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My own small piece of advice when I have writer's block that I use daily. When in doubt, FUGUE IT! 😄 hope that helps

MY APOLOGIES!!! I should have been more specific. Yes, the flute run!

Hello again! Thanks for the comments. I welcome any critique as I would rather know if anything is ineffective or not, so no worries on bluntness lol. I must admit, it has been a few months since finishing the score and as I was reviewing your comment, I find it hard to consider other changes at this time. With that said, here is my reply: I omitted the snare at rehearsal B to try, however the sense of drive, while being in the tenor instruments, felt too expansive when listening to the rest of the ensemble in context. For me, I felt it appropriate to ground the ensemble with the driving motif using a snare. I can see your point at mm.34. It's an 8-bar parallel period, however, because of its symmetry, I am having a hard time hearing any other changes without disturbing the structure. If you are able, do you have any suggestions to amend that? I was curious about how wind players will tackle the work. In some spots, like mm. 75, aka Rehearsal J, with the trumpets and oboes, I have a set of replacement passages ready to go to add a spot to breath within the phrase. If I am able to get it performed within the next year, I wanted to see how the OG score will do and if I notice moments of space due to breathing from the ensemble. From there, I have backups ready for a late version. I must admit that I am confused by the rehearsal K comment. It is in the development and I recall the 8-bar parallel period from mm.25 in a different key. The phrase concludes on beat one at mm.91 with a PAC to Bb-minor. It is elided with the start of the same melody and phrase from mm.43 in the new key. However, did you mean this comment specifically in the Flutes? If so, then I agree with you as in hindsight, it seems more concrete for a player to carry the gesture through beat 4 into beat 1. Thanks again and I do hope for some progress in the near future!

Hi Guyz.... in the "About Me - CONTRACT" Link, we've since been given |Permission-Release|to re-post certain criteria , which im pleased about.

Hi Guyz.... in the "About Me - CONTRACT" Link, we've since been given |Permission-Release|to re-post certain criteria , which im pleased about.

@BlackkBeethoven The original piece is just the first section (approx. the first 2 minutes). Minimal editing was done between that and this; I just expanded upon the ideas in the first section to create the subsequent ones and then tacked on an ending. Explicit repetition doesn't occur until the 3rd section, but I guess it does come across a little bit as "Duo spends 8 minutes noodling while trying to decide on what key to play in" at times. @MJFOBOE I apologize about neglecting consideration for breath. It was something I thought about, but I will admit it wasn't at the front of my mind the entire time, so I probably missed something. As for my intent, I was trying to see what kind of story I could tell by developing the harmony. You may notice that it starts out with a dodecaphonic figure that moves through a couple of other sounds before ending on a cadence that mostly evades the resolution to the target key. Sections 2 and 3 expand on some of the ideas in section 1; the final section is all about delivering the resolution that was set up at the end of the first one.

At the peak of the song (my heart will go on) before the guitar riff there's that crying sound, idk if it's a synth or a violin, but it just sounds so beautiful. if anyone knows what it is please let me know.

Great job!! I enjoyed listening to your piece, and I don't have much feedback, but I'll start with this : WRITE MORE!! This has the potential to be even better than it is now. I know it's for an assignment, but if you have time, I would consider adding to it. One thing I noticed is how stagnant most of your parts are for the majority of the piece, your contrabass stays on pedal tones, and your violin 2 and viola stay on double stops pretty much the whole time. Which isn't a bad thing, just something I noticed - they could be more active and have more movement, while still supporting the harmony. Something else I would add is getting away from the clean breaks between ideas. For example your viola plays repeated notes until m.8 when they switch to another rhythmic idea, maybe there's a way to hint at this before the idea comes in concretely (this may be something you explore if you decide to add to the piece). Great job & happy composing!!

What was your thought process behind creating this piece? I echo the above user's comment about posting the original piece so we can hear all the sections together. Despite the changing meters and the different interactions between the oboe and bassoon, your piece needs variety in my opinion. It kind of feels like the same idea restated a bunch of times. Each section has some slight development, but overall, it feels like "Oboe does this thing, then bassoon does something, repeat". I would love to see these instruments used in a more lyrical way.

