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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.

Thank you for giving it a listen and describing what you liked about it. It seems like you understood and appreciated my piece the most at the parts I also cared the most about. Thank you for listening! I appreciate your feedback from before, helping me get this piece right.

UPDATE: I have finished my score, and all instruments are audible in the audio file! (The missing violin glitch resolved itself) I will upload the score/parts to ArrangeMe as soon as I run them past my teacher. I'm not permitted to sell this outside of ArrangeMe, but I hope you all enjoy looking and listening! This was challenging and truly rewarding for me. Please do not hold back any constructive criticism! This will be the first arrangement I publish online, so it's the start of my journey. Butterfly Net - Caroline Polachek.pdf Butterfly Net - Caroline Polachek.mp3

Thank yoy for the suggestion! Fortunately, the audio file creation bug resolved itself, though.

Hi -- Thank you so much for listening! I agree, it is a stunning song. I appreciate your helpful comments. The bug resolved on its own, within that file, and I'm not quite sure why still. In the meantime, I was able to complete the score and parts. Maybe the issue resolved when I used Finale's "generate new parts" feature -- my finally hearing the first violin in my audio exports seemed to coincide with that.

Hello @Aw Ke Shen! This piece held my interest much more consistently and really took the idea of repetition with variation to heart. I'm glad you're taking this avenue in your development and I'm enjoying it very much! I think there is still a spot where you sequence a certain figuration by walking up the scale step by step - for me that was still a bit predictable. But there are styles of music where more repetition or sequencing is expected such as minimalism. And there's ways of making that work if you want to explore that. Btw - I loved the canonic imitation between the right and left hands - a great example of repetition that enriches the listening experience because of a shift in the metric placement of the material. Thanks for sharing!

It's been quite some time since I have last posted, have been really busy transitioning from one life stage to the next, so yea, here goes a new piece, " A Spring Calling " of my " The Seasons " Collection - my first piece in 3/8, and I hope it is not too repetitive - just a total of only four minutes plus tht alr include a couple of themes, variations and transitions all squeezed in. ( That said, the single themes and motifs themselves are repetitive ( even wht repetition), but I make sure they repeat much, much lesser than my previous pieces to compensate. ) Any comments appreciated! https://musescore.com/user/62605720/scores/16149598?from=notification#comment-8372710

That film sounds interesting!!!

Oh, this is a must-listen. I don't doubt Mahler's influences, which I find so difficult. It is very moving and at times mournful, for example in the opening crescendo between bars 23 and 33. The following progressive entrance of wind and brass instruments is fantastic. The polyphony is superb. And it's phenomenal that the strings give way from measure 54 or so. The transition here between a very consonant atmosphere to a slightly more dissonant one and back is well constructed. Another change at 111, back to nostalgia. With a greater orchestral density, but soft, to go growing. I congratulate you enormously because it seems to me a very careful and effective work.

Why just US residents? And why just age 18-40? That's lame.

Young composers of the U.S. and Canada, The Capital Hearings 2024 Young Composers Competition is LIVE and open for submissions! We are welcoming submission of compositions for mixed, unaccompanied vocal ensemble of 12 to 14 voices. This year, our 10th Annual Young Composers Competition is eager to hear your thoughts on our theme: The Force of Nature. If you feel like you have something to say–or find that something you’ve already written might speak to us–we’d love to hear it! All U.S. & Canadian residents age 18-40 are welcome to submit a 2-5 minute original composition (arranged for mixed, unaccompanied choir) related to this theme, and we especially welcome submissions from unique or underrepresented perspectives – and in unique or underrepresented styles. More information on the theme, guidelines for submissions, and submission instructions can be found at this link: https://www.thecapitalhearings.com/competition/ Submissions are due by June 4, 2024, and a prize of $1,000 will be awarded to the winner.. Please direct any questions to composers@thecapitalhearings.com. _________________________________________________________________

At last, after a languishing period of scant inspiration (though still modest in comparison to previous instances of composer's block I frequently suffered in the past), my creativity has once again blossomed into yet another prelude and fugue. This time, however, I decided to finally put my organ soundbanks to good use, and I cannot deny finding the results even more pleasant to the ear than otherwise relying on my harpsichord soundfont as usual in most of my renderings. The a-posteriori title in German ("Heldenreise") is a reference to the Jungian concept of the "hero's journey", since I apodictically considered the prelude's dotted rhythms to convey a more hesitant demeanour than the fugue, as hinted by the character markings at the beginning of either movement. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

Just one that allows one to make unlimited Synthesias for free ( from any of one's music files in MIDI and MusicXlm ) with just the most basic functions. I am trying out piano Vfx and its kinda complicated for me. Synthesia free version only give a short preview of ur piece. Anything free, simple ones to recommend?

Hi! @arpeggia. I really enjoyed this piece too! the chromaticism, dissonance, the use of accents which makes it sound as if the strong and weak beats subverts what is typical of a waltz, yet still stay consistent enough to be easily recognizable as a waltz, which makes it a very interesting and engaging! A lot of drama within a short span of around one and a half minutes. Well Done! I agree with @PeterthePapercomPoser that would be a good extension if you want, a middle, contrasting part to what already is there. Thks for sharing!

Hello @arpeggia! I really like this piece! To me, I don't see a problem with the title as I think it really fits the pathos of the piece - I would also describe it as perhaps "demented". I think for a piece with only one main section it still manages to stay interesting and create contrast with changes in dynamics and how you subdivide the beat. If you ever think of extending the piece I think it could work as an ABA form with the B section as maybe a slower and more eerie waltz in another key. I can definitely imagine that. Thanks for sharing this really enjoyable demented dance!

Wow! This is much better! This exemplifies perfectly very expressive use of chromatic neighbor tones and beautiful suspensions. Even without looking at the score I could immediately hear an improvement in the emotional impact of the music (at least to me). Very well done! It has a somewhat tragic pathos to it - near the end it really rises to a kind of screaming misery that is very affecting! Thanks for sharing!

I agree on both counts. It does seem like 6/8 is a better fit. And, overall, it does seem to me that there are a lot of things that don't seem to come up again. That doesn't go very much with the style of the work. One thing I think you have to watch out for is the textural changes. Suddenly there are two-voice chords, suddenly there are 4 or 5.... You can do all that but I think it requires some kind of preparation.

Why do you call him “horrible”? It doesn't sound like that to me. It is chromatic but tonal and seems quite coherent to me.

Hi Jordan. I enjoyed your use of percussion in this piece at key moments, to drive the narrative forwards. The main theme was catchy, and suited the storyline well. I think the blended orchestration was nice, where you have octave doubling. One thing I would suggest is putting your master score in concert pitch, so it's easier to see the harmonies at play.

Hey guys, a couple weeks ago I posted a study called "luscious" for string orchestra. Today I have it here as an expanded piece. The beginning is nearly the same, expect with an accelerando in the A'' section, so that when the A'' section appears at the end, it has more impact. There are many pieces of advice taken from others, importantly modulation. frankly, these are not fabulous examples of the modulation you have been asking for, as they don't don't happen on the climaxes of melodies, which does not come to me naturally. I'm working on another exercise which will hopefully do that in a convincing manner, however this was more of a brain itch than an effort to improve.