"Dusk" - a jazz octet reduction of an original orchestra score
I have completed my first semi-major project using MuseScore 1.0 and have attached it here. I learned a ton about using the program along the way. But the most important lesson was this: despite a few limitations and occasional glitches in MuseScore, I can't see myself needing to go back to Finale. This score touches on pretty much all of the sort of notational problems I encounter in my world, and MuseScure was up to the challenge - bravo, developers!
I used a few fonts many of you probably don't have, so no guarantees on how the score will look. Playback uses General MIDI instruments only and should be OK, although in the places where rhythm section parts use slash notation rather than being completely notated, there won't be anything to hear. It's still essentially an orchestral piece, though, so this doesn't happen much. The piece will be performed in a week and half.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| dusk.mscz | 44.51 KB |
Comments
Really enjoyed listening. Thanks for sharing, and best of luck with your upcoming performance of it.
Very nice. Thanks for sharing. What is your situation that you lucky enough to be able to perform your works?
In reply to Dusk by jyoungms
Well, making (and teaching) music is what I do for a living. I lead my own groups, including a jazz octet, and when I want to perform my own ensemble works, I generally hire musicians and put on a concert. However, in this case the opportunity fell into my lap. I know the leaders of two local groups - one a "modern classical" group, the other a "modern jazz" group - who had decided to put on a joint concert. They needed some music written for the occasion, so they approached me and a few other composers they knew. The piece I started with is one I had written for orchestra while working on my master's degree in composition several years ago, and I had always thought about arranging it for my own octet. The group I arranged it for here has slightly different instrumentation, but I figure this gave me the opportunity to solve all the important problems involved in doing the reduction. Once I hear how it works in this setting (rehearsal tomorrow, concert Tuesday), I plan to re-orchestrate it for my own octet.
In reply to Well, making (and teaching) by Marc Sabatella
"I figure this gave me the opportunity to solve all the important problems involved in doing the reduction."
What was the most difficult problem you had to solve? And how'd you do it?
In reply to problem child solving by genesis_piano
The basic problem, of course, was reducing a full orchestra texture to only eight parts. But realistically, for most of the score there were only a handful of distinct parts at a given time, and since vibraphone and piano can each play multiple notes at once (and to a lesser extent, so can violin and bass), the actual *number* of musicians was seldom a problem. Instead, the problem was with the specific ranges of the instruments I was writing for and their relative volume levels at different points in their ranges. Related to this was the the desire to not have to have everyone playing all the time that would be tiring for the players, and also a bit monochromatic. Also, I couldn't always control balance by adding more musicians on specific lines as I could in an orchestra, since I had such a limited number of musicians to work with. Finally, the fact that with limited preparation time and just one rehearsal, I couldn't really write for the vocalist as freely as I could the instrumentalists.
So the most difficult problem was in finding combinations of instruments that worked to simulate different textures in the original. I relied on my experience with the various instruments to give me an idea of what might work, but I really won't know until the rehearsal how close I came. I'll be more comfortable rewriting for my own octet. The problem I do think I have now solved for good in this piece is identifying what the various lines that need to be covered are, and most of the sorting out of which lines will be covered by front line instruments versus rhythm section instruments.
In reply to The basic problem, of course, by Marc Sabatella
thank you for your answer. not being anywhere close to as experienced as you are with instrumentation, i found a peek into your creative process helpful.
thanks again.
matthias hoefler