All Activity

Hello @Loctobers! This is certainly quite interesting! After having listened to the original piece here I think I better understand how you made this orchestration and how the original piece was generated. It has a trance-like quality to it with the heavy delay effect. Your orchestration adds quite a lot of original content to the piece! Very well done! I wish you had provided a score for a more detailed review. Well done and thanks for sharing!

Hey @Alex Weidmann! I think I personally wouldn't use the chord sequence function in Musescore (if I was composing on the computer) because it would prevent me from trying to imagine what kind of stuff I could use to fill the sonic spaces of the music. Also, later, when I would want to add more parts to the piece I would probably have become accustomed to the harmony and I'd become inflexible to use different harmonic/accompanimental ideas. In general though, the reason why I prefer nowadays to write my music on paper is because I found that being able to immediately hear what I'm composing was not conducive to composing. Like in creative writing - it's like the difference between the brainstorming or quick-writing mindset and the editing and proofreading mindset. In the brainstorming or quick-writing mindset you just throw out all ideas no matter how bizarre or impractical - the goal is to just keep writing and keep the pencil moving. In the editing and proofreading mindset you weed out all the little mistakes, grammar, punctuation, spelling etc. If I compose music on the computer the two mindsets interfere with each other too much. When I'm using Musescore I'm almost always already in the editing/proofreading mindset. It's because hearing my music immediately puts me in that editing/proofreading mindset before I even have a chance to complete my musical thoughts as they were meant to be conceived. It's distracting for me. But this has turned into a rant. I can't tell what piece this was inspired by - maybe something by Vivaldi or Bach? Some of the melodic ideas are interesting! The reason why I guessed Vivaldi or Bach is because of the Baroque-like sequences you employ in some parts. But where's the soloist? Thanks for sharing!

Hello @Celloliver and welcome to the forum! This is a modest little piece! I do have to admit that often, with the double stops and two cellos playing together it can sometimes get a bit muddy. But you do often have the melody in the highest range of the cello which is a beautiful expressive tessitura for the cello. I like the main melody and I can definitely follow the melodic line throughout the duration of the piece so it seems to me like you're not a total beginner to writing music! Great job and thanks for sharing!

Hello @dhslamas! Glad to see that your really old pieces still make it to completion! I don't usually like pieces for a solo instrument because it's easy for them to degenerate into exercise-y shows of skill over actual musical content. But this is very interesting rhythmically, harmonically and melodically! The performance of course brings much to the table - did you play this yourself? Great job to whoever played it! It would be really interesting to try and orchestrate this little etude in a Stavinsky-style! What competition was this written for? Well done and thanks for sharing!

Hello @erionmahony and welcome to the forum! I really like this dark and mournful piece! You use plenty of dissonant crunchy chords left deliberately unresolved, and non-harmonic tones such as suspensions in the melody that are really heart wrenching! I really like the change of key. I am wondering though if you didn't intend to use a Contrabass section to play along with the choir rather than a solo Contrabass. In fact, it would make more sense for the whole string orchestra to be present in this piece and to slowly bring each section of the string orchestra in one by one to create a sense of building. That's what I would do. Great job and thanks for sharing!

Hey @Markus Boyd! What a brooding introduction in A minor! The transition to the main theme in A major seems a bit wonky though. The chord four bars before the Allegro begins (I can't see the bar number in the video) is a German 6th of V (a C, E, G, A#). In the classical style, this chord should resolve to V 6/4 or II, tonicizing the V - E major. Maybe you could draw out the transition into some kind of longer macro-tonal scheme to arrive at A major more smoothly? It really seems sudden and tacked on right now. Especially since that high E in the Flute goes to D# before resolving back to an E on the downbeat of the Allegro .. it definitely sounds like it wants to resolve to V. But I really like the style of this classical symphony so far! It's not quite Mozartean nor Haydnesque .. it's all your own with an idiosyncratic use of space in the orchestration that neither of the aforementioned composers practiced! I especially like the Cello and Viola line in bars 52 - 55. Another bar that bothers me is 99. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like the chord there is a suspended 7th chord? D, Fx, A, C is how I see it spelled which makes a D suspended dominant 7th chord. I am not sure how I would resolve this chord. Perhaps I expect the chromatic motion in the Bassoon to go from D#, to D down to C#? But overall this is coming along quite nicely! I'm looking forward to hearing the development section next! Great job and thanks for sharing!

If you registered after July 17th, 2022 then you're set to follow your own content automatically.

