The War for Fire

[Tyler]

This is a piece I had written this previous spring semester. I have recently sent this off to a international competition in which I have no idea how it will be responded to. This is due to the fact that very few people have heard this piece. That is why I would love feed back on this piece. I would love to hear some of your impressions of the piece and if there are any notation errors or suggestions.

Program Notes:
The War for Fire
The War for Fire is an angry piece of music the evokes the feelings of wrath in a primitive war. The piece is about man’s discovery of fire’s potential and the wars that follow over man’s desire to control fire’s destructive force. The pounding on the piano and the bongo drums are the drums of war while the trombone is man’s battle cry. The War for Fire is truly a war translated in music.


(keep in mind this is a somewhat virtuosic piece)

[Gijs van Beusekom]

This was very enjoyable. So the blockchords are to be improvised? If this is the case that will make a succelfull performance quite uncertain. I really enjoyed the trombone melody and the way it interacted with the piano.

I lost a moment of interest with those lonely hold trombone notes, near the minute mark. Maybe you can make a subtle piano melody there. Maybe if it would repeat the trombone line. It wouldn't interfer with the development.

The ending was great. In all I enjoyed it. Good luck with the competition!

[Tyler]

Thank you for you comments.
I do see what you mean by some of the lost interest in the slow sections where the trombone is just holding a note and I will take that into consideration.

[Diazo Soul Print]

Damn Man, this completely blew me away, the composition is very well done. I would love love love to hear this done by a real orchestra or at least something better than general midi. The imagery created in my head from this piece is definitely that of a war.

Really the only critique I have for the piece is around the middle mark, you start to run arpeggios and to me they sound off a bit. I'm not speaking in melodic terms, but I think on the compositional level, like I expect them to not run on as long as they do. I will listen to it a couple more times this evening and let you know for sure.

When the piano starts crashing in towards the end, damn man that moment is awesome. The chords are wonderful.

Really well done, I'm very impressed.

[Mike]

a fun composition. I wonder if a bigger drum would sound more war like? the bongos make me think of little ants marching to war due to the small size/sound of them.

the only thing that detracts from the song is the sounds being used. I think if it were recorded with real instruments it would be an A+ in my book.

[Tyler]

Thank you both Diazo and Mike for you comments. I will take you critiques into consideration for this piece and future pieces.

[Ola Ness]

I'm just going to make a quick comment about the way you used the trombone here. You are probably aware that using a plunger mute denies the trombonist access to the valve, plus the instrument is held in a quite awkward way. Therefore, one or two of the passages will be quite tricky for the player - moving from an A# to B with the plunger is not a pleasant one, and holding the instrument in seventh position whilst moving the plunger between open and closed can very easily lead to distorted sound from the player due to the rather distorted playing position this involves. Would be interesting to hear this played by real musicians though.

[John McIntyre]

This is interesting music. I like the angular intervals in the trombone. The second second was a nice foil to the 7/8 opening. I think more could be done in the way of performance practice. Open/close on the bongos, muting on the trombone and a more varied piano part. Articulate! This piece is dying for marcati,, secco, sffz and so on. Good work.

[Paul Cecchetti]

Wow...loved it.... good choice of instruments...perhaps you could replace the bongos with a more war like drum-for example a dum dum or something... that also has two drums in one- a high voice and a low voice...but they are lower and more threatening than bongos.
loved the sudden changes in rhythm,,, pretty startling really.. gets across the feel of battle.
i would advise you to go a bit easier on the block chords in the piano perhaps... while they are used to great efffect,,, they do lose some of the effect through overuse...the listener sort of becomes accustomed to them after a while.
atonality=good choice for this piece.
keep up the good work! :)