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Really need courage to cross out passages you wrote! But you can always recycle materials for other pieces so there won’t be waste! Henry

@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, @PeterthePapercomPoser, really thank you! You guys taught me how to fish! Thanks to you, I think I'm going to have a full belly. But wait. Where's the side dish?

My dear friend, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful comment! ❤️ I’m incredibly happy that you enjoyed the sonata, and even more so that you noticed so many details in the music, from the dynamics and tempo transitions to the interplay between the two hands and the way the music leads towards its conclusion. These are things that are very important to me when I write. And what you said about my scores—that you can somehow sense the thought and warmth behind their creation—really touched me. For me, a score is not simply a way of writing music down; it is a part of my thoughts and a little piece of myself. And as for Scarlatti, your comment is an enormous compliment to me, because his music has had such a deep influence on this part of my musical journey. 😊 Thank you again for your kindness, for taking the time to listen to my music so carefully, and for continuing to find something of your own in it. I truly appreciate it my friend! ❤️

Um... is this an undiscovered work by Scarlatti or something like that? Anyway, some people in this forum have amazing compositional skills and knowledge. Not everyone does, though, and I mean, hats off to such people. And I think you are one of them. At least, I think so. You have amazing composition skills. I appreciate this piece. The resonance of the sound is great, and it excels in every respect—from the dynamics and tempo transitions to such a smooth, flowing quality and a well-executed conclusion. The interplay of sound between the left and right hands is also nice. It feels as if the sound is sparkling. By the way, I like your sheet music. I’m not qualified to judge the technical accuracy of the scores, but there is a certain quality to them—you can sense the deep thought that went into their creation. They have a real warmth to them. Ok, this world is "so fair" that even when we compose for ourselves as a hobby, etc., there are magnificent differences, haha. Hats off to you, again, @Vasilis Michael!! I like your pieces! Best, Lithl.

Hello my friends! I’m happy to present my Binary Sonata No. 26 to you as well. I hope you enjoy it!

A friend on discord provided me with this virtual treasure trove of an article about the topic of Fragile, Emergent and Absent tonics from the popular music of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's: https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.17.23.2/mto.17.23.2.spicer.html There is an available pdf link to download the article and musical examples.

In a sense Chopin's Ballade no.2 does the same thing, although Chopin goes even one step forward by destroying the false repose of F major all along with the cruel but real tragic A minor ending.

I agree the key of the song should be C# minor modulates to E minor with heavy reliance on deceptive cadence. Maybe the songwriter wants to signify the peace represented by the VI chord is full of undercurrent of i. Henry

My bad I fixed it. The link is to the youtube recording

After some thought, I think I'll scrap the piece, just keeping my A section and seeing what I can do with that.

Are you sure your link is to the right piece? It takes me to the 12-tone Wind Quintet I already heard before. Also - could you provide an mp3 rendition link as well? Thanks!

"Nature's Way" by Christopher Cross: The song starts out on A major.. the chords are as follows: (Verse) (Chorus) ||: A maj | G#7sus4 G#7 :||: C#m A maj B maj :|| E maj B maj | A maj || (repeat) then in the middle there's a modulation in the chorus: (Verse and guitar solo) (Chorus) ||: A maj | G#7sus4 G#7 :||: Em C maj D maj :|| G maj D maj | C maj || ||: C maj | B7sus4 B7 :||: Em C maj D maj :||: G maj D maj | C maj :|| The song ends on a D major chord. I posted this song because of it's ambiguous tonality. The song starts on an A major chord which sounds temporarily as if it could be the tonic chord. But soon enough it turns out to be a bVI chord in a bVI, V7sus4, V7, i progression (C# minor being the key here). But then that is immediately contradicted by E maj, B maj and A maj which in isolation sound like they could be the I, V and IV chords in E major. Finally, there's a modulation after the guitar solo to E minor, emphasizing the i, bVI and bVII (a common trope in rock music and in VGM often referred to as the "Mario Cadence") . The whole pattern of chords is now transposed up a minor 3rd. So the temporary modulation into the relative major is now targeting G major. The song ends on a D major chord, leaving many unanswered questions about its tonality. First off, most of the chords in the progression are major chords. But if you follow the roman numeral analysis, the tonic could be considered to be minor (either C# minor or E minor after the modulation in the middle of the guitar solo). This all just serves to underline the songs harmonic ambiguity. What key do you think it's in?

