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Depending on the type of boss or fight sequence, there are many approaches. Regardless of the fighting scale, I think you already have plenty of knowledge to make this closer to the epics we love in video game soundtracks. 1. Percussion! If you were to add a driving pulse with a bass drum, timpani, or taiko drum, it would add a sense of pulse and "epicness" behind the music. It can match or "dance" with the rhythm the guitar is doing. 2. Add BASS! You have a pulsing gesture that is driving forward, but giving us some bass guitar or keyboard would help warm everything up. Up to you if the bass sustains or is separated like the melody. Thinking as a composer, you can be strategic by design. If the "melody" is fast, driving and energetic, then maybe pair the accompaniment as long sustains or longer pulses versus the same quick notes in the 8-bit. Maybe alternate the melody to be long note sustains and have the percussion and bass be driving instead. It will help give direction in the fight.

[INFO DUMP] Hello! It's been a few days, but I feel I also want to put my two cents. I am a professional Pianist and have been for a few years going so far as getting my Masters Degree, and hopefully soon a doctorate in this field. I can understand Peter's approach with a few caveats in my opinion. I want to share my views as a pianist versus a composer: When I read the title "Sonatine," I immediately think of the Ravel's piece of the same title. I have yet to do an harmonic and structural analysis of your work, and on the first listen, it is very much classical in style versus the impressionistic tone of Ravel. Simply an observation on this point. In terms of playing, what will stop anybody from playing this is the raw notation. It is my opinion that some decisions with the music came purely for playback purposes versus how it should be notated. After playing... probably at least 300+ pieces in my life (i've lost count...), you find there are standard notations for tremolos, trills, runs, embellishing passages, etc. MVT 1: Measure (mm) 25: What is the left hand? I am confused if it is meant to be a triplet or quarter note on 1 with two eighth notes. However, that doesn't fit the beats in the bar... Same at mm. 34. mm.45, why are the trills suddenly tiny? Are they meant to be played exactly, or are they only a suggestion? mm.64 is a little weird in the right hand with such quick thumb hops. It would be better to alternate constantly than hitting the thumb twice. It's asking for tension. mm.125, the left hand is still confusing and a little more so than before. MVT 2: Pianist's do not always need pedal markings to know when to pedal. Since you notated the pedal for the same rate, you can write it for the first few bars and at.. bar 5 for example, write "Ped. Simile". This tells us that you want the pedal to be the same the entire time. It also de-clutters the score and makes it easy on our eyes. To the clutter point, there are too many systems on one page sometimes. It makes it overwhelming for our eyes. You can shorten the systems to 4 measures as a way to help or limit the mvt to 5 staves per page. It will make it really nice to see on the page. mm.11 is confusing in this movement as the left hand notation is broken and feels misplaced. MVT 3: mm.59... we... can't do piano-fortes on a single note... A piano cannot crescendo on a single note once it's been struck. So.. is it piano, or forte? mm.74, I think it is better to write it as a 6-tuplet versus two triplets. Same at mm.90 mm.98-129. Be careful here, you keep the rhythmic pattern the same, but the interval sizes change all the time. This means the hand is constantly changing size and expanding and contracting. It will make it hard to play well, fast and consistent. It would be more comfortable if you kept the same intervals for longer. mm.146 onward: please just use the regular arpeggio sign. The one with the arrow is redundant and just means the same thing. It is uncommon notation for standard piano repertoire. mm.234: most likely, it will be played a little slower for clarity when done live. mm.386, yeah.... unlikely to be played that fast. Even with normal arpeggio fingerings, It will be played slower. mm.396-397 will be played as a glissando. Better to write that in too for clarity. Overall, it is very difficult and more importantly very uncomfortable for the hands. Specifically, you start the movements in a fine capacity, yet, it gets really hard to play near the ends of MVT 1 & 3. Please do not let this comment discourage you and I only wish to shed light into how a pianist would tackle this. It has potential to be programmed into a recital, and if you were to sit down and work out the kinks, I think the product will be swell.

Nice and comforting! What piano sound? Also there are musical markings to indicate playing 'freely' such as rubato and expressivo, etc

I've listened to it now at least 3 or 4 times because I like it a lot! I like the dynamic 'pause and go' flow throughout and full use of piano range. While it sounds difficult I would think any decent pianist could play it. Nice piano sound. What piano sound was it made with?

Hello @luderart! Thank you for sharing such a piece at a time when the earth is being ravaged by wars with frightening frequency! Two weeks ago - on the tragic fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion to Ukraine -, I posted my fugue („Dona nobis pacem“) which is dedicated to the victims of that particular war, and now we are faced with another war in Iran and elsewhere in the middle east! Even if your piece – or your three pieces or sentences – are rather short, they are good reminders not to despair, but to hope and pray for peace and for overcoming the evil.

Hello @MJFOBOE! Yes „playful and sentimental“ interaction is a good description of the mood of the piece. It immediately reminded me at Prokofiev’s „Peter and the wolf“ where the different characters have also been represented by different instrument - prominently including Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon, too. Although this comparison may not be entirely accurate, as the title refers to two people and we have three instruments in the trio, I agree with @Fruit hunter that the piece has some educational qualities, either as an introduction to the woodwind instruments - for example for children as an audience -, or as a piece that can be performed by students.

Hello @Samuel_vangogh, I very enjoyed listening to both songs (or „Lieder“ 😄). They both have a calming, somewhat melancholic mood. Yes they are „romantic“ but not in a sense of being to „sweet“, but are charming with the harmonic colors you achieved by introducing cromaticism and dissonances in a well balanced amount. I like, that you’ve spend the efforts required to have a realistic sound impression by applying changes in the tempo and dynamics. As I’m not looking with a teacher’s eye seeking for „errors“, the only thing I noticed that there were at the end of „Ophelia“ some intervals I would feel very uncomfortable to play on the piano.

