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Hi to all. I've now completed my orchestration of all three movements of "The Hour Glass" (originally for piano solo). This second movement was the hardest of all to orchestrate: so any tips on how to make it better would be very welcome! I found it especially difficult to create suitable harmonies for a string bed to go underneath the intricate arpeggios in the harp. Not sure I've done it very well. Also, some of the chromaticism in the harp part may be unplayable, because of the pedals? Haven't got around to adding slurs and phrasing yet, and as usual, my dynamics are designed for midi only. Frank Bridge - The Dew Fairy #28.mp3 Frank Bridge - The Dew Fairy #28.pdf

Anyway, carry on! I will listen to these even from a cursory glance very good piano pieces in their entirety when I can truly pay proper attention to them, and you have my word on that.

Jackie is just fine, but I feel like something fun, like good Classic Rock right now, to calm my nerves!

Hello, glad to be here. I love listening to music. However, since I couldn't attend a music university or take lessons and didn't try to learn by myself, I couldn't learn music notation. Now, I feel how important it is to learn notation. Therefore, I want to ask how I can learn music notation. I want to learn it on my own while occasionally asking for help on this forum. First, I want to start with free resources, but my search returned too many websites and YouTube channels, leaving me totally confused about which one to choose. If you have some time, I would be so happy to receive your advice about how I can start to learn it and how to go to the next step. By the way, I would like to say that you all compose such good music. My hat is always off to you. Thank you. Best, Lithl.

It's like when you steal and get caught and then you tell the police, "just return it to the owner and it's fine!". Do you think it's proper when you don't bear consequence for posting all these irrelevant content as a harassment to the forum?

It is YOUR responsibility to keep your posts appropriate not ours. We are not paid moderators, and we do not have to babysit and police everything you do. ALL the other users on this forum understand this and are able to police themselves and use their own good judgment - but you do not, hence why we are considering banning you.

I think you are taking this far too seriously. Just delete the posts you do not like! You are driving me towards buying some beer, getting a bit tipsy, and just listening to something technically proficient yet fun, like Gilbert and Sullivan! Would like to hang out with Jackie, but it is about to storm, and she is very busy with online managerial school, 4.0 average, and I don't want to bother her! Really...

This is what you don't understand. This kind of sharing in this forum is inappropriate. We are currently voting whether to ban you from the forum. You do not understand basic personal boundaries. You are over-exposing yourself and the personal details of your life - things that nobody on the website should have to read through and care about if they are coming here to listen to music and get feedback on their music. The nature of your relationships irl are TOTALLY IRRELEVANT.

Well, if you don't care, that is fine, but it is a deep, non-sexual friendship, and she has been having a profound influence on my music lately. Personal relationships, romantic or not, can have a profound effect on one's art; look at Beethoven! He had deep friendships with women, even if they did not find him attractive in that way.

What are you talking about? Henry was referring to the consequences of continuing to post the details of your personal life in the forum. Nobody cares about the nature of your relationships! That's the problem - you keep talking about things that have no bearing on music and is totally irrelevant and meaningless to other members posts!

The consequence of having a deep Platonic friendship with a woman much younger than me, who has become a part of my music? Such things exist, you know. Neither of us want to ruin our deep friendship over something so silly and momentarily pleasant as recreational sex, but the consequences of THAT would be very bad for our relationship as true friends. Honestly, I do not know what the problem is.

You know this and still do it so you know the consequence you may bear? Henry

Really, not everyone gets my sense of humor! It can be somewhat Monty Pythonesque, but I mean no harm! Even my Moll/Dur, minor/major piano sonata is not profound, yet it is heartfelt!

You are welcome to be confused if you like, Henry, and this little joke piece really does not deserve its own thread! I wrote it as a relief from working on my piano sonata. You or Peter are welcome to delete the thread if you like; it is posted in the piano sonata thread anyway.

In this sonata, the right hand is usually Jackie, and the left hand is usually me...I think it is a good piano sonata. It is not profound, but heartfelt.

