Score: 8

"It builds up nicely."

submission: Fat Man Jacob

date: October 4, 2008

This is a fairly good composition for beginners. I think the low rating here is probably largely to the somewhat mediocre sound quality. I especially liked the last few minutes where the structure becomes quite complex. One basic problem I foresee is that students are going to be confused by the 3-on-4 rhythms that you have here. I've been in a beginner band before, and I remember well what it ends up sounding like when somebody tries to do something smart with rhythms...

P.S. I'm guessing you use Finale or Sibelius to write these submissions? You can increase the volume of your files with a free program called "audacity" (it can do a lot of other things, but increasing the volume is fairly simple).

Score: 8

"Very promising, though a bit repetitive"

submission: Chrysanthemum

date: October 4, 2008

You did some nice things here, although I also felt that there were some passages that you repeated too many times (for example, the crescendo followed by complete silence). It's usually best to have some surprises in such things, to keep the listener interested. I kept wishing for more variety; for example, for the constant background 16ths to eventually evolve into a distinct theme of their own, or for the 16ths to disappear suddenly, leaving the melodies on top without a rug under them for a time.

It's quite good overall, but it could have been expanded (not length-wise, content-wise).

Score: 4

"Yep..."

submission: Piano & Strings, unfinished

date: July 16, 2008

As the guy below me said, it's pretty repetitive. Make it more interesting by having the piano part develop instead of just repeating the same thing over and over. Oh, and make the strings louder; I can barely hear them right now.

Score: 10

"The instrumentation is just amazing"

submission: The Toy Shop

date: June 16, 2008

This is one of my favourite pieces. The ABA structure works as a great framework, and I love the melodies and harmonic progressions. There is also so much going on in terms of variety of instrumentation, so many interesting and skillfully-employed combinations, that if one starts to mentally separate the different parts a pretty complex picture emerges. But it is a complicated puzzle that fits together like a glove; it is very easy for the oblivious casual listener to simply sit back and listen to this in tranquil enjoyment. It all "just works".

Thank you Simon.

Score: 10

"..."

submission: Nocturne Ab Min. No.2

date: May 11, 2008

00:00-00:16 - excellent start. Catchy melody, emboldening and interesting accompaniment.

00:16-00:32 - repeat with another pattern behind, also very interesting. Nice progression.

00:32-00:40 - a bit of a loss of energy here...

00:40-00:45 - picks up nicely

00:45-00:49 - I would've liked more of a contrast here - even more peaceful before the resumption of energy at

00:50-00:55 - I liked this section

00:55-1:09 - I guess this is the transition into theme 2... it's ok, though it sounds a bit too much like the beginning of a new theme for me

1:10-1:20 - a nice theme 2

1:21-1:53 seems like a repeat of 00:17. I would've liked to hear theme 2 develop more before repeating that; we only heard it once...

1:55- theme 2 again

2:17 - it seems like it's going into theme 1 again, but you actually cleverly make it go back to an inventive and interesting extension of theme 2. It goes through some interesting key (I'm not sure which) before going to the conclusion. I would've liked to see this extension the first time around in the middle of the piece, since I feel the first introduction of the second theme was far too short for comfort.

Really, the piece has a bit of an odd structure, and isn't quite as balanced as it could be...

However, you suck less than me (see my comment on your recent news post), so take my opinion with a grain of salt. :)

The playing (if playing it was) was quite beautiful, and the sound quality is great.

Score: 10

"Beautiful singing"

submission: Rig - Slovakian Lullaby

date: May 8, 2008

Slavic languages are so alike. I speak Russian, yet I understood the song. Many of the words are "old Russian" words that aren't used often in Russian except in songs and poems, and some of the grammar is odd, but the roots of the words are all the same.

Anyway, the singing here was beautiful. Just excellent.

Score: 9

"Excellent song"

submission: Lounge Jazz

date: May 6, 2008

I can't really find any faults with this one, other than wishing it were longer. I even like the "piano from backstage" sound. Great harmonies, great melodies, great instrumentation. Fun and pleasant to listen to. What is there to say? This is definitely one of your miniature musical gems.

Score: 9

"Yep, brilliant."

submission: A Young Mind

date: May 5, 2008

I haven't been keeping up with the Audio Portal lately, so it's been a while since I've heard any of your pieces. The last time I remember listening to some, they were very heavy and dramatic, so this seems to be quite a stylistic change. Congratulations, because it was pulled off brilliantly. This composition is very understated, peaceful and just plain lovely.

There are only two very small things that I personally didn't like - one was a something-like-30-second section in the middle (somewhere around the two-minute mark) which was a bit too repetitive for my taste. Another is the ending, which I think faded away too abruptly. If the fade was 3-4 times longer, I think that might've worked better... (yes, it's funny that MJTTOMB is saying the opposite... but I wouldn't mind an actual ending either. I just think that if there's going to be a fade, it shouldn't be such an abrupt one)

Score: 8

"Good!"

submission: Overture - Mjattie

date: May 5, 2008

Nice variety, good build-up, good use of main theme in different variations. Fun and pleasant to listen to. The one thing I would have suggested is to have that brass instrument that goes "Do-La" periodically continue on and play a melody at some point instead of always not playing anything after that.

Score: 9

"This isn't ambient"

submission: Moving on...

date: January 11, 2008

This might be a better fit in the classical section.

But regardless, I think that this is a really well-constructed and catchy piece.

The only thing I can really suggest is to make greater use of melody, particularly after the 3-minute mark when the piece nears its conclusion and you have all of these dramatic chords. If you had had a melody playing above them at the same time, that would've been simply sublime. I know that at 3:15 you had something kinda melody-like playing up high (broken chords basically), but I think that you could've put another, louder, slower melody even higher than that for a truly dramatic effect.

Other than that, hmm... well, one more thing: the sound of the guitar(s) here is ok, but it sounds a little too sharp and shrill. Something a little softer sounding, if possible, would be better.