Some serious chops showcased here. So since this piece is so well put together, the criticism may seem harsher. My intent is not to be that but give deeper insight since you know what you are doing. Reh B: I wonder if we would get more of a flight feel if the snare wasn't here? Then maybe repeat it with the drums. At 34, I would argue the climax comes WAAAAAAYYY too soon. I wonder what would happened if you would delay it for about 6 bars....or even two bars. Be mindful of where your woodwind players breath. Some of these passages are calling it. Reh K: Usually passages like this are ended on the downbeat. It's a trick Ravel taught all of us! Notice how he ends the phrase on the down beats. It gives it more connectivity. Even if you don't want it, it syncs better. (Example Attached) Overall: I can't wait to hear this live! Daphnis and Chloe woodwind run example.pdf

Please post link to the original work (for comparison). Be aware - the Oboe and Bassoon need to breathe! As for the thematic material ... I don't get it 🤔. Please explain your intent. Mark

The first segment of the piece ("When Do We Celebrate the Galactic New Year?") was more popular than I expected, so I produced a set of short movements that continued the ideas of the original piece. Link to the score: https://musescore.com/user/118018538/scores/35528798 Duet for Oboe and Bassoon No. 1.mp3

Hi everyone, I recently made a non-commercial orchestral mockup and score-study arrangement of “Fountain of Dreams” from Super Smash Bros. Melee / the Kirby series, and I’d love to get some feedback from a composition/orchestration perspective. This is one of my favorite pieces from Melee, so I wanted to see how close I could get while also learning from the orchestration, arrangement, and overall musical construction of the track. This was mainly an exercise in orchestral transcription, arranging, mockup realism, and trying to understand what makes the original track work so well. I’m not sharing the full score or MIDI because this is a study arrangement of copyrighted game music, but I may be able to post short excerpt screenshots if they would help with specific feedback. I’d especially appreciate thoughts on: Orchestration and instrumental balance Whether the arrangement translates convincingly to orchestra Mockup realism and MIDI programming Articulations, phrasing, and dynamics Any places where the texture feels too thick, too thin, or unclear Mixing/reverb balance Original music and related intellectual property belong to their respective rights holders. This mockup is for non-commercial study and educational discussion only, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo. Thanks in advance for listening. I’m looking forward to hearing any thoughts, especially from people with experience in orchestration, mockups, or video game music arranging.

Thank you so much! It was a labour of love. Will keep working on the notation, and maybe even get a performance one day!

No problem! Keep composing my friend 😁

Thanks for the feedback! I appreciate the examples and help with notation. For clarity, some of the decisions were done mainly for playback purposes (like writing out the bass) as I do not have the ability to have this performed by colleagues or other professionals; nor do I have access to a good DAW to produce my works. I had one friend help me with a bulk of the writing, however, I am not a jazzer and I'm sure, as you have noticed, how somethings can feel suspect. Again, I will take your advice into consideration and amend the chart. It's wonderful getting more feedback on this. Thanks!

Hello The minimised partition is readable on YouTube. Orchestration is not available. Thank you for your interest and have a nice day.

Charming ... a pleasure to hear. I love the dialogue among the instruments. The rhythms are captivating and the major theme quite inviting! Mark

A lovely, expressive little piece. It reminds me of those solo instrumental phrases that Messiaen would suddenly write into his works. I think it makes excellent use of the oboe’s most effective range, bringing out the expression in some of the high and low notes as well. Thank you for taking the time to listen. I am so pleased you found the work appealing. Mark

My dear friend, thank you so much for your kind words. You can’t imagine how happy they made me. What especially pleases me is hearing comments about the natural flow of my music—that is what gives me the greatest satisfaction as a composer. I would be more than happy to send you the score, but first I need to engrave it properly in Dorico. Once again, thank you for your generous comments and for your appreciation. I truly appreciate it. Take care, and as soon as the score is ready, I’ll be delighted to send it to you.

Good stuff. My only comment: Put your name on score!

