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hello, I’ll be saying a lot about your piece because I’m really enjoy it, and I listened to the entirety of it i’ll probably deep dive on this one because I found a lot of orchestration things that are interesting which I do wanna point out, but let’s talk about the general effect idea Ideas of general effect: as an audience member and also as a person looking at the score, I enjoyed this stylistic idea, listening to it blindly without program notes. This definitely does scream Russian. but after that, I could definitely hear the Jewish/Romanian inflections. I definitely enjoy a fun fast paced folk dance. The harmony was definitely colorful. I must say in the orchestration was interesting as well. Also, there was a great touch with tempo changes as well. You decided to go the abrupt option which makes sense where they seamlessly don’t change rather than a seamless change. Maybe you could’ve experiment with more gradual tempo changes but it’s more of a stylistic choice if you leave them out, which I definitely respect that. Tambourine would go so hard with this. I compose my pieces with a ton of percussion so you could add more percussion if you want, but I get if some composers don’t like doing so. with the general idea with the effect of the sounding its own thing is the effect on that fails as it sounds way too familiar and it feels more of an adaptation on existing earth culture rather than a culture elsewhere. about orchestration I will look at the score, but here is some first impressions I love that thing that you did with the clarinets in thirds that was really creative and it was a quick change of character, which I definitely appreciated. And you definitely passed the idea around as well. I have some questions as well while else re-listening to it, this is more of a stylistic approach on your behalf, but I would definitely add trombone in with that first brass entrance if we’re adding tuba, but then your argument could possibly be that the tuba provides the base and is not as harsh as trombone’s, with page 4, when the melody is passed to the Lows the patterns I would usually see is woodwinds doubling with each other with the additional add-on with strings. The first time with strings you add low brass rather than low Reeds what I was thinking by intuition Page 9 features Viola and clarinets a nice velvety, warm pairing. with page 10 features the thing I was talking about with the clarinet in thirds. A trumpet feature follows after that I would say it’s unusual for a folk color, but it serves well as a pallet cleanser Page 14 contains a call and response sort of idea with the brass note that bass doubles tuba; in the concert band setting this is a strong orchestration technique, given reinforcement in a orchestra given that there’s more string basses the strength and reinforcement is more effective later on the idea was given to the entire orchestra, allowing more color and blending you should be awarded amazing orchestration on this Anyways, this was very fun to look at, and this was full of amazing orchestration

Nice to meet you! First, I want to say this melody you made is familiar, catchy, memorable, and I think it's nice. Playing the main melody on bass or guitar might be nice. I like it. Anyway, it doesn't matter, just my impression when I listened to this. Ok - about mixing. I think you're doing well using panning and making all instruments clearly recognizable. I always have my attitude to respect what you want to express even if the mixing sounds unusual. For example, if the bass note was so strongly panned or much stronger than other instruments, if you have some purpose it would be part of creativity, I think. So please keep this in mind, as I'll give you what is called "general" mixing tips. I'm not sure what kind of sound you want to achieve, but starting around 1:25 many elements come in although the right-panned bass sound has almost not changed, and it's not clear in that section, which is what you call muddy or something like that. Solution: be careful about reverb and volume, use 3D panning plugins like Parallax Audio, or—it's a bit different, but—you'll be able to use PanCake. I think the biggest improvement right now for your situation is "volume". You can adjust volume balance - changing balance and finding your preferred version; if it's found, that means you have better mixing and can improve like "oh, I like this one better - this one sounds better" to the point you are satisfied. And leaving the work for one day and readjusting the mixing is so powerful. Also, writing down your vision or ideas about placing, mixing, and trying it anyway. I suppose the most important thing is not to compromise. Pursuing what you want to do with "no compromise"! Observing your favorite mixing/music is important too. Your piece has several nice parts and ideas, and I don't know the details about your game project, but this piece has a hopeful, beautiful vibe, so keep it up. Happy to hear your piece and welcome to YC, Forty6! Side note: just in case you're not familiar with it - Plugin Boutique is powerful for finding new free VSTs. However, be careful—there are a bunch of free VSTs in this world, so you need to choose great ones. If there are too many, you'll probably have no idea what to use, so at first, watching YouTube reviews like "best free reverb" and discovering nice ones is a good idea. Best, Lithl.