Hello @Thatguy v2.0! Thank you for your review and the honor to get recognized with the „Counterpoint Wizard“ badge! Yes, I must admit that I had the goal to earn that particular badge once with one of my fugues 😃, but I did not expect that this would happen so soon! I would like to express my particular gratitude that this fugue in particular has been honored—not only in recognition of my work, but especially because of the message it is intended to convey—“Dona nobis pacem”—the quest for peace in this war-torn world, which has become even more vulnerable in the last two weeks. Yes, it is indeed very chromatic and dissonant, as I did not use Palestrina's usual consonant style, as I had originally intended, especially after the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the resulting decision to include the Ukrainian national anthem. Thank you again. It is very motivating for me to hear that my efforts to annotate and analyze the internal structures of the fugue in the score and in my explanations were useful and not too confusing, and that you may also have enjoyed my “work of art", for example, in the video.

Hello, and thank you for your response! I always point out in advance that some compositions are more demanding than others, because everyone has a slightly different threshold of "tolerance," so that no one is surprised. I really appreciate the time you have devoted to my composition; it means a lot to me!

Hello, I really liked it. I don't find it “difficult” to listen to at all. You just have to open your ears and let yourself be carried away. I'm not usually very fond of such high-pitched instruments as soloists, but here I think everything sounds fantastic. Movement III is very lyrical. So is V. That gives a lot of balance to the more frenetic rhythm of other parts.

The first composition is very beautiful, both the melody and the accompaniment, which I find very romantic in style. What I am not quite sure about (as I am no expert in this field) are the bowing indications in some bars (such as bar 12).

Apologies, I thought that this type of thing, where there is no intervention, would be better suited to other subforums...

Apologies, it's just that I'm very “meticulous” and I like to leave the scores as “clean” as I can. One thing I learned about orchestration is that the bass, apart from being essential for setting the harmony and rhythm at times, is what the human ear perceives the least, since our ears are tuned to mid-range frequencies and also reacts immediately to high frequencies. Therefore, especially when the orchestra becomes denser, it is advisable to reinforce the bass. The usual practice is to double the double basses with cellos, in unison or an octave. The double bass can play only the strong notes in pizzicato and the cellos can play sustained notes. You can also add the bassoon to your ensemble, whose low range is more comfortable. The timpani can also reinforce the bass at times. And then there are other instruments that are not in this style: the tuba, par excellence. And others such as the contrabassoon, bass trombone, etc.

Thank you very much, my dear friends, for your kind words and appreciation. I have completed the sonata, so when you have time, please visit my channel and listen to it in full. Once again, thank you.

Enjoyed this charming piano work, which is bright and lively. I like the sudden changes like borrowed chords and a quick major to minor, then back. Has a touch of humor, as scherzo's can often have.

I enjoyed it and just listened and followed the score. I also wrote a stream impression piece called The Brook. It uses arpeggios which I think works nice for something like flowing water.

thought I was going for a dark song; guess I was wrong.

Tango to the death - Casino de Monte Carlo | Rendition From the Film : Never Say Never Again | James Bond 007 https://jamesbondlocations.blogspot.com/2011/11/tango-to-death-monaco-part-3.html Tango to the death - Casino de Monte Carlo .mp3

Thank you for your review and valuable feedback. It is great to receive feedback from a performer's perspective. Regarding the metronome marking, I have had that criticism by another pianist concerning another piano piece. I will make sure to be more careful in the future. I will also keep all your other feedback in mind in future pieces.

Quite a charming work ... echo's of "Schumann's Scenes from Childhood". Mark

https://flat.io/score/69ac2e0ec3fb848b0b1ba22e-rainbow-motif?sharingKey=c41a8a0ae1afde60e4d714077a6c63bf9c03d1373a7f7d3f7897743a5aa00cb69e393452925b590a859c557105db3d587e5a8dd6ced3488277ad205afa53e256 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0Ux3ULOuAU Writing a triumphant 8-bar intro in the style of Rainbow Road themes. Tried to vary up the melody and bass rhythms so it doesn't come off as Legally Distinct Rainbow Road. I really like how the descending notes in measure 4 shift to a bit of minor, underlining the return to tonic in measure 5. And the left hand jumps worked out better than I expected. Dunno how much I am a fan of that last flourish on the trumpet, but... on we go!

Hi @Luis Hernández, Thanks a lot for your review 🙂 I know I don't review a lot in those pages, but I'd think I'd go strangle myself if this one wouln't get any, with the amount of efforts I put in 😄 Late classical/early romantic is exactly the period I point out - if needed - to situate the style of my music. About the timpani, it's a limitation of the virtual instruments I use, they propose distinct sonorities at various tessituras, so I was forced to raise the notation. "Qleg" is just a markpoint for playback rendering (it triggers a VST articulation), it's got nothing to do with the presence or not of legato around 🙂 So for this two points I didn't make the effort of preparing the exact "real life" score for orchestra, I apologize for this. I'm interested, which instrument would you choose as possible substitute for the horn when playing bass notes ? I must agree I'm most familiar with strings orchestration than with other instruments'. Thanks again, have a good day. Marc

The Magnificent Seven | Rendition Elma Bernstein, Quite a Magnificent Composer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcgtshkzb8c&list=RDG-MVReDrRwo The Magnificent Seven Theme. Redition.mp3

This is an orchestration exercise, and my solution.

How did this go unnoticed? It's a really good piece, in a style that, to my mind, is like neoclassical. The writing is very refined. The recurring motifs give it a lot of coherence.