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Hello @A Ko. Welcome to the forum! This is of course an excellent first completed compostition, congrats for that! For orchestration I can't give you any tips because I'm a novice in orchestral writing myself. The beginning sounds very much like the Urlicht movement, I like it. I love that Eb major climax in b.22 very much, but in terms of the structure of the whole work I will place in much later in the piece, given how grand it is! For this intensity I think it should be put at least in the middle of the piece, or even before the ending! Love the woodwind passage in b.30. That strings chromatic figure and muted horns in f sounds VERY Mahlerian. The climax in b.43 sounds very great, but I think the time between two grand climaxes in b.30-42 as the bridge is a bit too short. I would probably extend that quiter passage with more developments on the themes before going into another climax. I love the quieter passages after the climax. I love the E major climax too! Though beware of the accidentals in b.97, those Ab should be G#. In b.144 it sounds like a Mahlerian Landler, but for me I would either develop to a longer passage or just discard it, since it sounds a bit out of place for me before the great climactic ending. I love your buildup to the ending, but I think the ending ends too quickly. Probably I would have the very nice climax stays longer, and also extend the gradual decrescendo longer for a more satisfying end. Your orchestration is really nice and probably I should learn something from it. Thx for joining and sharing your very first piece to us! Henry

Hey @UncleRed99! Personally I feel like the time signature of the piece should be 4/4 with one quaver reduced, since I find that extra quaver beat a bit long for me, but that's personal haha. Maybe this is one of the reason the music sound more static like @Luis Hernández said. But I must say this piece is really calm to listen to and I love those dissonances of seventh. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @danishali903, thank you for all of your suggestions + for your support! I'm a string player, so I definitely have a lot to learn about writing for winds and have my editing work cut out for me (I'm going to put the 1.s and the 2.s for clarity, and will definitely make edits to the weird clef stuff haha). I also agree with you that Rhapsody may not fit very well, so I'll be thinking of more creative names in the meantime. How would you recommend adding trumpet or additional trombones? Should I try converting one of the horn parts into a trumpet part? Would you recommend adding a second trombone? Thanks! 😄

You know what, that crossed my mind too 🤣 how it was reminiscent of the OG Notch Minecraft soundtrack. Love that someone else thought so too. and I’m glad that you enjoyed the subtlety of my work here 🙂 I succeeded in my intentions with the sections you mentioned! thanks for the feedback my man

Yes, the intent was to be more static in the creation. As recently I’ve been trying to work on my form and trying to be careful with ensuring that the melodic / harmonic voices are distinct from one another, as I have been told in previous pieces that I tend to blur the line between them at times. plus, I believe that soft/heartfelt pieces express much of their beauty within their simplicity. “Less is more” is how I see it with this sort of theme. Allowing the sound of the instruments to breathe in the air for a moment, and giving the room a chance to carry sound, in my opinion, impacts an audience better than if there was fluently complex chord structures, and limited breaks between phrases. 🙂 PS id also like to point out that this sort of theme is quite different from my typical stylistic choices when it comes to composing. So was really dipping my toes in the water with this one. I’m usually writing in a more “Adagio” or “Andante” style, rather than “Grave” or “Larghetto”

Yeah sorry tried to do it on my phone and it broke and I couldn’t fix it. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Nice piece! It makes me think of the C418 minecraft soundtrack. Yes, it does feel static, but personally I don't mind that at all. Although the best moments are when you break that staticness, like in bar 30-something with the sixtuplet. I like how you - when using the same chord for two successive bars - thin out / change the texture. Well done! Kind regards, Marius

This is quite good for a first attempt at orchestral writing! I definitely hear allusions to other composers' works (Mahler, Dvorak, and Sibelius come to mind...with a hint of Bruckner). I do take issue with the title of the piece. When I think "Rhapsody", I expect something a little more virtuosic...doesn't have to be "fast", but needs more ornamentation and something show-off-y. I would call this maybe an "Orchestral Fantasy" due to its episodic form. Orchestration is a little odd for winds. You can probably reduce the flute section to just 2 + piccolo. You can also probably reduce to 4 horns. Strange there are no trumpets or additional trombones. The scoring is a bit haphazard and confusing as you can't tell which wind part is suppose to play when (unless they are constantly doubled?) Also, I've never seen a horn part using the tenor clef (and for some reason its only in Horns 5/6).

A beautiful piece. One observation: the accompanying pattern, where the final part of the bar consists of long notes, plus the fact that the melody is structured in one-bar “blocks,” makes it sound a little static. Also, the fact that it remains in diatonic chords the whole time.

Hi @MJFOBOE I enjoyed your march. This instrumentation reminded me of the Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary by Purcell, though your work is of course in a happier - more glorious mood. This work might be see as not complicated, but it's surely efficient and pleasing. Best regards, Marc

LoL nice self promotion 😛 Will listen to it when I have time Henry

MP3 Play / pause A Piece of Me 4:17 4:18 volume > next menu A Piece of Me > next PDF A Piece of Me, for You I’d love to hear y’all’s thoughts on this, whenever time allots for anyone to respond 🙂

OK In the tuning system we use, a Gb sounds the same as an F#. But of course, with that notation there is no (visual) tonic dominant relationship, which in this language is basic.

