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Hi, I'm a folk musician and a software engineer. I've been trying to do music transcription with AI for over a year now with limited success but when GPT-6 Astra came out last week it started perfectly transcribing all my tunes. It was amazing so I used my software skills (and AI) to make https://getthedots.com so my other non-technical musician friends could use it. It's only been used for some simple folk tunes so far, so try it out and let me know if it works for you too. I'm providing one free transcription per month and then the ability to buy credits for more transcriptions. Cheers, Tom

@PeterthePapercomPoser I think it’s a very good solution. Although there is a descending fourth interval in the bass (entirely associated with functional harmony), the modal character is very much present due to the D flat and the absence of the leading tone (B flat instead). You have to bear in mind that introducing an entirely foreign element is bound to strike the listener as odd. Turn it round: imagine a piece in C major that ends with a Locrian or Lydian cadence… It wouldn’t sound right. There are loads of pop songs that are modal—some 100 per cent so—and they’ve been ‘slipped past’ us as if it were nothing out of the ordinary. For example, ‘Stayin’ Alive’ (Bee Gees) is in the Dorian mode.

Hey @Markus Boyd ! I thought I would just add my 2¢ with regards to the question of how to end your piece. There are lots of options! I don't recommend a fadeout since it would be the cheapest and easiest. I personally also don't hear your current ending as a mistake. The only thing that's a bit out of character for the rest of the piece is the picardy third itself. It you simply changed that E natural to an Eb at the end, it would go a long way towards remedying the problem. I have taken the liberty of making my own version of your ending based on @Luis Hernández 's suggestion of using a kind of Phrygian cadence: AncientRuinMB.mp3

I actually thought that was the kind of thing you wanted to express in this final section. And yes, I think that’s a good idea. Since pieces in this genre tend to be fluid—often lacking a definitive, settled ending—pulling that off would result in a unique and compelling work. That said, as it stands now, it does feel a bit abrupt. So, perhaps it would be best to use that final part as a hub to introduce a melody and bring the piece to a tonal conclusion? I’m not well-versed in music theory myself, so Luis's perspective is definitely the one to go by. I did try to quickly experiment with some ideas earlier—just for five minutes, as I’m quite busy—but it didn't work out. It seems like achieving a tonal ending is going to be difficult. Honestly, I do not know, sorry. As you know, various techniques can be employed—such as layering, fading out, or concluding in a way that leaves a lingering resonance that is incredibly fluid yet somehow unsettled. Or you can develop that fluidity to a bigger volume and suddenly turn it off. Since this type of music is fluid, the easiest way I can come up with is considering which instrument to use. If you use a triangle or something like that, you probably won't be able to give a rational tonal finale, but you would be able to maintain the atmosphere with a tonal end. Have you kindly already shared it? If there are any other examples, I would love for you to share them as well :) Best, Lithl. bad.mp3

@Grant Weep, this is so lovely. The reverb of the piano sound is beautiful, as are the beautiful chords. Sometimes it sounds jazzy, reminiscent of Bill Evans, and I felt a sparkling quality in the sound. I suppose these pieces for your kids are going to be very personal and deep-seated, meaningful works for you. To me, it felt like a calm lake, bringing a sense of nostalgia with many different aspects. Finally, looking at your profile and seeing that you joined the Young Composers Forum when you were still young, and now you have a family, really warmed my heart. I sincerely hope that you and your entire family have a wonderful family life. Best, Lithl.

Hello, everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. After quite a long time, I’d like to introduce one of my new compositions to you. It’s called “Duo for violin and cello.” It’s not exactly easy to listen to, but I believe some of you might enjoy it. Unfortunately, I’m a poor student, so I can’t afford to pay live performers, that’s why the recording was once again made using VSTs, but it’s better than nothing :) I’d appreciate any comments. Thank you very much.

