All Activity

Hello! it seems like you're trying to write in a classical style, perhaps inspired by Clementi's sonatina's? The opening movement starts a bit like an invention and as such there are opportunities to contrast the treble and bass parts. To illustrate those opportunities, I have reworked some of your ideas (first and second movement). I have altered your leading in certain places that demanded it (to facilitate better two part harmony) and the motivic development to improve coherenceI hope this helps you. My advice: Focus on the outer parts first and listen. Remember the three types of motion: parallel, oblique and contrary Prioritize opportunities for contrary motion, otherwise consider parallel thirds or sixths, Oblique motion can be useful for pedal points (and suspensions if your experience allows). Avoid parallel motion if octaves or 5ths apart. If you do this, you are most probably missing an alternative and better solution. With regards to the development of your ideas You have the right idea with mirroring the left and right hand. But compare my solution in the first two bars of the first movement. How does it differ? Feel free to ask me any questions. I am here to help with anything :) MinGry's Sonatina.mp3 MinGry's Sonatina.pdf

Ah, I thought I changed the title on this post, only to realize I did so on my profile, not the thread. The title has been updated and as of now, I’m indecisive to share or not. Short answer is TBD

Ok! You should upload your more recent version. Doesn't matter if it's not finished. Just to update the thread :)

Hi Markus, thanks for the comments. This version of the work is severely outdated. Over a year old now, and the most recent copy I have made functions as a complete rewrite. This said, I agree with the points you made as large form music like this is no simple task. We’ll see what happens over the next year or two. Thanks again!

Interesting. Reminds me of Sigur Rós and a little Radiohead 🤷 Nice ideas and instrumentation, although the tuning sounds very off. Was that intentional?

Being very honest with you, you had me with the opening horn motif. It gave me James Bond 'vibes! Although less so with what followed. Your writing is very dramatic with little release from that tension. I was also not a fan of the choice of percussion. Aside from that, the score is not really legible. Was it put together with a Midi keyboard or something? My suggestion: the opening horn motif is ominous & mysterious in tone'. You should try experimenting by maintaining that tone with less drama. My understanding of film music is that it needn't be complex but should be carried the central idea in such a way that support the motion picture.

Hello Markus, thank you for your advice. I'll edit the post with your suggestions. My style is quite minimalistic (I love gorecky, Part etc). Probably this will be the II MVT of this SQ. The First should be quite more Vivace and less Tonal, the last will probably be a Fugue-Corale one, but i've never tried to compose one of them. Will see if it comes well. Thanks again.

Hey Mark (again!), Firstly, I love the tutti sections; they remind me of Chopin's concerto's for piano, particularly those grand tutti sections in the minor mode. As for my criticism, I have a few things to say: You have some interesting ideas to work with in those orchestral parts. At present, many of the parts are written in unison with a straightforward homophonic texture. That's okay for the time being, but you may wish to revisit to add complexity & color. The homophonic texture in places needs something more interesting. Bar 39-46, for example, is basically and entirely chord I (c minor). this sort of thing becomes monotonous without some change. The solo piano parts are a little underwhelming, particularly in contrast to the grand tutti sections. I notice too that in the initial sections, the two clefs are written largely in unison. This is Ok to an extent, but too much of this becomes uninspired and we long for some complexity and nuance. Towards the latter sections of the score, the initial momentum you established falls away and, to be frank, I lost interest. I am no stranger to the complexity of writing such large scale works. So kudos for you for trying. No doubt you will continue refining it for years to come. You do have some great ideas to work on!

Hey Filippo, Thanks for posting with us. You will get much better attention if you post your music here in the following way: Explain your intentions and approach to the music you have made Attach a PDF & MP3 of the score in question, rather than pointing us to a third party link. Make sure also that the PDF is of high enough quality to enable analysis. Listening to the opening, your music sounds minimalist. I like what I hear so far... :)

Hey Henry! This is actually a very clever piece! I loved the wit infused in the instrumental dialogues. My only question: was it intended for the movement to be predominantly - even entirely - in the minor mode? You see, I am largely familiar with music that contains a balance between the minor and major modes, which I understand as integral to narrative. Effective narratives in music tends to connect with human experience of this world, which generally centre on conflict and resolution - much like plot in literature. Switching between the major and minor modes is quite often integral to the movement between those two states; and the more skilled a composer, the more compelling the story telling. So, stepping back from the music itself (which I repeat is excellently done), what is the story you are telling?

