All Activity

@PeterthePapercomPoser @Maharani Wow congrats on the collaboration! I like both versions, but the reverb version really adds a layer of lushness to the sound, it's great. :) Seems like a lot of effort went into the recording and practicing, so well done there Peter. The handwritten score is clear and I'm envious of your nice handwriting lol. The language is interesting, what was the thought process behind it? ❤️ Well done you two, it's always great to hear live recordings here, and this was a fine example of what collaboration can achieve

Hi, I really enjoyed the opening theme with its "jazzy" feel and motion. However, I was not as engaged with the second part of the piece starting at measure 34. Personally, I would have like some more variations (playfulness) on the opening theme. I didn't feel this mid-section change enhanced the work. Mark

I'm writing a musical song, about a witch. The lyrics are still in development, and I have since transposed the music down a lot from this recording, as it's way too high to sing. But I just can't figure out how to orchestrate it. At the end, before it cuts off, there will be a massive choir + orchestra section which I could be fine with orchestrating, it's just the rest of the song sounds so nice just with piano, so I don't know how to orchestrate it, and for what ensemble/orchestra. Any suggestions appreciated.Nasty Little Woman.mp3

Hi @Aw Ke Shen ! I actually did this before when I was young, as I always press the middle pedal of an upright to practice so everything is muted. I did this to strengthen my fingerings though. Your learning approach as you describe would be mainly aural and theoretical, but there are also some people who learn by auditory or manual method, so it really depends. My recent learning approach would be to play the piece as close as the original tempo with all details. By forcing myself to so many things happening I actually learn faster than just grabbing details first, probably because I’m an N person (intuitive) in MBTI instead of an S person (sensory), so I need to grab the big picture before going into details first. Henry

Suite for mezzo-soprano and string quartet, “Forlorn Images”. The original title, "Неприкаянные образы" (“Neprikayannye obrazy”), cannot be translated into English exactly. The Russian word "неприкаянный" (neprikayanny) has no single equivalent in English. It describes someone or something that has no place to belong, no refuge, and no peace. It is a person or a spirit drifting without purpose, restless, a little lost and lonely, not accepted anywhere. The word is often linked to the old verb "каяться" (to repent), and it carries a faint religious shade: something left unreconciled, with no rest or shelter. English words such as “forlorn”, “restless”, “drifting” or “homeless” each capture only part of this. So “Forlorn Images” is only an approximation. Think of images, figures and visions that wander without finding their place. The 5th movement, "Звездочёт" (Zvezdochet), is an old, slightly fairy-tale word for an astronomer or astrologer. Literally it means “one who counts the stars”. It belongs to the world of medieval wizards, court sages and folk tales, where a person watches the sky and reads fate in it. The nearest English word is “Stargazer”, though it can also suggest a daydreamer. “Astrologer” is closer to the mystical side. Please read it as an old sage who observes the stars and seeks meaning in them. Music by A. Khomenko, lyrics by V. Osadchenko. In five movements. Silence Reflection Desire The Master (attacca) The Stargazer Part1 Part 2 Part 3 Parts 4-5

Hello everyone, I’d like to share Rafa’s March, a piece I wrote in memory of my dog, Rafael, whom we called Rafa. The music reflects the moments when we walked every day at the river, he was just wild chasing kangaroos and every sound he could hear. I composed it using the piano and StaffPad. I’m still learning about composition and orchestration, and I’d appreciate your feedback about balance, timbre and anything you would like to say to help me to improve in this journey. I’ve attached the audio and PDF score. Thank you for listening! Polo Perilton Rafas March.mp3 Rafas March.pdf

Would it be a good approach to first learn a piano piece with the keyboard volume switched off or turned very low, or by using the soft pedal on the piano right from the beginning, before gradually moving on to fuller-sounding practice and musical refinement? I have sometimes done this in the past and have been experimenting with it a little more recently. The idea is to first familiarise oneself with all the notes, rhythms, general techniques and physical movements without overloading the ears with sound, helping to minimise cumulative auditory fatigue over extended practice sessions. Slow practice can also be incorporated at this initial stage. Working out the unwritten dynamics, phrasing and articulation can likewise begin during the learning process, through listening to and imagining the piece, or be explored further once one is familiar with the notes and rhythms and moves on to the piano. I am curious whether this quieter approach to the initial stages of learning, followed by progressively fuller-sounding practice, might be beneficial before eventually refining the musical interpretation. Does anyone else practise this way, and what has your experience been? Feel free to share : ) ...

