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I have just watched Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme today and I find the music really matches the film's eccentric style. The film quotes a lot of Stravinsky's Petrushka and Bach's famous Cantata BWV 147, as well as ending with the Firebird. The original music reminds a lot with Stravinsky as well, tho when the piano joins in it's more like Schonberg in a way with its tone and color, tho the rhythm and mood is still Stravinsky, or even in Riley's minimalism

Hi @Krisp! I like the opening D flat major passage which for me is very tranquilled. I don't know why, the ending of the piece reminds me of the ending of Schumann's Dichterliebe. Nice color and singing as usual! One thing is that, if you use key signatures maybe you can write less accidentals in your manuscript? Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @NicholasG! I think @Marius_ already got many good points and I'm not going to repeat what s/he said. You should be proud of it. Your orchestration and mood portrayal is very mature as a 16 year old and I like many of them. Your motivic usage is lovely too. I really like the ending starting from b.93, good preparation to it and nice rhythmic variety. Maybe for me you can also add more varieties in the harmony as well, since most of the passages are more diatonic and less modulatory and dissonance. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @Fruit hunter! The mallets at the opening is a nice touch. Always like your percussion choice since you are a percussionist yourself. I think the whole music is energetic with some good contrast between those energetic passages, and very colorful. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello @Isen Lark! Welcome to the forum! That's a soothing sad music reminds me of Richard Clayderman. It's lovely, maybe you can provide some contrast by modulating to a different key in the middle section out of G minor. But the whole music is enjoyable, nice ending as well! Would be great if you can also provide the score of your music. Thx for joining and sharing your music here! You can also visit other membets' posts and possibly leave reviews on them. Henry

Hi @pateceramics! The beginning is really dark with a dark key and dissonancnes. I like that in the first few pages the dissonances are still remained until the really bright C major section, and after that it's all God's glories. I also like how the four voices interact with imitations and call and response. Thx for sharing! Henry

Pop instrumentation can be quite literally anything, but is most commonly based around a "band" rhythm section. Drumkit, bass guitar, and usually some chordal instrument like a keyboard guitar. Drums are very simple in most pop tunes. The simple "four on the floor" pattern is in almost every song. Kick drum on beat 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4.

How wonderfully brooding!

It sounds great. I think the theme is very original, and when that happens in a fugue, it's much easier to follow the developments. To my taste, but this is just my personal opinion, the tempo is perfect. Because when there are fugues with dense textures and the movement is very fast, I think you lose a little bit of that sense of knowing where things are going aurally. The layout of the video is great. And the score is very, very detailed (sometimes I think some things could be simplified), and that's a plus.

Sounds good. But here are a few observations: In my opinion, there is little use of inverted chords. So much movement of the bass in root notes is very strict and not very melodious (it is not in keeping with the counterpoint style). There are some strange twists in some modulations. In measure 7 you have Bm - E.... and then Gm!! It's true that Gm - C - modulates to F. But that jump from E to Gm is harsh in this context. Something similar happens in bar 11: F - Em(b5) -- F# (b5) - B... to go to Em. These are progressions that appear with sudden changes and make it sound very strange. I'm not saying that this can't be written, but in this absolutely tonal context, I think it's out of style. If you do this in a contemporary language, it could work.

Excellent! I love the way your ARJUNA theme skips along rhythmically in the violin part; the whole piece has such a lighthearted feel to it. I would have liked a little more bold variety to the repeated wind blows fair, wind blows cold theme that we see in the violin at measure 62, since it comes up several times. It feels like you could have pushed the harmonic surprise there a little more in those places, but I know you said you were also trying to simplify your ideas in this piece. Excellent job keeping both parts varied for interest and letting them interact with each other in diverse ways that will let the musicians enjoy bouncing off each other's musical ideas. This seems very fun to play! I hope you'll enjoy it!

Hi! My name is Isen Lark, and I'm happy to share the first composition I decided to publish on Spotify: "Paper Swan". The paper swan sat by the old piano, its wings curled from time and dust. Somewhere, a song played softly—one we used to know. The notes wavered, like the swan might lift off, but never did. MIDI.mid

This piece contrasts an excerpt from Walt Whitman's preface to Leaves of Grass with 1 Peter 1:24 "All flesh is as grass...", otherwise known as the best part of the the thoroughly excellent Brahms Requiem. Whitman's text urges us to think for ourselves and do the right thing, letting our lives speak for our morals. The biblical passage reminds us that our lives are beautiful, but short, lending urgency to Whitman's words. There is only so much time. “…read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body...” -Walt Whitman For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 1 Peter 1:24

I like this so much! His poetry is so evocative of a time and place, while simultaneously the speaker could be someone you pass on the street today. The rocking rhythm of your piano accompaniment feels appropriate to an evening spent lying on the carriage roof, soul twirling along with the smoke. Your harmonies around 1:10 work very well to inject a little melancholy and mystery to "pourquoir me comprenez-vous pas?" You do an excellent job of turning your musical language to follow the narrator's emotional journey, while still producing a cohesive piece. Bravo!