Hello, friends. About three years ago, I penned this song cycle for a friend from El Salvador, based on poems by the beloved Salvadoran poet, Alfredo Espino. These hold a special place in my heart because they're the last music I've ever written, though they were sadly never performed. The songs and directions are completely in Spanish. Here they've been rendered by Cantamus (unfortunately sung in a Castilian accent and not the Latin American accent spoken in El Salvador) and the piano accompaniment has been [poorly] played by me. They're not the best recordings and some of the lyrics didn't render properly, but hopefully they deliver the music effectively. The cycle is chiasmic in structure (i.e., the first and last movements and the second and fourth movements mirror each other) and it tells the story of a day in El Salvador. I. Madrugada: This means early morning. The lyrics and music represent the waking of the Salvadoran countryside: farmers starting their day, roosters crowing, birds chirping. It begins mysteriously but soon "warms up," preparing us for the rest of the song cycle. II. Plombagina: The title is about a tiny flower found along the riverbanks in El Salvador; here it represents the playfulness of the river and the hopefulness of midmorning. This one is unmistakably waltzlike and lyrical. III. Tardecitas: "Little afternoons" is a piece about watching the rainfall in the heat of the day. It's lazy and less ambitious than the others in the cycle, representing the languor of a dreary, rainy day. IV. Estrella in el río: We return once more to a song about the river, this time in a more contemplative frame of mind. "Star in the river" is shimmering and reflective, capturing the tranquility of twilight as the stars begin to pinprick the sky and cast their reflections into the river below. V. Nocturno: While "Madrugada" expresses the joys of a new morning, "Nocturno" explores the angst found at the close of the day. It's by far the most restless of the cycle, employing a sort of perverted tango rhythm in mockery of the soothing sway of a nocturne. In it, you'll find themes of grief and fear and anxiety, embedded in harmonies very reminiscent of Spain/Latin America. Even if you don't understand Spanish, I hope these songs move you and perhaps inspire you. As ever, I'm happy to receive any feedback you may have. Best, Jordan Canciones de El Salvador.pdf I. Madrugada.mp3 II. Plombagina.mp3 III. Tardecitas.mp3 IV. Estrella en el río.mp3 V. Nocturno.mp3

@Churchcantor I have received messages from members with the concern that you're not registering any boundaries. The Young Composer's Forum is a public forum but you're using it as a place to over-share details of your own personal life in a way that's not only off-topic but concerning to others. Another concern is that you're using it as a place not for interacting with others but only to talk about yourself and alienate others in the process without any insight or knowledge that you're doing so. Members feel sorry for you and are concerned about your mental state. Also, the following post has almost no bearing on the @SergeOfArniVillage 's original post and music and is very off-topic and inappropriate: How would you handle this if you were a staff member?

Hey, these seem very nice! I will check them out. Already "liked" them, I can just tell from glancing at a few of them...Yes, I'm worried about my best friend Jackie, wheezing/breathing problems, but she is probably ok; needs her Albuterol/Ventolin inhaler. I'll probably get some beer to help calm my nerves and listen; after all, my own music sounds better to me after a couple beers!😆(I sure don't want to hear my sonata again unless I know she's OK, it's about her! I had to listen so many times to edit, anyway, seeing that I can't even play piano.)

Endless recitative? Like in Mozart's last opera "The Clemency of Titus?" 🤣Very naughty to pick on Mozart's more hurried and inferior, for him, works...

Complaint of the poor young man; I really like your manuscript calligraphy! I know I listened to this, I could always listen again.

Keats? I would NEVER set his little epitaph "This Living Hand;" very creepy, seeing as he died very young from Tuberculosis...or Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Terrible Sonnets:" they are quite terrible indeed, even though he is my favorite poet. (Hopkins suffered from awful digestive symptoms, very much like Beethoven. I think I shall refrain from discussing THAT right now.)

THIS is still at the top of the page? I think it is a decent setting. Maybe I should write more English Poetry settings. I could certainly set German, do some Lieder...not fluent in the Sprache, just working on basic conversational German, so I would have to analyze a German poem first before I could set it.

Actually decided that I have a soft spot for this little joke piece; very funny!🤣It's like (well, I meant it) the rocket went up then crashed hard, and the low piano bass is saying "Sorry, no dice" or something! So-called AI says: The phrase "sorry, no dice" is an informal American idiom used to express a flat refusal, a negative outcome, or an unsuccessful attempt. It indicates that a request has been denied or that a desired outcome is simply not possible. Kind of like North Korean missile launches! 🤣

Yes, the house mice I can never get rid of like to chew up my manuscripts for bedding; at least they have good "taste" in music! That's from my Bb Major Requiem; it is already in the computer. 😉That is from probably the weakest movement in that piece, anyway. My two pet rats are too polite to munch on my scores. One of them likes to hunt, slaughter, and devour any mouse he can catch though, Baby, my friend Jackie's rat, really.

My friend Jackie, piano sonata dedicee, had some wheezing and shortness of breath, she mentioned needing a new Albuterol inhaler, and I think she was worried enough about it to call EMS, but she does not live with me now, just down the street. I am more worried about her right now than music, though I am looking at some music just to take my mind off the situation until I know she is ok. No intimate relationship between us; I am eighteen years older, and very ugly in my old age!