Hello @MinGry Below you will find mine critique on your sonatina: Engraving and ect: There are barely any phrase markings through the score. I think in b5 through b12 there should be phrase markings. Also, I feel there should be dynamics markings to create emotion depth. There is engraving error: use a double bar when you change keys! Harmony: (counterpoint) I notice there were counterpoint errors in this piece. In b13, you leaped form tritone leap: F#-C. That is not great. We want to avoid dissonance leaps at all cost. Dissoances are fine if we prepare and resolve them. I feel that F# should move to G in the bass. That way, you have better counterpoint in b14. I am not sure about the suspensions in the bass. Usually, suspensions in counterpoint create dissonance. The half cadence at the end section A weeks weak with. Perhaps, have stronger bass movement on that moment and then before that V/V-V with 5-1 bass line that will create stronger ending. Form: I feel this does this with in form of sonatina. While many are more familiar sonatas, sonatinas are smaller forms. No development section. Two movements! Thus, I would say the closest way to describe them is ABA. Good work!

Partiture?

So....wow....I like this...a lot. A lot to dissect. Okay, here's the thing. As much as it pains me to say this: This instrumentation isn't realistic. With that being said, this can be something special. I would say: go ahead and have the full string section. That would further give this a chance to get played. It would also give your bottom more depth. With that also being said..this is. astart: you have the making of either a tone poem or a flute concerto of some sort. I know you said you wanted to write short simple pieces. Problem is, what you wrote wants us to hear more. The reality is, no one is going to program this while paying a full orchestra, especially the strings. Sorry, you wrote such a great piece thinking this was it? Nope, you got to write more...you have at least seven more minutes with this....maybe 10. FLute: M13: get rid of the slur. breath should be before Eb5. M14: Phrase marking on Ab4 should go to M15 and end on the Bb5. The next phrase marking starts on Db6 and end on the F5 of M16. Meas 20, the phrase should end after the Eb5. Also, get rid of Flute 1. It would be just Flute. HARP: Unfortunately, your beaming is off some. When you write octaves, the harpist would automatically switch hands. The lowest note would be played with ring finger and the octave would be played with thumb (we don't use pinky in harp). Therefore, the right hand would automatically have to play the next note. I know you were for the automatic three in each hand, but ergonomically, what you wrote wouldn't lay like that in some spots. M10: Perfect example. You could do 2 in the left hand and do 4 in the right. The other beats however do work. HARP PART 2: You stay in the throat register the whole time. You could expand the "breath of the music by having harp continue the run by repeating in the higher octave and maybe at times another octave. The harp's rang is VAST. Harp part 3: Give the harp a final not on the down beat in the end. MAYBE have the harp repeat the previous measure but play it up an octave? Put in your notation program just to see. Special note: Maybe add a clarinet also so you could keep the strings as your lush padding and you could play with harmonies with it...or countermelodies. Ravel LOVED doing that. Extra Special Note: Speaking of Ravel. I wonder how this would be for Alto flute? Maybe have it optional for Alto Flute. My $0.02

Nice: I have listen a lot of pointers since this is a big-band piece. I am a self-proclaimed Basieologist and I love this stuff. This is all to help. Take my critiques with a grain of salt: Plunger is written with o and + , o = open), and + = closed. Think about doubling them with the trombone (makes it tighter). Also, we don't use "normal." You actually don't need to write anything, but if you must, you use "open." Also in Jazz, the "&" beat are played long. You'll be hard pressed to find a jazz band that will play the & of 4 short. It's just not jazz and it doesn't swing. Same thing for measure 24. It would be played as short long instead of long short. it's like saying "apartment."" We don't pronounce it "AYpartment" or "apartMENT." M56: It's better to write it as 8th Quarter 8th. That's the aforementioned of the standard swing feel. It is always played, ba-dum-BOW! M61: No need to write duples. Write "straight 8ths" Some of the piano part won't swing having those blocks go for so long. 6ths would work. But once again, You should probably have a chord chart OR write a guitar part so there is some chordal comp. You already have it in the saxes. No need to double. Let the piano swing and do its own obligatos. For the rhythm section, write the chord changes. NEVER write a specified note part for a jazz bassist, unless it's for transitions, setups, or melodies. M29 is a great example. Also, no need to double piano with the bass. here's an example of how laconic Basie's comping is but the saxes are still playing lines! I also attached some of the parts so you can see how the best ever did it. My $0.02 Basie Straight Ahead Alto 01.pdf Basie Straight Ahead Bass.pdf Basie Straight Ahead Drums.pdf