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Well, the nights are getting longer, the frosts are appearing on the ground, @PeterthePapercomPoser and @Thatguy v2.0 are locked in battle... It can only mean one thing - it's long overdue time for the annual Young Composers Christmas Music Event! The Brief Same as last year - write anything you like inspired by a winter celebration of your choice! Or, if you don't celebrate anything, maybe a piece to capture gazing over miles of snow (or grass if you live in the Southern Hemisphere) ... If you want to participate, pop a comment below! You could have a look at last year's competition for inspiration if you like: It would be great to see lots of you taking part! No prizes, no winners, just a way to get the creative juices flowing during the Season. Submissions will open on the 1st December. There will be a separate submissions thread, so look out for that! There's no time limit but you'll probably want to have your piece done by Christmas, or at least the end of December. Excited to see what you come up with!

Put on your ugly Christmas sweaters and DANCE, cuz I've got a treat for you! This is a piece that I started over a decade ago (the main theme, first variation and rondo were begun then) but have begun working on again since October 1st. This is by far my longest piece thus far, clocking in at just over 15 minutes. I tried to capture the joy and spirit of Christmas in these variations. I aimed to vary the types of different textures and ideas and keys present, sometimes having the orchestra or sections play with and without piano. There is some virtuosity and fireworks in the piano part which at times is a bit showy. Structure wise, I tried to make each variation smoothly connect to the next and to visit many distant keys throughout (mostly by going through almost all keys actually through rapid cycling through the circle of fifths). I also had quite a bit of trouble making the piano part and orchestra line up as for some reason, in Musescore (since I was using Musesounds for the orchestra and MS Basic soundfont for the Piano) the Piano eventually started falling behind the orchestra and I had to import separate files of just the Piano and just the Orchestra into Reaper where I could realign them if they started phasing. I hope you enjoy the fruit of my labors this Christmas! Any comments, critiques, or suggestions are welcome! Here is the form of my piece with timestamps: 0:00 - Theme 0:38 - I 1:14 - II 1:39 - III 2:12 - IV - "Transcendental" 2:36 - V - "Stately" 3:03 - VI 3:32 - VII - "Sneaky" 3:56 - VIII - "Flourishes" 4:30 - IX 5:06 - X 5:37 - XI 5:55 - XII - "Romance" 6:26 - XIII - "Romance Decima" 6:58 - XIV - "Minuet" 7:22 - XV - "Minuet Decima" 7:45 - XVI 8:16 - XVII - "Siciliana" 8:55 - XVIII - "Siciliana + Silent Night" 9:30 - XIX - "Waltz" 10:07 - XX - "Scherzo" 10:49 - XXI - "March" 11:31 - XXII 11:53 - XXIII - "March + Jingle Bells" 12:31 - XXIV - Cadenza 13:14 - XXV - "Rondo" 14:42 - XXVI - "Lilt"

Greetings. It has been a while since I posted something on this forum. I didn't get to review compositions by other members lately due to being busy with my studies, and I'm sorry for that. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I decided to write a theme and variations for the piano. This was my first time writing music with this structure, but it was not because I lacked inspiration. I took it as an exercise to boost my creativity and improve my composition skills. This eight-minute-long piano piece, written in E-flat major, is one of my major works. It consists of a theme, five variations, and a short finale. These variations are based on a simple theme I created, which I finished within a few hours. On average, each section took me a day to complete. One difficulty I faced when writing this composition was to keep the material interesting while not being too distant from the theme. Here is the breakdown of the structure of this composition: Main theme (E-flat major, Maestoso, 6/8): It's an operatic yet simple theme, which opens forte and Maestoso. 1st variation (E-flat major, 6/8): This variation is a berceuse with grace-note embellishments in the melody and frequent hand-crossing. 2nd variation (E-flat major, Più mosso, 6/8): This playful variation features sixteenth-note figurations in the right-hand part. 3rd variation (A-flat major, Sostenuto, 6/8): This variation is a serenade and the slowest among the five variations. This variation ends with a long pause, marking the beginning of the fast section towards the finale. 4th variation (E-flat major, Vivace, 6/8): This variation is partly inspired by the third movement of Beethoven's fifth piano concerto. This fast section demands virtuosity and contains a short cadenza passage. 5th variation (E-flat major, 2/4): This variation is an étude featuring rapid triplets in the right-hand part. This section is the shortest among all variations, lasting under a minute. Finale (E-flat major, Presto, 6/8): The finale opens with tremolos and a horn-like passage restating the main theme, followed by a reprise of the fourth variation at a much quicker tempo, quickly concluding the piece. Let me know what you think about this piece. I hope you'll enjoy it! Carl Koh Wei Hao P.S. The audio was generated on MuseScore 2.3.2.

To be honest I don't think I exaggerated with the title of the video. Composing it has been a turning point for me, very few times I have felt a composer-piece connection like I had when finishing this. I left some kind of metaphorical tale in the description of the video. Let me know any doubts you might have. Also I used some kind of augmented 6th to reach a Neapolitan chord right before the last climax. I hope you enjoy it!

