# Fantasia on a Romance Theme



## sherief83 (Mar 15, 2010)

Hello friends,
Wanted to share with you my latest thoughts. What a struggle this one was! not so much because of the music but because my mood as of late is quite the opposite of this piece.

So there it is.



I hope it will at least please everyone.


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## JohnG (Mar 16, 2010)

you need real instruments

To write something this pleasant and serene and deny it real players is not fair to yourself. Suggest you consider a string quintet (at least) and if you can afford it, perhaps some brass too.

If it's a demo, it's way too long. I know that it probably isn't, but still; if you are going to spend money and you've already finished the project, one has to think about "then what?"

I find generally 30 seconds is the maximum I can get anyone to listen to a demo as such. If it's possible that you could use this again in another context, that would be a different matter.

And sorry to hear about the mood; given the pleasant and ebullient mood of the piece, if you are feeling its opposite that can be rough.

Good writing!


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## Guy Bacos (Mar 16, 2010)

This one of these pieces where you need images to go along with it, otherwise as John said, it would need a real orchestra, I think mainly because of the length, it is extremely hard to maintain a high level of sampling beyond a few min straight. If this was accompanied by a film, I know I would enjoy it to the end because the writing is excellent, and the sampling is also excellent, but could afford a bit more space.

Great piece!


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## JBacal (Mar 16, 2010)

Enjoyed listening.

Cheers,
Jay


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## Rob (Mar 16, 2010)

yeah, a bit long, but very enjoyable... I liked the finale very much, from the ritenuto on...


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## germancomponist (Mar 16, 2010)

Yeah, very fine writing!

I too enjoyed listening very much.


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## EwigWanderer (Mar 17, 2010)

Damn...I've really got a lot to learn! when listening demos here I am many times thinking that why I even bother to try write music.. :| Well maybe I'll just have to try harder.

What libraries did you use? How long did it take..if you don't mind me asking?

Thank you for sharing this one!


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## sherief83 (Mar 17, 2010)

JohnG @ Tue Mar 16 said:


> you need real instruments
> 
> To write something this pleasant and serene and deny it real players is not fair to yourself. Suggest you consider a string quintet (at least) and if you can afford it, perhaps some brass too.
> 
> ...



Sorry for the very late reply, I was under the impression that it wasn't liked here so haven't checked here until now! 

Your advice is great! but my circumstance does not allow me to have this performed due to mostly with my inexperience/don't trust my self in notating such a beast of music. however slowly I'm learning through and will eventually get it done sometime this year.

This is sort of a demo and not. its not so much a score either but perhaps just stuff I am in the process of developing to eventually and hopefully hit where I want to be musically. All the demos in my site are short, I figured one long one isn't going to harm! And if this piece of music should be successful at anything, then it should grab attention until the end....if it can do that I'd be very grateful!




Guy Bacos @ Tue Mar 16 said:


> This one of these pieces where you need images to go along with it, otherwise as John said, it would need a real orchestra, I think mainly because of the length, it is extremely hard to maintain a high level of sampling beyond a few min straight. If this was accompanied by a film, I know I would enjoy it to the end because the writing is excellent, and the sampling is also excellent, but could afford a bit more space.
> 
> Great piece!



Guy thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. This music was originally 16 mins long..so as you can see, after cutting it around, not very surprised that you say it needs some room of breathing...well I VERY much agree! and it would be If I left it in its original form. but who has 16 mins of there lives to waste on listening to my music?? not today for sure. I'm appreciative of the fact that I can push it 10 mins long and get away with it! 

Thank you again Guy! I think very highly of your work.

Oh Bruckner you truly are the only one that can get away with however long your symphony are...lol


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## sherief83 (Mar 17, 2010)

JBacal @ Tue Mar 16 said:


> Enjoyed listening.
> 
> Cheers,
> Jay





Rob @ Tue Mar 16 said:


> yeah, a bit long, but very enjoyable... I liked the finale very much, from the ritenuto on...





germancomponist @ Tue Mar 16 said:


> Yeah, very fine writing!
> 
> I too enjoyed listening very much.



