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I've never heard of that term before lol, is that a good thing?

Many thanks for your review Peter. Do you think this can be salvaged; or should just rip it up and start again? I can't make it too virtuosic, as I'm writing for an amateur bassoonist. I had a choice of instruments, and decided bassoon would be the most challenging. Since it's a quiet instrument, it doesn't come through very strongly against the orchestra. Plus it's in the bass register: so maybe not a natural instrument to carry the melody. I was trying to create a dialogue between the bassoon and orchestra, using call and response. Guess I haven't done a very good job though. The 5-minute time limit is also a challenge, since it doesn't give much opportunity for development.

Thank you so much for your wonderful words and your appreciation of my music. Yes, I consider myself a composer mainly for the piano, although I truly love orchestral music, and especially chamber music. Chamber music is my favorite... I just don’t feel familiar enough with the other instruments, although I have written a divertimento for winds and two minuets for string quartet. For a first attempt, it was quite a respectable effort, and I would definitely like to continue and write music for more instruments—it’s just that, at this point in my life, I don’t have enough free time to achieve that. I have also played Chopin’s mazurkas and polonaises in my repertoire, but I haven’t yet happened to compose something similar, although I would very much like to, and I thank you for pointing it out.

No I've never heard these Dvorak Bagatelles before. You've introduced me to them, so thanks for that! Yes, that's what I always do.

Thanks Peter. Was this a suite you'd not heard before? Will definitely try your suggestion with the strings. Think slurs would probably help too. The flute renditions are the most problematic for me. I don't like the sound where two virtual flutes are playing the same line. I did this because the melodies were sometimes being drowned out by the rest of the orchestra. Think I might resolve the problem by using a single flute track with the fader pushed up, rather than having two flutes.

I think what with the way you changed the melody it now makes more sense to treat the melody as if it was an acephalic phrase. Counting the first measure as the beginning of the phrase, instead of just a pick-up note makes your phrases 14 measures long, with clear markers separating it out into 2 measure fragments (mostly). I think it makes more sense to look at it that way rather than as if the first F was a pick-up note.

Hey Mark @MJFOBOE! I love this song! I love the words, key changes and counterpoint between the various different voices of the choir! It'll probably be a lot of fun to sing for any future choir that might undertake a performance! Great job! The only thing that bothers me is a little nit-pick about how you notated the following rhythm: The right hand of the piano should be a dotted quarter note tied to an 8th of the following compound beat (beat 4 in 12/8), to group the 8th notes properly in their groups of three. Thanks for sharing and once again, bravo! (I liked the original song too but I think this one is even better)

Hey @therealAJGS! I like the Locrian inflection in this bass line you've come up with! I think the tambourine works but the drum kit is far from how an actual drummer would play. Improving your drumming patterns could really help this instrumental. Check out this video if you haven't already: Also another thing - I used to participate in an online monthly music contest website called midi-contest.com. It's now defunct and doesn't exist, but the owner of the site put a minimum duration limit on all submissions to the contest - 1 minute 30 seconds. As far as he was concerned everything under that duration was total trash! LoL From then on I've always tried to make my pieces at least that long haha. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Alex Weidmann! I know it's hard working with the Musesounds sometimes in getting it to perform good articulations especially with the strings. But, could you have maybe made the 2nd Bagatelle a bit more clearly articulated by using staccato marks on the 16th notes and accents on the dotted 8ths or something? It's really unclear in this rendering. I see you tried using staccati at meas. 234 but you articulated the 3rd note in the triplets where for me it would make more sense to staccato the 2nd one since the repeated G comes right after that. Those are just some things I wanted to pick on LoL. But overall I really enjoyed these bagatelles! I really love your choice of repertoire that you're orchestrating! Great job and thanks for sharing!

Hi again @Vasilis Michael! I love this little set of waltzes! And I like how you composed them to be played one after another. They're both Chopinesque and perhaps Schubertian or Schumannesque too. I love the chromaticism! No. 5 is perhaps my favorite of the bunch with it's chromatically descending harmonies. I wonder if you've ever tried your hand at a polonaise or mazurka? But also, from what I've seen of your YouTube channel you consider yourself, like Chopin, a composer primarily for the piano. Maybe you could explore composing some chamber works or even works for orchestra? Thanks for sharing these gems!

