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Christopher Siu - Once Upon A Romance (Official Audio)

I'd recommend getting a masters in music education, it wouldn't be wasted on you because of your talent and intuition. it would give you a firm footing on how to present this stuff. I'm always envious of good educators, it's not easy.
 
I'd recommend getting a masters in music education, it wouldn't be wasted on you because of your talent and intuition. it would give you a firm footing on how to present this stuff. I'm always envious of good educators, it's not easy.
Thank you! I’d love to know what you think I can do to improve my presentation. :)
 
Well, maybe you already have a masters, didn't mean to criticize unjustly. Different schools teach different things. What I noticed about your presentations are that they're more stream of consciousness rather than organized in a way that ticks the boxes of a large number of watchers and listeners. I think you'd benefit from learning about abstraction and the philosophy of teaching. Learning about different learning styles. Learning about human psychology. Did you know you can actually give a lecture that can tick the boxes of all four jungian pesonality types? Psychology is something that's near and dear to me :D:D Didn't mean to criticize your style, but you have so much talent I think you could have a broader audience. I don't know whether you watch Adam Neely, and I don't know whether he knows all of these things, but he does them, consciously or not. There's no hidden meaning in this.
 
Great production Chris. Since you seem to be taking criticism, I do have some suggestions.

I've noticed that in your writings, you love to shift the main melody to different orchestral textures and you love to modulate a lot. You tend to modulate via some sort of counter point from the main lead melody. However, this can be a bit confusing for a listener. Be sure to "prime" those counter point voices and help lead the listener away from the main melody so you can prepare them a bit for the modulation.

There were a few transitions in this piece that were rather confusing because my ear lost it's foundation of what I was supposed to be focused on. It's okay to keep the same lead instrument such as the horn section controlling the direction of the melody. Just remember, if you want to shift focus, you need to lead the listen musically to that voice. Food for thought.

Best,

Chris
 
Also, as much as you love to write in this idiom, I'm more curious to hear you step away from the broad, sweeping, Disney style and experiment in other areas. That's just me though. :)

Cheers,

C
 
Well, maybe you already have a masters, didn't mean to criticize unjustly. Different schools teach different things. What I noticed about your presentations are that they're more stream of consciousness rather than organized in a way that ticks the boxes of a large number of watchers and listeners. I think you'd benefit from learning about abstraction and the philosophy of teaching. Learning about different learning styles. Learning about human psychology. Did you know you can actually give a lecture that can tick the boxes of all four jungian pesonality types? Psychology is something that's near and dear to me :D:D Didn't mean to criticize your style, but you have so much talent I think you could have a broader audience. I don't know whether you watch Adam Neely, and I don't know whether he knows all of these things, but he does them, consciously or not. There's no hidden meaning in this.
Not at all! I appreciate your feedback man. I’ll have to look into these 4 personality types :D
 
Great production Chris. Since you seem to be taking criticism, I do have some suggestions.

I've noticed that in your writings, you love to shift the main melody to different orchestral textures and you love to modulate a lot. You tend to modulate via some sort of counter point from the main lead melody. However, this can be a bit confusing for a listener. Be sure to "prime" those counter point voices and help lead the listener away from the main melody so you can prepare them a bit for the modulation.

There were a few transitions in this piece that were rather confusing because my ear lost it's foundation of what I was supposed to be focused on. It's okay to keep the same lead instrument such as the horn section controlling the direction of the melody. Just remember, if you want to shift focus, you need to lead the listen musically to that voice. Food for thought.

Best,

Chris
Many thanks Chris. I’m sending you a message to discuss this further, if that’s okay.
 
Well, maybe you already have a masters, didn't mean to criticize unjustly. Different schools teach different things. What I noticed about your presentations are that they're more stream of consciousness rather than organized in a way that ticks the boxes of a large number of watchers and listeners. I think you'd benefit from learning about abstraction and the philosophy of teaching. Learning about different learning styles. Learning about human psychology. Did you know you can actually give a lecture that can tick the boxes of all four jungian pesonality types? Psychology is something that's near and dear to me :D:D Didn't mean to criticize your style, but you have so much talent I think you could have a broader audience. I don't know whether you watch Adam Neely, and I don't know whether he knows all of these things, but he does them, consciously or not. There's no hidden meaning in this.
And yes, Adam is awesome! There’s a few of his videos I absolutely love, including the ‘Harmonizing Sax Soli’. God that’s beautiful.

For this second part of the breakdown, I tried a slightly different approach, going through one section at a time and trying to highlight some key areas. I definitely could have gone down the more in-depth route, going over each instrument combination, discussing midi data, etc., which very well might have been better for this! I’ve done this previously for my other pieces, so just wanted to try something new and more streamlined :)

But like I said, any feedback is much appreciated, so I apologize if my reply seemed like I took offence to your comment. Thanks again!
 
Hi Chris,

Great piece, and explanation videos. Thanks for sharing this.

I always enjoy watching your videos, and learn a lot from your analysis of the piece, both harmonically, arranging, and orchestration perspective.

Here are a few questions for you. :)

Q1. How long did it take you to write, and produce this piece ?

Q2. Do you have any tips on how to go from a chord progression to individual string voices when working in a DAW (basically a good, and fast technique to distribute the chord to the individual string sections, (V1, V2, Vla, Cel, DB) ? Maybe you can make a video tutorial series dedicated to this specific topic.

Q3. Do you have Perfect Pitch ?

Thank You,
Muziksculp
 
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Chris, I love learning from your videos and music, you are very generous with your time and talent in sharing your knowledge. It's helped me in developing my skill at composing and orchestrating, and I really appreciate it!
 
Hi Chris,

Great piece, and explanation videos. Thanks for sharing this.

I always enjoy watching your videos, and learn a lot from your analysis of the piece, both harmonically, arranging, and orchestration perspective.

Here are a few questions for you. :)

Q1. How long did it take you to write, and produce this piece ?

Q2. Do you have any tips on how to go from a chord progression to individual string voices when working in a DAW (basically a good, and fast technique to distribute the chord to the individual string sections, (V1, V2, Vla, Cel, DB) ? Maybe you can make a video tutorial series dedicated to this specific topic.

Q3. Do you have Perfect Pitch ?

Thank You,
Muziksculp
Thank you! I'd say it took me around 15 hours combined to write and produce this piece. In general, I treat violins 1 and 2 as the melodic and harmonic leads, while I use violas and celli for more countrapuntal sections that enhance the overall section. The basses I use for harmonic support and/or the fundamental bassline. Hope that helps! Great idea for a video series. :)
 
Chris, I love learning from your videos and music, you are very generous with your time and talent in sharing your knowledge. It's helped me in developing my skill at composing and orchestrating, and I really appreciate it!
That means a lot to me. Thank you so much for watching! Please let me know if you ever have any questions.
 
This was a treat! Great arrangement and some really good melodies. I was curious about your choice of strings - did you alter your priorities when shifting from up beat to more romantic styles?

Best to you
MOMA, Sweden
 
This was a treat! Great arrangement and some really good melodies. I was curious about your choice of strings - did you alter your priorities when shifting from up beat to more romantic styles?

Best to you
MOMA, Sweden
Thanks Moma! I mainly used CSS for this one - I felt the more retro tone of the strings catered itself well to this style.
 
Hello my friends - welcome to the final section of the breakdown, where I discuss the mixing/processing I applied. Please enjoy :)

 
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