Hi Henry! This is a great sonata movement and it coheres very well and is thematically unified but with enough variety to sustain interest from beginning to end! It also is very smoothly connected by good transitions. My complaint is in the type of pianism and style that you use throughout the piece giving me a very melodramatic and heavy impression because of all the sturm und drang. This is a problem that I might have to face in the future myself if I ever plan on trying my hand at writing a piano sonata (so take this review with a grain of salt since all I have is a very short sonatina which I've tried to learn but am not good enough to play). The problem is: how does one write a piano sonata in today's day and age avoiding stereotypical and clichéd pianism and including an original harmonic and melodic language? Don't get me wrong - your sonata is perfect the way it is and I don't think it can be improved in any way, being what it is, but I can't help but find some parts of it overly melodramatic and overblown and somewhat clichéd (bars 50 - 51 and 185 - 186). I guess it does sound Beethoven-esque and Chopinistic, but with quite original melodies. But the harmonic language and style is very conservative to me. I understand that the aforementioned bars cannot be excised from the piece because they are a logical consequence of things that came before because the piece grows it's ideas very organically from previous material. But I can't help but feel a sense of bombast despite its being very bold and incisive and sharp (and it's possible I might be more enthusiastic about its good features if it was a better recording and not so dry as well). But of course, overall this is very enjoyable for what it is and is meant to be, but I do wish you explored some more of your own original harmony. Most of the great composers in music history found ways to create their own original harmonic language/formulas that were unique only to them and I wouldn't want you to shortchange yourself by never embarking upon this pursuit! Thanks for sharing! Peter

Wassup Henry, I hope your doing well. Firstly, I just want to say that this recording is much better than the one you sent me earlier, the bass is far less muddy and the treble is somewhat clearer (from what I can hear). Also, good job on playing your own pieces. This seems very difficult, you must be a great pianist. With regards to the music, I think this is near perfection. My favourite is probably the development, it sounds like Autumn leaves falling down to me. Like Mike, I think this sounds like a modern Beethoven with touches of Chopin in the pianistic sections, but overall I'm hearing Henry Ng rather than those two. Henry, I think that you should at least try to get this performed, or at least teach it to your piano students when they reach the level, the way the old master (Chopin, Liszt etc.) taught their students their own compositions. It's up to you in the end, but this piece is definitely something I'd want to learn if I was a pianiast. Anyways, lovely piece, hope to hear the other movements soon! Ciao, Arjuna

Hi guys! All of us here are composers, whatever level we are in. However everything has its beginning (and hopefully not end). We all have our first experience of composing, and start to compose more by having that first experience as the basis and build ourself up, whether by skills, knowledge, experience or taste. I would like to ask, why and when do you first begin composing? What is your inspiration of it? How do you compose when you may not have adequate tool and theory to back you up? I wanna share my own experience. I started learning piano when I was 10 years old, a relatively late age. Then after months or a year or so, I suddenly had the impulse to imitate Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, since it was the first classical piece I had ever listened to, alongside his no.13 and noi.15 Piano Sonata. I remembered I knew nothing on composing and therefore just wrote some mess out, which might resonate with some of Beethoven's passage LoL, in a naive way. I didn't even have staff paper at that time, let alone PC and computer program to write the music out. I just wrote with the letter names on top and the note value under it like this: A G# Fx G# Crotchet Crotchet Semibreve Minim (in note, not words) I have already forgotten that piece, but that experience is unforgettable. There's no reason for me to begin composing, since no one has ever taught me so, but I still do that and luckily I am still composing. Really wish you guys can share your first moments of composing to us! Henry

I started at the beggining of this year One day I got bored while listening to some music and i got curious about how one composes, for me it was out of this world at that time.And now I keep doing it for fun and because you guys give me advice & opinions on what I write. But i usually compose when i have nothing to do,after school or in the weekends. I either study or write a little piece. -Aaron

I think my first composition was not inspired by any particular composer or genre but by my having a computer and midi program which gave me the capability to hear anything I put in which to me just opened up the whole world of composing. My first piece was an impossible piano piece that could not be played because it had so many consecutive repeating notes (it wouldn't even be playable if one arranged it for four hands or two pianos LoL). As I learned music through learning Clarinet and Piano with my best friend in Jr. High and High School, eventually my Slavic/Polish roots came out in my music as I composed a Polonaise type piece without even really trying to write in nationalistic/folk music forms. But I like to think that a huge part of my attraction to music was because of my experiences of playing video games and listening to the kick ass music in classic Super Nintendo games from the 1990's. With my midi software I was able to search the internet to find midi's of VGM tracks that I opened up in my sequencer and tried to analyze/understand and then (of course) imitate that. I think a big part of my musical philosophy (which is basically that I believe that all music is playful) comes from those experiences of listening to really awesome video game music while having lots of fun playing games like Zelda: A Link to the Past, the original Star Fox, Sim City, Final Fantasy VI, and Chrono Trigger (all for the SNES). I also tried to imitate those musics through writing short incidental/programmatic imaginary VGM tracks with a limited instrumentation. All those old works are lost now but some of the melodies are still in my memory. Another kind of music I tried to imitate when I was first starting out is Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 - Pizzicato Ostinato. For some reason the string orchestra all using pizzicato all at once was a very attractive sound to me and I tried to write my own Pizzicato Ostinato piece which was one of my most chromatic and harmonically complex first compositions. It included harp and I was told by a Violinist friend in University that it was in fact playable (to my surprise LoL). But these days I feel like I've grown out of trying to imitate other composers. Maybe I might still imitate certain genres I am not particularly familiar with if there's a purpose for that (like if I need to write that kind of music for my own future video game I'm planning to make).