That’s an interesting method for sure, with modulation!! lol I also have a music theory workbook en route right now because I need to touch up on my education. I did drop out in 2018 so it’s been a minute. Most of my work just comes from whatever my ear decided it to be. Mostly just improvised and unplanned from the start which I know isn’t the *best* way to go about it. Definitely missing out on some cool musical techniques by doing it that way, I’m sure. i appreciate your perspective on it though! I will most likely experiment with this piece as I have done with my others and post periodic updates on what I’ve discovered in the process. Of course feedback is always a welcomed action. Or maybe I could provide insight just based on the results. Who knows! thanks Peter

Thank you so much for your comment. Every bit of feedback means a lot to me, because after the passing of my beloved teacher—the one who introduced me to classical music and supported me in my first steps as a composer—I don’t really have anyone to discuss these things with. I already noticed a funny fact: people seemed to enjoy the second part more than the final one, even though I originally thought of it as the weakest. The last part, on the other hand, which I had high hopes for, turned out to have plenty of problems—the scale of it was simply more than I could handle. I also agree that I didn’t really follow the rules of orchestration or voice leading. Only after finishing this piece did I start to realize that when you compose, you have to keep in mind not only the listener, but also the performer. You can’t write the parts in a way that makes them want to curse you for the rest of their life. As for Donizetti—it doesn’t matter that his style is so different. He was a true master, which means there’s always something valuable to learn from him. Thank you again for your suggestion.

Thank you! I'm going to fix those unplayable chords, but this is like salon music; light! I'm also going to enter anything I write, choral pieces found in boxes, but I think you guys want pretty clean threads, I might be used to more random forums. I'll try to watch that! This Ukrainian young man thing, that is my main focus this fall, not music, and thank you for making me feel welcome here!

I mean, to me you have enough material to work with already. Are you trying to get out of it to go back to the first theme? It sounds like it's headed there to me. Maybe try and think about getting back to the octave textures. One way would be weaving them in in some creative way to what you have at the end. I would keep the drive going too. This piece is really cool, btw! It had my attention immediately, and the driving nature of it is really fun and engaging. Although not similar at all, the style of this reminds me of something I wrote. Take a listen sometime; something I did with repeated textures or whatever might give you an idea. Keep us updated, sounds great so far 🙂

This is the first I've ever heard of this practice, but by all means, your education is probably more recent than mine! LoL Are you referring to the Eb Neapolitan chord in meas. 33? I actually thought that chord brought the "more hopeful" feeling you were trying to target in the A minor section. The way I approach modulation is also a bit unorthodox. I don't usually target a specific key to modulate to - I just let the music modulate wherever it feels like it should. There was one time that I modulated to a completely random key by rolling a 12-sided musician's die. LoL I thought it actually worked out quite well. I don't think your modulation is that un-smooth in this case - after all, A minor and D minor are closely related keys, being right next to each other on the circle of fifths, it shouldn't be difficult to get to one from the other. But I think, perhaps the harmonic rhythm and the timing of the modulation was a bit too predictable? That's my hunch. But don't feel compelled to change it just based on my hunch - if you want to experiment with it, perhaps doubling the harmonic rhythm of the chords of the modulation would inject some excitement into it? Those are my thoughts.

I love the work you do with the subtitles, thanks for making your music more accessible to us non-French speakers. The music is hauntingly beautiful, you're a wonderful craftsman and performer. I usually just listen to your music for enjoyment rather than critique, and even though I don't always comment, I'm always a listener. Thanks for sharing this!

Hey there! Those were just some things that stood out to me, I'm just some rando on the internet haha. The beauty of being the composer is you get the choice of taking other's thoughts how you please, it's ultimately your music 🙂 Cheers buddy

As others have said, when I compose, I think and feel mostly about the technical aspects of music. Also, I rarely experience the "correct" feelings when listening to other people's music. I might get happy and feeling relaxed when I hear music that was supposed to be sad for example (like minor is not sad for me, but I understand the idea), and anxious and maybe irritated when I hear music that is supposed to be glorious and happy, and annoyed when a theme is repeated too much - or similar. So I can't really write music to fit a certain mood, I just write what I like at the moment. Maybe when it's finished I can sort of relate it to a certain feeling. Also, I sort of think that your inner, unconscious feelings come out in the music, even if you don't think about it. I recently tried composing from a written template - like a small "poem" about someone going on a journey, and it actually sort of worked as a blueprint. But still, as soon as I get into the various parts, I just think of music theory and how to get from A to B, how to make a contrast, or should I use horn or flutes now or similar.

