Christel's Loquacious Lair

Musical Compositions

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Welcome to the coolest page on my website! Here you will find all kinds of MIDIs of musical compositions written by me.

I use a combination of two music scoring programs to write music, which are Finale Allegro 2000 (for final scores) and Voyetra Music Write (for goofing around). The time taken to compose each piece ranges from a few days to a few months. I started seriously composing when I was about 15, and during high school I've had 5 string orchestra pieces performed in concert and I won 3rd place in the state in a musical composition competition.

During college I've had pieces of varying mediums performed and recorded by amateurs and professionals. These mediums include 2 movements of a violin, cello, and piano trio, 2 String quartets, a percussion quartet, 2 movements of a piece for clarinet and piano, a piano duo, a pierrot ensemble, a solo baritone sax piece as well as a solo bassoon piece, a symphony and MORE!

Many of the older pieces here are for string orchestra, but the midis are played in piano because back then, I used one channel for each string instrument on Finale and it cause certain pitches to be cut off and it was just a mess - if you know about MIDI you know what I'm talking about. All the new pieces written while I was in college (which I still am) are played by the actual midi instruments. Some of the older college compositions do not include the tempo changes, because I wasn't aware of how to do that back then - so it's all the same tempo.

My style is generally very tonal. I have an obsession with minor keys, chromatic mediants, and chord progressions based on mediants. However I deviate into modal, even atonal music every once in a while. I enjoy writing music of intense emotion, often of a meloncholy or solemn nature. Of course I have my upbeat pieces as well. In fact I think my emotions are somewhat evenly dispersed throughout my collection.
 
Now please enjoy the works of Christel Bernadette Vinot.

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Heart, We Will Forget Him!

^ March 21, 2007 ^

This is Mvmt III of a song cycle I'm writing about love's greatness and tragedy. It's inspired by the break up of me and my first love. In this movement, I set the music to Emily Dickinson's poem, "Heart, We Will Forget Him!" Which is about the struggle of trying to forget. The very last line of text says, "I will remember him." Meaning, to me, that it's impossible to forget. The music expresses my depression, misery, and insanity.

Slaughtered Past

^ Updated 6/22/05
I started writing this "semi-symphonic" piece over Winter Break '04 (inspired by the music in "Pirates of the Carribean") and finally started working on it again after school let out. I've never written for such a large instrumentation, so I consider it a big step in my composing. It is likely to be performed by the Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra.
Instrumentation: String orchestra (violins 1 and 2, violas, cellos, basses), trumpet/s, piano, tubular bells (aka church bells, aka chimes), snare drum, and bass drum
Length: Approx. 3:22

Futile Realm of Unfulfilled Dreams

^ 3/13/04
My first piece that includes more than just strings. In this midi you will actually hear a snare drum and choir come in near the end. The drum doesn't really sound like a snare, and the choir doesn't sound incredibly real either, but it's the best I could do with what I have. This is one of my favorites.

Deciphering Existence

^ Last Updated 5/9/04
One of my few midis played in strings rather than the usual piano, since most of my pieces tend to sound awkward and weird in strings. For some reason there are a few notes left out, but they aren't incredibly noticable. This was performed by the LHS Chamber Orchestra at our 2004 Spring Concert.

Intellectual Dominance

^ 5/3/03
One of only 2 of my completed pieces in 3/4. (The scherzo duet is the other one).

When I Think of You

^ Last Updated 5/9/04
Formerly known as "I Yearn for You," I changed the name to better fit a specific theme to enter into the PTA Reflections Musical Composition Competition (2004). Along with the name being changed, the piece itself changed drastically. I ended up winning 3rd place in the state.

Never Forgotten

^ 7/27/03
Just a nice, simple piece.

Victory

^ Last Updated 3/29/03
This is one of the few midis played in strings instead of the usual piano. Most of the other pieces tend to sound a lot more awkward in strings. This piece was performed by the LHS Chamber Orchestra at the 2003 PTSA concert.

In the Eyes of the Victim

^ Written Somewhere Between 2001 and 2002
This was my very first string orchestra piece ever written, not counting arrangements. It was performed by the LHS Chamber Orchestra at the 2003 PTSA concert.

Escape of the Lost Fairy

^ January 18, 2007 ^

My latest piece, "Escape of the Lost Fairy", is a programmatic piece which tells the story of a lost fairy trying to escape from the dragon's keep. This will be performed by BENT FREQUENCY, a professional new music group. (I tried more with using human playback in this file, but some dynamics are really messed up. Sorry!)

Poema de Amor

^ 7/22/05

This lovely piece is for violin and piano. A violinist friend asked me to write a piece for him, so here it is.

Mistrust

^ 7/9/04
There are some shifty characters out there. You never know when someone might have ulterior motives.