Do all 10 now because lunch is over!

Another musical quote from "Beyond the Occult" by Colin Wilson features a discussion of hypnosis, split-brain theory and Mozart: If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! Now go out into the world and do at least 10 impossible things before lunch! LoL

Dragon Quest I - Symphonic Suite - People:

Yep, Caplin’s book is definitely the gold standard for phrase syntax, but it’s also a massive academic text. My goal with the article/website was to provide quick reference guides(and other stuff) that are a bit more digestible!

Just by reading Caplin's Classical Form will be ok? Henry

Hey, I'm not offended I'm not very good at multiple instruments.

Good evening=) I’ve watched and listened to your Quartet. It seems to me that this is a very raw piece that needs serious revision. There are a great many purely technical issues. Even in computer playback, your texture doesn’t sound good, and with live players it will sound even worse. Your voices often cross and double each other. For example, in the “Pastorale”, right at the beginning, the cello and viola play the same notes, but the cello sustains quarter notes while the viola plays eighths. As a result, both will sound poor, and the accompaniment will get muddy. What’s more, your voices aren’t independent. You double many of the moves (literally in the second measure the cello, the viola, and the first violin, which has the melody, all play the same descending B–A together, and in the fourth you for some reason double the melody in the bass). This sounds extremely inexperienced. Avoid this. If you do double something (for example, if you need it for some effect), double everything, and do it consciously. If you don’t double, then don’t do it anywhere. Avoid moving all the voices in the same direction, especially in four or more parts. You’re working in a style close to the classical one, and such moments really grate on the ear here. In fact, they sound bad almost everywhere, and here especially so. Why you changed the type of texture in the 5th measure is completely unclear. There is neither the end of a section nor some especially important part of the theme there. It isn’t needed there either structurally or in terms of meaning. It’s as if you tugged the listener by the sleeve, they got ready to hear something important, and you didn’t say anything. The listener was disappointed :) You are trying to fill the entire vertical space from the bass to the very top, and there is no good reason for it. There is a good rule: the lower the register, the wider the intervals. Narrow intervals in the small octave and below sound unclear. They can be used there only with a clear and evident purpose. In your piece they often just sit there for the sake of being there. That will sound bad too. More notes doesn’t mean a richer sound. Four voices are quite enough in a quartet. They will then sound very clean, expressive, and beautiful. And if you want a rich sound, it is achieved by making the texture more polyphonic, not by mechanically adding notes. I hope you’re not offended by my remarks. All of this can be easily fixed, and it will come with practice :) I wish you luck and inspiration. Alex

Whenever composers and theory teachers talk about crafting a balanced melody, they always go to period form. Yes, it is talked about excessively, and many composers, especially in the Romantic era ignore it for more asymmetrical or looser structures, but it is one of the best ways to start when one is learning initially, and it was used by the masters, e.g. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. The structure of a period can be pared down to this: question and answer, or the antedecent and the consequent. The antecedent, ideally four bars. introduces the main melodic motif in bars 1-2, and introduces a contrasting idea in the next two, leading to an inconclusive cadence, usually half or imperfect authentic. The consequent, the same length as the antecedent restates the opening idea, either identically or with a slight variation to suit the preceding or succeding ideas and harmonies. The contrasting idea follows the same contour as its mirror in the antedecent, however it leads to a strong, usually perfect authentic cadence. Depending on how it is constructed, the period has two main types. The parallel and the contrasting. In the parallel, the consequent begins in the same vein as the antedecent. Think of the opening of Mozart's K. 331 sonata. In a contrasting period, the consequent begins with new melodic material, but retains the harmonic hierarchy of an inconclusive cadence followed by a conclusive one. If you want to read more like this, check out my website! And if you have requests or feedback, feel free to put them in the Google form on the site! Website: https://sites.google.com/view/beneath-the-score

