All Activity
- Past hour
-
Scherzo from a piano trio
Thanks very much for your comments! These are the solo violin and solo cello sounds available in Noteperformer. This is a standard scherzo form, with an A section (up to m. 19), a developmental B section (mm. 20-39), and a return of the A material (mm. 40-56). I don't feel any need to have every instrument playing all the time in a piece like this, and the inactivity in the strings for a few measures is, I think, quite typical of the genre. I do think that I'll probably omit the repeat of the second section of the scherzo proper and of the second section of the trio. Perhaps if you're feeling that the developmental B section is wearing out its welcome, that would help.
-
A Fire Within - Title Theme for my First Short-Film
I've been playing violin/viola for over 20 years now and I still find it hard to describe harmonics, lol. There's like a whole physics lecture behind them and most of it goes over my head Basically, there are two kinds of string harmonics: natural and artificial. In short, natural harmonics occur when the player lightly touches a point on the string to produce the harmonic tone. These are a little confusing to notate since what one might see on the page isn't necessarily the pitch heard. I In the example above, it's basically telling the player to lightly touch the note where the player would normally play the E on the open G string. This will produce the B harmonic (as notated in the parenthesis). Some composers might just notate the diamond note on the E, and not have the G...players will know what to do. . Artificial harmonics are a little easier to notate. In the example above, you're telling the player to press the string (in this case the G string...the IV means G string...but the B notated is only possible on the G string so it's redundant) with the 1st finger (the index finger), and then lightly touch with their pinky finger a fourth above (if the player presses hard with their pinky finger, the note produced will be an E). The resulting pitch will be a B, but a harmonic that sounds 2 octaves higher than notated. These perfect 4th harmonics are pretty much standard in orchestral repertoire and will always produce the lower regular note 2 octaves higher than notated. Obviously, you can't do these harmonics on open strings, there always has to be a stopped note. Both examples above will produce the same B harmonic. The natural harmonic might be easier for players to play/find. Hopefully that made sense!
- Today
- A piece in C major
-
Tristan25 started following A piece in C major
-
The Capital Hearings 12th Annual Young Composers Competition
I do not like the rule "your name should not appear on the score" Sorry, but that sounds rather fishy to me.
-
submission to the 2026 spring competiton!
Entry: I do not what to put here? Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 1 2 1 5 1 0 0 1 Average Score: 1.375 Same reasons as @Kvothe
-
Chinese Fugue
This is a very short piece of music I composed, and it contains three parts, which are Chinese instruments. I do not have a specific photo this music is based on, but a close one will be This one. It is 'A hundred birds saluting the phoenix', as the trills and tremolos can be interpreted as bird-songs. The piece is in A Major, (A Dur), and approximately 1 minute 20 seconds long. (I think.) It contains 78 bars of music. The instrumentation is Guzheng, Dizi and Erhu. (古筝,笛子,二胡。) Please enjoy! https://musescore.com/user/96214813/scores/34228625 -TristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristanTheTristan... Chinese Fuge.pdf
-
HANDEL | Joy to the World : dramatic rendition
A lovely Hymn from HANDEL..................Just in time for Christmas Handel Joy to the World.mp3 Handel Joy to the World.mid Handel Joy to the World.pdf
-
Romantic Harmony
Listen more, analyze more, find some good harmony books on it! Henry
-
Henry Ng Tsz Kiu started following Romantic Harmony
-
PeterthePapercomPoser started following Romantic Harmony
-
Romantic Harmony
How would I go about learning romantic harmony like Chopin or Tchaikovsky?
-
Colenbacher started following Romantic Harmony
-
Colenbacher joined the community
-
Henry Ng Tsz Kiu started following Submissions Thread - Landscapes - Soundscapes
- A Fire Within - Title Theme for my First Short-Film
-
interlect started following A Fire Within - Title Theme for my First Short-Film
-
Enharmonic Perpetual Canon No. 3 for Choir and Orchestra.
All right, so I'll be looking at your structure of this. Since because this is a canon by nature, it should have a really good structure intact with it. I do see some call and response sort of situation in between with the strings. However, though, I think this is due to the nature of the canon, how the melody is kind of like twisted in that sense. Just a little bit of mixing and balancing, I do believe that the chorus is a bit too loud compared to the actual orchestra itself. I don't know if the score is condensed, but I don't see any brass. So what I would just do is just blend in, fix that. Nice change of melody and great job with the ending. I appreciate uh the very satisfying ending. I do see that you do are changing keys a lot. You're getting into territory that there are double flats and also weird enharmonics, so for example, like B sharp and like C flat and so forth, and like F flats, all that crazy stuff. But anyways, though, I would treat this like a really good uh orchestral warm-up in a sense. Really good work.
