# Just composed something



## ehrt (May 12, 2012)

hi everybody  my first post!

i've just composed a setting of the mass, which may be performed by a choir i know. i'm attaching the credo, so you can take a look if you want to. i think it's fun 

here are some of my deep thoughts about the credo. it took me a while to work out how i wanted to set it to music. in churches the credo is either a/ murmured or b/ proclaimed, neither of which really appeal to me (the first because it makes it pretty clear that the people don't want to be there and the second because it makes it clear that they do, and whenever 200 people proclaim loudly that they 'believe something' i get jittery)

anyway, my version is much more a guitar-at-a-campfire kind of thing, because i thought that's a possible way of thinking about it, and i divided it into verses (11 in total, which is a lot).

the main challenge for me was not to open up into my typical bernstein-writing-for-a-large-orchestra style, but to try to keep the piece subtle, which is code for 'boring'. let me know if you think it's too boring.

update.
okay, tried to use the attachment manager and i started to get angry, so here instead is a link to googledocs.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B57taoKW9E6QX2o2RzRSYzhjRXc


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

I had a friend who set a mass. The only time it was performed was with an amateur children's orchestra. He had to tune the violin for a child. It did not auger well. However the work was pretty. I would like to hear it done by a competent orchestra and choir one day. Actually the choir weren't too bad. The orchestra was terrible.


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

It'd be cool if you could post a MIDI mockup on soundcloud or something for us.


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## ehrt (May 12, 2012)

Hi!

My software really didn't want to create a midi file, but it didn't mind exporting an ogg, which i then uploaded to my google drive. here's a link: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B57taoKW9E6QTWR0c2lXb0RKajg

just be sure to read along while listening, because there's no text on the ogg 

it occurs to me that it may suprise some people that i haven't indicated any dynamics. this is because if you want to sabotage the music by doing stupid things with the dynamics, my writing explicit fortes and pianos won't stop you finding something else, and if you have to be told that the 'et resurrexit' is to have a crescendo then nothing i could write could possibly help you anyway ...


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

ehrt said:


> it occurs to me that it may suprise some people that i haven't indicated any dynamics. this is because if you want to sabotage the music by doing stupid things with the dynamics, my writing explicit fortes and pianos won't stop you finding something else, and if you have to be told that the 'et resurrexit' is to have a crescendo then nothing i could write could possibly help you anyway ...


I don't really understand, if there's a "wrong" way to play your piece, surely you'd want to at least guide people in the right direction?

Some thoughts; I don't think the organ variates enough. It often continues onwards for too long with the same pattern. I would personally try to make it a little more interesting. Some of the counterpoint sounded a little questionable. In places, the bass of the organ seemed to have phrases that didn't work well with everything above it.

If you manage to get it performed and recorded, be sure to share it with us!


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## ehrt (May 12, 2012)

I think i'd much rather people used their own musicality to find a good registration and use of dynamics for the music. if i want something which is unobvious i do indicate it. it also depends on the complexity of the music. i'd expect a decent sight-singer to come up with decent dynamics for the credo. the gloria is however technically more difficult, and i indicate dynamics a lot there.

here's a link to the gloria btw. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B57taoKW9E6QR0VEUTdpYXJSazQ as a pdf
and https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B57taoKW9E6QZFZmUnNyV0Q4V3c as an ogg file.


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