Over the Northern Mountains (Cold :P)

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West
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Over the Northern Mountains (Cold :P)

Post by West »

I started working on a new piece a couple of days ago. Instead of just beginning with a musical idea like I normally do, I tried coming up with a setting and a feel, and working from that. I was picturing whirling snow, strong winds and steep mountain passes, and thus...

Over the Northern Mountains

Naturally, this is still very, very rough and unfinished. Musically I'm going for a "perilous flight" kind of theme, but I want it to be useable as a battle theme as well, so I will keep it quite rhythmic throughout.

And yeah, maybe I should give Michael Flatley a call.
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Post by Sapient »

brrrr
/me shivers

:lol:

For some reason it made me think more of ships more than mountains. "Keep a weather eye open and brace up that scuttlebutt, Sea dog!"

Yes, it's good. I am not a musician, but I like what I hear so far.

Too short, though. It needs some length and variations.
http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/User:Sapient... "Looks like your skills saved us again. Uh, well at least, they saved Soarin's apple pie."
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West
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Post by West »

Ships, huh? boucman said it reminded him of riding across great plains. So now we have mountains, plains and sea. Might prove to be a quite versatile piece of music this one ;)

Thanks Sapient, glad you like it.

edit: Now that I listen to it again, I can actually see what you mean. The rolling, whooshing percussion crescendos in the intro was meant to symbolize storm winds, but it *does* sound kind of like ocean waves too.
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Post by doofus-01 »

Hi,

I'm not a musician and can't add much to this, but just wanted to say I liked it and hope a longer version makes it into the Wesnoth core. Also, I could see it being used for any number of scenes.

Keep up the good work.
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West
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Post by West »

Thanks doofus-01.
Sapient wrote:I am not a musician
doofus-01 wrote:I'm not a musician
For the record: not being a musician does not invalidate anyone's opinion. Far from it. After all, I write the music for the players, not the small percentage of the community who are musicians. So by all means, if you have any thoughts on the music, don't be afraid to share them just because you're "not a musician". Actually, non-musicians are often better at appraising the mood and feel of a piece, since they listen on an emotional level rather than a technical/theoretical one like musicians do. I wonder if this may be the reason why so relatively few people drop by and comment in this section of the forum.

Actually, I would really like to see more players and faction/era/campaign authors pop in here once in a while. When it comes down to the line, we are writing the music for you. Don't miss out on the chance of influencing the direction of the game soundtrack.
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Post by thespaceinvader »

/me takes the hint...

This feels quite sprightly, almost celebratory to me - it doesn't have the edge of menace that a pursuit implies, to my ears. There's a feel of urgency, a rush to be somewhere, but i don't get the feel of a chase. And it certainly feels a little too sprightly to be a flight through mountains - people don't tend to go fast through mountains... I fall into the hurrying across plains camp, i think.

There's also a fairly significant component which feels like a jig or hornpipe - the strings at the beginning, particularly. The middle third sheds this impression and takes on a darker feel. Maybe some (more) brass would help it, i'm not sure.

I am also not a musician. Well, i'm a very (6 or 7 years...) lapsed trumpet player, but that's about it...
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West
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Post by West »

thespaceinvader wrote:This feels quite sprightly, almost celebratory to me - it doesn't have the edge of menace that a pursuit implies, to my ears. There's a feel of urgency, a rush to be somewhere, but i don't get the feel of a chase.
You might be right. Maybe... um... the protagonists are struggling across the mountain to be in time to break a siege? ;)
thespaceinvader wrote:And it certainly feels a little too sprightly to be a flight through mountains - people don't tend to go fast through mountains...
They sure don't. But the sprightly parts are rather meant to convey the weather and the grim majesty of the mountains. But after all, it doesn't matter what I had in mind while composing. All that's important is how people use the music. I just need some mental image to work from, or I'll just get lost. So it's not critical that everyone sees the same thing as me when listening.
thespaceinvader wrote:There's also a fairly significant component which feels like a jig or hornpipe
Technically, it is a jig actually :)
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Post by turin »

I agree with Sapient, it feels more ocean-y than mountain-y. I think a lot of that has to do with it having a somewhat similar feel to the music from, for example, Pirates of the Caribbean.
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Post by Jodwin »

I'm not a musician either, but from the first half I get the impression of a castle sitting on the top of a hill, with sun rising from behind it and the hero's army readying to attack the gates. And the second half makes me think of midsummer fairs and people dancing around maypoles. :?

But, it sounds good to me anyway. I'd expect something slower and more majestic feeling from a stroll along mountains. Something like what you hear in this after 1:04.
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West
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Post by West »

Jodwin wrote:But, it sounds good to me anyway. I'd expect something slower and more majestic feeling from a stroll along mountains. Something like what you hear in this after 1:04.
I'm sorry, I don't see any song on that page... or am I being dumb/blind/both?
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West
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Post by West »

New version

Still sketchy, still big gaps in the instrumentation and arrangement in places, but I'm making progress.
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Post by Redeth »

I listen and I see pirates. Pirates fighting, pirates laughing, pirates sailing and going on great adventures... Pirates everywhere :shock:

Anyways, it's pretty cool 8)
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West
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Post by West »

Redeth wrote:I listen and I see pirates. Pirates fighting, pirates laughing, pirates sailing and going on great adventures... Pirates everywhere :shock:
I don't get it.

Celtic music != Pirates

You really need to stop watching those brainless Hollywood movies :D
Redeth wrote:Anyways, it's pretty cool 8)
Thanks.

edit: Not that this qualifies as "celtic music" per se of course.
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Post by jeremy2 »

At the risk of appearing to be brainless myself, I thought of Pirates of the Carribean when I heard it. :) Very nice, though. I'll have to come back later with some more helpful comments when I've had a chance to really listen to it.
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Post by scienceguy8 »

Hooray bagpipes and horns!

Personally, I did not think of pirates, at least not that much. I tried to think of Wesnoth at the same time, and what I came up with was dwarves tossing spears and blunderbusses up to other dwarves on a higher platform. Meanwhile, fast moving troops, like wolf riders or gryphons were charging the stronghold, the dwarves holding their fire until the right moment.

Of course, when I heard the bagpipes I started thinking about another video game. Something about space fighters called Vipers and evil robots that want to destroy humanity.
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