Shinespark's Music Thread v.2.0

Well, since it's been more than six months since I last posted in my previous music thread, I figured I would just start a new one. Now, for those who never saw my last one, let me explain a little just what this is:

In this thread I will be posting my original music compositions. Now, I am not the kind of musician that writes songs with a verse, chorus, yadda yadda. In fact, to date, I've only written one song that had lyrics at all. No, what I compose is orchestral and piano solo pieces. My pieces use only classical instruments, though they are playing far from classical music. Generally what I write is thematic stuff, like something you might hear in a movie. This is mostly due to the fact that I am striving to be a film composer.

Alright, that's enough about me. If you're here you want to hear the music. My ways of doing that have advanced a little since the last thread. Rather than having a link to each individual piece of music (that was uploaded to a crappy file sharing site), I have placed all of my new material onto my MySpace Music. So, here is the link to that:

Shinespark's Myspace Music

Hmmm, I should probably get the name of this thread changed now that I've changed my username. Anyways, I have seven songs up currently, all of which are new, but I have a few more still in storage that I've yet to record and/or convert to MP3 and upload. In any case, this is what there is now. Hopefully I'll be able to update this thread often with new songs. For some reason, a few of the songs got uploaded kind of quiet, so you may want to put headphones on so you can hear them better.

Also, for those who would like to hear my older work, I have provided a link to my previous music thread here.

Here are the song descriptions:


Cosmic Odyssey

This song has a bit of a nerdy background to it, I won't lie. I actually wrote it to be the theme song for a Star Trek RP I was involved in some time ago on another site. Yes, now everybody laugh at me for my nerdiness. Anyways, this one is actually a full piece of music, beyond just the piano I normally use. It does have piano in it though. The rest of the instrumentation is as follows: Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, French Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, two Violins, Viola, Cello, and a Timpani drum. The last is very unusual for me, as I am generally not very good at composing for percussion, but I think it turned out alright. Of course, that could be because I only used it in the beginning of the piece, but whatever.


Visceral Crisis

This piece actually started out as a bit of an experiment. You'll notice that the beginning of the piece is much more... I don't want to say simple, let's go with exposed. Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for. It's very open and exposed, whereas the rest of the piece has a bit more meat to it in terms of voicing. This is because it was actually my first foray into the world of minimalism. My friend, who loves minimalist pieces, tells me I did very well, even going so far as to compare me to Philip Glass, if any of you know who that is. In any case, the only instrument being used is a piano, played by me. It's named what it is simply because to me, it sounds as though there is some relationship or emotional issue that is in crisis. No other reason really.


Western Travels

You remember how I said that the beginning of Visceral Crisis was an experiment in minimalism? Well, this is what that experiment culminated in. This piece is much more minimalistic, especially the middle section which I love, and remains so throughout. The same friend from before felt that, once again, I was comparable to Philip Glass (who is a very prestigious and excellent minimalist composer, for those that don't know) in my execution of this piece. The name has no real meaning other than that after composing this piece, I was reminded of the west, and of traveling through it. Don't really know why. Once again, that's me playing piano.


Ruined Sanctuary

This actually started as a dungeon theme for an RPG I was going to make, but, of course, never got around to finishing. Barely started, to tell you the truth. Well, I left it alone for three or four months, and then recently came back to it and finished it. I really like what I managed to do with it in the last half of the piece. Don't know why, but the piece just really reminds me of someone wandering the halls of a ruined sanctuary or temple, thus the name. Again, instrumentation is one piano, played by me.


Wrath and Betrayal

Unlike some of the previous songs which I composed, and then thought of what they reminded me, I approached this one with certain themes in mind and composed the piece as such. Anyone care to take a guess just what I was feeling while I wrote this piece? It was actually quite a sight. See, I'm somewhat of a method actor when I write. If I am composing a piece for a certain theme, I get myself in a state of mind related to said theme. So not only was this a good way to get my anger out, but was also something new, as I had never gotten myself into a seething rage over a piano before. I'm pretty happy with the results, actually. It's the first, and still only, angry piano song I've ever written. As always, piano is played by me.


Zelda II Temple Theme (Piano Arrangement)

That's right, I have taken a classic theme from a Zelda game and given it its own piano arrangement. I am pretty happy with the results. I started with a pretty simple version of it, then play through it a bit more complicated and meaty. I also gave it an official ending. Piano is (surprise!) played by me.


Saria's Song (Piano Arrangement)

And the other arrangement is ANOTHER classic Zelda theme. Now, this piece I took a little more liberty with, to the extent of actually changing some of the chords (but not the melody). I think it makes it a little more haunting, kind of like the version in Twilight Princess, but not as lively... and of course on only piano which is, you guessed it, played by me.

New uploads, everyone. Three new songs for your enjoyment. Well, technically three new songs. Only one of them is actually an original piece of mine. The other two are my own piano arrangements of already existing songs. Now, it occurred to me that I completely forgot to give an explanatory paragraph on the songs in my first post, like I did in my previous thread, so I have edited in the explanations of the first four songs into my opening post. The next three can be found here. However, I'll also edit these three into the opening post, just to make sure people who only read that still get the explanation if they want it.

Anyways, without further ado, here's the song titles and their details:


Wrath and Betrayal

This is the original piece of the new batch. Unlike some of the previous songs which I composed, and then thought of what they reminded me, I approached this one with certain themes in mind and composed the piece as such. Anyone care to take a guess just what I was feeling while I wrote this piece? It was actually quite a sight. See, I'm somewhat of a method actor when I write. If I am composing a piece for a certain theme, I get myself in a state of mind related to said theme. So not only was this a good way to get my anger out, but was also something new, as I had never gotten myself into a seething rage over a piano before. I'm pretty happy with the results, actually. It's the first, and still only, angry piano song I've ever written. As always, piano is played by me.


Zelda II Temple Theme (Piano Arrangement)

That's right, I have taken a classic theme from a Zelda game and given it its own piano arrangement. I am pretty happy with the results. I started with a pretty simple version of it, then play through it a bit more complicated and meaty. I also gave it an official ending. Piano is (surprise!) played by me.


Saria's Song (Piano Arrangement)

And the other arrangement is ANOTHER classic Zelda theme. Now, this piece I took a little more liberty with, to the extent of actually changing some of the chords (but not the melody). I think it makes it a little more haunting, kind of like the version in Twilight Princess, but not as lively... and of course on only piano which is, you guessed it, played by me.