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Hi @JorgeDavid! I think this is a quaint little barcarolle! The theme really works and is beautifully simple. I think every note you wrote here is essential and related to the main theme. It is so good that there's no shame in repeating it - Beethoven does the same thing in the Fur Elise. Also, your arpeggiation of the dominant chord happens very naturally and arises from the melody. As for how to vary your melody - you already made a quite successful variation in the parallel minor! Other ideas might be to change the tempo and meter to give the same material a totally different feel. Also - check out this topic: Thanks for sharing!

Thank you!

Hello everyone, I have been playing around with the piano and composing for the first time something by playing it myself first and writing it down on paper later. I am not good at playing piano so there are many mistakes and I had to record parts separately and mix them later, so there are a few issues with the sound when different sections are mixed. Also, my digital piano is not super expensive so I am sorry about the sound quality. I composed first the main theme, and, since I liked how it turned out, I tried developing it into a longer piece (just a simple piece in binary form). However, I always get lost when turning themes or ideas into pieces and have trouble composing pieces with a natural and well-designed form that flows well. For example, in this piece I had the theme ending in a Half cadence in bar 8. If we call this theme "A", I though on doing the following: A finishing in HC -> A finishing in PC -> Development (in other key) -> A finishing in PC However, even after deciding in a form-design for the piece, I always run into problems, some of them are: The repetition of all main theme A sections always sound too similar and repetitive and I never find good ways of varying them. I never find the best key or way of doing the development (in the relative minor, on the dominant, on the parallel minor, etc.) When I finally come up with a beginning for a development or contrasting section that I like, I have troubles for making it flow naturally both in its own and also when transitioning to the original theme (most times I can only transition after long dominant arpeggios). Troubles for writing introductions and Codas to frame the piece. In the case of this piece, in the end I wrote a development section in the parallel minor and, even though I like the beginning very much, I soon start not knowing where to go and end up finishing with a rushed arpeggiated generic HC for coming back to the main theme. I feel form and making the music flow naturally is one of my weakest points when composing. Do you have any advice or suggestion about how to go about it for improving? Also, what are your methods for turning themes and ideas into full pieces? How do you go about deciding on things such writing a contrasting/development section, transitions, designing the form, introductions, codas, etc.? Thank you!

I was criticized on another forum for the lack of context of my presentation : It is therefore a piece completed a week ago, for solo voice (mine, baritone) orchestra, church organ, orgue de barbarie at the end (I'm not sure about the translation of the name of this instrument, if you can help me by the way... Barrel organ Seems strange). I use sample libraries. The voice is recorded with a Schoeps MK4 couple in XY. The poem is a rise in tension of a dialogue that goes wrong, between the husband's murderous jealousy and the wife's falsely mystical answers (who has the last word by finally proclaiming her freedom). Have a good day,

Thank you for your detailed response and kind words. "I'm curious to whether this is for double string orchestra" - Excellent question because I too am not quite sure myself. It is something that I ask myself all the time but I try to ignore it. To be honest, I think this particular work is better suited for an orchestra. Primarily, I chose solo instruments for playback because it sounds better. I can feel from your comment that our musical tastes are almost identical. For example, "I myself am quite partial sustained melodic ideas," and "Atmospheric music is generally not my taste because it doesn't command me to feel an emotion like most, Baroque - Romantic period" is something I would say. I almost had to look twice to see if was me who wrote that or you. I'm glad that the music was able to move your emotions. "Also at 17:05, I can't stop hearing Brahms lullaby. I am scarred by that challenge we had earlier in the year." 😂 haha

Have made some revisions to this piece now, and have elaborated the piano part into hopefully something more interesting. Have also made a much improved score. Hope my enharmonic spellings are correct? Haven't yet implemented all of the spread chords in the rendition, but will get to that soon.

I'm sorry if it seemed that way! I didn't mean to sound unreceptive at all 😓 I understand there were mistakes made in the piece, and I have come to accept them even before its completion; it's just a little disheartening because I had spent a lot of time on it, is all. Then again, I think everyone feels that way when receiving criticism over something they're proud of.

Personally I think a good music should last atleast 3 minutes just so everyone could enjoy it for more than a few minutes.

I'm writing a violin cadenza and the playback says it's about 2 mins long although I estimate a real life player would take about 2 mins 15 s. How long should it be?

