Ideas for Music Composition...

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I've been composing over quite some period of time a piece for Guitar Violin and Flute, but I recently composed something else for 4 cello's and would like to hear how it would sound on 4 different instruments but am not sure what to use for the fourth instrument. It needs to be an instrument that exists in Sibelius 4 or is similar to one that exists in it. I've been thinking something like either a piano or harpsichord or perhaps a viola... or possibly timpani? Brass is out of the window, as is untuned percussion. Drum Kit wouldn't be out of the question but would be as well as something else- a drum and bass style idea could sound interesting on said instruments?

The piece (the guitar/violin/flute one) is a very minimalist piece yet not at the same time. It varies in tempo a lot and has a few key themes as well as incorporating riffs from other songs/pieces (For example, it has the intro to Beethovens 5th at one point).

If anyone wants to see these, I will export them as PDF Files and Midi File too, so you can see and hear both pieces.

I love the cello! I also like Erik Satie's Gymnopedie and Enya. Excellent idea of yours.

I love the sound of the Cello too, however I've not heard either pieces/composers/artists you mention, though have heard of Enya I think. I composed the piece with Apocalyptica in mind, the bits I'm wanting to transpose are a fugal idea and an off beat melody over a pulsing beat and pedal notes.

Counterpoint, and lots of it.

If you're going the Enya route, try Dead Can Dance as well. Both very heavy on the synth string orchestrations but DCD has an extra eastern/tribal percussion component.

why has nobody composed "upside-down" music- i.e., music which has the normal bass tones represented as treble notes and vice-versa? just wondering...

Not sure if this is what you really mean, but if you are talking about "switching" the roles of bass instruments and higher frequency instruments, for most musical compositions there is a very good reason this never works well:

The sonic properties of bass instruments are quite different from treble instruments. Treble chords of five, six or even more notes, work fairly well. Transpose those same chords to a bass instrument though, and almost all will sound like chaotic earth quakes rather than chords.

It's not just a matter of it doesn't sound good. It's a matter of, depending on how "crazy" one gets with low frequency arrangements, feeling horrible. Dissonance at very low frequencies can actually make people sick if it's loud enough!

A chord that sounds fantastic on a piano, or a guitar, or played by several other instruments, can actually create dissonance at very low frequencies (even a basic major chord). Dissonant chords at mid to high frequencies would sound even worse at low end. Quite often, one can't get away with more than two notes at once on a double bass, and sometimes even that just doesn't work.

I could get into why this happens, but it's pretty complicated, involving wave forms and more, but I don't want to "hijack" Blaq_Halo's thread.

From my perspective, this is a pretty tough question to answer without actually hearing what you've got so far.

Have you considered posting it on a collaboration site like Kopoze, or Indaba, or someplace similar?

I hadn't thought of that, I'll do that on Monday with the more recent version and the version I have on my computer at home now.

I would be interested in seeing/hearing it. I have sib5 so I should be able to pull from your file or midi, and I can send you an email address privately.

While you say brass is out, my thoughts were for: cello, muted french horn, vibraphone and bass clarinet. You will get some novel overtones there, which can be an exciting find in more minimal pieces.


M.

Mrxxx, I've signed up for Indaba; but it won't accept midi files.

makuranososhi, I've emailed you the file.

No they don't. Don't think any of the collaboration sites do, but I could be wrong. You've got to bounce them to audio.