Forward March

An orchestral composition featuring crazy timpani parts.

I employed a new workflow when composing this piece. I used a piano sketch track to come up with ideas, an orchestra track for instruments with note-controlled pitch, and a percussion track for everything else.

I wrote the timpani parts for 4 timpani tuned to E1, G1, C2, and E2. The pedaling was controlled using pattern automations to a range of ±4 semitones. They should be theoretically possible to play.

Something I learned from this piece is that when the bass drum is repeatedly played at short intervals, the mute articulation provides more clarity, but when it is played sparsely, the sustain articulation provides a fuller sound.

In my opinion, the loop transition sucks; the modulation by -4 going into the transition is way too abrupt. One solution is to make the transition start with the previous tonic, then lead into a dominant of the home tonic towards the end. Before the transition, the timpani should also descend to continue the pattern instead of zigzagging to hit the dominant at the end. I might implement these changes if I revisit this piece.

By the way, here's 2 tips for FL Studio that I couldn't find in the documentation:

Shift-clicking the progress bar on the playlist will set where the auto scroll starts. I clicked on bar 2 to make the auto scroll start at bar 2.

If you automate 6 controls in a single pattern, the solid fill below the automations that visually blocks the notes will disappear. I don't think FL Studio has an option to enable this behavior by default, so I just created dummy controls and automated them to their lowest values until I reached the 6 controls threshold.

* Instruments *
Timpani
Tubular bells
Bass drum
Flutes
Oboes
French Horns
Trombones
Bass trombone
Tuba
Tam tam
Piano

* Software *
DAW | FL Studio 2024
Percussion | Superior Drummer 3, Orchestral Percussion SDX
Piano | Native Instruments - NOIRE
Orchestra | Cinematic Studio Series
Reverb | Valhalla Room