Hi everyone! I am posting the 1st movement of my Third Piano Sonata in C sharp minor. This movement starts at 2019, but was abandoned since I had to focus on composing my two Clarinet Quintets then. Then after finishing my Sextet movement I wanna write something trash to restore my originality, so I choose this one to work on. What I had is only b. 1-8, b.177-180 and b.225 till the end, so my job was to extend them and make the music as smooth as possible. Luckily the final product isn't quite trash at all, even though the style is less original than the Sextet. I know the recording is bad, especially with those tears, but hopefully it doesn't hurt! Hope you enjoy it! This movement for me is furious, but it acts as self therapy by composing and expressing all my anger and confusion. I was in a state of depression at the composing period, worrying from the world to myself. Luckliy this movement saves me from falling to the depression trap. I make use of the opening falling fourth motive and that triplet rhythmic motive all through the movement, which results in something Beethovanian and reminds me of his Appassionata. I started to enjoying it more and more after playing it myself. It's challenging but very enjoyable to do so. Piano Sonata no.3 in C sharp minor First Movement.pdf Piano Sonata no.3 1st Mov Audio.mp3 Here is the structre of the movement: 0:03 Exposition, First Subject. Uses the falling fourth motives and the triplet rhythmic motives in the whole movement due to coherence (and laziness LoL) 0:39 Transition 1:02 Exposition, Second Subject, in dominant G# minor. 1st theme more chordal, 1:17 2nd theme, more cantabile in nature, 1:35 3rd theme with furious octaves, and the next passage with 16th triplets on top with the fate motive underneath reminds me the Appassionata most. 2:10 Development, begins with imitation and canon, then reach the more beautiful theme in 2:44, but soon crushed and the Appassionata related F minor comes in at 3:29. The progression here I am sure I have learnt from Schubert's Fantasie in F minor for piano four hands. 4:19 Recapitulation, First Subject. Try something Bramsian here. 5:10 Recapitulation, Second Subject, same as the exposition except in the tonic key. 6:19 Coda, using that beautiful theme from the development again (except with that freaking wrong note LoL). Building up climax until reaching 6:51(my favourite passage!), and is agitated till the end. Feel free to criticize it or just take note on something interesting of it. I will be very happy for all your opinions! I know the recording is bad, especially with those tears, but hopefully it doesn't hurt! I recommend the YT video version more since it seems to filter out some of the tears! Henry

Greetings. This will probably be my last piece I will share for the year. I composed a little suite of sorts of adventure film music inspired by the works of John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith primarily. Adventure movies happen to be my favorite kind. It's over 4 minutes, so none of you better tell me it's too short this time lol. But seriously, let me know what you think of it.

Never doubt me

I wanna see you wearing that ugly Christmas sweater as your pfp LoL

@PeterthePapercomPoser Wait... let me get this straight... PeterthePitifulPoser thinks he can write a better Christmas tune than me? Seriously?!? Dude... I'm Thatguy v2.0, doesn't he even know that? lololololol oh man... oh boy... whew... that was funny So let it be known that this year I will be writing Christmas music AS A WEAPON AGAINST PETER. Luckily for him, he made the wise choice (as he is a noble yet humble man), and already agreed to this 1800's U.S. Western-style competition. A duel of compositional wits, if you will. The deadline will be Christmas day, and the winner will be decided by a community poll. All may cast their votes, and if no one votes... @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu will be forced to decide upon the winner. Don't do this to Henry people... he's such a good man. I would hate to have him decide between friends. The winner will receive bragging rights until Mike stops paying for the yearly cost to run the site. Oh, and Peter: YOU'RE GOING DOWN ❤️ 🎄 ⛄

Damn I'm gonna lose, huh

Hi all. Here's a performance of my piece "Elegy" from a recent recital by professional pianist Neil Crossland. Think he did a great job with it. The piece is more expressive than I've ever heard it before. Have also included an updated score. Hope you enjoy! Alex

I love your interpretations I really appreciate your time, effort, analysis, care, talent, etc. etc. I'm in awe someone would take the time to be so kind to me in unimaginable ways. The next step with these surpasses YC. I'll message you in discord about it 😄

