Recently I started a competition with a couple friends to compose a new piece every week or two with specific guidelines. Now, in lieu of not accomplishing this task to my satisfaction, I composed several pieces, of which have been uploaded to the "Works in Progress" section of my Compositions page. Do check them out. Right now there are three pieces up, all are scored (for the time being) for brass quintet and string quintet, just because the Sibelius sounds are more tolerable with this setup. I also uploaded some samples of stuff written for small ensembles (mostly woodwind quintet).
Any high schools or colleges anyone thinks would be interested in performing any of my pieces for the low cost of FREE? (Though, I would like at least a recording out of the deal.) Drop me a line at michaelandrewnewell@gmail.com.
As of late, I have been locking into a consistent composition style, both in initial development and the finished product. So that's good. Also, it's kind of odd, but my pitch recognition and dictation (both melodic and harmonic) have increased quite a bit. And for whatever reason, only now I am realizing this. I think it had a lot to do with all the choral singing I did with my previous ensemble. I miss those days. Love me some Bach Chorales.
While I am a firm believer that "there are no original ideas," I think it is possible for someone who is not great at composition to throw many random combinations of notes and rhythms together to form something that resembles music. I say this because when I started composing in...8th grade(? if that's what you would like to call it), I didn't know jack about chords/theory/composition, but all the same it interested me. I also never get rid of any of my work, even from then. I've taken snippets of information from things I composed many, many years ago and repurposed it to some of my contemporary jazz and symphonic works successfully. I bet you'd never guess what ideas I used. Either way, more compositions to come. Enjoy!
Out.