THE TERMINATOR - Marching band arrangement (CE)

[Marth8880]

Watch.

For my senior project, I am writing the music and the drill for a marching show.

I present to all y'alls...


THE TERMINATOR

Original music by Brad Fiedel.
Arrangement and percussion by Aaron Gilbert (Marth8880).

Composed using Finale 2010.


There is still much to be done, this is only v0.1.


Thoughts / Questions / Flames / Jawas / Q / Probably. / 5 / % ?

[Maveritchell]

It's very... DCI. I can see the amoeba forms in my head now. I'm not a huge fan of that kind of show, but obviously if that's what your school does, that's what your school does. It sounds fine, but I'd need to see the charts to really visualize the show.

[Marth8880]

It's very... DCI. I can see the amoeba forms in my head now.

Heh, yeeeaaah, seriously...

if that's what your school does, that's what your school does.

I'm actually not planning on having us play/march this show, however that would be really fun and neat (and difficult ).

[AQT]

Very nice arrangement so far, Marth! I absolutely love this theme!

Suggestions:

• Give the bass drum a more prominent part.
• Include the classic five-note rhythm, perhaps repeated four times, to start off the piece.
• That is all for now.

[Eggman]

My biggest worry is that some of those sixteenth note groupings in the brass (mellophone, I think? It's tough to read the score) are so fast that they would be very difficult to play while marching. Heck, they would probably be extremely difficult to play at all. When you're composing/orchestrating music, it's important to be mindful of what sounds cool and what is practical. Those fast runs do sound cool, and they might even be a part of the original music (I'm not familiar with the theme), but they would be very frustrating for anyone but a highly disciplined, professional performer.

Also, as far as I could tell, you're only using percussion and brass. There are plenty of bands around that are light on woodwinds, at least in the professional world, but if your intended market for the piece is high school bands, you should include parts for flute, piccolo, clarinet, and alto/tenor/baritone sax.

That said, this is a cool idea for a senior project. Arranging music for large ensembles is no small task, especially when you then have to create drill sets for it.

EDIT: If you do add woodwinds, those sixteenth notes could be given to the flutes. Flutes are very well-suited to fast, step-wise passages like that. The only problem is that they have very little carrying power.

[THEWULFMAN]

This is pretty cool, nice job Marth. I will reserve harsher judgement till later versions.


I'll be back.

[Marth8880]

THE TERMINATOR - v0.2

[Twilight_Warrior]

So ummmmmmm, this music... do you actually expect anyone to play it? Because yes, it sounds cool, but it's also darn near impossible.

My biggest worry is that some of those sixteenth note groupings in the brass (mellophone, I think? It's tough to read the score) are so fast that they would be very difficult to play while marching. Heck, they would probably be extremely difficult to play at all. When you're composing/orchestrating music, it's important to be mindful of what sounds cool and what is practical. Those fast runs do sound cool, and they might even be a part of the original music (I'm not familiar with the theme), but they would be very frustrating for anyone but a highly disciplined, professional performer.

QFT

Also, as a bass drummer,

• Give the bass drum a more prominent part.

A four- or five-part bass line could do a lot of what you want the mallets to do in 16th note runs, as well as add a heartbeat to the sound with some unison hits (though, those shouldn't be sixteenth notes)

[Marth8880]

So ummmmmmm, this music... do you actually expect anyone to play it? Because yes, it sounds cool, but it's also darn near impossible.

nope.avi

And it's not impossible, BD and SVC do a lot of stuff similar.

A four- or five-part bass line could do a lot of what you want the mallets to do in 16th note runs, as well as add a heartbeat to the sound with some unison hits (though, those shouldn't be sixteenth notes)

I'm still working on the battery (especially the bass line), I may rewrite some of it even.

[Twilight_Warrior]

And it's not impossible, BD and SVC do a lot of stuff similar.

Well yeah, but those are professional-level drum corps. People who spend their summers tortur-I MEAN PRACTICING day in and day out in the oppressive heat or torrential rains, almost to the point of questionable sanity. And I said /near/ impossible, didn't I? If anyone can do /near/ impossible, it's the extreme band nerds of pro drum corps.

Anywho, it does sound great, it's just that, as a musician, I was concerned for the sanity of anyone you might expect to play this, if you expected anyone at all.

[AQT]

THE TERMINATOR - v0.2

Suggestions:

• From 1:14 to the end, the instruments with the melody could be playing those chords as sfz. It sounds too weak at the moment.
• Leading up to 1:14, there is a trumpet(?) playing ascending chromatic notes. To be honest, it doesn't sound very good because it seems out of place.

[Marth8880]

THE TERMINATOR

Build 20111101.2048 of the music for THE TERMINATOR, my marching show for which I'm writing the music/drill for my culminating exhibition.

Most of what is left in the music is some of the percussion in the ballad, Marimba work in the opener, and quite a bit of pit and battery work in the closer.

Original music by Brad Fiedel
Arrangement by Aaron Gilbert

[THEWULFMAN]

Sounds really nice, good job.

[Eggman]

While I commend you for taking on such a big project, my original criticism still stands - a lot of the stuff you've written for the brass in the fast sections is just unplayable at the tempo you're calling for. Also, the ending is very musically unsatisfying. I'm sure you have a valid artistic purpose behind it, but from a purely practical standpoint, your average audience just won't "get it." They'll expect the piece to end with a fast section, or a big in-your-face cadence, or a stinger of some sort. To end the piece as you have will be really unsettling and confusing. To experiment or go against tradition certainly isn't a bad thing - a lot of great art is created by pushing the boundaries of what is "acceptable" - but keep in mind that it can be very risky.

All in all, though, you've done a very good job. This is a solid foray into arranging and composing. There were a few dissonances that sounded a bit off, but I think that was more due to the crummy quality of MIDI brass than the notes themselves.

[Marth8880]

While I commend you for taking on such a big project, my original criticism still stands - a lot of the stuff you've written for the brass in the fast sections is just unplayable at the tempo you're calling for. Also, the ending is very musically unsatisfying. I'm sure you have a valid artistic purpose behind it, but from a purely practical standpoint, your average audience just won't "get it." They'll expect the piece to end with a fast section, or a big in-your-face cadence, or a stinger of some sort. To end the piece as you have will be really unsettling and confusing. To experiment or go against tradition certainly isn't a bad thing - a lot of great art is created by pushing the boundaries of what is "acceptable" - but keep in mind that it can be very risky.

All in all, though, you've done a very good job. This is a solid foray into arranging and composing. There were a few dissonances that sounded a bit off, but I think that was more due to the crummy quality of MIDI brass than the notes themselves.

Oh hey look, I took what you said into slight consideration.

The percussion obviously needs work but still.


THREE-YEAR UPDATE!


So I finally decided to go ahead and post a video of the last build of my marching band arrangement of THE TERMINATOR. It still isn't *quite* finished, but, well, it's close enough. Links to PDFs of the score and parts as well as 5.1 surround mixes are available in the links below.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtFf3aDTxvg

Score & Parts: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/joctc9layi8q ... QBrpvM34Ba

5.1 surround AC3 file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wohtn703y8vgi ... Mix%29.ac3

5.1 surround WMV file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/48shcvxi0f3kf ... Mix%29.wmv