Hello there So, this is going to be a weird review. It's because I like your piece a lot, and you're an outstanding performer. And the crux of this comment is not about good or bad, but you and your goals and decisions as a composer. First of all, yes the audio isn't that great. Yes I know you know that. Yes I'm the same way, I care mostly about the notes themselves and the performance. Yes sharing your recording here of all places is absolutely acceptable (hell it's better than any midi), but what others have said rings true about quality being very important. I'd say it's something to invest in, but if your situation doesn't allow you to freely record yourself in some optimal way... do what I do. Just go to a studio and have them record you. It's worth all of your hard work and time you've invested into your own music. Trust me, music production is a lot to learn, and you can do it, as can I. But if you're anything like me, learning a bunch of nonmusical nonsense in home recording is tedious and boring. If you're up for it, great. Go full throttle because it IS worth learning. But I don't have the time or money to care as much as some others who really enjoy the craft and dedication it takes. I'm amateur at best, and I'd rather devote my time to practicing my instrument and pure composition rather than mixing and engineering. You're a smart guy, you work a nice job and make a decent living. You're single, yes? No kids? Damn son, save that money for studio time! That aside, I'd like to mention that I thoroughly enjoyed this music. As always, you continue to dazzle us with your great performances (throw away the humility of pointing out your mistakes to us. It's not as bad as you think, your performances are always very impressive). You continually display a brilliant understanding of the studious aspects of music. Sonata form has become your bitch, and your craftsmanship of motivic development is something that anyone aspiring to better themselves in composition could learn from. There's nothing to say that's "wrong", or that the technicality of your music falters by sentence X of page Y in theory book Z. At least not that I heard... but that's kinda my point of this post... we'll get to that. I love that you just poured your heart out into this. You let your emotions take the reigns and dictate your every move. It sounds raw to me, like a primal rage kept in check by your studies and skill as a composer. I listened to this a few times, and after the first, I took off my composer hat and just let the music take me wherever you wanted it to go. Henry, you ARE a fantastic pianist. This is more personal to me, and not really the point of anything I'm saying in this comment, but I adore every time you mention your students, or any time you talk about being a teacher. As you know, I've done the same, and there are so many times where I catch myself learning new things and thinking about an aspect of music in a new way simply by reinforcing my knowledge or experience to someone else. The detail you give your performance (and other pieces of yours!) is something to admire. Sure I play piano a bit, but guitar is my main instrument. And the care you take with your precision and desire to let the musicality of your music flourish is something that I've taken from listening to your music. You'd be surprised to know that there have been times when I record myself and think, "yeah, that's good"... but then re-evaluate. It wouldn't be good enough for Henry. Gotta do it again. It's better that way 😄 If you're going to immortalize your music with your own recording, make it perfect (as in the performance, not the audio haha). So... anyway...................................... I have to say this. I really do. You're brilliant, and deep down, you know you are too. It's so obvious to me that you've studied music composition with great love and care. You've found a passionate bond with music, especially with your favorite composers. You wield the torch of the great romantic composers, most notably the one who created the era. Beethoven is one of my heros, as is yours I know. I can tell with great certainty that you've dissected and absolved all the information and knowledge you could receive from his music. IN FACT, although this changes over time, I'd say for the past 10 years or so Appassionata has been my favorite sonata of his. Of course you know that one. I can tell from listening to your piece. There are many things that reminded me of this, as well as Beethoven's "style" in general. I wouldn't say your sonata movement is the same as Herr Beethoven's music, but the way you treat material is a lot of times. That's not wrong or bad, but when you get feedback that says, "this reminds me of Beethoven", or, "you need to broaden your harmonic language", I think it stems from this. There are lots of examples that make me think this; this quest for originality is difficult. For instance, the popular band Polyphia is very famous for their technicality, but the harmonic language and treatment of developing material is pretty standard (sometimes annoyingly novice IMO). So what sets them apart? It can't just be the technology and effects of 2023 instruments and guitar pedals. They wouldn't be as admired. Or what about Beck? Or Primus? Or any band or musician that has made themselves revered and their music loved? WHAT IS THE SECRET??!!!?! Or to simplify my point, what was it about Beethoven that we still listen to and study his music in the 21st century? His Piano sonata no.2... is that not Haydn influenced? Tinges of Bach and Mozart for his Minuet in G? What was so great about him? He was learning and discovering who he was, not only as a man but as a musician. He learned from the greats of his day, just like you do. But at some point, he abandoned the framework of the masters he learned from and decided to give the world a new flavor. A flavor he crafted and that was his own, and he didn't ask or take a poll with everyone to see if it was what they wanted and liked. People don't know what they want or like, you have to amaze them. Beethoven, known as a brilliant improviser and brash emotional musician, started his first symphony (is he not known for being one of the greatest symphonists?), at the age of 29 or so, with a C7 chord to F. It's in the key of C. He purposely lead the listeners ear in another direction to give ambiguity, right at the start. Isn't that cool? In the year of 1800? Idk, stuff like that really makes me respect him. And it's because he used the absolute fundamentals of music to be creative, not timbre or effects. The point is, I feel like it's WHAT he was thinking regarding music theory that would be cool and interesting that's so impactful. Think of the French hearing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring for the first time. Who cares what the outcome of that performance was, he transcended time and knew his music was meaningful without caring what the perception might be. Debussy's Prelude of the Afternoon of a Faun... he was 32! Was he an accomplished pianist and musician? Absolutely!! Was he thinking about the creative use of the lowest flute register? Uh, probably! And just like you, he dedicated so much time in getting better at his craft. Do you know Jimi Hendrix? Watch footage of him as a black man playing electric guitar for a bunch of hippie whiteys. So many moments of awe, as normally you'd see people dancing and banging heads, but instead a look of wonder and perplexity consumed them as they witnessed a wizard. How did he get that original? Well, he grinded the Chitlin circuit, and learned from the masters, just like Beethoven, just like Polyphia, and just like you. So to anyone who says your music isn't original... just wait. In a few years time, you'll continue your craft, you'll get better, and you'll continue to explore that inner voice you have that keeps you going until you not only make a mark on the world of music, but you'll craft a scar. It'll be unremovable and originally yours. To summarize, this is fantastic music, but more importantly, I'm excited to hear your evolution as a composer, musician, performer, and friend. You have immense talent and an unfathomable love for music, yet the greatest attribute you have in my most humble opinion is your craving to help those around you. It's already a given that you're an outstanding musician and will grow to the greatest heights of craftsmanship, but your larger than life heart will take you farther than you realize. Thanks for sharing, this was a joy to hear, and well done Henry 🙂

Sorry for coming late to the party, Henry. I’ve been planning to comment for a while and actually listened to this piece quite a number of times. I can clearly hear the Beethovenian influences with the fate motif, and the piano writing is indeed chopinesque. As others have mentioned, the harmonies are completely suitable for the type of work you are writing. Although there are touches of Henry Ng in this piece, I do think there are heavy influences from other composers shaping your music. In the process of finding originality, I think you should try shaking those influences a bit more. Perhaps add some 7ths or sharp 9ths to those V - I progressions, and spice up the rhythms of the fate motif. Writing smaller pieces will help, that way you can fully work with a specific idea you want to explore. Hope this helps Great work on this, though. I could probably never write or play this well.