OK. They’re different things. I don’t think these systems can be compared because their foundations are very different. That doesn’t prevent them from being used in combination or simultaneously. What I said in my previous message applies to anything in music. If you introduce something completely unrelated to what’s playing—suddenly—and it doesn’t reappear… it will be perceived as a mistake. That’s why, if I were to do something like that (and I know I’ve done it many times—after all, modal exchange in tonal harmony is based on this very principle), I would combine both systems as the piece unfolds, so that it doesn’t sound strange. Repetition in music gives a piece familiarity, coherence, and memorability. Another way to do this—though I think it goes beyond what you’re aiming for, since it sounds much more radical—is what was common in Bartók’s music: polymodal chromaticism. That is, writing simultaneously in two modes. One can be tonal and functional, and the other can be non-tonal. Here: BARTÓK: CROMATICISMO POLIMODAL

Please take a listen to this Rondo I composed. I wanted to capture some early-Romantic fire with this one, and I hope you enjoy! Beethoven was looking over my shoulder the whole time I wrote this, so this music definitely will not make any kind of hyper-modern statements. Though maybe there's a touch of modern in there, especially the middle theme. I appreciate any and all feedback! 3. Rondo.mp3 03 Rondo.pdf

Hello, It's been a blast listening to all your pieces for the past few weeks. I joined this forum many years ago when I was a "young composer". Writing music has always been a hobby of mine, though I am no longer a "young composer". I have a career, I have a family and I have kids. So, this is a song about my two boys. I wrote a set of 14 piano pieces for my kids meant to be played as a set last year. I've been working on getting the sheets engraved nicely and making some nice recordings at home on a grand piano. This one is called Kid's Perfect. It's a bit of a play on words I guess. The idea behind this piece is that I'm just messing around with perfect fifths. The twist is that I challenged myself to only play 6 sequential perfect fifth notes in any bar/phrase. So, it all starts with FCGDAE, or the first 6 notes of the C major scale rearranged, or a D minor 11 chord. I guess it's all the same thing in some ways. But I try to make it a bit more interesting later on. Thanks for listening, and let me know what you guys think. If you crank the volume up, you get to hear the rich harmonics that resonate in the piano sound board. https://youtu.be/U4IetXzY2Us

I do appreciate you saying that we should not compare tonal and modal music; for each are trying to very different things. I’m genuinely interested, though, in ways to combine the two…

Modal musical ends with the cadential harmony, in this case bII - I = Db - C min. Mixing modal and tonal is possible, of course. But if you stay modal along the piece and at the very end you use a perfect authentic cadence it sounds as a mistake. If you want to make a mixture you have to do it not only in the end. This is the way our ears will take it as “normal”.

@Lithl I agree with your comments. I had considered lengthening the opening, actually. I couldn’t quite pull it off but there must be an effective way to extend the idea. It’s interesting that you and @Luis Hernández expressed disengagement with the ending, that is the first and only genuine tonal cadence. My rationale was an attempt to somehow merge the tonal and modal into a simple and relatable narrative: anguish first, uncertainty in direction that follows, before a somber finish with a picardie third cadence that offers some form of renewal. That was the concept, anyway. I can certainly play around with it more, but i have a question… If a tonal conclusion is not satisfactory for this type of music, where the expectation is perhaps sustain ambiguity above all, how should it end? I am aware of layering technique in this genre, where essentially in the latter sections the music just falls away - disintegrates if you will - as a collapse. It leaves not resolution but a lingering unease. In the ‘more’ tonal music of Jeremy Soule, he sometimes ends the music with a central motif but with ‘messy harmony’ with ‘sonorities’ that correspond not with the harmony but contribute towards a lush atmosphere that sounds beautiful but does not make much logical sense. I’ll share it, if you want to hear.

Hello, As you mentioned, the E major one sounds very chopin-ey, can hear direct quotes from the waterfall etude...but it's in E major! The C# Etude sounds absolutely wicked, in a good way. Of course it's very impressionistic. However! I accidentally opened two of your youtube links, so I had two versions of you playing, slightly out of sync and it sounded really cool. Obviously, you posted this with the general idea around classical music. But I wonder if some music producer could remix your works somehow, add a bit of delay or something. Maybe what you weren't thinking about...try it and let me know what you think? Both etudes in very different styles...Bravo!

