So I've been writing a lot more stuff for concert performance lately - I have a wind quintet piece being performed in less than 24 hours (!) plus a clarinet quartet in a few weeks, and a sax quartet which I'll get performed at some point.
Today I thought I'd just have some fun with chords and harmonies.

Also! It is now THREE WEEKS until I move to Glasgow to commence my masters in composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

A wild Forty-Two appears!

This is for everyone who remembers me and wonders what I've been up to.
It's been about six and a half years since my first OHC on this site and I definitely feel I've come a long way in my composition because of it. I haven't been very active here over the last year but that doesn't mean I haven't been composing!

In fact, I am very proud to tell everyone that I am headed to Glasgow in September this year, to start a masters degree in composition at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland! This conservatory was recently ranked in the top 3 performing arts schools worldwide. I am super excited about this opportunity and am more certain than ever that composition is what I want to do with my life.

This would never have happened without the countless composition and feedback opportunities offered by sites such as this and battleofthebits.org (thank you for introducing me to that!) Playing a wide variety of repertoire in a wide variety of ensembles has also considerably broadened my compositional toolbox.

So what is this piece, you ask? Well, at the end of last year, I decided to do what the conductor of my university's wind band has been asking me to do for years, and write a work for them, because you're only young once. This live recording was taken from a rehearsal (as the concert performance kind of fell apart a bit...). They struggled a little in parts, but this being my first ever work for wind band, I wrote a bit differently to what they were used to. It also took just slightly longer than an hour to write, of course (more like a month...), but I still wanted to share it with everyone.
I also now have in the works a wind quintet, which will be performed later on this year. I feel like a proper composer now :)

I'm also going to do a slight plug/advertisement/whatever it is, here. Postgraduate study is very expensive, especially as an international student. If anyone has enjoyed my music over the years and is able and willing to lend some support, I would appreciate any small amount!
https://www.gofundme.com/stuarts-postgraduate-study

blame battleofthebits.org

Probably takes the record for my shortest ever OHC entry, but I put a bunch of stuff in that I felt represented my own compositional journey across the years :)

Last OHC I can do in a while because of uni starting up. Bit rushed but back to my normal orchestral style.

Because I had so much fun last time. Eventually hopefully I'll get accustomed to the famitracker environment and get some presets set up so I can write quicker in it.

I wasn't really feeling my first couple of attempts so I just did this in the last twenty minutes

so in other news I joined my uni's handbell ensemble a month ago

I kind of ran out of steam a bit on this one

More wholetone goodness

This is all I managed to do in half an hour

Only had about 40 minutes for this one due to arriving so late, otherwise I would have opened it out a bit more.

A slightly different style today.

A bit of a pastiche of one of my favourite bands, Tangerine Dream.
Please excuse the occasional clipping :(

so... a girl I've had a crush on for a while rejected me today... wrote this to cheer myself up :D

Sorry about being late! I attempted too much :(

hello again
and goodbye again for the next two months or so

My last entry for a few months, I think. I went for more of a 'soundscape' than a piece this time, just for fun.

Some more fun with new sounds.

so this is what happens when I set down random notes and try to get something vaguely coherent out of them.

My shortest one for years, I think.

I got some new sounds so it'll be a while before I can have enough experience with them to get the best out of them.

Sorry about the ending, couldn't think of anything else to do in time.

always have to remember, life will continue and might even improve.

Another piano piece.

A piano piece, because I felt like doing a piano piece, and actually making it playable this time.

Check out my album! https://stuartrynn.bandcamp.com/album/sketches

Hopefully I'll have my album out by next Friday!

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm back! For this week, anyway.

I wanted to do something clever and new to celebrate OHC300 but of course I couldn't, and I'll probably end up doing something great for OHC371 or something which nobody will care about because it's not a special number :(
But I think there are some nice bits here.

Some more experimentation on how far I can stretch one basic chord.

Going away to Europe for two weeks next Wednesday :)

This would have been more apt for me next week, as I'm then going on a two and a half week trip to Europe (and will miss two compos). But here you go anyway.

I didn't have enough time to do a really long piece, so I'm sorry if this one ends a little prematurely.

Because I'm feeling really imaginative with my titles today.
Restarted everything and did something completely different twenty minutes in again because what I had done felt stupid. So here's my stress-reliever piece #34256. (was stressing over uni work this morning)

This one's really quiet this time. Plus long and repetitive. But it was an experiment, so we'll see how it worked.

Lately I've taken to going to the nearby beach during breaks at uni (literally 10 minute bus ride away) and just sitting and letting my thoughts wander. So this is that.

I had to leave slightly early today so here's a very quiet and hopefully not too boring repetitive track that I wasn't really able to fully realise the potential of.

Started over twenty minutes into the compo, so here's something rushed and repetitive.

I'm really sorry about being late! I got distracted playing Minecraft all morning so I missed the start by about 25 minutes :(

I spent way too long on bits that I shouldn't have. This is why I don't do drum tracks that often.

I tried something different today. Wasn't as great as I was hoping, but meh.

also check out http://weeklybeats.com/#/marimbal for my weekly beats stuff, most of which I really like.

I really didn't like how it was starting out but it seems to have ended okay, so I guess all is well.

Another simple little piece today.