Hi all of you, I come back with this little steal to submit to you. The text is a dialogue, in this form of popular speech of the beginning of the century (last)... I wanted to make this alternation between the woman's love exaltation (With the complicity of the church organ) and the squeaky violence going crescendo of the man, while evoking the turn of a street song.In the end, we will hear the organ of barbarism to which the last word belongs... I sing the vocal line, which is not simple... Thanks !

Hi! 🙂 New guy here, hobbyist composer with barely any musical education. 😅 In the past I've played a bit of piano and more recently tried to learn to play guitar with poor results. 😅 Looking forward to learn from you folks and maybe even collaborate? 🙂 But first things first, I thought it made sense to show where I'm currently at. Here's a demo that I've compiled recently: Essentially, I've collected the best of my drafts which I hesitated to call done, as I usually do, and compiled them into a music demo in order that hopefully makes some sense... I also have a soundcloud account, though it is pretty empty for the reason stated above... 😅 Any tips and suggestions are welcome of course, I'll be hanging around reading and trying to improve. 🙂

It's completely understandable to feel a bit disheartened when receiving feedback that challenges your approach to composition or orchestration. However, it's important to remember that constructive criticism is an invaluable tool for growth and development as a musician.

I'm curious to whether this is for double string orchestra, or two quintets, simply because you chose the solo instruments for playback. I would be a little worried about how some sections would carry with dynamic difference between homophonic horns versus polyphonic strings. Part1: Really cool, the way the tremolos in the strings bother had separate and unison dynamic ideas was really cool. The texture of this movement is really cool. The more sparse melodic fragments were quite interesting. I myself am quite partial sustained melodic ideas, but you conveyed this sparser melody very well in this movement. Part 2: A good atmosphere. You are very skilled at connecting very different textures to unifying to a single environment. Atmospheric music is generally not my taste because it doesn't command me to feel an emotion like most, Baroque - Romantic period do. However, I think your music doesn't fail the way most music in this style does. It has emotional bounds that I feel. Part 3: Generally the same ideas as part 1. I really appreciate how even without a strong melody, you are able to very clearly connect the different sections. Also at 17:05, I can't stop hearing Brahms lullaby. I am scarred by that challenge we had earlier in the year.

Thank you! I really do appreciate your words. I actually am still working on the sadness and sorrow prompt. I have an idea with a different tonal system in mind, but I've been struggling to find the balance between sadness and tonality. I find the prompt words of sadness and depressed to be quite specific, with the picture in my head to be sort of empty, with a disheartening melody. Finding this melody has been the challenge for me lately. So I'm taking so time to find examples that complete the picture in my head. So far the most similar compositions to what I'm imagining are atonal works be Webern, and more minimalistic expressionists. This is a very different style than what I wright so finding the sweet spot has been a challenge. It may take me some time to complete the prompt I believe.

Hi @Syrel, I am glad that Mr. Peter Pencil has such a spouse Penny Pen who was able to call the Police for him. Either way, Peter the Polish Paper comPoser will politely peruse this piece. LoL Actually - my name on a writing forum I sometimes like to frequent is PaperandPencil which I thought was similar enough to make this silly message. I like this piece and how it constantly starts each section of the piece in a new key just all of a sudden - it's very bold that way. I also think that the piano is a very good lead instrument for this despite it being mostly orchestral - it's very well used as a solo instrument. I really like using piano like this if it's the focus of a piece with a little bit of delay added. Thanks for sharing!

Hey @Some Guy That writes Music, This shows quite a harmonic and chromatic fluency which lends itself very well to its emotional expression and extramusical meaning. It is very mournful and sorrowful. I wonder if this might not also fulfill my request of you to compose sadness and sorrow, the emotions I chose from your emotion wheel? Either way it's very good music! I wonder why when I recently started reviewing your music it seemed like you were bottlenecking yourself into just the diatonic notes of a given scale before changing the key signature instead of making use of free chromaticism and modulation like you do here? Clearly, you have the skills I thought you lacked and the ability to channel them towards very emotionally affecting music! Great job and thanks for sharing.