Hello. A super interesting topic that could go a long way.... First of all, let me say that your short piece sounds very beautiful and I love it. I would only change one thing, which I will comment on later. I’m definitely going to say it here: I consider myself quite deeply involved in these matters of modality; in fact, my own curiosity led me to write a mini-manual where I explain how to develop musical systems from a scale-mode (any of the hundreds out there). The first thing to point out is that I think it’s a mistake to compare modal systems with tonal ones (and these with atonal ones). We need to forget about voice leading, 'forbidden' parallels, etc.... Modal music predates tonal music by more than a thousand years, and it didn't need any comparison. It must be understood as a horizontal, melodic system where there are no notes to avoid, and where certain colors (characteristic notes of the mode) are highlighted. The fact that we use chords in modal harmony today is a much later 'construct' in which the concept of the triad-chord is applied to the vertical coincidence of melodic lines in modal music. That is how harmony was born... From our perspective, since we are already familiar with functional-tonal harmony (which has thoroughly saturated our brains), we can approach a composition from an extremely wide spectrum. You can be purely modal, purely tonal, or a varying mix of both. Anything goes. In your composition, and based on your comments, one can sense a hesitation that comes and goes, which is more conceptual than musical, since the piece is completely valid and effective. But let me comment: the beginning establishes a C-G drone... typical modal style. It doesn't matter that you haven't introduced the third. The very moment the first Db note sounds on the violin, you are defining some mode of C Phrygian. In fact, it is a note that is heard at many points. If you were strictly following C Phrygian, the notes would be C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb.... However, in measure 4, we see an E natural in the bass, then an F#... These can be interpreted as approaches to the following notes they resolve to... A typical tonal concept. In tonal music, notes resolve; in modal music, they don't—they are there to provide color. You want to use notes outside a scale-mode? There is no problem at all. It's just like using chromatic notes in a tonal composition. The problem is that if you want to maintain the color, the specific flavor of a mode, you have to be careful not to use tonal-functional resources that easily destroy that 'modal framework'. And that is what happens at the end of the composition, where there is a ii - V - I pattern ending in C major, which, for me, cancels out everything that came before. I insist that one can do whatever they want when composing. But our ears are so contaminated by tonal music that this progression ending in a perfect cadence G - C.... takes you right back to any period of the common practice. Especially the B-C..... That sounds like leading tone-tonic anywhere. But like I said: very beautiful music.

Hello @Markus Boyd. I hope everything around you is going well. As for this feedback, I want to say I'm sorry that I can't provide you with constructive feedback based on music theory. But I will try my best to help just a little bit for your improvement. Impression and Feedback First of all, the very first Violin 1 note immediately drew me into your work. I personally feel this is very noteworthy because it is very difficult to immerse people in a piece of music. Perhaps that is because that violin sound was probably a contrast to the abruptness of Violin 1 against the fluid opening by the quiet Violin 2 and Viola. My suggestion is: how about making the initial performance of Violin 2 and Viola a little longer, and delaying the introduction of Violin 1 a bit? I don't think that even if Violin 2 and Viola are played just a little longer, it will cause people to get bored, and depending on the timing, it may even draw them in more. I also liked the development of the harmony from 0:40. One thing I liked was the final ending from 1:23. Personally, I thought it could have been extended a little more with some kind of development. The progression was a little too cheerful, and I felt it was slightly out of sync with the somewhat melancholic atmosphere of the piece. This is just my personal opinion, so please don't take it too seriously. Overall, I think it's a good piece. Suggested works In the middle section of this piece, I personally felt a similar vibe to Ligeti's Atmosphères. At the same time, I also felt the vibes of Pärt's Tabula Rasa: I. Silentium. I think Markus is familiar with both, so I'll share another piece with you. You may already know this, but I felt a connection between your work and this one. Please take it into consideration :) I hope this feedback helps you a bit. Best, Lithl.