Hello, i'm new in this community. I'd appreciate some feedbacks for my new project. I'm not a composer, neither i've studied any advanced musical theory (just the basics of harmony and counterpoint). https://youtu.be/plYqa90qEbQ?si=RW37P57Ywl95hg8O. This is the link where i posted the composition. Hope you like it, if you have any suggestion just write a comment under the video or under this post. Thank you! String Quartet No.3.mp3 String Quartet No.3.pdf

First time properly hearing your music, Mark! Have to say you captured my interest with this delightful work. I feel the structure falls into place very well. I did feel the ending could have been more interesting but overall it works. Importantly, it feels French! Looking at your writing in more detail, it seems to largely be homophonic, right? Is this unique to this work? Very well done, Mark.

Hey Tristan, Apologies for the late reply to your request for comments. I listened to the majority of it and evidently there is a lot to unpack. I see @MK_Piano has already done a great job with the technicalities and orchestration, and even made some voice leading suggestions where needed. I don't feel I can or should add anything further to that. I am, however, interested in your inspiration for such a mammoth of a project - what were your influences and aspirations? And how do you feel it fits together? My won impression is that, stylistically, it seems a quite erratic. With all due respect, the part writing and orchestration seems a little immature and makes me wonder whether you are ready for writing such a large scale work. That said, your harmonic progressions, in several places, sound influenced by the Viennese and proto-romantic schools. I am well acquainted with Mozart's piano concerto's, for example, and I heard some resemblances.

1. It is good to use triad make full if possible. 2. Note that continuously from start to end for phrase, make characteristique for rhythm and line. Every VOCI(Deutschen) is good to be independant and irregular or having variaty. Don't use same rhythm too continuously in same VOCI. It makes sounds very poor.

Couldn't resist giving it a go I have taken your outer parts only, which I suggest be your focus at first before attempting 4 part harmony. My suggestion is not perfect by any means, but be instructive on how you might better approach voice leading in the outer parts. Composers of past tended to write the outer parts first before adding the inner ones. This makes sense, because the outer parts will form the skeleton that you will be working with. If you have nailed the outer parts, in that it sounds interesting and coherent, then the rest should follow suit. Inversely, you will be working with a shaky foundation... Example.mp3 Example.pdf

I'd like to listen your work in real instrument. Very Very good stuff and architecture what I've never thought.

I think It sounds making me have a bright feeling. Short length of work make me demands more parts. I'd like to hear your work more. 1. If You want not to make audience don't be listened your work's phrase cut by progress, All of VOCI(I don't know this word in english) must not be ended and started with consiquently. 2. If your work's style is not flaoting tonal, tonal's All of part must be related. and All of phrase is good to have architecture of clause in every phrase.Ex=>(a-a'-b-a) or (a-a'-b-a) + (a-b-a-b). Too many stuff is not required. Recycle the stuff what already used. I'd like to my advice may be help for your works. Thank you for making me listened your work!

Without going into detail, there are a few things to consider: Consecutives: If your intention is to maintain independence between the parts (which seems to be the case) then you should note the parallel octaves. I saw several between the outer and inner parts. My pointing this out is less to say your part writing is ‘wrong’ than there are missed opportunities to enrich the voice leading/harmony, especially when two voices move in the same direction to the same note without apparent justification. In on instance where there are parallels, for example (bar 7) the A7 chord initially lacks the third which is not great. Your choice of harmony, combined with melodic writing could be improved. Bar 8, for example, which contains only the tonic chord then proceeds to another tonic chord on the first beat of bar 9. I would personally look for opportunities for contrary motion where the upper voice is ascending. For example, with the ascent to the D in the first violin, perhaps the bass could descend to a B flat instead leading to a VI chord. I haven’t checked to see if my suggestion works, but try to think in that way. Allow your melodic writing to flow naturally while considering the range of voice leading opportunities (that is, the movement of the other parts) your writing permits.