I agree with Peter - while this piece is clearly original, the harmonic palette isn't as fresh. Besides that, this piece is perfect. I especially enjoyed listening to your primary themes within the exposition, such a beautiful melody. Your Development was quite nice as well. You are a wonderfully talented pianist-composer and this piece does both of those titles a great justice.

Regarding this, I personally don't mind conservative harmonies. I know I said this in one of my videos, but good harmony doesn't necessarily mean, who can create the craziest and most unique harmonies in a piece. I think that crazy harmonies may actually ruin this piece, just given its style. One of my complaints around composers who try to get too creative with their harmonies, is that the overall piece sometimes starts to lose its meaning. In my opinion, use harmony where applicable. In a piece like this, the tamer harmonies are ok in my eyes, simply because the rest of the piece has other elements to give it color. One instance of this is the polyrhythmic section which is one of the most beautiful sections of this sonata. Perhaps the phrase may contain basic harmonies, but the clean harmonic structure makes the phrase easy to follow. And don't forget the melody. Melody is probably one of the hardest aspects of composition, and I do think Henry excelled in that area. Interesting, because I recently listened to nearly all of Beethoven's sonatas, and I find that most of them are not really lyrical. Some exceptions would be Moonlight Sonata, and perhaps Pathetique. But Henry's sonata is perhaps neo-romantic. I found myself enjoying this 1st movement sonata more than a lot of Beethoven's 1st movements. I'll have to give Schubert a listen one of these days.

let me point out why this movement is quite the Beethoven inspired one.... first, mini-variations. phrases get repeated and harmonically identical short phrases in 1-4 bars or something like that, but because of the varied speaking it never gets too boring. second, retaining the Haydn style treatment of cadences third, the coda... the endless V-I-V-I etc. lol don't forget the massive resemblance of the development ending to recap to the c-sharp quasi una fantasia, and the triplet motion of Appassionata as well Actually in terms of motivic development I don't find this movement follows the Beethoven treatment too much, it's more Schubertian in that sense, especially the more free harmonic progressions, introducing new lyrical themes, like that. Bars 230 and 232 the rest make the otherwise furious atmosphere feel like a bit empty and suddenly come to a halt, I feel like the triplet motion still needs to persist (unless coming to a halt is entirely the intention, but I subjectively find that less likely?). also its basically twice as fast as your pastoral 1st mvmt, how is this even possible, but you proved it... 😞 but thanks for sharing your expression here!

There's nothing to criticize with this piece, other than the audio recording quality. It sounds like I am listening to a modern Beethoven who had some inspiration from Chopin. I hear slight hints of Chopin's first sonata, but other than that, this is your own voice. In fact this piece is much better than Chopin's 1st sonata. You have a gorgeous melody going on here which helps boost this piece's listening value. In fact, a lot of Beethoven's sonatas aren't as lyrical as this one. I found myself playing this theme in my head all day today (due to me listening to this piece like 4 or 5 times last night). I also had no idea you were quite the pianist either. Don't worry about the missed notes, it's more about the overall playing, and ability to convey the message clearly. Really the only thing missing here is the sound quality, because everything else is perfection. I might have to do a dedicated video of this piece on my YouTube channel, because this movement really captured my interest. I may experiment with recording parts of your piece in midi, to see if I can help bring out the clarity of some sections. And since you compose in polyrhythms, it's really a perfect study because I can demonstrate how Music Jotter can use the polymeter to score certain sections of this piece. What we have here is an expertly written composition and well executed performance. May I ask how long it took to compose this movement?

I had always wanted to write music but had no idea where to start. Then I met someone who composed music all the time, and I thought to myself that if he could do it then so could I. Eventually, on Christmas, I got a piano which made it possible for me to easily try my hand at composing things. My first piece was in E minor and consisted of arpeggios moving in contrary motion to each other (my friend had told me that contrary motion was to be striven for). I wrote it because I enjoy expressing myself and wanted to impress him. Unfortunately, he stopped talking to me because he apparently felt threatened by my creative efforts. In the end, I chose music composition, something I find fun and addicting, over sham friendship. I have no regrets.

My earliest attempts at composition were probably me banging on the piano at home when I was very, very young. A bit later when I learned to read music, I would write stuff by just drawing staves on lined paper - but of course it was all complete rubbish. I kept at it, and continued to be terrible at it for a very long time. I remember with horrible embarrassment telling the music teacher at my elementary school that I was writing music, and then playing a little bit of it at her request; she just very politely smiled and nodded. Then when I was in 8th grade, I got Rhapsody, a rudimentary piece of music notation and MIDI software, for Christmas, and it was only at that point, when I could hear a playback of what I'd written at the press of a button, that I actually started to improve.

Well well well... Care to add your masterpieces to this year's Christmas Music Event?

Let me provide the anti-climax: if I am forced to decide upon the winner I will make a draw LoL.................. I would rather be an audience eating popcorn aside LoL..........