Oh, what an amazing piece. I completely agree that @PeterthePapercomPoser gave you an award. First, I want to say you are a skilled piano player and I admire you for it. The notes are really clear, and the sounds are beautiful. I'm going to share my feedback on both of your pieces. Etude in E major This piece has a very classical sound to me, with a light, waltz-like atmosphere. The harmonies are very gentle and pleasant to listen to, and somehow it gave me a cinematic feel. The section at 1:02 is also wonderful, and the overall smoothness of the piece is fantastic. Etude in C# minor Personally, I preferred this one. Both are wonderful pieces, but somehow the arpeggios, harmonies, and development of this piece hit home for me. For me, this piece evoked an image of a man in a raincoat (dark navy blue) wandering the streets in the rain, holding an umbrella, and coming up with various ideas. The development at 1:43 and 0:55 seems to be the inspiration; the arpeggios that continue throughout the piece probably evoked a feeling of rain. In any case, there are wonderful motifs that evoke such scenes, and I think it's well-composed and well-performed. Overall, it's absolutely fantastic. Outstanding. Please continue posting. I really appreciate your pieces a lot. Amazing pieces! Best, Lithl.

piano improvisation .mp3 i think take 1 is better improv take 2.mp3

Oh wow thank you @PeterthePapercomPoser for this award, this means a lot to me, Thanks 😅

I just want to write beautiful music based on emotions...I'm not trying to be super innovative. This was a piano piece (A Life Lived ♫ (original piano composition) I composed originally that I felt just needed something more...it was a tune I couldn't get out of my head and it needed expanded upon...more harmonies and motifs etc.

When we write music, we do so in a particular style, right? And that style will have a set of rules and principles that guide our art. My question was intended to better understand how you write music, your aspirations etc. Because I can approach my critique from my own training (common practice period) but that might not be applicable to what you're trying to do.

Hello everyone. I have two very different pieces I'd like to show you guys First is my etude in E major, which I composed a few months ago. The overall form is very much like chopin etudes, but the harmonic language, particularly in the b section, can become more like late liszt or even impressionism. The main exercise of the etude is a focus on voicing and keeping the fast right hand very light, which is difficult since the voiced notes are double stemmed with the 16th note arpeggiated-like figure. The right hand can also get a little awkward in certain parts, the left hand requires specific articulation, and I even wrote the piece using 3 staves. The pedaling is also a big challenge, and I myself struggle with it as you may hear in the recording. With all that said, while I believe it’s very musically difficult, it is definitely nowhere close to the harder chopin and liszt etudes technically, but I hope you found it interesting to listen to and let me know what you guys think. Heres my recording: https://youtube.com/shorts/_oecn04h1xg Then this is my second etude in C# minor, the one after the one in E major, which is more recent. The main challenge of the etude is maintaining a cantabile melody in the left hand thumb (and index finger), alongside a smooth rolled chord gesture in the same hand, and a rapid, but light, right hand with a 10 note tuplet in 32nd notes, which acts as a sort of ostinato. As you can tell from listening to the piece, it is very different from the first etude, which was more chopinesque in form, lisztian in harmony (particularly mid period liszt), and slightly impressionistic in texture. In this etude, however, I decided to expand further on the impressionistic aspect of my writing, experimenting with these flowing textures and ambiguous harmonies through devices like polyrythms and tuplets, changes in meter, the arpeggiated like flow of the right hand ostinato, having two different time signatures with the same number of beats working together in measures (for example having 12/8 and 4/4 or 9/8 and 3/4 together, and ravel does exactly this in “une barque sur l’ocean” in his miroirs), as well as using extended harmonies and other other random harmonic stuff i figured out through hearing these composers and improvisation which may be too difficult to explain in this text lol. Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this composition, I learned a lot of new things through it, I hope you enjoy it, and let me know what yall think. Here is the recording: https://youtube.com/shorts/JzwQNJA4yO8 Etude in E major - Full Score.pdf Etude in C-Sharp Minor, No 2 - Full Score.pdf

Thanks I wasn't sure what happened; I will try this Edit: Ok I went and tried to do that and now I think it's too quiet at the end... Edit: I went to edit the mp3 and now a wrong note is playing in measure 40 for some reason that isn't there in the score...but I think it is a better volume now

At the risk of sounding like a doofus...I don't know how to answer...uh...sad and hopeful?

Hi @Mikayla ! Thanks for posting your music! I couldn't finish listening to your piece however because of the amount of clipping in the rendering that was hurting my speakers. You can get rid of that by bringing down the levels in the mixer of all the instruments to 50% or slightly lower.