Pick up Samuel Adler's "Orchestration" textbook--it's very informative and a great reference for orchestral arranging.

I wasn't a big fan of Bolero, to be honest. WAAAY too repetitive and drawn out, equating to musical boredom.

Well, America The Beutiful is only four verses, so...

*nods* True enough. I've considered re-recording the trombone quartet arrangement I made of it as an all-male a capella version.

Do you have this as a MIDI? I have a roland keyboard, I could turn it into non-simulated instruments with my fancy dancy keyboard for you?



:M

instead of windows media player instruments?
I'd do it for free, no charge, no favors, no trades, no fat, no sugar, no no I no can clean, just musican to musican..

Once I finish the arrangement, sure!

I just recorded a live set with an omni directional mic at guitar practice, for the first time.
Bought the mic yesterday, too, even.



~Kiyote!

I'mma firin my music tech merit badge lazor..

8U

How are you notating / sequencing the MIDI file? It sounds awesome as is, as a MIDI, I mean the instruments are tinny, because they are, but the whole song sounds great, how long did it take to write in the program, and which program did you use to make it?



:M

I'm using a program called "Noteworthy Composer 2". It is meant primarily for creating sheet music, but does pretty good with doing midi arrangements, and I'm a bit more used to the notation interface. I'm getting used to the midi timeline, however, so I might switch over if I can find a good free program for that. I may have one, anyway.

The arrangement is done. How do I get the midi file to you?

G’day mate!

Nevir the Wolf here with just a few word for your endeavor:

You’re a crazy-brave individual to work on molding something like a national hymn into the meter and pose of the Bolero, and for that, my hat’s off to ya!

I like how you’ve positioned the melody as the smooth, continuous tune through the theme. Your voice is very even and unwavering, and you nailed the high parts with (what sounded like) ease.

As for the functional orchestration, don’t forget that Bolero has a marvelous bouncing bass line which flows through the entire piece. Unlike your piece, Bolero’s bass line is very unchanging for long periods; you get to move the tune around a bit more and have great possibilities within that lateral area. I would suggest using a bit less of the pizzicato strings for the direct bass-line itself as it should have a little bit of resonance.

Because you aren’t necessarily bound to make an identical-to-Bolero piece, you might think about rounding out the melody with some mid-range cello (or low viola) sections on some of the passing notes. Things like walk-downs, walk-ups, slide-ups, or even fills could be done with just a few of these instruments to fill in the sound a little bit.

Since Bolero is a high-classical piece (whereas America the Beautiful is more of a modern classic), it has a much more agile melody (in keeping with that time period). You could probably experiment with a solo-instrument from either the brass or wood-wind section in either just-under or just-over your singing range to fill in a sort of faux-classical melody line to compliment your singing and mimic the Bolero style at the same time!

Whatever you end up doing, I really shall have to hear what you arrive at for the final piece. I am excited to see what you bring about musically!

Feel free to message me if you would like me to expound on a subject or offer more details.

Cheers!


This has been a (miniature) musical critique by  nevir