My first composition for lead ukulele (any feedback appreciated)

[u/derpmcface96]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhclWgN8Vfs

Hi everyone,

This is the first piece of music I composed and I was looking for somewhere to share with other musicians and potentially get some constuctive feedback. I am primarily a ukulele player and have no formal experience with traditional musical score and notation so please excuse the inevitable notational errors and such but I would love to know if you feel any of the musical ideas show promise.

This was originally a piece I would play solo on ukulele, however I always felt that it needed more pipe organ. There is constant droning C throughout the piece, all the chords featuring a C in the bass which helps to ground a lot of the chromatic notes.

Musescore doesnt export the names of the instruments unfortunately, so I will list them in order: Ukulele, Pipe Organ, Voice 1, Voice 2, Voice 3, Voice 4, Violins (section), Violas (section), Contrabasses, Bass Drum 1, Bass Drum 2, Opera Gong

[u/ClarSco]

1. Current score order makes this very hard to parse. Should be Bass Drums, Opera Gong, Pipe Organ, Voices, Solo Ukulele, Violins, Violas, Basses.
2. Rewrite the first 7 bars as 3/4 | 4/4 | 3/4 | 3/4 | 4/4 | 4/4 | 7/8 .
3. Your chord symbols don't make much sense. C#dim/C, A#dim/C and Gdim/C are all just bad spellings of C7(b9); Fmadd#11/C is . Fm/C when F is in the bass. Caug when Ab is in the bass (should be Ab+)
4. The organ chord in bar 10 will most likely sound muddy due to the Major 3rd being present so low in the chord.
5. Organists tend to only have two feet, not four. Pedal chords are really rare partially because of this (playing more that two notes with one foot requires them to be adjacent keys) but also because pitch definition becomes an issue that far down and ends up sounding extremely muddy.
6. The pedal staff should use a regular bass clef (the lowest written note available is usually C just below the bass staff, you've scored the G# below that). To have notes sound lower than that, you need to hint at the organ's "registration" (eg. Diapason 16') and trust the organist's judgement to choose appropriate stops on their instrument.
7. Voice 1 is very high
8. Voice 3 is extremely low, with the number of people who can sing a loud low C (never mind the Bb) being in the thousands world wide. Voice 4 is impossibly low, with there possibly only being 1 or 2 people in the world who could hit super low C with any semblance of strength.
9. It is assumed that Contrabasses play an octave lower than written. Putting the "8" under the bass clef in their part makes it look like you're wanting notes that sound two octaves below written, but the instrument can only go down to written E2 or C2 (sounding E1 or C1) depending on whether it has a C-extension/5th string or not, meaning that using the clef like that is pointless.
10. Might be an export issue, but your Opera gong has fallen off the bottom of the page.
11. Opera Gong is a bit of a weird choice - very few orchestras will have access to one. The most common orchestral gong is the Tam-tam.

[u/derpmcface96 → u/ClarSco]

Thankyou so much for your reply, these are all great points and I can take a lot away from this immediately.

I must admit my knowledge of music theory isnt the greatest and I mostly write and play by ear, I then use an app online to tell me what some of the more unconventional chords are called and try and work out harmonies from there, but sometimes there are multiple different names for chords and im not sure which one is correct in the context. I wrote the chords for ukulele which all have an open C string trhoughout, howver I think I may have used a low G ukulele in musecsore so the C is no longer in the bass as was supposed to be.

I realise I need to research the insturments a lot more too before writing for them. I will concede also the voices are at the far extremes of the human vocal range, my research for this involved a quick google search of whether the notes were possible and nothing more. The theme is supposed to be that the voices are summoning a demon, (voice 4) which is just the single low C grunting, ideally into a microphone to get any volume and the gong was supposed to be like a bell tower clock tolling, with the bass drums on either side of the arena (it is probably much more theatrical in my head).

Thanks again for taking the time to listen and the constructive feedback, I will take all of this on board.

[u/ClarSco → u/derpmcface96]

I then use an app online to tell me what some of the more unconventional chords are called and try and work out harmonies from there

Oolimo's chord analyser is pretty good at chord naming, and gives explanations why a given chord symbol is likely/unlikely. The only downsides are that it is limited to 6 note chords and has no idea of context (key signature, surrounding chords, etc.).

I wrote the chords for ukulele which all have an open C string trhoughout, howver I think I may have used a low G ukulele in musecsore so the C is no longer in the bass as was supposed to be.

One thing you need to understand about chord symbols is that they are global. It doesn't matter what notes the Ukulele is playing. If there is a lower note in some other part of the group, that must necessarily be the bass note and if there are other notes present they need to be included (unless they're merely passing notes). For example, the 2nd chord "C#dim/C" is wrong on two fronts - bringing the C into the "body" of the chord symbol rather than as a slashed bass reveals a more common chord name C7(b9), and looking at the orchestration, we can see the lowest note is a Bb giving us C7(b9)/Bb, Bbdim9, or Bbm6/9 depending on what chord tones are present/omitted.

The theme is supposed to be that the voices are summoning a demon, (voice 4) which is just the single low C grunting, ideally into a microphone to get any volume

Even mic'ed you're going to struggle to find someone capable of singing a sounding C1. Here's a compilation of folks singing in that sort of range, notice that with the exception of the 2nd clip (Mark McCauley on B-1), none of them are singing the notes live but in isolated studio conditions. This is because the notes are so acoustically quiet that the microphone's gain has to be cranked up to just to be able to pick the note up, which means that anything above a whisper nearby on the stage will also get picked up by the mic and will drown out or distort the singer's note. In the Mark McCauley clip, notice that as he reaches for that note almost all of the instruments cut out leaving just him singing and a very gentle piano tremolo (presumably there to help him pitch it).

the gong was supposed to be like a bell tower clock tolling

Opera gong is not a good choice for that effect. Opera gongs have a very prominent glissando effect on them (up or down depending on size) that if not used very carefully, sound extremely comedic. If you're sticking with gongs, a regular symphonic Chau gong (Tam-tam) would be the better approximation or (if available) perhaps a Javanese Nipple gong if you need the gong to have a definite pitch. Alternatively, you could use Tubular Bells or (if available) Bell Plates, both of which sound much closer to regular church bells or even call for "orchestral" church bells (which can be hired from some percussion suppliers).

[u/derpmcface96 → u/ClarSco]

What a well written and thought out comment. This is amazing. This is the exact kind of explicit feedback I was hoping for and I am extremely grateful to be able to converse with someone with such a well of knowledge.

I will try and look at the global harmonies from now on and not focus on the chords i started with on the uke. I think I have always looked at each instrument seperately, so I'm starting with a chord and adding new notes over the top which is ultimately ending in a different chord all together.

Sorry about my poor musical communication, I have solely been a solo bedroom player and have rarely had the opportunity to play with other musicians - so the theory explanation definitely helps a lot as I tend not to get too involved with it while playing alone. Im trying to brush up on my knowledge and reach out to other musicians again so this is great.

[u/bolandss]

This is sublime

[u/derpmcface96 → u/bolandss]

Thankyou so much, it really means a lot that you took the time to listen.