Final Voyage of the St. Susan

This piece is probably the best thing I've ever written up to this point and it's really inspiring me to do more now. It's probably going to be the final movement in a symphony of 4 movements, but I don't know quite yet.

The St. Susan~

is a fictional ship from my imagination. The ship was supposedly carrying multiple civilian passengers and some very important cargo, but for whatever reason [It was believed to be a hurricane] it never made it to port at its destination.

The name of the ship is derived from someone special to me, but who knows If i'm special to her. The voyage of the ship then, is symbolic of a time in our personal relationship.

The Theory Behind It~

Final Voyage is the first piece I've written knowing solid music theory basics. However, it does not follow any sore of predetermined chord progression.

The first movement of the piece itself is an allegretto section, featuring a bass drum solo, introduction to the oboe motif and string orchestra accompaniment.

It then accelerates into an allegro section with a sea-shanty feel to it, which morphs into a round before slowing down to its largo, and minor key, section.

In the minor key section the motif first introduced by the oboe becomes the central theme. and grows until we reach the final allegro section, which is based off a theme introduced by the bass section at the beginning of the first allegro piece.

Because of how lame I am, there is no bass clarinet part. I'll go out on a limb and say the bassoon part should do fine.

Inspiration~

Obviously someone who is apparently named Susan, but musically it was inspired by a user on here who goes by WizardWalk. Thats also where I got the idea to use the player. Go check him out too!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Orchestra
• chris
• rodier
• ship
• symphonic
• oboe
• concerto
• harp
• minor
• key

[Ilumiknight]

Woah at 4:00 now that's some incredibly great stuff. Cant help but feel it ended a tad slowly, but it was still insanely good. It was quite the pleasure to listen to, keep up the great work.

[Rodier1128]

@Ilumiknight what about they ending that you were displeased with? I can see what you mean by slow, but is the general speed of the ending the only thing? or is there more?

[Ilumiknight]

@Rodier1128 Well I feel like it could have ended with a big chord at 4:32 instead of fading out the bells and drum. I feel that that can be a great way to start a song, but I feel that a great song should end on a high note. There's a lot of energy at the end and I like that, but I thought it should have maintained the energy for the last note (like the song is building to something). Just my personal thoughts. Great song overall though, I look forward to any new work you do. :)

[Rodier1128]

@Ilumiknight Thanks for your detailed insight! I'll take a look at those parts & your thoughts later.

As for the ending, I didn't want to invoke a mood of happiness.. The song is almost a requiem for a ghost ship, which is strange because of the fast parts?

[Ilumiknight]

@Rodier1128 Oh and at 1:28 I feel that the snare should have been a bit louder. Oh and at 1:52 that's some really great harmony going there. The short note in the melody at 2:33 feels to me like it should be a wee bit longer. Perhaps make the strings (pink) louder at 2:40? The melody at 3:05 is really great, although it might sound even better if it was a wee bit faster for that part. Perhaps you could have extended it a bit with the part at 1:52 repeated before it ended. Just food for thought.

[Rodier1128]

@Ilumiknight I think you are right about the dynamics, if I had an actual orchestra or any sort of producing skills, all those little things would have been fixed. however, I simply do not know how any of that sort of thing works, sadly :(( thanks for the input.

As for the speed of the part at 3:05, its possible the tempo could have been sped up a little. If you notice, however, that melody is played faster at 0:38

[Rodier1128]

@WizardWalk Thanks ^__^

[hrodier1961]

I am very impressed with this Chris! Very artistic! Very moving piece of Music! Did you really make up this song ? If you did, It was really excellent! I liked how the balls were showing the high and low notes while the song was playing. Very brilliant idea! You have talent in even writing your own music! You are a very talented Son! Keep this up and you will be soaring high in your future for sure! I am very proud of you! You have an amazing gift with music! I Love it.

[WizardWalk]

Excellent work! I think it sounds great! Very nice sense of melody and orchestration, I hope there'll be lots more to come! :-)