.... aha aha aha aha....:D

[tabtech]

Here's one of my entries. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.pictormusic.com/mp3/Cumulonimbus11-05.mp3

Thomas

[Joseph Burrell]

I can already say, thank God I'm not a judge. :)

Excellent work guys. I can't wait to hear it better when I get home.

[provette82]

I'll demand a RE-COUNT.........

ROFL

Paul O

[Jesse Hopkins]

I got mine in at the last minute. It was like mission impossible. With Thanksgiving plans, I thought it was impossible, but my wife convinced me to stay awake for 48 hours and get it in.

So who knows how many people entered?

Good job you guys!

[Jerry W.]

Hey guys

Here is my submission:

http://home.comcast.net/~jerrysmusic1/scenes_from_island_lake_music.html

It is a mini-orchestral suite with 4 movements.

For the longest time I didn't know what to write for this contest, but I went up to my in-laws' cabin on a lake in Northern Wisconsin (where I go to relax and get nature's therapy) and it dawned on me to write about what I feel like when I am up there. The concept has been strong ever since, but the music took a while to come and then I had to spend time working things out in my head - I think that I was waiting to see what the GPO updates would bring, and I am glad I did.

The 7:35 long piece is divided into 4 "scenes". Each musically describes what their title's suggest. (You'll see when you open the page.)

I broke up the mp3 into the 4 separate scene pieces to facilitate shorter download times. I have included the score in pdf format for your convenience.

I wrote the last scene in October, but then struggled to write the other three until last week. From thursday night a week and a half ago to thursday morning of last week night I slept maybe 4 hours at a time. I was really into it, but just as I was getting the score edited, I ran out of time - I finished it just in time, but really feel like it was a sloppy job. I can only hope that the judges can see the music through all my mistakes.

As you listen, I am sure your minds will be more eased. I won't win, but I would have been kicking myself for the next 12 months if I had not entered.

Enjoy - and yes, I would like feedback even though it is really too late to make it better for the contest. But I am always open to helpful hints and tips. My biggest criticism is that trying to squeeze 4 movements into less than 8 minutes gave little development time in the music. I should have kept it at 3 scenes. But oh well. :) Plus there is a note I deleted in the very last measure of the last page - in the audio version - I had the violins go up. I forgot to delete that note out of the score. See what I mean about sloppiness? :(

I wrote it all out in Finale first, exported it as a midi file into Cubase SX, then used it as my playback - recorded on my old trusty G3. (capture to disk at the same time as playing always cuases hiccups in my limited hardware). Compiled and edited a last time in ProTools (free version for OS9.x)

Thanks for listening.

Jerry :)

[DPDAN]

real nice Jerry, good luck!

[thesoundsmith]

I'll demand a RE-COUNT.........

Ok - 1 - 2 - 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 2 2 3 4, 3 2 3 4... :D

Everything I've heard so far is very impressive - Joseph, you might want to mix yours a little hotter. ;) I'm also glad I'm not one of the judges, though it would be very cool to hear the whole stack of entries-there's got to be some great music that will not fit the criteria but still have a different brilliance, the great composer who doesn't engineer well, or the great editor who writes adequately but his/her orchestra sounds mahvelous! ...

Good luck, everyone - it would be quite nice if the winner happened to be a member - a little shot of promotion for this great forum.

[Hardy Heern]

Mercy me, you guys sure know what you're doing! My favourite so far is.....Naah I couldn't possibly say.....:)

Frank

[dcoscina]

Jerry, excellent job. This is truly a great show piece for GPO and a great piece of music. I really like your wind writing in particular.

Congrats!

[ixm]

I am looking forward to hearing these.

[Jerry W.]

Here's one of my entries. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.pictormusic.com/mp3/Cumulonimbus11-05.mp3

Thomas
Hey Thomas,

This is nice! I love the modulations and the sequencing of the phrases. nicely orchestrated. Well done. (now I am sure I won't win! :)

Good luck!!

Jerry :)

[Jerry W.]

Jerry, excellent job. This is truly a great show piece for GPO and a great piece of music. I really like your wind writing in particular.

Congrats!
Thanks dcocsina!
I am glad you liked it. I think having the GPO is really such a dream come true for us. With a little work and finesse, you reap the auditory rewards few composers before our time were able to receive.

I don't think I have a snowball's chance of winning - given the talent on display on a daily basis here - but I am glad I can be a part of this and contribute. We are all progressing, and helpful hints a tips and encouragement go a LONG way in helping out with that progress.
Thanks and good luck to you if you entered too! :) In any case, hope to hear some of your music too. Or have you posted some already? I'll look. ha ha.

Jerry :)

[tabtech]

Hey Thomas,

This is nice! I love the modulations and the sequencing of the phrases. nicely orchestrated. Well done. (now I am sure I won't win! :)

Good luck!!

Jerry :)

Jerry. I appreciate the comments greatly. This is one of three pieces I wrote for what's called the Cloud Suite. One of which was too long to enter into the contest. It's amazing how long some of this stuff takes to complete. As soon as I heard about the contest way back in... January was it?, I knew that all my spare time would be dedicated to this. Ten months of work came down to just seventeen minutes of music. I figured I could win just from volume of effort. Don't count yourself out yet, though. Many a race has been won by the unterhund.

[Styxx]

Ah yes, very nice... :)

[Jerry W.]

Ah yes, very nice... :)

Which piece(s) were you referring to, Styxx? If I know you - and I really don't :) I think you are probably saying that for all of them in this thread? Just curious.

Thanks - looking forward to your bass drum concerto!! That will be such a BANG ( sorry) i should leave the humor up to you!

Jerry :D

[Styxx]

Which piece(s) were you referring to, Styxx? If I know you - and I really don't :) I think you are probably saying that for all of them in this thread? Just curious.

Thanks - looking forward to your bass drum concerto!! That will be such a BANG ( sorry) i should leave the humor up to you!

Jerry :D

Your humor is very welcome! I can use it too ya know.
I was referring to all of them. A very fitting tittle to an awesome piece of work. Love the picture and how you have the link set up. Sets the mood quite nicely.

[Jesse Hopkins]

The engineering in my submission was embarassing! Hissy, muffled and crackley, with slightly unsynced sections (from recording seperately at 11:50PM on due date). Not only that, but in the rush to completion, I somehow accidentally transposed my basses up an octave at the last second! I'll clean it up and present it for y'all t'hear. I actually used a piece I had written for the Proteus II, and it was challenging to get the levels and expression right. Its better, I think, to start a new piece from scratch in GPO next time.

Excuses excuses, I know, but I'm really glad I at least got something in, or I would have kicked meself senseless! I got a chance to listen to Ken-P by searching some old threads and I'm so jealous. He's really got a great feel in his orchestral stuff that reminds me of Joe Hisaishi, and he got it all played for real! Plus he's so young and he seems to be on a direct path to total success. Meanwhile, I type from my grey cubicle, toiling for the state of Massachusetts day after day... He totally deserves it and I'm a fan already. Go ken! But beware, ken, you have inspired me to surpass you! Mooohoohoohaahahahhahahhahh!!!!