Hey Vince, I am really happy I have the chance to play all of them. I enjoy this journey very much and thanks for letting to play of them with my own interpretation and freedom haha. As one playing all of them, I now has my own priorities over them: 12>9>6>3>2>7>5>10>11>8>1>4 It's strange my favourite ones are all in the multiples of 3. But that may show the pattern of the preludes. Maybe The 1,4,7,10 ones are opening pieces of a subset and you are trying new directions in each of them: No.1 is the beginning piece, no.4 you are trying with tossing with the Baroque style, no.7 getting away from the inwardness of the 1st half of the prelude set, and no.10 the longest one when you are dealing with motivic method to compose. They are great too, but the others are even greater! The middle pieces 2,5,8,11 they act as the contrasting piece of the first one: no.2's warmness versus no.1's coldness, no.5's lightness versus no.4's learned style, no.8's heaviness versus no.7 carefree style, and no.11 as the shortest piece and the introductory piece to no.12 versus the longest piece of the set, the no.10 one. But it's like in each ending piece 3,6,9,12 you achieve great synthesis of the first two, or a great conclusion to them. No.3 has both the sadness of no.1 and warmness of no.2, no.6 as both the counterpart of the less emotional no.4 and 5 and the tragic no.3, no.9 of course the great dance reacting with the no.7 and no.8, no.12 the great summation of the set, quoting moments from no.1,2,3,6,7,8. My favourite is changed to the no.12 one after playing it, over no.9 No.9 is a very enjoyable piece with great rhythm and fire, but the no.12 one just penetrates right into your heart. That Gb major is so well chosen, or fortituosly chosen when it's the only note left, but it makes the piece so consolatory and introvert, hinting at the farewell mood as in Haydn's Farewell, and the pentatonics in Gb is great like Chopin's Black Keys. The middle section is so soulful: it appears to be carefree but definitely not inside. The return to A major which kind of replies to the A minor of the no.1 is great too. I defintely feel the piece while playing it. Thx for sharing your set of preludes Vince. I thoroughly enjoy them! Henry

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 I'm in! You can't beat me! VincetheVeryVindictivebutnotValiant will not win! I'm writing a 10+ minute Variations piece on a famous Christmas carol for Piano and Orchestra in Eb major and nothing can stand in my way! I have a Romance, Minuet, March, Rondo, and the works included and it'll blow your Christmas socks and ugly Christmas sweater right off! Muahahahahahahaha! 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

I know I haven't finished symphony 2 or 3, but I was just so inspired by the material, I had to work on it. This is probably my most traditional (especially in structure) symphony so far, probably due to my analysing Beethoven symphonies and sonatas, reading sonata theory, and studying Fux's treatise on counterpoint. The movements are a sonata form first, followed by a scherzo, then the slow movement. There's a program, but it doesn't affect the music much, (introduction and exposition as well as the overall character of the inner movements are as far as the program goes). A rundown of the program: A few years ago, I found on my garage floor an abandoned, injured baby mouse. I wanted to rescue it, but my mom refused to do anything about it, and I was so distraught. I had never felt this way, knowing that I had the power to help the little creature, but being too afraid to go against my mother. I eventually disobeyed her, and I called a local animal rescue group. I sat with the mouse for hours to keep him company until she arrived. She took care of him and sent me update pictures until it was time for him to be released. She gave the mouse to me since I had found him, which I'm grateful for. I released him by an apple tree, and I sometimes regretted not keeping him, but I know he was probably content in the wild and my mother would not have approved anyway. The whole experience affected me deeply, even though looking back people have been in much more extreme animal rescue situations. And maybe my music is a bit melodramatic for this, but I sketched the intro and exposition immediately afterward, so the emotion was still fresh and raw. Specific program notes: The introductory crash represents my surprise when I first found him. The English Horn melody is the mouse, and the first and second theme are sad and then angered, because I was first sad for the mouse would likely die, and then angry because I was restricted from helping. The rest is absolute music and just develops the material. The middle movements are lighter because they represent the period where he was being taken care of. I have no idea what to do for the fourth movement, so I'll probably leave it for now and work on my other music. Also, sorry for the somewhat low-quality audio, I don't have too many opportunities to MuseScore 4, (it's on my parents' computer, my laptop can't handle it). (This is an expansion from a previous version linked here.)

I did it like two and a half years ago, it was sort of an improvisation in c minor, I didn’t know how harmony worked so I stayed in the tonic for the whole minute that the piece lasted Somehow it wasn’t dissonant, just too basic I am embarrassed to say that I was staying in the tonic during 90% of the time the pieces I wrote lasted, and I knew nothing about harmony until seven months ago, when I started taking composition seriously

Fortunately, my first attempt at composition was never written down

I was 11, and had some weird TV Show in my head called Demon Hunters. We were learning to play Pirates of the Caribbean in Orchestra so I decided to try and write a theme song for the show. I don't remember what it sounded like, but I listened to it a couple years ago and even though it was about 2 bars in length, it was rubbish. There were a few improv things I did earlier than that, but I dont consider them compositions.