I just turned this into a YouTube short!

Hi everyone! We’re building Jamming Club, a calendar for finding jam sessions and checking how to join in. If you know of a jam or organize one, you can add it. The idea is to build it together with other musicians. https://jammingclub.com

Hello I’ve listened to the first two tracks; I’ll listen to more tomorrow… It’s a shame that, particularly with vocal works, we have to use our imagination quite a lot, given the virtual instruments we have. I think it’s a fantastic piece, with a distinctive harmonic language that I haven’t bothered to analyse – nor do I need to, because it sounds phenomenal. The choice of a string orchestra alone feels rather ‘restrained’ (one could imagine a larger orchestra), but I think it’s a good choice.

Hello First of all, I’d like to say that I found the piece lovely and very pleasant to listen to. At the start, the piano has quite a ‘minimalist’ pattern, but then it breaks away from that and sounds a bit odd. However, given the prominent role the piano takes on later, I think it’s fine. I haven’t checked the range or anything. But could the clarinet be a standard one rather than a bass clarinet? In many places, it’s in quite a high register. Thanks for sharing.

A beautiful score and piece of music. I think it keeps you engaged throughout. Brilliant orchestration. There are moments that I might perhaps have approached differently, but it’s simply a matter of one style versus another. Orchestrating is about making decisions all the time, and it’s brilliant. Thank you for sharing.

Congratulations. It sounds fantastic, with marvellous orchestration and such a clear score. It’s a distinctive style of orchestration, with a wealth of percussion and harmony, and plenty of doubled parts.

EDIT: I was inspired today and composed the B section. I modified the text to address that. Hello everyone! I recently composed an AABA jazz ballad. I wrote the melody and chords, made a lead sheet, and arranged it for piano using basic techniques from the jazz book I'm studying. The first measures' harmony is based on John Lewis's "Afternoon in Paris". I'm sharing this work-in-progress because I'd love some feedback on a few things: 1. B section composition: I wonder if the B section works. I do kind of like it, specially the ending where I use parallel minor chords. But I would like other's people opinion. 2. Overall jazz language: This is my first non-blues piece using jazz harmony, so I would like to know if it actually sounds correct and idiomatic. 3. Two really objectionable harmonic moments: a. m. 2: A Db on beat 4 over an Ab7 chord (a natural 4th against a dominant chord). b. m. 4: An F on beat 4 over a Gb7 chord (a major 7th against a dominant chord). These are textbook "avoid notes" for dominant chords, and both are approached and left by leap. I wrote most of the melody intuitively without analyzing much. Once I analyzed it and noticed the clashes, I tried everything to fix them (changing Ab7 to Asus4, trying other substitutions, reharmonizing the whole piece, and rewriting the melody to resolve them by step or remove them). Nothing sounded good to me. I just prefer how the dissonances sound. I know how unusual, and probably wrong, these choices are (for now, I couldn't find a single example of them in any jazz standard) so I’d love to know if they actually work here, or if they just make the piece sound amateurish. The audios are myself playing at the piano. The video is the ABA arpeggio arrangement. Before that, I would play A once in another chordal based arrangement, thus making it AABA. You can find the piano arrangement score and a slow version of this first chordal A in the attached documents. Thank you and any feedback is welcome! jazz_ballad_part_1(slow).mp3 Maranta's_Prayer_Lead_Sheet.pdf Maranta's_Prayer_Piano_Arrangement.pdf

