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Thank you for your thoughtful and complimentary review. Just to clarify, the intended harmonic structure (of the A section or main theme) is mostly a quick journey through the cycle of 5ths (loosely speaking): Em7 - A7 - Dm7 - G7 - Cm - Em7/B - Ab13 - A7 - Dm7 - G7 - C with a few random or nearly random dissonances thrown in. To me it clearly ends on the tonic (ignoring the random dissonances thrown in for laughs) though it's true it starts on 3m. Thanks again.

Hey @PeterthePapercomPoser, thanks for replying! I can definitely see that. I rewrote this piece from a much older piano-violin duet: at that point, I hadn't considered structure to be anything significant enough to study or follow (don't worry, I grew out of that phase 😉), so that unfortunately translated into the orchestral transcription. My music teacher also said as much when I showed the piece to her: she said it felt as if I composed linearly instead of harmonically. As an orchestrator, that hurt a little, I'll be honest. That being said, I envisioned the piece as being something more of a evocation of the feeling of a waltz instead of being a waltz itself: it acts more as an homage to the musical form than being of that musical form (if that makes sense). Or maybe I'm just bluffing at this point 🙃 But what do you think? I'd love to hear back from you 😄

I'll get that done once I'm satisfied with it; wouldn't want them thinking I was happy with an incomplete work 😉 Also, comments on this new edit, @Thatguy v2.0? I added the saxophone solo, but I feel like I'm adding a little too much mustard on this one. It'd be great to hear from you.

@PeterthePapercomPoser I am glad my music is more accessible this time. I am always fond of making a symphony starting with a lyrical, grande Russian theme. I had thought of making a introduction before the theme, but I just find it hard to write a development to the theme without shadowing it (in terms of dynamics/ complexity). There could be lengthy long string chords holding but it may lose your (or at least my) interest. So I decided that to make it straight to the theme. For the ending section, there will be an attacca to the next movement. I don't want to end strong in first movement - would rather some momentum for second movement. @Aria Donn Thank you for your listening! I am quite surprised both of you recognized my music a "Mahlerian" work (in some place) - Perhaps there are some subconscious impact from him - but yes, that's my way of writing - passing the motive between different instruments and purposely stack them to develop new materials. However, in terms of harmonic langauge, my work might be more "harsh" than what Mahler did. That's my long developed style - perhaps my prefered way of writing - even I am already quite "conservative" in the consonant part (as compared to my other works full of dissonant stuff), I just can't help to add a touch of harsh feeling to it - like a drama cannot be complete just with pure joy - but usually coming with some twist and hopeless scene. After all, I agree it is a hard thing to balance two contrasting types of harmonic materials. And I hope I can master it one day.

Thank you for your input @PeterthePapercomPoser. It is a long composition indeed. The intro song was written years before the whole composition. Firstly i had arrange it all for piano. I used ewql symphonic choirs vst for the singing choirs part, with which you can achieve quite realistic results. Some parts of the composition come from years ago, while others were composed more recently. From an orchestrating perspective i follow my intuition, as i have taken some music lessons in harmony, but not yet on composition / orchestration, so i guess there would appear some issues like the ones you mention with the high pitch of the choirs.

Hello @elmarad40! On the whole I quite like the character of this music! This is quite a long piece so I will only attempt to review the introduction and first song. In the introduction you have the sopranos/female voices sing in a very high range for a long time without a breath - at least that part of it verges on the impossible. I love the piano introduction - I think it successfully builds suspense and expectation for the rest of the piece. What software are you using to render the choir vocals? They sound pretty good! At 1:52 the sopranos come in on an impossibly high note - this is my main gripe with the introduction. The first song sounds quite pesante in the beginning and heavy. Later it transforms into a quite uneasy fanfare which to me does a good job of symbolizing Parzival's anxiety dream. The music is quite differentiated and with plenty of different ideas and contrasts yet is unified by your unique musical style. So good job with that and thanks for sharing! I hope that in the future I might review some more of your work.

Hello @Olof Darin! Welcome to the forum! I am listening with headphones as instructed. I actually think this is quite lovely with some unease and discomfort inherent in the slightly dissonant language you employ. But I think this proceeds quite logically and melodiously throughout! You might get even more attention from fellow pianists on this forum who have also played their own sonatas like you have such as @PCC and @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, if you posted a score. Your playing is very good, especially in the fast parts! I don't think I've heard any obvious mistakes. I think I like the soft, chorale-like parts of this movement the best. The bell-like effect you achieve through your use of octaves in the extremes of the piano register is also quite creative! Thanks for sharing and good job!