-
-
Halloween Music - Tis the Season
Hello, I will be looking at your structure and your development of your music today. I'll be specifically looking at Cthulhu. I will also have the score pulled up, Very interesting we have here. A very interesting, very stable introduction here. And I could see the use of tarrace dynamics. Okay, so I see stepwise movement to and fro thereout. It reminds me of the Rite of Spring a lot. You must have probably drawn inspiration from that. The score is not presented well, though. There is a lot of smearing of notes, and I don't think the recording does go with the actual score. Okay, that's pretty much it, though. And really good job. .
-
List of Manually-Awardable Badges
PeterthePapercomPoser replied to PeterthePapercomPoser's topic in Announcements and Technical ProblemsSome more ideas for the Landscapes - Soundscapes competition: "The Peace of Nature" award "A Rustic Mood" award "Nature's Garden" award "Nature is wild" award
-
-
Early attempt to orchestrate piano Nocturne No.1 by Faure
Brilliant, thanks! Will repost once I've made some changes. I think I'll keep the harp glissandi, as these seem to work quite well. The effect creates a new texture to end the cadenza. (Though maybe others disagree?)
-
Early attempt to orchestrate piano Nocturne No.1 by Faure
Errr...probably still won't work. It would be better to keep all those runs within the same instrument family (strings or winds). This reminds of a passage in Brahms' 1st Piano Quartet where the piano has a mini cadenza towards the end: https://youtu.be/uwAQ7zVM6sE?si=HpAKiiDPOwnDPdHC&t=2285 Arnold Schoenberg eventually orchestrated this piece and had a clever take on this passage: https://youtu.be/7wzJluXJ5H8?si=th4OTUQ7RTSntfSD&t=2422 The Fauré passage is bit different in character, but I think Schoenberg has a good example of something you can try. Maybe give those runs to a 2 clarinets: 1 Eb for the higher pitches, and 1 regular Bb clarinet. They'll be sitting close to each other, and would easily blend in to each others' runs and timbre. The violin/piccolo combo would be too jarring in tonal color, and the fact on stage they'll be separated by a few feet, making the coordination really difficult.
- Yesterday
-
A Fire Within - Title Theme for my First Short-Film
@danishali903 You are correct for most of your assessment. I never learned the proper format for notating string harmonics. This is a gap in my knowledge and the way I meant to convey the information was the pitch written is what the harmonic should be sounding. Not to start a harmonic on that pitch. In a simple fashion, I liked what was sounding based on the notes I picked and decided to keep it.. whether it was correct or not 😅 If you are able, would you be willing to explain the notation? Are you meant to write the note head lower? I saw your example note heads, however, I am still confused by what the information is conveying. With the dynamic marks/ hairpins, yeah… I got lazy the last few weeks on this copy. I was focused on school and actually publishing the movie versus all the final engraving passes. It is fixed on the completed soundtrack score with all 12 pieces back-to-back. Lastly, while I can understand the stillness of the B-section may not keep everyone’s attention, I have my reasons. While I can add more movement in accompanying instruments, it is kept simple for the title theme so I was able to expand upon it in later installments. To add, I also know not all pieces of music need a moving line in the accompaniment. It was my goal to focus on the harmonic language and advance the harmony compared to the A-section. ‘Simple and sublime’ if you will. I intentionally went with doubling as it is reminiscent of how I play it on piano. Just slow moving chords moving higher in register. Adding the weight from the literal sound and feeling the vibrations from the entire ensemble. Thanks again for the comments!
-
Early attempt to orchestrate piano Nocturne No.1 by Faure
Great analysis, thanks Danish! For the cadenza, what if I just have one solo violinist dovetailing with the woodwinds?
-
Scherzo from a piano trio
Hello @Aiwendil Review: Let us talk about what a trio is. In a piano trio, you have two solo players and a piano player. When I listen to your piece, i did not hear two solo string players. I heard multiple. They sound different. Next thing you want to check is balance. I feel that FF is too loud a trio. The background elements will overpower the foreground. You do not want that. I would suggest remove the dynamics for now. The thematic material the proceeds b.19 confuses me. what is the purpose for that section? So much empty in the solo strings. 10 measures of inactivity. I suggest removing those bars and start at 68. :) Then place the first ending repeat at b. 122. the second ending where femata is! in other words, look where this no activity in the piece and re arrange it. :) You will be amazed what will happen. :)
-
Early attempt to orchestrate piano Nocturne No.1 by Faure
True. There definitely will be some comments made though lol. Also, Rachmaninoff’s symphony is in the friendly key of E Minor, not E Flat minor.