Hey Nicholas, I like your piece a lot! It sounds epic, and you take your time with each theme, which makes it sound coherent and easy to listen to. I don't have any experience writing for large ensembles, so I thought I'd only give feedback on your brass writing (I play the trumpet myself). First of all, in bar 21 consider raising the second trumpet an octave. That will make it easier for the first trumpet to hit his note: it is easier to play when being 'carried' by the rest of the section - and that two-octave gap is to large to give that effect. (As written it will sound like a solo instead of team work.) My teacher used to say: 'Trumpet players are surfers. We surf on sound.' At certain points in the score you write divisi for the trumpets, horns and first trombone - but you assigned three players to each part (in the preface)!! Which of the two voices should get two players? Either split up in three parts or make a note in their score, telling them what to do. But also consider that your brass section is humongous (A dozen players on trumpet and horn): You can change the parts to avoid all divisi. E.g. after bar 102 you could give the trumpets the root and fifth and the horns the root and third. In Musescore this will sound just the same, but when played by a real orchestra all voicings sound distinctly different. Not having divisi also is less confusing - especially if your players don't get (many) rehearsals. Btw that 1.5 octave jump in bar 106, first trumpet, looks really scary... Lastly, from that same bar 106 your trumpets and horns are playing fortissimo - which basically means 'as loud as possible'. Therefore the four (!) crescendo's you write later in the part won't have any effect... Either tell them to take back before each crescendo, or don't write them at all. That'll conclude my oddly-specific-feedback : ) . I should tell you again - I'm no pro at all, and your writing already is really good. Don't take this as harsh criticism: I'm just better at pointing out imperfections than giving elaborate compliments :)). I really enjoyed listening to your piece! Kind regards, Marius

Well i got to start somewhere

Hello, I just finished a cinematic Grade 6 piece for concert band and I'd like to share it with everyone! I am very proud of it especially as a 16 year old composer. The story of the piece is a fire god of which has been long forgotten, he then awakes and imposes his wrath on humanity. While this is happening cultists gather to worship this fire god. There is no heroic conclusion, the god wins.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying the composition itself is basic. It's the string writing that's "basic"...as in there seems to be these defined roles akin to a 4 part choir (1st violin = soprano, 2nd = alto, etc.)

Very charming! I'm definitely getting a Beethoven/Brahms vibe from this movement. The modulation to D major in the exposition is unexpected, but it works! The 2nd ending/intro of the development is a little odd. I think a little more motion from the piano into bar 102 would make the transition smoother (suggestion: maybe the violin motif in 102 could be played in the piano bass line at the 2nd ending). Another minor suggestion (and this one is just a personal preference)...3 before the end, maybe have the violin play a pizzicato B-flat major chord (maybe without the piano). The violin writing is very idiomatic for the instrument. The piano writing seems fine to me...though not a pianist myself.

Hello Here is another piece of the cycle "a la lune" according to Jules Laforgue. I didn't count. I must be at 4 or 5 on the same theme. Here is a kind of little song that looks like a waltz. Sweet bitter, of course, since it is lost love... Translation in the video in subtitles. Thank you for your criticism!

I just never thought of it lol, as I thought all sonatas for violin and piano are called Violin Sonatas anyways but look like I'm wrong. I did put some slight melodic emphasis for the violin as this is Arjuna's instrument to play, and I would love the instrument to sing beautifully. Thx for your review! Henry

Hey Mike! Yeah I'm just able to sneak in some pentatonicism in this otherwise normal classical/romantic movement. I am learning how to write simpler and lighter music while still maintaining the flow and effectiveness, because it's not things I have done in the past few years. Yeah I don't wanna explore too much here, maybe in the variation 4th mov there's more! Thx for your review! Henry

Hi Peter! The Nimrod theme is 10 times better than mine lol! I love that variation very much! Well I don't care whether a friend is known through real life or internet. Arjuna is definitely much closer than many people I know in real life. I won't write a piece for someone I don't treasure. Yeah I just try to for light mood and simple style here, something enjoyable and not too difficult. Honestly I quite enjoy composing this piece after the Sextet since that one takes tons of efforts. Thx for your review Peter! Henry

Can I have the score to this? This way I can give more detailed feedback and also talk about orchestration.

The chord progression sounds very similar to Vivaldi‘s winter concerto for the first movement. Same thing with the rhythm, but articulated differently with more aggression. Also, there is some twinkle sound. I don’t know if it’s a glockenspiel or glass bottles or literal icicles being played on. It sounds nice, but some are out of time unless if that’s your intention.