Hey @Alex Weidmann! To me the Bassoon is far from center stage nor juxtaposed as a soloist against the orchestra. Usually the title of "concerto" implies some virtuosity from the soloist but there doesn't seem to be any here. Also, the bassoon is not given any kind of definitive thematic material that would give it the spotlight. Usually concerti have double expositions of the thematic material to allow the orchestra and soloist to be juxtaposed against each other with the character of the main theme. It doesn't have to be like that of course as sometimes the soloist and orchestra start together like in a concertante. And whether the soloist or the orchestra starts first is also up for debate. But from what I hear so far there doesn't seem to be any thematic material that has potential for this kind of treatment in this piece. Perhaps you could make this into the slow movement of a concerto, but the main introduction and finale of the concerto would be expected to be more athletic, catchy and to have a antagonistic relationship between the soloist and the orchestra with a recognizable theme driving that antagonism. That's my take on that. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Fugax Contrapunctus! I like how you reinterpret the subject of the canon in the choir to allow you to fit in more syllables - that worked out quite well! And the whole canon has a nice structure that is corroborated by the orchestration where every time the canon repeats (returns back to its original key) a new group of instruments (woodwinds) or choir is added to bring the repetition into more of a high relief. It's a joy to listen to! Also - did you mean the Oboe 2 part to be played by English Horn? It seems to be too low for Oboe. And a very nice rounded off ending. Thanks for sharing!

Hello @Alant! Very interesting and weird piano experiment! It's weird enough harmonically to maybe warrant posting a PDF score if you have one? I think it could easily be lengthened and/or arranged for different instruments which would make it even more interesting. Thanks for sharing!

gotta go with the second.

Very interesting! I will start looking into it right away. Although, I must say, I'm currently so deeply impressed by Mahler and so utterly dissatisfied with my own work. It's immensely difficult and agonizing as I try to develop a more competent approach to the new symphony. I'm having to fill in so many gaps in my technique.

Hello my dear composers. Here my latest composition .6 valses for piano . I hope you like it

I am looking for someone who can write a short poem (like Erlkonig) for me to to write a single movement Lied. The benefits are: You improve your skills You have your name in the composer section of the sheet music. You will get a piece of music dedicated to you. Cons: Takes time If you are not within my expectations, you are not going be selected. Luckily, I believe you could write beyond my expectations.

I wrote 2 sonatas, both for the piano. I would like you to see which one is better. No.1 https://musescore.com/user/96214813/scores/26164063 No.2 https://musescore.com/user/96214813/scores/26953141

Edited the melody a bit for some more interest and movement

Some harmony ideas

For fun, I put a .PDF of the score in Microsoft's Copilot (AI) and asked for an analysis - it gave me a complete review of the work. It was kinda cool ... brought to my attention a couple of measures needing improved counterpoint etc. As well as general info on composing for SATB. For the most part it gave me a decent review. What a world! Mark PS: For those interested here's the work with some improved counterpoint.

Really, need to work on the Minore variation. Sounds good musically, but I may have gone off by a third in the melodic transposition! I'll get to it when I feel like thinking.

Good God, listen to Salieri! Gotta respect a man who wrote 42 operas, beating Signor Rossini by one; Rossini wrote 41 operas, as far as we can tell.

I would be especially delighted if you could also listen to my other pieces on my channel, particularly the sonatas in binary form. In these sonatas, I drew immense inspiration from Scarlatti, but I also combine all the influences and impressions I have from my favorite composers, mainly Mozart and Schubert. So, it is a blend of Scarlatti, Mozart, and Schubert, and I can say that the result is quite impressive. I look forward to hearing your opinion .

Thank you very much, my dear friend, for your attention and appreciation of my sonata. This sonata holds a special place in my heart because I had to honor my beloved composer, which is very difficult since Mozart is unique. I worked hard to achieve this result. Once again, thank you. As for the performance, yes, I play all of my compositions myself. I record through GarageBand, and I have purchased Pianoteq 8, which I use as a plug-in for my recordings.