Tried to use my new EWQL stuff today.

Some more experiments.

A bit repetitive this time.

Some more ambient stuff.

Because bagpipes.

So I decided to experiment with Sibelius's guitar and drum sounds a bit.

Just writing whatever came into my head, and it wasn't anything particularly brilliant today.

Had to reupload again very late because the mp3 was silent somehow.

I'll tack on a better ending later on.

Something new, for me.
This is electronic, not live.

I wasn't really feeling it today.

Ironically, I was feeling incredibly dissatisfied with my piece all the way through this compo so I stopped as quickly as possible. I don't seem to be able to do anything new and interesting anymore :(

I've been listening to too much Debussy.

This was a bit rushed because I started over twice. So, the piano sounds a bit clunky at times. Just try and ignore that.

Uni stress prevented me from composing as effectively as I would have liked. So, this one's a bit shorter and not as fleshed-out as normal.

Internet is slow today so I'm making it 96kbs.

You won't like me when I'm angry.

I did some harmonization experimenting today. I think I like the result.

Poor Santa Claus, only able to venture out once a year.

Ok so I experimented some more this week and it didn't turn out as nice as some of my other ones. So, I regard this piece as a 'miss' in my collection of hits and misses.

Time for some more 42 generic ambient chordy stuff which I love to do so much

Another short one, for various reasons.

Peace...

You might want to turn up your volume slightly.

So this one is a lot more repetitive than usual because I started it half an hour in.

So I originally hated this entry as I was making it, but then I discovered that neat piano effect and that made everything okay.

mine somehow ended up boring and repetitive again

Mysterious, yet beautiful.

Only two minutes this time! Don't know why... something about the faster pace I guess.

well, maybe sometimes you can lose hope. But the other times... well, I dunno. Maybe just never hope. That might be simpler.

As an aside, as of this OHC I have participated in exactly one-third of all OHCs!

Thank you OHC for helping me to improve and refine my composition skills, and for providing a weekly event for me to always look forward to!

Took me a while to get started so mine is a bit more minimalist and repetitive this week. But maybe you'll like it anyway, I dunno.

Haven't had time to listen to this the whole way through so hope sibelius 7 hasn't molested it in any way.

Bit out of practice at this.

woo

My first OHC with Sibelius 7. I think I'll stick to Sibelius 6 in future, it seems more suited to my style of composition, and doesn't vomit over random moments while exporting.
Seriously, my first half a dozen export tries had random bangs and other stupid noises inserted here and there.
I realy hope this works.

I was a little pressed for time this week so I just threw down some random chords, strung them together somehow and called it a song.
Meh.

Sorry about being so so late... had to write most of this on another computer which just had midi sounds available, so had to redo all the instruments on this one.

Then this stupid electric piano sample kept being stupid so I had to redo a couple times.

In which I discover how to mix sound sets.

Probably a bit soft, again.

Some more orchestral stuff

In which I do some even more wild chord experiments.

Pretty flowers.

Another boring rushed orchestral piece

Sorry about my internet messing up IRC so much.

Discovered some cool new effects in Sibelius today. Will try and use them more in future.

Because I made a 'Lonely Technology' ages and ages ago.

This is a fzfzfz entry, not a running entry, just so you know. :)

not as good as usual
i dunno

I hate them

Parts of this took way longer to write than they should have.

A simple 2-minute-ish loop

Dedicated to a person very special to me.

A stranger in a strange land.

another generic predictable 42 song

You know the type.

Again, you might have to turn up your volume for this, since Sibelius is really cowardly when it comes to the maximum volume you can set for something.

My happiness at having completed a stressful uni assignment last night!

Yay, even more rushed this time.

The end of a new day.

So rushed, yet so nice.

You might want to turn up your volume a bit for this, as always.

I think this might be my longest entry ever, which isn't saying much. But I do like this one. :)

I wish I'd had time to make a proper ending, but drum beats take way too long to get right, that's why I've done without them the last few weeks.

Also known as filler #148.

Imagine that an old film is playing. You know the sort.

I never expected this song to work, but it has, somehow.

The start of a new day.

Best I could do with the time given.
You might have to turn up your volume a bit for this.

If only this could be the OAAHHC (One And A Half Hour Compo) :(
But, well, here you go anyway. Another short little song.

I did enjoy making this one.

I wish I had made it longer but there's only so much you can do in an hour.

I'm getting a bit sick of Sibelius's lack of good samples, but I don't want to have to learn another program :(

A bunch of copy+paste. Hope you like it.

Something I'd sure like to dream of.

Something to do with a sword

Spaceship: a ship that has space in it.

I can think of many ways to improve on this (the song, that is) but I'm out of time. :(
(Now if only I had a time-travel machine!)

Oh, what man can create out of nothing...

I just knew I was going to get to use the glock today!

A thief almost gets captured.

Make up your own story for it, I can't be bothered.

Having to leave early sucks :(

Something that I whipped up in half an hour or so.

That was fun

Some random song I thought might sound good.

I'm a lot happier with this one than I was with my last submission. I think Sibelius felt like playing fair this time.

Yay first compo submission. Hope I followed all the rules.

If you get annoyed by the sax alternately being too loud and too soft, blame it on Sibelius 6 >:(.