Do any of you guys write classical or orchestral music?

[Chainsaw Calligraphy]

I realise this isn't Ultimate Classical Forum, but I've noticed a lot of metal heads seem to have a love of classical music too and this forum has always been a good source of reliable advice. Personally I'm pretty new to writing classical music and was hoping to pick the brain of someone more experienced.

 

[RemoWilliams]

Writing it is the fun part. The mock up is the grueling part.

 

[lanky noob]

i'm in the same boat.... I wish I could write something as mind blowingly epic as the Lord of the rings trilogy soundtrack

 

[Toxic Grind Machine]

I do every now and then:

https://soundcloud.com/#robert-slump

Got to weed em out since i have metal on that list as well.. but yeah

 

[RemoWilliams]

I realise this isn't Ultimate Classical Forum, but I've noticed a lot of metal heads seem to have a love of classical music too and this forum has always been a good source of reliable advice. Personally I'm pretty new to writing classical music and was hoping to pick the brain of someone more experienced.

What aspects about it were you curious about?

 

[Decimator]

I do sometimes. Not exactly classical tho, somekind of orchestral. I love the variety of sounds and intruments that can be used. Also the challenge of getting everything to sound somewhat good is hmm... tempting

Few full songs...
http://80.69.162.41/m/2df/220056914787/Torspo__The_Truth.mp3

http://80.69.162.41/m/600/220025960331/Torspo__Mirage.mp3

I usually start with acoustic guitar, but end up doing the rest with keyboards. So far I have kept everything quite simple, mixing more simple elements together. I like to experiment with overlapping melodies, but rarely get to use them because too many times they sound cluttered as fuck

 

[Nuno Filipe]

I like orchestral sounds a lot, I also have tried to do some things, but I am not very skillful.

Here it is some kind of an ending that I did for one song:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1457645/nexus.mp3

It´s not even mixed.

 

[ArnaudM]

I do and it's a pain in the ass ! Mainly for exercising, but for the Deathcode Society album, I have written one minute and a half of a classical/romantic choir including 5 voices (4 voices of harmony and a bass pedal). Everyday I change something of it.

 

[Trevoire520]

I love adding orchestral elements to songs, not really had a go at writing a totally orchestral song yet though.

 

[Chainsaw Calligraphy]

What aspects about it were you curious about?

Well I have a solid grasp on classical harmony and orchestration but I struggle to take the chord patterns and turn the individual voices into interesting parts. When I listen to romantic era composers the textures are so elaborate with interesting parts for all of the voices in the harmony, but I struggle to make the inner voices complement the melody and bass line in an interesting and engaging way.

 

[RemoWilliams]

Well I have a solid grasp on classical harmony and orchestration but I struggle to take the chord patterns and turn the individual voices into interesting parts. When I listen to romantic era composers the textures are so elaborate with interesting parts for all of the voices in the harmony, but I struggle to make the inner voices complement the melody and bass line in an interesting and engaging way.

One thing I did was to find piano reductions that the composers wrote for orchestral pieces. Since you mentioned romantic ear composers, there are a lot of them who did such reduction. Once you have that, then put the orchestral score against it. You'll start to see that a lot of the chords and progressions are just well voiced chords for fluid movement. Also, their orchestration was pretty tight, too.

IMSLP has a great archive of romantic composers with both piano reductions and full score, so you might want to check that out.

*If you've already done the piano/score study deal, then ignore that and go back thru your orchestration studies. A lot of amazing music is comprised of fairly basic chord structures and progression, its just that their use of orchestration and the sound/textures they used make even a basic major triad sound lush.

 

[AD Chaos]

Back in uni I wrote namely late baroque pieces; many chorales, couple of two and three-part inventions and four-part fugues, some classical duets and trios, other smaller stuff.

Not sure if you're asking about film scoring or classical music, but as of 'Common Practice' (Baroque to Impressionism), it's actually quite complex to learn to write in proper counterpoint (4 semesters of absolute hell just for the basic stuff).
I would have loved to write (as in having knowledgeable tutors analyzing and correcting your stuff) much longer classical pieces, medieval and romantic ones, or some Debussy, but none of that writing was part of the academic program.

Anyway, here's a 2-part invention I wrote (with a beeper I just threw in for flavor):

https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/AD%20-%20Invention%20in%20Am%20%282002%29.mp3?w=AABtqOWroncRfb5I1EzdNs1hwW0jxwBRIm5sgAwRrwlung


Not the best subject (among many other things), but I used to leave everything for the night before.. as I ever do

 

[MetalMiller]

I do some trailer stuff every now and then... And yes, it´s a pain in the ass doing the mockup!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJs2ZFJIiL8

 

[colton]

I write solo classical guitar music now. New pieces being performed and recorded next month on campus, woot!

 

[lanky noob]

If I could ask anyone anything about it.... it'd be something along the lines of "where the fuck do I start?"

Obviously I get the whole "start with a melody idea" thing, but where do I go from there, making the instruments wrap around each other and doing interesting things on their own, unlike what i'm used to writing which is just riff, bass that goes near enough the same, drumbeat, vocals, done.