Hi Jonathon, For the 2nd movement, I really like the energy as a Scherzo. The opening clarinet melody for me is attractive too. In b.56 and 57 oboe you can simply use F# major notes rather than ones from G flat major. I think for the middle section you can simply change the key signature to C# minor to prevent those accidentals! For me I feel like it acts as good contrasting section even though the relationship between the two sections are not too apparent. I think after all those slow sections in the first movement, I would prefer the 2nd movement to be fast from the beginning to the end to kind of refresh the listener's mind, and also provide a greater contrast to the first movement. For the F# major key I think of what Cecil Forsyth in his Orchestration book said, "if one's favourite orchestral key is F# major one deserves to suffer." I think he is telling a joke right??!! At least I enjoy this movement! Henry

Hey @Carl Koh Wei Hao, Welcome back! The theme for me is quite like a Chopinistic waltz in 6/8 time, but not too operatic for me. The change of touch to appoggiaturas in variation 1 adds grace to the theme, good job on that. But maybe it will be hard for the pianist to discern the original theme since it is hidden among the appoggiaturas? The 2nd variation reminds me of the second movement of Chopin's third piano sonata, also scherzando in nature and also in E flat major! I love the texture of 3rd variation. You make good use of the arppeggios and the texture there is flourish and harp-like. And the change of articulation in 4th varaition is funny! I am sure the etude can be played but it's very hard to capture the lightness of it! Weirdly it reminds me of the final movement of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique when the witchy theme reaches E flat major there. But I also really feel the 3rd movement of Bee's 5th Concerto here, not to lie! I am sure you have taken Chopin's op.10 no.11 into consideration in the 5th variation with similar texture (and the same key!). The finale is very successful when you introduce the Naepolitan and flat submediant keys here, pushing the piece to climax! I may wanna have some variations set in the minor keys or at least in different keys, other than the only variation in A flat major. But still this one is very enjoyable which showcase virtuosic skills and light style in romantic language. No need to feel sorry about that. There are bunches of people here who only post but never review, or don't even reply to other members' review on their own works, and you are for sure treasured here on YC! Thx for sharing this enjoyable piece! Henry

Hello Henry, I hope your doing well when you (eventually) read this comment! Firstly, I'd like to say that this is a very wonderful piece, and you should really think of it more highly. My favourite passage was that from b.96 to 103 with that cool as chromatic passage. There's not much else I can add, but thank you for dropping this piece! Kind regards, Arjuna

Really great rendition you've presented here! I usually love variations pieces as I consider the variation technique to be at the core of my composing technique in general - even for pieces which I don't intend to be in a theme and variations form. In fact - I'm working on a set of variations right now! These variations are dreary, dark and dramatic! You create a really effective mood here that is very appropriate to the meaning of the Dies Irae. I think what halts the momentum of the piece for me is your reiteration of the theme with the tubular bells in between each variation. Maybe instead of repeating the theme each time, you could just include the tolling of the bell (if you've attached a meaning to it as you say). I know that whenever I write variations I have such a huge number of ideas that I am almost overwhelmed sometimes by them, so I cope with that by trying to be really concise with my presentation of the variations. But you seem to take the opposite approach here, extending the piece for a really long duration that could have easily been clipped a bit. I think you use the restatement of the theme as a way of transitioning between the variations but it's really redundant since the listener has heard the theme so many times by then, in many different forms. I don't think the listener needs to be reminded of what the theme is each time and that's just kind of an unnecessary feature of the piece in my opinion. That's my critique. But besides that I really liked the piece! My favorite part I think is the waltz since it's the most light-hearted and jolly variations and quite well written. Also - kind of an unexpected feature of a variations piece meant to be about death! I do wonder what this particular variation meant for you. Nit-picky thing about the score - if you meant for there to be no key signature for the piece in general you should also remove the key signatures for the transposing instruments. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for sharing!

Upon coming across this ascending chromatic motif while improvising on the violin, I wondered just how well it would work as a fugal subject. Having now developed it into another one of my fugues, I thus present here the results. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

Hello! only 6 month later, I have finished my Quartet. Well, at least a draft of it 🙂 I'm hoping to get some as usual excellent feedback even though I've been bad and away from listening and commenting and interacting with this great community. Anyways, great to be back, feels good to have finished the quartet, and hello everyone! -Giacomo quartetto3b.mp3

Good to hear from you, Henry! It's always a welcome sight to hear your feedback on my piece 😁 I do see what you mean there. I'm not going to say I fully agree with your opinion regarding the juxtapose at b. 129 (since that was sort of my intention to have the tutti come out of nowhere), but I can definitely get what you mean during the final modulation back to Cm on b. 231. Even I thought that particular bit sounded a bit rushed when I listened to it around the end of the writing process (because I knew had to bring it back to Cm somehow in order to finish the piece), but I had run out of ideas and decided to abridge the two of them together so I didn't have to leave without a finished movement. I'll think about your advice once I get to revising it: I'm taking a break from symphonic writing (that stuff's a real brain frier). That's probably in part due to my tendency to intently listen only to the beginnings and endings of a symphony's first movements: I get lost somewhere around the middle, so that's probably the reason why the middle it sounded so melodramatic 😅 I'll consider adding some drama here and there, though: I can see why you'd think there wasn't enough sturm und drang in this movement so far. I'd love to hear where you'd place these moments, because I really don't know what material to put in, or where I should even be putting them. If you also have the time to spare, I'd like to hear about your gripes regarding my structure: I know this movement probably isn't as well-crafted as you (or I) would have wanted, but there's always next time to improve my work, right? 😉 That's very kind of you! Again, I'll be sure to heed your advice when I get back to this symphony. It's always a pleasure 👋

This Pavan and Galliard is something I started writing all the way back in Spring of 2022 but put on the back burner because of learning new pieces. It's really intended for a virginal or other plucked keyboard but here it is on clavichord. I consider the Galliard to be much better than the Pavan, the lively character is more reflective of the dedicatee, so if you want to you could skip to that at 7:42. Not that I think the Pavan is mediocre at all, but yeah. I intend to write the score in a font similar to that of My Lady Nevell's Booke, and record it on a better instrument at some point.