A Piece of Me, for You.pdf A Piece of Me.mp3 Despite the simplicity, I think this one turned out absolutely awesome. it was inspired by some... for lack of better words... interestingly put together scoring done by a novice user on the Musescore platform. The only thing that is anywhere near the same is the feel I thought he was goin for, and the key of Ab Major being used, with emphasis on the Major 7ths. (Which I love so so so much. Me and Major 7th chords talk with one another often... hehe) Hope you all enjoy. Let me know what you think! IF anybody wanted to pick up the piece to play it, please please please feel free to do so, I just want a recording of it 😅 😅 😅

In my haste, I neglected to run back through to fix those lol Musescore wrote em how it wanted to and I didn't really care xD My composer friend, who spends hours in discord with me while we write together, mentioned the same thing. I was more or less concerned with the harmonies, in how they blended together. I suppose it's one of my weakest areas, in terms of writing. I've always had trouble remembering to correct accidentals. 0_0

Just finish watching 'I'm Still Here': https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14961016/&ved=2ahUKEwjBqIS0-JCOAxVNha8BHfHzC3MQFnoFCJABEAE&usg=AOvVaw3YLv-6DqJYJVjZlaaEP0Qb I would say, the best music in the film are not those from the pop music tracks, but rather from the agonies and screaming from the tortured...

Hi @MJFOBOE, thank you for listening and your question! I like listening to a lot of late-romantic symphonies (Mahler, Sibelius), and I wanted to compose something that sounded natural to me. This piece tries to incorporate elements of symphonic works that I like (harmonies, chord progressions, etc.).

This is a work in the post-romantic tradition ... yes, I hear the excerpts from other works. It reminds of the lush romantic scores of Erik Korngold. However, I have a question, what motivated you to compose this work in this style? Mark

Hello @A Ko and welcome to the forum! It's so fun that you snuck in some themes from other composers' works! At around 4:10 it sounds like you're quoting Mahler - Symphony 4 or 5 perhaps? It's amazing that your first finished composition is this long and for orchestra - congrats! Incorporating other composers' melodies in your own works smoothly and seamlessly is quite a difficult endeavor and it gives the listeners a fun little Easter egg hunt to go on - very clever idea to involve the listener in the listening process in yet another additional way! Thanks for sharing!

It has that sound, but I don’t know how to describe it. I think that B flat is contributing to it. it has been nostalgic fairytale Disney sound. I heard it another music.

Made this account just so I could upload this and remind y'all never to end in minor : ) Also accidental Shostakovich in bar 3.

Hi! I'm new as well. I really like your piece - it has wonderful harmonic turns, it feels very well thought out. I especially like the really smooth key changes, and the part after b.24. The melodies are less recognisable, but I think it kinda suits the style. I think the playability is something you could work on (if you ever want a real orchestra to play it). First of all I'd try to change the key: probably to Eb and D instead of Db and C. You'll run into range issues doing that, but no-one likes playing with 5 flats. Whereas 3 flats is really nice for the winds and two sharps are nice for strings. Furthermore you might want to keep in mind that ppl need to breathe.. I'm mostly talking about the last note in the horns - I think it's possible, but it is a veeeery long note and also playing that pianissimo will only make it worse - you risk the sound getting quite shakey bc they'll be out of breath, and that will be very audible because no-one else is playing. Also the accel. from b.30 onward will be difficult to keep consistent. When performed it won't be as gradual as when done by a computer. Idem for other long gradual tempo changes. But for a professional orchestra these things would be entirely possible. And musically it's really good. I should say I don't have much experience reading scores or conducting so I don't know if this would be balanced at all - although I think so. My favourite moment is b.55 - really nice melody there! Kind regards Marius P.S.: Gershwin was really obvious. I think I heard some Sibelius 2 (mvt. 4) with that syncopated background and rising melody, but I'm not really sure. I didn't catch the third quote.

Hi everyone! This is my first piece for full symphony orchestra, first post, (and my first "completed" composition: a lot of firsts), and I'm definitely still learning how to orchestrate better, create nicer textures, and pace my compositions/develop melodies (all for fun, I just like listening to music and playing a little bit haha, so I don't have any formal composition background). This piece was inspired by various Romantic composers (with quotes from my 3 favorite symphonies--one is really obvious but I'm interested to see if others will recognize the snippets I tried to include) and includes two central themes. I'm open to all the advice I can get! Thanks for your time! PS. my score is really chaotic and I still need to clean up all the accidentals and stuff.

The orchestration is simple, yet effective. I like the sparseness of it all, and would not add in any percussion/keyboard instruments as suggested above. However, the instrumentation is a little odd, but it works for me. You should definitely remove those ppppp dynamics. For strings, I would recommend doing it all con sordino.