As a pianist, those chords also impossible to play. Not even Rachmoninov would have wrote chords in that fashion! I think you need to carefully look at scores that use the harp, @Musicman_3254. Adler provided some scores to look at (and I included others) CPE Harp Sonata Caplet's Deux Divertissements Debussy's Sonata for harp, flute, and viola Belioz's "Rob Roy" The planets by Gustav Holst Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi

Hi! Welcome to the forum. May I ask what your experience is with music? Aka how much you know about music theory, maybe what instrument you play, etc. In efforts for us to give the best feedback, it'll be great to gain an understanding of your background. Thx in advance!

This sounds a lot more complex than it really is. The cool thing about this is that the music is quite unique, which is a paradox given how simple the music notation is. This probably has a lot to do with the instrumentation and dynamics. Quite an interesting piece, and unnerving too! Love to hear the vibraphone be used in a completely different context, other than jazz.

Thank you :-) I think it's appropriate to mention another composer on this forum who might have some depictions of mental illness in music considering that it's in his name - @BipolarComposer .

I'll start by giving some notes about notation. First, looking at the first page, 127 is not a real metronome marking. Metronomes are physical tools that have notches at certain points, you can't pick any number. Quarter note to 126 would be a valid metronome marking. As Luis noticed, the nat. marking has no place here. If you're preparing music, prepare one file made focusing on playback for the audio, and then another focusing on engraving for the score. If you handed that to a string quartet, they would be confused. Throughout the score, there are a lot of mezzo dynamics. Avoid using mezzo dynamics. Mezzo forte is not a "medium dynamic," it is forte but held back. It is for special cases to achieve a very particular effect. If you're using mezzo dynamics to balance, don't. Real musicians will know how to balance musically on their own. Try to have the number of measures per system be consistent and somewhat few. For an ensemble like a quartet, try something like 4 measures per system, 3 systems per page. The first page is a little too spaced vertically, and too narrow horizontally. And the final 2 measures cutting off abruptly looks quite ugly. Now to actual compositional devices. Since this seems to be written attempting to be tonal, judging by the frequent raised leading-tone, I would make sure you're more mindful to follow basic voice leading rules. For example, mm. 2-4 there are parallel octaves between the 2nd violin and cello, and this doesn't seem purposeful to me. It creates a very empty shallow harmonic quality. Throughout, the harmony is also very clunky and poorly voiced, with lots of doubled leading-tones, chordal sevenths, etc. Check what kind of harmonic function each chord is meant to have, and revoice focusing on clarity, fullness, and voice leading. The use of spiccato is odd to me. It's not wrong, but spiccato is generally paired with quicker passages, so I'm wondering if it's the effect you want, or if just a simple staccato would be sufficient. I also feel like the piece could use more direction in general. Where is it going and why? Right now, it sort of just goes back and forth harmonically between somewhere tonic adjacent and dominant adjacent. It'd be nice to hear more push and pull, and like it's going somewhere. It's sort of static as it is, give it some momentum! The piece is a good start, keep it up.

Hello, It's a nice waltz. It's always great to hear live performances of original works! It's perhaps a bit short...leaves me wanting a bit more :) Thanks for sharing!

@CrystalCanon Thanks for the extensive review! As far as the formatting goes, could you expand on what you mean by separate flows? I definitely agree with the triple-forte and the alignment part, that's just laziness on my side when editing, and it definitely shouldn't make it through to the final draft! The reason I sometimes wrote the hairpin above or below the staff was to make it clearer that it only applies to one stave. I'm not sure if that's actually a good idea in practice though haha. In retrospect, it's funny how composition works! Now that you pointed it out, I can see how bar 11 is so obviously out of place. I actually had it connected to everything originally, but during some voice leading edits I thought it was a bit too difficult to play for a piece like this, so I simplified it to the point where it doesn't really make sense anymore haha. It's always fun seeing people find all these different ways that the material is connected to each other. I never really thought about making that connection more obvious, but your comment actually sparked something in my brain. I really appreciate that feedback!