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Hi @UncleRed99! Clearly I forgot your original post so I will just treat this as a complete new one lol. I think so too, I enjoy this Japanese style music with a slight sadness but not too much. I feel like in b.51 the transition to a louder passage is a bit abrupt, maybe add a gradual transition with a volume crescendo before it? Because for me it's the only place I feel abrupt in the entire piece even though there are other spots with the tacit after a fermata. I feel like the trumpet melody in b.61-63 is too high in its register and will overpower the other instruments. Overpowering is ok but I think it doesn't fit your style here too much personally. And in b.53-57 there's an imitation between oboe and saxophone, but I think the oboe is overpowered by the saxophone so the imitation is not the most effective. And in b.94-95 I feel like the accompanying figure is given too much emphasis particularly with the 1st violin and trumpet. Maybe remove the trumpet? I sound nitpicky, but I do enjoy the piece! Thx for sharing. Henry

Thoughts on my current rough-drafted ideas / progress on a new symphony orchestral score I'm working on? This is a very rough draft. lol. The form isn't quite proper right this minute. Better transitions and more complex sections will be added in time. Thanks in advance 😉New(2).pdf New(2).mp3

Hi @Kvothe! If going for a stricter counterpoint, the clash of tritone in b.3 and 4 between B and F would not be permissible. The leap from C to A in the left hand in b.6-7 would not be permissible since it's a major 6th leap, rather than a minor 6th. And to smoothen the counterpoint, whenever after a leap use a step in the opposite direction, as the technique is used by Palestrina. Thx for sharing. Henry

Hello everyone, I’m working on a new piece that’s more harmonically adventurous than my usual style and would love your feedback. It was originally for flute and piano, but since I did not like the flute sound from Musescore, I used a soprano voice instead. That made me consider turning it into a Lied with syllables rather than lyrics (since I can’t write lyrics). The main theme began as a neotonal composition practice exercise based on a post in the Talkclassical forum: Step 1. Write a diatonic melody in a mode missing one note. Step 2. Use a different mode or scale for the harmony. My melody is in C Ionian without F, and the harmony is C ascending melodic minor (C major with Eb, though I ended up using E here and there too). I later added a B section with the melody focusing on the unused note F. The form is [:A:][:BA:]. I’m unsure about a few things: Does the piece and structure work overall? Does the harmony work? (I am still considering piano voicings in section B, particularly in m.10, but A is finished). Since A repeats four times (and it is a period, so there is internal repetition too). Should I get rid of the initial repetition of A? Or maybe varying the harmony/accompaniment in the second repetition or even adding a C section? I always get stuck with same simple form and I also do not know how to reharmonize themes without making it lose the balance. Does it work better as a vocal piece or another instrument would be better (specially since there are no lyrics)? Not sure if it should be a Lied, a Song without words, a Romance, or what. Is there a way to indicate that the melody can be played with any suitable instrument freely? Technically it is in C Minor (it starts and ends in it) but since it uses mostly natural A and natural B throughout, and natural E on the melody, I used the Cmaj key signature. Is that okay or I should change it to using three flats like in natural C minor? Thanks for listening and any feedback is welcome! PD: I found out that the first 4 notes and main motive of the piece (and the mood, because of the vocal singer) is similar to Jerry Goldsmith's theme to 'The Illustrated Man'. I never heard it before so it was a pure coincidence. I think the harmonization of those 4 notes is different, though.

MY_MUSIC_013_20240216_043213_AudioVerb_1_054908265.mp3

Good luck with it😂

Hi to all. Just wanted to share this recent performance by professional harpsichordist Katarzyna Kowalik, of my work "The Sun Dappled Forest". The work was inspired by J.S. Bach and William Byrd; but I guess it also sounds a bit Halloweeny: so topical! Apologies for the low record level. (Please note the applause at the beginning and end is very loud by comparison!) Hope you enjoy.

Oh no! I liked all the pieces very much. Your „Trio Variations” are neither „terrifying“ nor too „well-behaved”; I find them „good balanced.” That's why I placed them in the third category, right next to my own. (Hahaha, you voted for yourself ...)

MP3 Play / pause twinkle 0:00 0:00 volume > next menu twinkle > next PDF twinkle Rachmaninoff is crying...

Great! Try writing more complex pieces.

Nice piece! I see you used special rhythms too!

Kotzwara. You can check yourself.

Oh, just like me!

Also prokofiev 2 and rach 3.

You don't like mine... that is depressing.

Hello, I enjoy this piece a lot. I appreciate the key changes and the harmonic context given. The rhythmic content is also really good. The only things I have to say, though is that the left-hand could be a little bit louder in the introduction in the first few measures first 30 most likely. Also, this is just a playability issue but make sure that some of the left-hand stuff if it goes above the staff to put in treble if need be. I think you’re already doing it but there’s some parts where there’s like six ledger lines on the left hand. But I enjoy the moment given off from this piece. Good job.

Hi Bjarke, Think it's a good piece; but the ending feels rather abrupt to me. If it were my work, I would end with a pattern of descending arpeggios from high to low register, followed by the chords you already have. Might also be worth experimenting with ebbs and flows in the tempo to create some rubato. Not sure it would work; but may be worth a try.

hello mark, thank you truly for your comment, there were many influences that went into this work: shostakovich’s jazz suites, a few latin american rhythms, and my own personal anxieties during that period. I think the trio was directly inspired by my efforts, in trying to find a sense of peace through writing. I believe the added extensions are default chords I usually navigate to, to bring color to the harmonies. This is a more personal work, but hope it maintains some individuality. elated that you enjoyed my work.

Thanks for your vote and for voicing your opinions @MK_Piano! We have had this idea at the end of the last formal competition - "Dreamscapes" - which had monetary prizes and an official set of judges. As can be seen at the end of the "Dreamscapes" Satisfaction Survey linked below 5 out of 10 voters in the survey liked the idea of having tiered divisions for entrants of different skill levels. I think one of the problems with this idea is that we can never know if we'll even have enough participants joining the competition to justify having even just two different tiers. And would this also imply that the prize money will be split evenly between the different winners from the different tiers? Or would the more advanced tier get the lion's share of the prize money? But either way, I think from looking at the results (so far) of this 2025 Halloween Satisfaction Survey, the emergent fashion seems to be that people prefer to keep the competitions as casual as possible or just for fun and without monetary prizes. The formatting was optional. All the reviewers were free to use the reviewing template or dump it and make their own. Or just write comments and forget any kinds of categories or numerical scales. In the past when we had official competitions with monetary prizes, the official judges talked to each other about the entries (the composers of which were kept anonymous by me) on a set of competition dedicated discord channels on the Young Composers Spot discord server. We were a team and presented a concerted effort to review all the entries as consistently as possible. And as mentioned above in my response to @Wieland Handke's post, the only thing that needs to be consistent from one judge to another is the differences between the different entries. So that even if each judge rates the entries in a different range of the numerical scale, as long as the differences between the different scores are consistent across the whole set of entries, the scores all get averaged between the judges and produce a fair result. Thanks for your response and sharing your thoughts!