Hi @Cafebabe, In this style of music, the melody, motif or theme usually leads the development of the composition. But I think here you very often let yourself write arpeggios and typical accompanimental patterns without any melodic justification for them - just making your way through chord progressions and figurations over those chords for their own sake which (to me at least) don't sustain musical interest. A chord progression alone doesn't qualify as a motif or theme that can catch the ear, especially when it's ornamented with so much expendable fluff. There is however, a short recurring motif in this piece (C, EDC, GGG) but formally speaking you don't make the development of that motif the main focus of this piece, since the arpeggiations and fireworks and acrobatics aren't related to that theme at all and come off as simple fluff. That's at least how I perceive it. Thanks for sharing!

The wacky adventures of Inspector Looso - New Fetchflix TV Show soundcloud.com/user-461764443/sets/the-wacky-adventures-of Mr.Peter Pencil, which is well known for his blue suit and lizard pin, vanished during a business trip somewhere in Italy. His mistress Penny Pen was desperate and called the police to investigate. Young Inspector Looso was assigned to this case by his boss hoping this investigation would sharpen his skills. Looso took charge of this case as if he was one of the Raiders of the lost Pencil. Will young Inspector Looso be able to find Mr.Pencil. Let’s hope Mr.Pencil was not violently erased from the surface of the earth? Music: Syrel Photography: Syrel (Mr. Pencil as found in the Castello di San Giorgio in Mantova, Italy) Sculpture: L’Artista invisibile. Lucio and Peppe Perone Musical Notes: Should I be embarrassed that I borrowed to so many composers. Nope. But you may recognize Lorne, Hans, John, Sergey, Pyotr, Maurice and many others. I had so much fun making this pastiche ;o)

Luc Clouseau is the proud son of the French inspector Jacques Clouseau and his ex-wife Simone Clouseau. Having the same talent as his father for investigation, he is to police investigation what P.D.Q. Bach is to music, a total disaster. Stay tuned on Fetchflix TV during the next months and enjoy this new series called “The wacky adventures of Inspector Looso”. “This story is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. Ho and for those who did not get it, Fetchflix TV is also fictitious.” Musical note: You may recall the theme I used in the Rust & Bones Inspector Looso track. However, this time I tried to use the humor and derision of John Williams and added the sarcastic tone of the American composer and musical satirist Peter Schickele who created the fictional composer P.D.Q. Bach as well as the Gerhard Hoffnung humoristic music.

I appreciate that. 🙂🦋

Hi Mark, thanks for your comment. When the penultimate tutti section came to a natural close, I could immediately hear Amazing Grace in my mind. So I included it was part of the overall work. Amazing Grace is a piece which resonates with my spirit very closely. And during this time in my life, I feel more closely to it than ever. So perhaps that is why I could hear it being sung in my imagination. "By the way the orchestra has a wonderful texture/color." Thank you. Trying to evoke powerful colours through music is something I really aspire to do. I think I still have a long way to go in achieving it. The music can go even further in trying to evoke a rainbow of sonorities . Perhaps I just need to be braver in trusting my imagination. The idea/purpose behind integrating the choral work was that

Thank you very much. After reading yours and @MJFOBOE comment, I am going to study/listen to some music that is overtly pointillistic music so that I can immerse myself in that style more purposefully. Yes, the gospel choir joins right at the end. It was not planned beforehand. The idea just came to me at that moment. I could hear Amazing Grace in my head - and I did not not want to ignore what I could hear just because it wouldn't make immediate logical sense. If it came into my mind whilst composing, then I trust that it makes sense, somehow. Indeed, that they connect by being in the same key is merely a coincidence. If the two sections were in different keys, I would still be ok with it. "mostly quite enjoyable" makes me smile. (hopefully there is an added emphasis on the 'mostly!').

MP3 Play / pause Butterfly Net - Caroline Polachek 1:11 4:46 volume > next menu Butterfly Net - Caroline Polachek > next PDF Butterfly Net - Caroline Polachek That's a very lovely work.

Today I was scrolling on youtube, pretty mindlessly until I came to a video that I had seen before. It was a video of a biker talking about visiting his friend, stopping by a road station to grab a beer for him. Then it cuts to him walking up a mountain, and over the hill crests dozens of crosses. And you realize his friend is not alive, and the beer was not to be drunk. And this mountain with dozens of crosses, fabric flapping in the wind, shoes dangling, and full beers at the base of each cross, was beautiful. This piece, which was a hyper fixation today, is an attempt to communicate the bitter beauty of this scene.