I find this most interesting especially after my recent segue into the Muzoracle. There is also a way of casting the Muzoracle cards alongside with the traditional Tarot cards. I am not at all familiar with the Tarot however so I don't know if I'll ever learn that. This piece to me is a typical one for you - full of sounds of intrigue, suspense and unease. I don't know if your goal was to channel the emotion of love through the music because I don't think this does that at all. It does sound kind of coquettish, like a beautiful woman who doesn't want to be caught. But I listened casually, without looking at the score so of course take that with a grain of salt. Of course, as always, your music seems to proceed according to the rules of its own logic and it does so in an interesting way that sustains my interest throughout. So good job with that! Thanks for sharing.

Hi @veps! I don't know why you wouldn't want to compose in this style - it is quite bold, modern and thematic/motivic to top it off! It is always harmonically and rhythmically fresh. Maybe you feel stupefied by how good it is and you don't know if you could finish it? Sometimes that has happened to me where I've composed a piece where the concept of the piece was too ambitious for my ability and so I doubted that I would ever be able to finish it. But now that I've changed the way I write I am going back and finishing all those old pieces. Of course, this is all just speculation - but I greatly enjoyed this short little beginning and I thought it proceeded quite lucidly and logically. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Awsumerguy! Listening casually without following along with the score it sounds like quite a charming piece! Although I feel like the melody sometimes is a bit unadventurous, lacking in cadential points lending to an impression of being a little lacking in direction (because it seems to wander up and down and clings too closely to the tonic chord for long periods of time and repeating itself over and over in essence creating a piece without any sections but consisting of a long exposition of the main theme over and over and with some key changes). Like I said though - it is a charming idea which I enjoyed listening to. Thanks for sharing!

Hello @Some Guy That writes Music! I listened casually and followed along with the score for the first couple of minutes and the thing that jumped out at me was that you stay diatonic to C major for a huge portion of the beginning before then changing the key signature to Ab major. I'm sure you don't need me to remind you that not all chromaticism has to come from key signature changes and that staying diatonic to any given key for long swaths of time can get pretty tiresome quickly. You could use chromatic neighbor tones or modal exchange where you borrow tones from the parallel minor/major mode. There's lots of other methods to create more harmonic interest. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @barko! A quite unique little waltz that seems like it does nothing cliche. I've listened to it a few times now and it's very individual and interesting! It definitely has a specific tonality, but since it either doesn't start or end on the tonic chord it's hard to determine just from listening what it might be (which I think is a good thing and generates much harmonic and melodic interest!) I also love the unusual combination of instruments that gives this quite a wacky flavor. Tuba +Organ + Saxophone + Pitched Percussion works really well. Thanks for sharing! Peter

Sorry for that, but I think the webpage is deliberately messing my comments. I have noticed it happen several times.

It's nice how patient you are with the music. The music is purposeful with a clear direction. You really know how to create an atmosphere - for example at section G on page 7. I was moved by your music. Initially, I was going to say that "there were some moments where it seemed you were entirely in your own mind and the music was struck in a loop of meandering tension...." but then it finally arrived at the climax and thought to myself, actually that prolonged passage of tension was worth it. You are an excellent composer.

Thanks for kind words guys! As for mentioned lack of development. I indeed feel like its occuring problem for me. When i try to forther develop a track it becomes too chaotic and sometimes it doesnt sound like continuation of a song but whole different piece. I just dont know how to do it properly. So until i figure it out i decided to stick to simpler repeating form. I shall look into music theory you mentioned Thatguy. Maybe there, ill find the answer how to crack this nut😁. Also im not sure if i understand term sample correctly. if sample means not single sound but premade bunch of sounds put together as one then i never used it. Feels like cheating for me😉 It's funny Guardian that you mentioned video games, because if one day i will be blessed by hearing my music in a game, that would be like dream come true for me, soo after all maybe im doing something right😁 And for the influences, there is alot of things but i guess 5 of the biggest would be: rock/metal, various folk music from around the world, electronic music(Hugo Kant, Neroche and soo on) rock/country(bridge city sinners, builders and the butchers etc) and video games/movie/orchestral (Two steps from hell, E.S posthumus etc) Wish you all good day.