Thank you so much Jay, Rob and Germancomponist! I deeply appreciate you listening and letting me know!


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## sherief83 (Mar 17, 2010)

EwigWanderer @ Wed Mar 17 said:


> Damn...I've really got a lot to learn! when listening demos here I am many times thinking that why I even bother to try write music.. :| Well maybe I'll just have to try harder.
> 
> What libraries did you use? How long did it take..if you don't mind me asking?
> 
> Thank you for sharing this one!



Hey Ewig! thanks for listening. I use VSL and eastwest. This one took me two weeks, but if you take out the "I'm doomed and why I'm wasting my time on this?" moments, quoting you, a week


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## requiem_aeternam7 (Mar 18, 2010)

such beautiful and inspired writing. One of the best pieces I've ever heard on here. Shows true melodic gift and inspiration.


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## sherief83 (Mar 19, 2010)

requiem_aeternam7 @ Thu Mar 18 said:


> such beautiful and inspired writing. One of the best pieces I've ever heard on here. Shows true melodic gift and inspiration.



Thank you sir! your comments are very encouraging!


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## adg21 (Sep 20, 2010)

It's a breath of fresh air to hear something nice and long. 2 weeks is pretty quick (is it not) for this? You have a great flair for melody and it sounds as if those themes just come to you pretty naturally(?). I really like the way you pace your music - it doesn't sound too forced or overworked


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## dfhagai (Sep 20, 2010)

Beautifull, all aspects.


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## gatacca (Sep 21, 2010)

Very nice....love it totally!

Correct me if i'm wrong, i'm also hearing a lil Joe Hisaishi here and there.... :D


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## Lunatique (Sep 25, 2010)

Very nice! This sounds like the kind of Japanese scoring I love from the 80's but rarely hear any more.


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## sherief83 (Sep 27, 2010)

I had not realized this piece is still going here..lol Now that I took a second listen to it, well I personally think There is room for improvement. But thank you so much guys for your support. 

adg21, When one is inspired, it can take even less to compose pieces like this. Lately though I find my self taking too long to compose half as much. as for my melodies, well I'm not sure I would say naturally, many composers have it easy with melodies, to me a melody is no joke. I take my time to develop what will fully express me. 

gatacca, yes the very intro is orchestrated Hisaishi style, I'm a huge fan of the Japanese master.

Thanks again guys!


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## adrianallan (Sep 28, 2010)

You write music very naturally. A pity that there's no score yet as I hope you will branch out from just writing for sample libraries towards pieces to be played live.

So where would you go next ? I notice that this like some other pieces is very free in form, suggested by the title of Fantasia. I thought that by around 7 mins there was no need for any new material and maybe you should work on developing your themes rather than organically moving from one section to the next. 

You can't teach development as such, but you can learn from the great masters like Beethoven in the development sections of his symphonies, where one simple idea is taken on a tour of multiple key signatures, instruments and other permutations.

That's a classcial ideal of course, but I also think that it helps in giving film music more coherence and internal logic.

I say all this, because you have a natural gift for melody, and I think that this could be the next stage in your development as a composer.


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## adrianallan (Sep 29, 2010)

I didn't want to sound patronising and one can never stop learning about development sections in music, I certainly never will, and there is always something new to be gained from Beethoven, his piano sonatas (for their development sections) included.

As he's already better than me, I perhaps shouldn't give advice anyway, but it was well intentioned.

I just felt that more could have been stretched out of the existing material, rather the richness of melodic material that we have here.


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## twinsinmind (Oct 1, 2010)

this is a piece that shows off why i love this Forum, musicians inspiring other musicians.

I do not agree that this piece is too long.
it is a journey for me.... i love it.
a man would forget while listening that there is a debat about real instruments of mockups.
Yes this musical journey can let me listen beyond real or samples


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