I've been quite obsessed with Aarre Merikanto's 6 Piano Pieces lately! I first came across this set a few years ago and quite liked it, but it somehow stayed at the back of my mind until recently. Back then, I was more familiar with his father, Oskar Merikanto, whose works naturally appealed to me given my longstanding affinity for Romantic music. For most of my musical journey, I've gravitated towards Late Romantic composers like Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Sibelius and Rachmaninoff, while also developing a fondness for Chopin and Liszt along the way. Over the past few years, I've gradually ventured further into Impressionist and Modern music, making Aarre Merikanto's works increasingly appealing to me. What's particularly fascinating is his stylistic evolution: from Late Romanticism to radical Modernist and Expressionist experimentation in the 1920s, before eventually returning to a more traditional Finnish national-Romantic style. Composed in 1919, his 6 Piano Pieces, Op. 20, sit at an interesting point in this journey, preceding his more radical Modernist period while already displaying distinctly Impressionistic characteristics. I find his transformation particularly fascinating and would love to explore it in greater detail in another post! I'm finding his musical language and the diversity of his works increasingly fascinating. Would love to hear what you all think of this set! I'm currently learning Nos. 1 and 2, and looking forward to exploring the rest as well.

Wow, I can't do that at least as of now, unless very slowly, likely very much away from the intended tempo, or that it is a really really slow piece

Many thanks, @PeterthePapercomPoser Two years ago, I (almost) discovered I had Final Cut pro that was coming along with Logic Pro when I bought it with my computer. So I thought it was the occasion trying to put together some music video. They require a lot of work, though, but I had great fun doing it. For my electronic music, I don't usually notate everything, but I still like to work on paper to scribble notes and thoughts. I found nice to show them in the video 😅

How did you do that?? (Asking for a friend)

This is my first post, but I came to this forum cuz I was desperate to hear criticism that I can use to hone my craft with (like for example, my mixing needs work and I can't tell if I made the song too muddy or not), This song uses a melody I created when I started making music mid 2024 I used the term 'video game music' because I plan on using this in a passion project video game I've been developing that being said, I made Ancaibe on FL Studio, the key is in B Major and it is 60 bpm Thank you for listening! ancaibe.mp3

I just created a YouTube short out of this one!

Welcome to the forum @DarwinNE ! I left you a thumbs up, subscribed and also a comment on YouTube! I'm impressed by how differentiated the video is! Including your own music notation of the composition as well as yourself playing it and also natural landscapes was just great to see and hear! I would have loved to see some images of Jupiter's moons thrown in as well! Thanks for sharing and welcome once again!

Hello, everyone! My name is Thiago Ribeiro, and I am an amateur arranger. I would like to share two musical arrangements that I have prepared with great care and am making available for free, hoping they will be performed by orchestras, big bands, and other musical ensembles. These arrangements have a special feature: they are written in a hybrid format, meaning they can be performed by either a Big Band or a full orchestra, making them suitable for different ensemble configurations. 🎼 The two free arrangements are: 1. Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho — Swing A lively and energetic interpretation of this traditional spiritual, featuring the groove and vibrant character of swing. The arrangement is designed to bring out the musical possibilities of both a big band and a full orchestra. 2. Amazing Grace — Samba Jazz A fresh perspective on this beautiful and beloved hymn. In this arrangement, the familiar melody takes on a samba jazz character, combining Brazilian musical influences, sophistication, and a distinctive personality. 🎧 Would you like to hear the arrangements? The YouTube links below will take you to demonstration recordings of both arrangements. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWXDRKqV_xo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J9hkc6to8Y 📥 Download links for the full scores and individual parts are available in the description of each YouTube video. My goal in sharing this material is simply to contribute, even in a small way, to the musical community and give these arrangements the opportunity to come to life through the performances of musicians and orchestras. If your orchestra, big band, conductor, or musical ensemble is interested in performing either arrangement, I would be absolutely delighted! I have just one small request: if possible, whenever you perform one of these arrangements, please tag me or mention my name in your posts. It would mean a lot to me to be able to see and enjoy your performances! I sincerely hope you enjoy these arrangements and that they find their way to many musicians, rehearsal rooms, concert halls, and stages around the world. Music becomes even more beautiful when it is shared! Best wishes, Thiago Ribeiro