An Exciting New Era

^ 6/2/04
One of my few overall happy and upbeat pieces. This expresses my eagerness for what's to come, since high school has just ended.

Scherzo (Duet for Violin & Cello)

^ 7/24/04
This is (believe it or not) my first successful duet. And (believe it or not) it only took a couple hours to write. Before you start playing it and say "holy crap this is lame," wait a little bit until the middle, when the lameness subsides. Unfortunatly the lameness returns at the end, and the ending extends way too much. It doesn't sound like a scherzo at first, but the middle is why I called it that... anyway the contrast of the beginning and the end to the middle was just kind of funny (to me), also contributing to the title.

Knavish Swordplay

^ 8/5/03
Kind of has a little bit of a video game feel to it.

Vengeful Thoughts...

^ 10/1/03
Full Title: Vengeful Thoughs of the Unjustly Incarcerated
The whole name of this piece wouldn't fit in the link, so there it is. This is supposed to sound sarcastic, comedic, and disturbing at the same time. You be the judge.

Depths of Despair: The Death

^ 9/15/03
There's a part true and part fictional story that goes with this.

Merciless Pursuit

^ Last Updated 7/3/03
Not a whole lot to say about this one.

Pandemonium

^ 3/29/03
This was performed by the LHS Chamber Orchestra at our 2003 Spring Concert.

Salvation of a Dire Civilization

^ 3/4/03
This was performed by the LHS Chamber Orchestra at our 2003 Spring concert.

Glass Petals and Polka Dots

^ 9/5/06
This is a piano duet which was performed in September, 2006. I used a transformed version of an old piece (Mistrust) as the entire middle section. It now contains fun things like chromatic modulations, contrasting legato sections and on occasion, a lowered 5th scale step of the harmonic minor scale.

I. The Winter Sky

III. The Summer Sky

^ 4/24/06 Mvmts I & III - A Canvas of Malleable Sky
The above is 2 of what will eventually be 4 movements. If you're wondering why I skipped Mvmt. 2, it just wasn't working out so I did 3 instead. These pieces represent the skies of the seasons, so, have fun with them.

Mvmt I - Plagued by Instability

Mvmt II - Futile Attempts

^ 7/4/05 Mvmts I & II - Clarinet and Piano Project
This piece wasn't meant to have 2 movements. I didn't want a second movement, I just did it for the class. The first movement is of many varying tempos, none of which are expressed in this midi (program restrictions). I was very pleased with the first movement; it expressed how I felt about my life. The second movement was like an aftershock; I was so pleased with what I had done, there was no room for anything else. So, I simply attempted at a second movement, even though it was quite hopeless; hence the title, "Futile Attempts". Although I did manage to express another aspect in my life, which is also reflected by the title. You may notice that it ends quite unsettlingly; twas my purpose.

Midnight Drama

^ 11/23/04 (Project between projects)
This wasn't an official composition for my composition class, but it was written to be recorded as one of them. I didn't like my other compositions well enough, so I subsituted them for this one, which I really like. This is the original version in f minor, but the final was transposed to g minor ro make it easier on the string players performing it. I personally like f minor more, but g worked out fine. Oh, and it's for string quartet.

Escape From Ridicule

^ 11/23/04 (Project 5)
The theme of this project was form. Mine in particular was based on variations. Section A is the theme, section B is a variation with changes in the harmonic rhythms plus some grace notes (added later, no in this version), and section C is octave displacement of the theme. You can trace hints of another piece I wrote in this piece, the background music on my home page. There are also traces of another piece I started a while back, but you won't find it on my website. Even though some themes of my old pieces turn up in this one, they are in a completely different context and I changed them drastically.

Mysterious Dream

^ 10/9/04 (Project 3)
This piece was written for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, and violin. One thing that was required was to have the soprano sing the same note the entire piece, so you can hear the high D the whole time. The violin has a little obligato that occures the last two measures of each phrase. This is the text I was required to set into the piece:
[what did I dream, what did I dream]
[I do not know, the fragments fly like chaff, the fragments fly like chaff]
[yet strange my mind was tickled so I cannot help but laugh]
[what did I dream, what did I dream]
Nothing was originally repeated, I did that in order to make longer phrases, and it just seemed to work better.

Aeophrygiocrian

^ 9/24/04 (Project 2)
This project was all about different types of scales and modes. I chose to use A Aeolian mode for the first half of the A section and the entire recapitulation, A Phrygian for the second half of the A section, and Eb Locrian for the development. I was also required to mix a whole tone scale in with that, so the whole tone and Locrian scales alternate in the B section (I don't really like those, expecially the whole tone). Oh, and if you didn't already notice, the title is a mix of the words Aeolian, Phrygian, and Locrian.

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