Thanks! Actually, I am doing a lot of these...like using Musescore shortcuts and stuff... oh...I don't have a keyboard...

MP3 Play / pause Reverie Dance 0:00 0:00 volume > next menu Reverie Dance > next Your description paints a vivid picture of a musical journey that traverses the landscape of emotions, from the tranquil whispers of violin solos to the tumultuous dissonance of tremolo passages. The crescendo and climax, with the emergence of distorted trumpets and harp/glockenspiel runs, add layers of complexity and intensity to the piece, mirroring the ebb and flow of a melancholic daydream.

Holy night-and-day-difference! Wise decision to cut the guitar for bass, it SLAPS I'd edit your original post to have it be the most current version. It'd be really annoying for someone to take the time and give feedback for you if they don't notice the update 😄

Dude.... this is sick aF For real, love the ideas going on here. You seem to get stuck harmonically after a while, but I know it's common for this type of music continue to build layers over a set progression or whatever. Branch out with your chord progression, you wouldn't even have to change a lot of the textures going on. Do you know much music theory? That will for sure help, as you'll learn what you're doing more clearly which will in turn lead you to possible ways of extending your piece. Otherwise, learning and perfecting an instrument helps too BTW, stay away from samples if you can, you'll learn much more and get much better building your music from scratch. Remember to poke around on the forums and check out other's music too, you'll find people are very open about sharing honestly what they like and dislike, and you'll get more views and clicks bruh. Welcome 🙂

As the poster above me asked: How well do you know your theory and the craft of composition? If it is simply that you're feeling stumped, or struggling to get it to sound how you want, then this is usually the source. I would also recommend you get a MIDI controller to input notes into Musescore that way if you don't already. It would be painfully slow trying to input it with mouse and keyboard. Your piano trio may go faster if you use a DAW and kontakt libraries instead of musescore. Then, you can just record your piece in real time, and with pianos, you don't have to worry about keyswitches and other MIDI annoyances. Honestly, it really isn't. Especially if your goal is concert/neo-classical stuff. It is better to put out 5 pieces per year that are amazing, then to release 10 middling ones just because you feel you have to hit a certain number. Even from the most iconic composers, only a handful of their pieces are really well known to the masses. In many cases, the composer spent anywhere from weeks to years writing them. Even bands, who typically are doing way simpler music than classical; each new album is a result of 1-2 years (or more) of songwriting and selecting the best ones for the album. Back in the days of record deals, labels would demand an album of X number of songs within a short time-frame, which is partly why "Girls, Girls Girls" is the only decent song on that album. Also, remember that Carl Douglas's only song of note was 'Kung Fu Fighting' 50 years ago and he wound up with a net worth of 5 million. In other words, if no one is breathing down your neck to get this done and paying you to do so, take all the time you need. Lastly, since you say you're in school it's safe to assume you're pretty young: Know that the field of professional orchestral and neo-classical music is not a pursuit for low-time preference individuals; it is mainly an old man's game. I lucked out when I was 18, and got my first professional job, but that is an extreme rarity. Most guys don't see any success (financially or otherwise) until they have DECADES of experience under their belts. So aside from the aforementioned advice, I'd say: Take your time, and just keep chipping away at your pieces. Even 1 bar a day is progress. Because as the saying goes:

I think the idea is interesting overall! The instrumentation is cool and I like some of the rhythmic ideas! My main concern would be the musical "goal" of the idea. For me it seems to loop without any development. As a type of background music to say a video game, I think this type of piece would be a perfect for it! But if it were meant for a more "performance" type of music, then, I would look into how to develop ideas further! As it is, it does not sound bad! I would like to ask, who are your influences and what type of music are you looking to write! Keep going! Also, my ear did not bleed lol

How well is your knowledge in things such as harmony, counterpoint, and form? I would say having a great and in depth knowledge in this topics can help! Also, what trios inspire you, and do/have you analyzed any of the pieces! By doing so you can figure how trios are written, and if you choose to, model your work on those pieces!

Here is a Fugue in C Major that I composed for Pipe Organ. Overall, I think it sounds good, but I am open to any feedback! I am eventually write a prelude for this idea as well! Also, for anyone more familiar with the instrument, do staccato markings make sense for the pedal part of the idea? Thanks!