Hi to all, I recently recorded an electronic music piece at a slow tempo (45 bpm). It is called Jupiter's Moons and I also made a video for it: The main instruments are a Crumar Bit 99 synthesizer, an Arturia Drumbrute Imact, an Arturia Microfreak and the main theme is played on a Stylophone. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Hi all, I finished my new work that had no title ... It took a while to find a suitable name. But here it is. The Doors Opens As it states .... please walk through. Mark As always open to improvements or inquires. The Door Opens 11-13-26.mp3 The Door Opens 11-13-26.pdf

Hi @Lithl and many thanks for your very nice comment! I like that melody, too, I'm glad it was appreciated. I did not know Parallax Audio's Virtual Sound Stage, thank you very much for the hint! Varenna Suite is a piece that dates back from 2023, in the meanwhile, I improved my setup using much better headphones (Audio Technica ATH-M50x). At least from what I can judge, I am getting slightly more balanced results in the final mix 😊 I have to say I quite like BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover. It lacks certain things and this is normal being a free instrument. I would appreciate more extrovert brasses in the forte/fortissimo range, for instance. I am going to post some of my electronic music with pleasure. I acquired a vintage synth a few months ago and I am still rather enthusiast about it 😎

If you are comfortable with the low register in the basses, go for it 👍 I saw a few parallel fifths, but I don't think it is a big problem, at least in this style of music. Once again, lovely piece!

Hello everyone, This is a piece I finished in April. I'm looking for general feedback on the overall structure, the melody, and the harmonic progression and of course the notation. Thank you in advance for listening and looking over the score! Best wishes, Laurent Sad-song-MIX-3.mp3 Sad song final.pdf

"A composition of very simple construction, entirely based on modulation. In a sense, it also borders on minimalism, as there is only one main theme."

wonderful feedback! I appreciate the fact you've listened to it multiple times. Thank you for the corrections, I'm going to fix the stems on 51 (and the same thing in the altos in the beginning). I have accepted the parallel octaves, wait until you find all the 5ths in the innervoices. I do agree that the tenor 2s are a little low at times, but I'm not sure if I could do much to fix that at this point. I wrote this with a specific 40 person choir in mind https://open.spotify.com/track/63UKqUzlYZmKgsIu8UEw0F?si=7c7f696d83dd4501. I understand the range of sopranos is a little crazy, but I don't intend all the sopranos to sing every note. Especially on their low notes, I kept the sopranos in on measure 14, I felt as though the sopranos should know that the [e] on pickup to 15 is not an entrance, but the continuation of the phrase. I don't even care if the sopranos sing the low notes, but I do care that they not "come in". I'm not sure how else I could make this clarification without it becoming an unnecessary burden to the eyes. For the low bass low notes, that is my voice part so I felt comfortable with what I wrote. I do sort of wonder if m. 6 will work out how it sounds right now, since it is not a very harmonically anchored chord. I can see how the 3 way split could be overkill, I think that last chord could be a little more balanced, especially with the tenors and sopranos being tutti while the basses and altos are divsi.

Hello and nice to meet you, Mr. DarwinNE! I'm glad you are here. I wanted to comment on this piece of yours, but I have had something to do so far. My first impression is that the melody starting around 1:25 is so beautiful. Catchy, heartfelt music and I felt what you want to express, your musical vibe. Some mixing points caught my attention - about clarity: I think you've already gotten familiar with it, you know, like Parallax Audio's Virtual Sound Stage — you might be able to adjust it in more detail. However, overall, it sounds great so, no problem. I'm looking forward to you dropping what you wrote recently. Also, looking at your profile and notes, you make electronic stuff, right? Please post it too - in this forum, electronic stuff is usually quiet, haha. Thank you for coming here - let's enjoy YC together :) Best, Lithl.