-
Early attempt to orchestrate piano Nocturne No.1 by Faure
"Orchestral players are not going to love it" 🤪 Rachmaninoff wrote this piece in the same key...Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 / Vasily Petrenko / Oslo Philharmonic Professionals will be fine. Student musicians are the ones you have to worry about.
-
Early attempt to orchestrate piano Nocturne No.1 by Faure
Looking at that key is giving me anxiety....orchestral players are not gonna love it. I wasn't familiar with the piano piece so I did take a listen to it to compare. I'm not a fan of the faster tempo marking....I think it zaps away the "nocturnal" feeling and feels more like a slow waltz at the faster tempo. Also, the piece as written by Faure is so idiomatic for the piano, that it invites tempo fluctuations/rubato that will be hard to capture in an orchestration without clear guidance in the score. And with that awful key!!!! Orchestrating this is a challenge. There is a lot of over reliance on woodwinds here....especially in the beginning. Without slurs and phrasing markings in the score and audio, it sounds a little sterile. Also wind players have to breathe....that flute line from the beginning to A is gonna be tough. Also, a lot of awkward writing in general (comments above already have highlighted some of these). Example below of the bassoons/contrabassoon before A...contrabassoon part seems wasted on high random notes, and the 64th rest (I think?) right before A in the 1st bassoon is dangerous: I think there are certain figures that can be better suited for string players: The figure above might be better for the cellos to play (with proper slurring and articulation written in). Measures 23-29 can be given to the upper strings. I think in general you have to be a little more creative with your orchestral colors. The whole thing from 86-93 is not good in my opinion. This is where you have to get REALLY creative to orchestrate that cadenza, and the way it is written now....having 12-14 first violinists play those fast notes (in that very ugly key) and then dovetailing to one piccolo player and back is not going to sound good. I think @Luis Hernández said it best in his comment: it is a little to literal "transcription" of the original piano work. It definitely needs a lot of creative changing to translate it to have an orchestra tackle it.
-
A Fire Within - Title Theme for my First Short-Film
Having read the program notes page, I think you capture the atmosphere of some of the themes (ie. betrayal, turbulence) you mentioned. It would be interesting to hear the rest of the soundtrack to see how the themes/motifs you have here develop. Though, I gotta be honest...film scores lately have a very generic sound to them and this (for me anyways) falls in that category. Some things musical things from the score I noticed: The way these harmonics are notated is confusing. I'm saying that as a string player. Some 2nd violinists might think you want an open E string, which I'm pretty sure you don't want. If these are actual sounding pitches, the 1st violinist would have an easier time understanding these notations (one is a natural harmonic, the other is an artificial....don't really have a preference): The 2nd violin note (if that is the sounding pitch) is impossible to play as a harmonic on a violin. As I said, players would probably play an open E string. The viola one looks alright, it'll be a natural harmonic on the G string. Saw this in the score a couple of times. Wondering if you could move the pp before the barline to avoid those awkward looking measures with rests. Overall, there seems to be over-reliance on doublings between instrument groups. E to the end is the prime example. I think most of the wind/brass instruments can drop out at 47 for a quieter ending. Also that section felt a little...static? Could use some more rhythmic drive (maybe bring back the bass guitar/cello figure from the beginning?) or just some counterpoint.
-
submission to the 2026 spring competiton!
Entry: I do not what to put here? Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 Average Score: 1 Review: Score presentation: The score was not well presented. You did not know what the instruments were playing! Playability: This is impossible to be played by anyone. Execution: this failed to meet the goals of the competition Form: This piece barely any proper form or structure. Taste: sadly, this is not with in my musical taste. (Note: It hurts me score a piece this low)
-
Landscapes Competition Submission -- Amidst the Clouds & Flowers
Entry: Amidst the Clouds & Flowers Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 9 10 10 7 10 10 9 Average Score:9.3 Review: There were some engraving errors in the score I have noticed. Thorough out the score, you were constantly with the placement of expressions. And there was collision issue with one of the expressions. You have to make sure everyone can be readable and is constant! I personally enjoy the string harmonics throughout this piece! They create rich deep texture. Although this is out of comfort zone, it was enjoyable to listen to. It was with in taste for sure. I would not mind hear more of this!
-
Piano miniature in C major
I've been doing a compose everyday challenge and this is the miniature from Day 13. Probably the first piece from the challenge that genuinely feels like a complete character piece to me rather than just an experiment or sketch. So i decided to share it would love to hear what u guys think! YouTube link 13.mp3 13.pdf