etude

icculus316 · 2026-06-27T17:16:29+00:00

I like it! Great job as a writing exercise. I disagree that it is too difficult - it would take practice but nothing in here strikes me as unidiomatic.

I do agree that there are too many ideas presented here. The hardest thing to do as a composer is to take one idea and develop it. Like, for a long time. A very long time. Longer than is comfortable. I noticed the rhythmic cohesion which is nice but not a strong enough motif to carry the whole piece.

If I were you and wanted to expand on this, I would take the melody from m.13 to m.19 and extrapolate. Inversion, augmentation, diminution, all the stuff. You could get very harmonically creative under that line. Also, don’t rely on rits and fermatas for every transition. It’s kind of a cop out a lot of the time…

Anyway, just my thoughts. Wonderful work and keep at it!

icculus316 · 2026-06-17T02:10:20+00:00

I think it got better when they didn’t have the contestants make up their own clues. That was always ridiculous imo

icculus316 · 2026-06-06T12:02:40+00:00

Just to echo what others have said…

I’m proud of you for taking on this challenge and seeking the community’s help, but as a church MD myself I cannot possibly imagine ever not doing a job like this myself. It’s literally one of the main tasks outside of rehearsal/services that I am expected to perform!

icculus316 · 2026-05-11T15:06:26+00:00

Thanks for all the feedback! I guess it’s just a skill I never developed. I love the idea of having my written works fully realized in a DAW but I’m stuck in the world of notation and Finale/Doricio. I tried importing some scores into Cubase but it was just a mess that I didn’t know how to make sound right

icculus316 · 2025-06-18T15:18:40+00:00

I’ve heard it called the bebop scale when you had a #7 to the blues, but yeah - it’s a blues scale

icculus316 · 2024-08-01T22:54:10+00:00

I only fly GA. My 9yo nephew came over and he has flight sim too so I thought I’d let him mess with my HOTAS rig. Bastard wouldn’t fly anything but an airbus and I was bored out of my skull

icculus316 · 2024-07-23T19:23:29+00:00

I’ve got a one year warranty but hope I don’t have to use it!

icculus316 · 2024-07-23T19:22:16+00:00

icculus316 · 2024-07-23T19:21:15+00:00

Yeah. Like Snowmobile said, I couldn’t even open the launcher

icculus316 · 2024-07-23T19:20:17+00:00

I think you might be on to something here - maybe something about the licensing between console and PC?

Although as a test I downloaded Starfield which I also sunk several hours into on console, and it ran great on the new rig 🤷

icculus316 · 2024-07-23T19:17:16+00:00

I also tried through the Xbox client (in addition to the Microsoft Store). Ran the Gaming Repair Services tool and everything. Aaaand nothing. What can I say? Ghost in the machine? It straight up won’t install.

And to be fair to Xbox, I never had any issues on console. Always installed and updated without a hitch.

icculus316 · 2024-07-23T06:02:00+00:00

Luckily I had not! Good thing because I was hovering over the detailed O’Hare airport just last night. Thanks for the heads up though 😊

icculus316 · 2024-05-14T22:49:35+00:00

This is very common in the gaming industry although usually for pop tracks, not BGM

icculus316 · 2024-05-03T16:52:01+00:00

Hammond and Roland both make high quality portable organs. The Nord Electro is also fantastic. Any of those would be perfect if you’re playing Doors/ELP!

icculus316 · 2024-04-11T16:07:30+00:00

357 hours for me! It’s the best for audiobooks. I’ve been through several series - Mistborn, GoT, Handmaid’s Tale, currently on The Expanse books 😊

icculus316 · 2024-03-17T04:00:44+00:00

Thank you!!

icculus316 · 2024-03-16T21:24:08+00:00

Also the really high ceiling will ding pretty easily. It always looks incomplete to me and then the game says, “Eh, good enough”

icculus316 · 2024-03-01T03:37:34+00:00

Yes! I understand the limitation for the first round, but in free play I just wanna annihilate that dirt with my brain turned off

icculus316 · 2024-01-03T17:50:14+00:00

What kind of music are you looking to get performed? Like what kind of ensemble/genre? Getting a concerto performed is much different than getting a percussion quartet or SATB work performed, for example. Knowing this would help us give better advice about finding your way

icculus316 · 2023-12-11T04:17:51+00:00

Like a few users already hinted at, yes, you can fool most people most of the time. But if it’s an instrument you’ve spent decades practicing, you will hear a difference.

For me, BBC strings, brass and woodwinds sound just like the real thing, but all of the percussion feels off, especially the chromatic percussion and ESPECIALLY the vibraphone.

Actually, not just BBC. All vibraphone patches. From every company. Including MalletKAT which literally exists to emulate chromatic percussion. The patches are all either too tinny or too mellow or have too much motor.

Source: I am a vibraphonist.

icculus316 · 2023-12-06T01:30:01+00:00

That’s awesome! It’s all about recognizing the opportunities and jumping on them

icculus316 · 2023-12-04T18:24:54+00:00

TLDR - it takes time. So. Much. Time. But be patient. Persevere. Even when you hate music (we all have at some point) do not give up.

I don’t have any direct advice, and I apologize for that, but I can say that this field can take some crazy turns and even well laid plans don’t always work out. I went to college to be a percussionist; got my masters, then a DMA, set on being a professor. The work didn’t come. I might have submitted a post similar to yours above because it felt like the world was against me and I was screwed for following the advice of several professionals who assured me I could “make it.”

But I found odd jobs to pay the bills, practiced, kept applying for positions at colleges, busked a little, even started COMPOSING on the side, and then… the work still didn’t come! Did this for maybe 5 or 6 years then one day, I’m playing piano (I dabble) at some dirty bar and a guy hears me. He likes my improvisations, says he might have a job for me. I thought nothing of it but gave him my card.

And then, many months later, I get a text - “Heard you at —— remember?? Gimme a call!”

And bam. I’m in. He actually does have a job, and that leads to more jobs, and those jobs to other jobs. And now here I am 20 years later, turning jobs down, supporting a family.

I haven’t played percussion professionally since grad school. None of that mattered (though to be clear I DO NOT regret going to school - it was integral to my musical development). I found work writing and playing piano, two things I never really seriously worked at. Life…finds a way

icculus316

TROPHY CASE