I started this few years ago and posted a couple pieces of this suite before. I had intended to finish it but set it aside and hadn't worked on it in a while. I finally cam back to it a few weeks ago and decided to finish it. It's based on the Hans Christian Anderson story of the Steadfast Tin Soldier. My goal was to write each piece in 3/4 timing, as I don't often use that timing and to keep each piece to less than 4 minutes (thought the finale is just over 5 minutes). I included a description for each piece to describe the action. I. The Tin Soldiers Play War There were once twenty-five tin soldiers, born of the same old spoon. The little boy lined them up together, all splendid in their uniforms of red and blue. They all looked the same, except one. He looked a little different as he had been cast last of all. The tin was short and, in turn, so was he. But there he stood, as steady as his brethren. The little boy marched them around the table, clashing them together and making booms like cannons and musket fire. II. The Paper Ballerina’s Dance He lined them up to protect the model castle and the other small toy figures inside. One of those was a little paper ballerina, with a fluffy gauze skirt and a glistening jewel around her neck. The little tin soldier thought to himself, “I would so love for her to be my wife, but maybe she’s too grand for me. She lives in a castle, and I have only a little box that I share with twenty-four other soldiers.” He hid behind a little box, steadfastly watching her as the other soldiers continued to play. III. The Soldier and the Ballerina’s Pas de Deux When night came and the children went to bed, the toys came to life and began to play on their own. The little tin soldier moved toward the ballerina and offered his hand. To his surprise, she did not reject it; she clasped his hand, and the two began to dance. As they whirled around the table, they looked into each other’s eyes and knew they had found their true love. IV. The Jealous Goblin But in the shadows lurked the goblin who lived in the jack-in-a-box, and he was not pleased with what he saw. For he thought the ballerina belonged to him and did not appreciate this newcomer taking his place. He approached the soldier and said, “Keep your eyes and hands to yourself.” He pushed at him, but the tin soldier stood stiffly in his spot. As the goblin stalked away, he said, “Just what till tomorrow!” V. The Soldier Falls from the Window The next day, maybe by chance or maybe because of the goblin, the little soldier ended up on the open window ledge. Whether it was a gust of wind or a goblin spell, the little soldier fell three stories to the ground, landing between the paving stones. VI. The Journey on the Paper Boat He lay there all night till two boys found him and placed him on a little boat and sent him sailing down the river. The little soldier thought about his dear ballerina and if he would ever see her again. The stream began to move faster and faster, carrying him toward the drain to the sewer. VII. The Escape from the Sewer Rats The tin soldier found himself floating through the sewer. Suddenly, a group of rats came toward the water, demanding that the little soldier pay a toll for passing through their land. They scurried around to find debris to throw at the boat. The little soldier tried to steer the boat around them, but it led him into a fast-moving tunnel and through a drain that led out to sea. The boat turned over and the soldier fell into the water. VIII. The Fish and the Surprise Inside Before he could sink to the bottom, a passing fish swallowed him and the little soldier found himself in the fish’s belly. He moved back and forth as the fish swam. All of a sudden, the fish began to move wildly and then fell still. He then heard loud noises coming from outside before turning quiet. A knife suddenly cut through the fish’s belly and before the little soldier stood his former master’s cook. He had miraculously found his way home. IX. The Reunion and the Fireplace The little soldier stood on the table, his paint worn off, but he still stood as stiff as ever. Across the table, he saw his ballerina, his love that he thought he would never see again. His heart was filled with so much regret for the time together they had missed. But lurking in the shadow was the wicked little goblin. He would not let the little tin soldier take his girl away. Maybe by chance or maybe it was the goblin, but one of the children picked up the soldier and threw him into the fire. The goblin danced in delight of his victory, but suddenly a gust of wind blew the paper ballerina into the fire with the soldier. The next morning, when the fire had died out. The maid saw in the ashes a tiny tin heart, and at the center was the jewel that the ballerina wore. Joined together, as one. 14 The Tin Soldier's Play War.mp3 15 The Paper Ballerina's Dance.mp3 16 The Soldier and the Ballerina's Pas de Deux.mp3 17 The Jealous Goblin.mp3 18 The Soldier Falls From the Window.mp3 19 The Journey on the Paper Boat.mp3 20 The Escape from the Sewer Rats.mp3 21 The Fish and the Surprising Dinner.mp3 22 The Reunion and the Fireplace.mp3

I did not use MuseScore for that. I used Adobe Acrobat for the watermark.

