MIDI WORK SCORE COMMENT                      
CLASSICAL & ORCH.                          
To The Queen of England 6.30 A bit disjointed... I do like the build, but think it could be more cohesive, and progress more quickly.  Strings could use more sustain, and a bit more patience before jumping in with the soprano tremolo strings... Last note.. melody lines are underdeveloped... simple arpeggios are not keeping me interested, and do not really tie the whole thing together... which supports my first comment... disjointed.                      
Death at Genoa 5.50 Another one that just doesn't have any kind of a common thread that ties it all together.  Disjointed, and lacking a cohesive, progressive feel. Work on developing your melodies, and support the orchestra with more backup where the powerful parts come in.  More instruments needed there to fill it out.                      
Suite #1 Dmaj 6.50 Lacks a bassline to give it structure. All I hear are alto and soprano voices, which makes it sound weak. Fill out the spectrum and you've got a winner here. Could blend better between 1st and 2nd movement. 2nd movement harmonies sound like a nice melody was flattened with the diatonic sledgehammer.  Should be a sweeter scale there.                      
Doublin 7.20 Slow down the drones in the beginning, and come in at half-time... later on... pick up the tempo where the jig comes in... 1 min into it, slow it down again.  From 1:30 forward, I like it much better. A jazz drum kit would have worked better than the standard.                      
The Hubbard Saga 7.50 Very nice sweet strings.. the tremolos are well done... although the voice oohs don't quite follow in key, seems to me... Progressions are well tied together, voicing is not overkill... good job. Adding one instrument at a time is a nice trick during builds. Ya lose me at 2:00 where the pizzicato comes in... falls back together for a saving grace... at 2:45 the soft ascent I absolutely love!... This is the kind of patience needed where it seemed rushed to me.                      
Trio 6.00 Sorry, this just loses me. Where's the glue this month? No cohesiveness.                      
Adagio Interlude 8.20 Well... this is a bit more like it.  Simple layered woodwinds follow a sweet and simple flow.  Not overkilled like the ones I just listened to.  Seems like a bridge is needed around 2:00 because it gets a bit redundant... a key change might have done the trick... or a timpani roll on the low side of the slope. hehh!... overall nice job. Relaxing and fluid.  Needs a change somewhere, though.  Love the strings.                      
War March 8.60 Should have tried the orchestral drum kit, and filtered it a bit so the rolls are no faster than 64ths, because it almost sounds like a buzz, as opposed to a drum roll.  At almost 3:00 the change is nice, but could have used more expression to give it more dynamics.  heheh!.. like the descending detune before the slowed tempo at about 4:00... Nicely done.                      
Romantic Suite 3 8.30 Nice intro.. you've got my attention... smooth and sweet. Slow strings could use a bit more chorus... At 2:07 the harmonies get kinda tangled up, and sounds detuned... Reminds me of the Sound of Music in parts... needs more dynamics and power where the piece becomes more involved... the smoother, slower parts, on the other hand, are perfect.  Just a bit on the over-orchestrated side... could have gotten away with simpler arrangements in my opinion.... then it wouldn't sound as muddy.  I used your sound font, by the way, so don't blame the player. haha!... nice job, overall.                      
Lost Memories 9.00 Sibelius version is best.  Excellent full sound, yet a simple arrangement. I wish I could do this. hehe!  So many good things about this one, so I'll only comment on what I think it lacks... I think slow strings could have been used to bridge the progressions, and a more complex melody could have been developed instead of the ascending and descending arpeggios... This composer knows the score, though. It's obvious. Bravo!                      
Battle of Magic 8.50 Interesting... sidenote here: Is EVERYONE on a minor key thing this month?  The violins are beautifully written... This piece is dynamic, but then what?  I am expecting something to follow besides silence... huh?  It's not that it's too short... it sounds unfinished.                      
Haunted 8.00 I like the structure and the odd voices. Doesn't exactly sound like what the title implies it might, this instead sounds like a march among the toadstools in the black forest or something.. heh... but I'll not downscore for that... Overall, very cool, but another one that just ENDS unexpectedly, and leaves me wondering... huh?                      
CINEMATIC                          
Journey in my Dreams 8.60 heh!.. cool bends.... This one catches my ear right away... I could do without the squeaky toy percussion sound (that's what happens when you transpose the drum track hehehe!) Sort of an oriental feel... interesting percussion with the steel drums into the 2nd minute... unexpected, so it worked well...  Overall... just a tad busy.. Strength of this piece is the diversity of sounds and instrument choices.                      
Twilight Journey 7.90 Switch the steel string guitar on track 1 to nylon, and the crispyness is subdued a bit for a mellower sound. This piece is a bit too quantized and exact in timing... Well written melodies and harmonies could have been worked into something more flowing and not so regimented.  Try the studio drum kit, also..                      
What a Fool I Was 9.00 This is a great tune!... I played around with the arrangement, and liked this better: trk1:grand piano, 2:tremolo strings 3:french accordian 4:sect.strings 5:mixchoir 6:sect.strings 7:trumpet 8:nylon guitar 9:mixchoir 10:jazz kit 11:violin 12:viola 13:violin 14:nylon guitar 15:mixchoir 16:dist.guitar                      
Ants and Fairys Dance 8.80 ooohh... nice halo pad to put the edge on those strings! hehe!.. very nice touch... Could have toned that down though, when the melody came in, cuz it sounds muddy, and that sweet melody gets lost like a pretty girl with too much make-up. The melodies sound a little too much like the automated sequences from "Jammer"... If that's the program you used, try playing around with different numbers to get away from the preset progressions... a little breezier and a different scale here and there would have pulled it out of that rut.  Composition-7, instrument choices-9.5, expression-7, overall-8.8 just cuz it made me smile. heh!                      
Willabum's Final Adventure 9.50 I know who composed this one... the arrangement gives it away. Once again, I'm blown away. Progressive, Dynamic, Fluid, and tells a story. I am green from head to heel with envy.                      
The Market 8.90 Very clean and clear. Too much chorus on the piano muds it up, but voices work well together, overall, and do not get overcomplicated. Nice, simple melody threads it together nicely, and the break is placed in the best spot it could have... yet not predictable.. if that makes any sense, heh!                      
Midnight 9.30 Wow! whistle me an etherial tune. I like this one. whew! 'nuff said.                      
Emerald 8.40 Just a bit muddy, but a beautiful concept. Spend a few more hours on working the instruments together, and It'd rate a 9.0                      
Brave New World 8.00 OK, I'm almost awake now, after hearing so many cinematic tunes. (all from the same movie?) heheh!...  This one moves in a very interesting manner, progressing unexpectedly into a feeling of anticipation, and then... and then... and then... oh fooey... becomes redundant and fizzles out. An ingenius idea that went sour, methinks... PLEASE, though, don't toss this in the ash can... DEVELOP it... it's a keeper!                      
Duke Nuke Play 8.80 Yeah, this would work in a 'puter game, and the minor key stuff offsets the funkadelic rhythms in an interesting way. Bassline could be more powerful, cuz a melodic, syncopated bassline works Sooooooo well here... think of Chris Squire of "YES" ... how would he have fit that bassline in there? .. ummm hmmm... Can ya hear it?  This is a cool, catchy tune that almost woke me up from this coma I'm in. hehe... good job... seriously.                      
POP - ROCK                          
Hypocrite 8.60 Simple and elegant, this one starts out sweet and "eastern folksey"... I am surprised how nice the simple strumming of that guitar works, and doesn't leave me feeling like something is missing... simplicity works here.  Melody isn't quite as interesting as I had hoped, though.. kind of like a flat spot on the edge of a good knife.                      
Turn Off That Awful Noize 4.00 Ouch. Good idea. This arpeggiated concoction of distorted voices makes me wanna hit the volume QUICK! Way too redundant and ... ugh.. sorry.... This one just flat out doesn't agree with me.                      
Dreaming Away 7.20 Nice idea, but underdeveloped and boring as a result at first.... I do like the sax, and at the key change, my interest peaked a bit... This one has some clips I like very much, and others that bore me to tears... I don't get it.. Sorry I can't nail it down better than that, it's just the way it strikes me.                      
Let's Play 4.50 Boring, boring, boring.  Three chords is too many in this case. Only part I like is the echoes bouncing off of the simple melody. That part works. Extract it and try something else with that idea.                      
Blow by Blow 4.20 Oh no... not another 3-chord garage band special! Again.. bores me to tears.  I will suggest though, that you listen to some tunes by KANSAS, because this will show you how to give dynamics to these progressions.                      
BLUES - SWING                          
                           