I wish to have more free time to help me develop more ideas. My time is very limited unfortunately. I would love to dedicate time to write another piano sonata . Maybe slowly slowly so I have to adapt to this regardless of the limited time

You're Welcome!

Thank you so much for your words and your attention my dear friend. Really appreciated it 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Thanks, as per usual, for your detailed feedback! In regards to the pizz. Staccatos, I was under the impression that it was acceptable to use for Cb. And Cll. Parts, but not for Viola & Violins? At least, that’s what I was taught in my year of college when doing extra curricular arrangements with the theory professor. But yall tend to be much more wise than I at this stuff 😅 I was never really strings-oriented and am mostly self taught so I’ll take that into account for sure. I was also unaware that there was a specific marking for Bartok! the “mf” for the bartok section was mostly for the playback. In hindsight I should’ve made that marking invisible to correct for its implausible use, IRL. I agree, the piano also should stick out a bit more. The sound used for the piano and for the viola come from the Spitfire LABS VST3 plugin. I can optimize it to be a bit louder in the left hand, using a hidden staff, similar as to how I achieved that in the original playback for “Remembrance”. and as far as the key change goes, I thought the use of the Neapolitan chord modulation provided a pleasantly unexpected movement in that section during the mod. To A minor. What would you suggest in that section to maybe smooth it out a bit more? I’ll admit I had trouble figuring out where to take it and how to move it more seamlessly to A minor. 😅 I’m not a modulation Guru, but have been lucky in some instances where while writing, the modulation ended up just working on its own without much effort based on what I wrote prior to it. My process is a bit unorthodox in honesty, since I’m fairly un-trained with composing, mostly working off of my own ear. thanks Peter!

Hey @UncleRed99! Glad to see/hear that you've finally moved on to a new piece! I think the proper name for a string quintet + piano combination would be "Piano Sextet". Traditionally for example, a duet of Violin and Cello with Piano is called a "Piano Trio", a trio of Violin, Viola and Cello with Piano would be a "Piano Quartet" and a quartet of 2 Violins, Viola, Cello with Piano would be a "Piano Quintet". So I'm just extrapolating that this would be a "Piano Sextet" based on those naming conventions. I'll address a few things that bothered me about the score before actually talking about the music: There's a few things to note here. First, when writing pizzicato strings, you don't need to add a staccato marking for the pizzicato. It's redundant considering that pizzicato is already a very percussive and separated effect. Also, you have the Bartok pizzicato at mf, followed by a regular pizzicato at forte. That doesn't really make sense considering that Bartok pizzicato is achieved by snapping the string as hard as possible so that it hits the fingerboard. The Bartok pizzicato would naturally have to be louder than the regular pizzicato just by the nature of the effect. Also, there's a special symbol for Bartok pizzicato that string players recognize: I think it would be more concise to use this symbol. Here you have the indication to play legato contradicted by the separated 8th notes. If you want the player to cancel their pizzicato playing and return to bowing you can put "arco" or "ord.". Now about the music. The first thing I noticed is that this is a very quiet piece. I had to listen to it on my Bluetooth speaker to really hear it better. But I think the problem is also that when the piano is playing the melody alone without the support of the strings, the piano melody is often simply inaudible above the accompaniment. Especially the grace notes are lost because they go by so quickly. The way to counteract that is to of course use MS Basic soundfonts for the piano so you can bring out the melody in high relief by using higher velocity values for those notes (which you can edit in the "properties" tab). Unfortunately, the Musesounds samples don't currently respond to velocity changes so you'd be forced to use the MS Basic soundfont for piano. But imo (since I do this all the time) I think the clarity of the melodic line is to me a much more sought after commodity in music than the supposedly "better" sounding Musesound sample. But that might be just me. Overall, I like the melancholy vibe of the piece! The only thing that bothers me is that the key changes seem to be inserted into the piece just for their own sake. And the modulations should be led by the melody for them to make audible sense and create a more breathtaking effect. Thanks for sharing!

Hi! Actually I just completed roughly half of my piano toccata piece inspired from living near the motor city (Detroit, MI) in my childhood... I decided to make this toccata piece since I thought the mechanistic characteristics of the genre match well with general images of the motor city... After writing nearly the half of the piece I spent many days but still have no idea how to develop further the middle climax section... Could you comment on this piece and give any suggestions how to complete this middle section? I'd really appreciate your help!

We just want you to reply something related to the posted music, so you don't need to twist our views, thanks. Henry

Au revoir.