Have you joined our discord server? We constantly post unique pieces of music from all kinds of composers in the #now-listening channel!

That's fair. But John Philp Sausa must not have read any of these when we wrote solo line for the piccolo!

Hello It’s fine to experiment and explore different sounds. But these extreme approaches need to be handled with care. The piccolo is not, by its very nature, a solo instrument, but rather an extension of the flutes. Of course, there are passages where it can take a solo moment, and so on, with the necessary support. Even complete works. And there are reasons for this. And that is what I’d like to discuss, in the hope that it will spark debate and help us learn in general. If we turn to Rimsky-Korsakov’s classic treatise on orchestration: “Instruments operating above the high octave (i.e. notes higher than C6 or the C on the sixth additional line in the treble clef, such as the piccolo or the extreme register of the flute and the violins) have an extremely brilliant and penetrating sound, but lack body, ‘thickness’ and harmonic weight.” (Note that the piccolo sounds an octave higher than it is written.) There is, therefore, a ‘rule’ regarding lower doubling. Specifically for the piccolo or flutes playing above C6, the melody must be doubled an octave lower, assigned to the oboes, clarinets or violins. More recent authors (Adler and Piston) justify this as follows: -Loss of Fundamental: From C6 upwards, the human ear perceives the shrillness and upper harmonics very strongly, but the fundamental frequency loses its acoustic ‘weight’. The lower doubling ‘anchors’ the melody to the orchestra’s mid-range frequencies, giving it body. -The ‘Floating’ Effect: If the lower doubling is not performed, the melody becomes detached from the rest of the orchestral texture, sounding disconnected, thin and ‘floating’ above it without blending in. -Aural Fatigue: As noted in contemporary orchestral literature, maintaining pure melodic lines above C6 without a cushion or lower doubling causes fatigue in the listener due to a lack of frequency balance.

I published this score on the good ole' Tik-Tok, and boy.... I guess the "For You" browsers really liked it... 😅

He does this with a PDF Editor tool, if I'm not mistaken

I've made the time signatures a bit more sensible for this now, and tidied up the score generally. Still not quite sure what to do with Bar 53, as I'd have to use 9/8 there, in order to get rid of my short fermata in the left hand. I don't know if I can justify changing to a compound time signature, just to make that dotted rhythm with one note? N.B. The structure of the piece is: Bar 1: Subject A Bar 19: Subject B Bar 38: Recapitulation (including a modified unfolding of Subject A) Bar 63: extended coda In Bar 19, I switched from rich chords with lots of complexity to simple triadic chords. I was attempting to use changes in harmonic richness to delineate the structure. My tutor said the Coda feels oddly unbalanced, and should be cut down to half its length or less. Personally I rather like it the way it is! Chills #47.pdf

I wish you the best of luck getting this performed! If you don't mind me asking, I wondered how you added the preview copy watermark? I didn't know you could do that in MuseScore.

Oh, so I have made the score worse during my revision by removing rests if one instrument plays and the other pauses. By the way, I have found an interesting guideline for score preparation from another composing competition (not the one I intend to participate) which I find useful: https://youngcomposerschallenge.org/preparing_scores.php The respective section is copied in the image. With this example staff line I hopefully have found the correct notation and rest placement for the different situations on a shared staff (in the full orchestral score). In the parts for the individual instruments, that questions do not arise, since there are no shared staves. And, I understood „divisi“ is only for the strings if, for example, the cellos shall play more than one voice in a certain situation. Ok, to avoid those questions, I’ll furthermore use my „beautiful colored scores“ only in my YouTube videos, or perhaps, when presenting a piece here on the YCF for analysis.

There're a lot of great post here in the past and I'm sure they can fill up your belly! Henry