Hello. I listened to your Nocturne. The piece is very interesting in its musical language, and it is well constructed in terms of form. However, it seems to me that this music belongs to the category of works that look clearer and more understandable on paper than they sound. Both in the accompaniment and in the melodic line you use very wide leaps and cover a very large range. For this reason, without the score it’s not always possible to tell where the accompaniment is and where the main figure is. The pulsation in groups of nine also feels somewhat intrusive. But that is probably more a problem of computer playback. A live pianist would most likely play more softly, and that pulsation wouldn’t draw so much attention. In any case, it’s good, interesting music.

Thank you very much for the positive feedback. Yes, you’re right, the computer plays it too evenly and unexcitingly. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want too many agogic deviations here. It seems to me that much more attention should go to dynamic shading rather than agogics. As for the Tropak, that’s an interesting association! I hadn’t noticed the influence of that dance, but perhaps it’s easier to see from the outside. And it’s interesting that the music sounds Russian to you. Yes, I’m Russian, but this piece seemed fairly neutral to me. Just as, by the way, Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony seems relatively neutral to us here, while in Europe, they say, it’s perceived as very Russian.

Hello A fantastic piece, rich in colour and beautifully orchestrated. I find this sort of work for wind bands to be a rather distinctive genre, and by no means an easy one. In the area where I live (Spain, on the Mediterranean coast) there’s a very strong tradition of street bands (marching bands?). They play whilst marching the whole time and consist of dozens of clarinets, oboes, flutes, sometimes saxophones, and percussion—including timpani, which are constantly pushed along by two assistants. There are many bands here and they play at the local festivals. For example, in many villages and neighbourhoods, ‘Moors and Christians’ festivals are held (lasting 3–5 days), as this country was under Muslim rule for seven centuries (from 711 to 1492) and these festivals re-enact the final Christian victory. Anyway, it’s fascinating. And that’s why we have such a wonderful Muslim heritage in this country in every aspect (traditions, cuisine, the language). These bands parade with various groups throughout the day and play pasodobles, music that sounds ‘Arabic’, and so on… That’s why I’m so fond of this sort of band. Anyway, sorry for rambling, but I’d like to congratulate you on this music.

@AngelCityOutlaw Thank you very much for your contributions. Of course, I understand all the different viewpoints and situations. The thing is, even though I’m still at an intermediate level (I think) when it comes to orchestral composition, I almost always write directly for the orchestra. First comes the idea – which might be a melody, but is often something else – and I already picture which instruments will be used, and so on. But my current mentor on these matters remarked that in orchestration, if you have good voice leading, you’ve got a large part of it sorted. And in this regard, he recommends using a sketch – not a standard piano stave, nor a piano reduction. Rather, use two, three or four staves (depending on the size of the orchestra you’re using) to outline the ideas and structures. Of course, I think he’s right. But I find this method useful when you’re developing an orchestral work of a certain scale, length, structure, and so on… For something lasting just 3 minutes, I don’t see it as necessary. I also think, as you mention, that it’s not the same whether you have all the time in the world to compose and orchestrate, or whether you have to work whilst adapting to deadlines and other people. And of course, reading the biographies of the greats – Verdi and Wagner, for example – it’s clear they did make sketches on the piano… But they didn’t have the digital tools we have today, and it was their only way not only of structuring tremendously complex works, but also of creating their ‘demos’ to present and rehearse their works. Best regards.

1 Andantino / Trio 2 Andante 3 Vivace Scherzo 4 Vivace string quartet .mp3 String quartet nr 1 pastrol.mp3 String quartet pastrol Scherzo.mp3 String quartet No 1 Mov 4 pastarol.mp3 string quartet .pdf String quartet nr 1 pastrol.pdf String quartet pastrol Scherzo.pdf String quartet No 1 Mov 4 pastarol.pdf

Nocturne- E minor.mp3Nocturne- E minor.pdf Hello. Recently finished this piece and felt it was something interesting to share; What i feel makes this piece distinct is that its quite heavily harmonically driven, as in the melody doesn't stray far from the current harmonic background; I'm quite satisfied with the structure, as i feel it keeps the piece interesting and fresh all the way through; I'm still not sure if i should say this piece is in E minor, as its never really suggested until the very end. (also this piece used to have a subtitle in early stages, but as i was composing further on it didn't quite stick, so some ideas of what to call it would be nice) Thoughts and feedback are always welcome. Enjoy the music.