COUNTRY - WESTERN                          
Pass the Jug, Jethro   Yeehaw! now I'm awake! Wish I could score this one, but it's mine. I'd give it a 9 if I could, though. yuk-yuk!                      
JAZZ                          
Hobble Skirt 1914 9.00 Sounds like "Big-Tiny Little" on his honky-tonk down at the ol' Straw Hat Pizza.  hehhe...what's with the "whoop whoop's" tossed in there.. heheh.. Now it reminds me of a clown routine in the center ring. Nice offbeat carnivalesque rag with enough surprises to give me a chuckle. Good job!                      
TECHNO - NEW AGE                          
                           
AMBIENT                          
River Harp in China 6.00 Yep that sounds like China, but couldn't be cuz it's so damn LOUD, and China isn't that close.. Had to adjust my main volume to 20% and the volume on the player to about 25% just to get rid of the distortion.  Neat idea here, but you caught me on a bad night when Oriental music just doesn't grab me. heh! (just kidding)... For what it is, it's good. I just don't like it, no offense.                      
EXPERIMENTAL                          
Sunny Day 6.00 Not all that abstract, experimental, and not fusing with my ears very much at all. Another oriental mode that ain't reaching me.                      
Knight Time 6.00 Boring, and sounds like another eastern melody... uh, oh..  I'm getting ill. Sorry, but this one just ain't gonna wash.                      
OTHERS - UNKNOWN                          
Roving Song 6.50 Where is this one "roving" to?.....or from?                      
Frame Work 7.50 Obviously, "Strike Alley" was this one's counterpart.  Off the wall to the point that it's worth more than if it weren't quite so strange. Extra point and a half from last month's score for perserverence. :) Keep on gettin' wierd, man! hehe!                      
Bless Manhattan 8.70 Sweet and hymn-like with obvious emotion behind it.  Further development would make this one really shine. Seriously, a real keeper, this one... Work on it... Develop it.. Make me FEEL the sadness then make the glory punch through it... I can feel it now, but I had to really listen... Make it more obvious, your intent here. Nice work.                      
Fantasy for Organ 8.80 Watch your volume with the flutes... they tend to distort easily. I like this idea very much. Interesting you don't use a single organ voice here, as the title would suggest... Flutes, winds, and a couple of bones... heh.. actually work quite well...                      
                           
TOTAL AVERAGE 7.54