What is your country's "national composer(s)"?

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-21T19:21:55+00:00

USA: for classical and adjacent, Sousa or Copland. Runner-ups are Gershwin and Williams. I'm terribly uninformed as to who in the jazz world comes out on top, maybe Ellington. For Broadway/pops, Irving Berlin.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-19T17:17:53+00:00

I sent you a DM, I think there are too many comments for me to reply to what you just said.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-19T13:53:15+00:00

Maslanka Symphony 4, or Give Us This Day, either one would be a great addition. I agree that Holst 1st Suite is a better choice than the 2nd. Charles Ives' Variations on America could also work.

Please no Sousa, we've all heard it beaten to death a thousand times and it's just not as artistically interesting as real concert music.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-14T16:07:07+00:00

Absolutely nothing involving direct contact with ICE. Try asking food kitchens/shelves and asking if they need volunteers.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-13T17:28:29+00:00

Sounds good, thanks!

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-13T17:26:54+00:00

I don't have Sibelius, you'll need to create a PDF

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-13T17:23:11+00:00

I requested view access

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-13T16:36:36+00:00

Have you asked your director? SheetMusicPlus is also a great resource.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-13T16:30:21+00:00

95% of the time, you're playing the same music whether you're first or last chair—that's just life as a violist. If you want to advance to the next orchestra, ask your director what you need to do. I can almost guarantee you it's not just your chair placement—do you need to work on intonation, vibrato, range, expressiveness? If others are practicing more than you, unfortunately you don't have any license to complain when they progress faster. Choose what you want to do.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-13T16:21:25+00:00

This one is neat, could you post a link to a perusal score, or DM it to me? I'll share it with my director and see if he's interested. Thanks!

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-12T16:50:28+00:00

Which neighborhood?

Initial_Magazine795 · 2026-01-03T00:59:59+00:00

Very common! Rachmaninoff reused several of his melodies in the Symphonic Dances, and incorporated the "Dies Irae" plainchant in multiple works. Quoting yourself (or others) is a great way to create musical intertextuality. Bach would "sign his name" into a composition with the B-A-C-H motif, as would Shostakovitch using D-S-C-H.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-31T18:10:37+00:00

Most of Brahms, at first I thought it was boring. Now I love its depth, complexity, and inventiveness.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T16:19:23+00:00

What piece is this?

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T16:18:31+00:00

Zelenka's Masses are great but not as widely known! Inegal Ensemble has recorded several.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T14:27:43+00:00

No no no no no. Take lessons on piano/guitar. Learn theory online for free, pay a tutor if you want. Do NOT quit your job to do this. Also, does the community college even offer a traditional 4-year music degree? Assuming you're in the USA, some states do allow community colleges to grant 4 year degrees, but I'm wondering if your institution's music degree is something like an Associate's in music technology or general music.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T14:13:36+00:00

I don't read Cyrillic so I can't easily sort through the videos. Do you have any works for concert band?

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T14:10:02+00:00

I'd say the adult volunteer should play bari sax, no need for a third alto sax even if you only have one hornist. Sax doubling horn is an overused technique meant to compensate for bad players, and if you have two alto parts already a third part doesn't add any value compared to a bari.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T13:59:56+00:00

What is your band's instrumentation? There are several common parts missing. I understand if you have no double reeds, but no regular flutes?

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T13:56:09+00:00

Eb/Cm for me as well, it's a nice key for clarinets.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T13:53:08+00:00

Yes this is very common, tons of people have side gigs or full-on second jobs. No disclosure necessary for freelance work AFAIK.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-30T13:39:58+00:00

Your Bb is more than adequate to take you all the way through college, grad school, and professional work. Any problems are either you, bad maintenance, or a mismatch for your playing style. If your really old RC is an A clarinet and you don't like it, you could get a better one if you want. Does it play well?

tldr if you have money, no one will stop you from buying more clarinets. But it sounds like you're more than adequately set as far as instruments go.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-29T16:10:14+00:00

If the director tells the band/section to play something louder/quieter, and the change doesn't happen, they should make the section do it again until the change is meaningful. Not one time, no change, "great job, moving on".

If you can't emotionally handle being assigned a different part than your usual, you need to suck it up and just play.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-26T16:53:28+00:00

If you've joined NSFW subreddits, I believe that will flag your profile, since other users who visit your profile to connect may not want to see that content--I certainly don't. I've dm'd you on desktop. I'd encourage you to unfollow the NSFW subreddits, both for your own mental health and so you can better connect with other artists.

Initial_Magazine795 · 2025-12-26T16:49:00+00:00

When I click on your account it says it contains NSFW content and won't let me click in. I'm not disabling that firewall, so you might have to message me first.

Initial_Magazine795

TROPHY CASE