Piano sketches can be useful for beginners in composition because it keeps them focused on making sure the raw musical material is worth actually expanding into something big like an orchestra. However, once you are skilled enough in simply "composing", and your familiarity with the orchestra grows, you tend to outgrow the sketch and see its very limited utility. I actually sort of dislike the piano as an instrument, because it is really not very expressive and sterile, whereas the orchestra can play from whisper quiet to deafeningly loud and with a huge number of articulations that a piano simply cannot emulate. What can happen if you rely all the time on a piano sketch is that you will orchestrate the music in a very basic manner; no trills, horn rips, portamento, mordents or other ornamentation...because the piano is not really capable of it. Another issue is that in orchestration, tone colour is of paramount importance and basically why you would use an orchestra in the first place. A melody played on the oboe can have an entirely different character than it would played by the horns; the piano captures neither. Where this also manifests itself is in harmony. For example, in a piece I am presently working on, it begins with the horns playing a Gm add9, no5 chord at piano dynamics. This has a real warm, ethereal quality that the piano and sustain pedal couldn't capture. Thus, if I had reached for the piano instead of a horns patch in my DAW, I don't think I would've come up with the harmonic language the piece has. Another thing is that: I compose for film. Two films I did this year I had just a few weeks to compose the score before the premieres in a major city. So there were hundreds of people counting on me to be on time. I just don't have time to sketch things out in a piano and then try to translate it to an orchestra. Especially not in film, where the picture itself influences the structure and orchestration; makes way more sense to just go straight for the instruments you have in mind. You can also get some sample libraries these days which are quite playable or at least set up a couple of patches to play in tandem (like staccato + long) and "sketch" that way, with the instrument sounds right at your finger tips. In notation software, you could play your melody on your keyboard, and then just enter it straight away to the violins. Don't like how it is on the violins after all? Copy/Paste it to the flutes in a second. Piano sketches have their uses. Concert composers might still find use for it and beginners will value it, but modern technology has given us better alternatives, I find. It should also be noted that composers of old often didn't really use a "piano" sketch even if they worked at a piano. Following what @Sojar Voglar said, John Williams' sketches were always 3-stave reductions for winds, strings and brass. So even when he was writing at the piano, he was pretty much orchestrating it at the same time. He was always composing with the orchestra in mind.

Hi @Alexx ! I love the Prokofiev-like angularity of your melodies! The chromaticism is also a welcome feature and very entertaining! Very Russian of you! (You're Russian, right? Forgive me if I'm wrong.) As a critique, I think this sounds slightly artificial without any changes in tempo and at the tempo you have. I think a real pianist would usually play this slightly slower and it would be great if you tried to play and record this yourself. I think at a constant tempo it starts to sound somewhat resembling a Russian Tropak or the famous Russian music from the game "Tetris" (or a march). I think it would greatly enrich your music if you found ways to include tempo fluctuations. For me, I've occasionally written pieces where each measure there's a constant alteration between ritardandi and accelerandi. If you don't want to clutter up your score with those kind of indications you could just write "rubato" at the beginning with the tempo indication and hide the ritard's and accel's. That's of course for a very different kind of piece and doesn't really apply to this particular style you have here. Nonetheless, I think I'll leave my comments for any future piano pieces you may write. Thanks for sharing!

OK, I saw some profession stuff that you added in the stuff at the end is fine. You cannot do you wanna also maximize maybe your bass a bit. timpani in concert bass drum would work well especially leaving a roomy feel for some stuff, especially some climaxes when I mean by climmax , I’m talking about like some of the stuff that just stands louder than the rest you could add some other things like a concert bass drum or timp or a sizzle cymbal

As another bonus, this inhumanly fast rendering is what the capriccio sounds like in my head ~ Sonata per corno – 3. Capriccio (fast).mp3