@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu thanks henry, i always appreciate the time you take to listen and review. i think i fixed the link… anyways, the pavan is always rather stately and in 2 and the galliard is always in 3, however the galliard as in the case of william byrd and his multitude of proteges collectively known as the “virginalists”, the measures/ beats are often be subdivided in ways that create a different emphasis at different times…. i’m probably explaining that inefficiently since i’m not much of a musicologist or theoretician. but there’s rarely anything simple about the rhythm for the galliards. in some cases the pavan might have a triplet section that becomes kind of a galliard within the pavan, and there can even be a tripletized section within a galliard so it becomes a galliard within a galliard….or something. Most of the time, the galliard will follow the pavan though there are stand-alone pavans and stand-alone galliards. By the time of these types of keyboard pavan and galliards, the dances themselves were probably falling out of fashion and the virginalist pavans and galliards were probably not danced to, and certainly weren’t meant to be. They were often memorial pieces (as is this one). With respect to the dance themselves, apparently galliards included 4 steps and a leap….i’m guessing the leap lasted two beats to equal 6. as you can read about, elizabeth I of england apparently used them as exercise. The steps to the pavan seem very simple and understated, or minimal you could say. Very true about the false relations…there’s a meme somewhere with a bunch of people cheering/raising beer mugs with the caption “Fans of english renaissance whenever there’s an F against F#” or something and i think it’s pretty accurate 😄

I DON'T LIKE PLAYING GAMES!!!!! PLUS MY MUM WON'T ALLOW IT 😭😭😭!!!!!

Hi @Samuel_vangogh, For the theme it's beautiful, but maybe you can vary the piano accompaniment a bit instead of repeating chords since those elements can also be varied later on! For var.1, I like that you exchange roles in b.25. Like @Markus Boyd, maybe you can change the harmony a bit like what Elgar does in his Enigma Variations (also in G minor)! For the Baroque varitation it will be interesting to invite polyphonic texture there! Thx for sharing Henry

Aw Henry, thanks for the wonderful contribution to the new composers. You are truly a kind and talented individual. Hoping the best for your future, whatever 2024 may bring to you. xo Will definitely listen to these pieces you've picked.

Hi @Awsumerguy, Thx! That timpani at the introduction is so much alike with Brahms' Symphony no.1. Also the beginning of the exposition, as noted before, is very much like Mahler's Symphony no.2. For me, I feel like the preparation to the section in 4:54 a bit too long with those dominant pedals and Gs, maybe I will shorten it. The 4:54 is very beautiful though. For me the gap in b.129 and then the sudden forte chords after it is a bit abrupt without preparation. I think you are recapitulating the introductory theme here, but I think you can move more smoothly to build up the forte chords reasonably and fluently! The modulation to A minor is quite nice, just like that freakingly god modulation in Brahms' Symphony no.1 finale! I feel like the modulation back to C minor in b.231 again not prepare enough when you just use common notes for modulations. Harmonically it works but dramatically and narratively it doesn't for me. I think you can at least give some disappointment to the music before getting back to C minor. As @Markus Boyd noted the coda is so dramatic and I like it very much too! For me maybe the shortcoming of the movement is the planning and structure of it. The beginning and the end is very exciting to listen to, but between them there's not much contrast of energy and drama. The energy is more or less in the less exciting side, rather than ups and downs to excite the listeners. There is indeed contrast of mood, but both are serene and less exciting. The solo passages are beautiful, but sometimes you can feel less interested when you keep immersing in beautiful passages. I hope there will be some passages with fire and force inserted between, instead holding the fire till the end burst! Honestly I feel bored up to minute 9, until the coda! Hope I won't be too nitpicky on this one. But for me you are one who have the horizon to write very good music and I hope my nitpicky review helps a bit on it. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @gaspard, Welcome back! I always love your unique clavichord pieces shared on the forum! I love the Pavan for those modal chord progression and false relation, which as @Guardian25 said capture the renaissance style. I love the Galliard too, it's indeed more lively, but both are great for me as they always act as a pair for contrast. Btw. I forget about the characteristics of both of the dance haha... The link maybe wrong here since it always move to the Galliard and skip the Pavan after clicking the video. Thx for sharing! Henry

Next I will have the chamber pieces here: 1. @Thatguy v2.0's Verdant Dawn This piece is so vivid at depicting the dawn, and it serves as the main inspiration of my own Wind Quintet. The quartal harmony also inspires my own String Sextet. 2. @Jean Szulc's String Octet This piece is just a powerful display of rhythmic power. The quartal harmony and idiomatic strings writing are amazing too! Another inspiration for my own String Sextet. 3. @Sean Brown's Romance in D major for violin and piano This is such a virtuosic showpiece. I don't see any piece as vituosic as this one and Sean plays the violin part himself!!! 4. @Krisp's "Nocturne", for Harp, solo strings, choir, clarinet and voice. I choose this one over his late Crépuscule d'automne since this one features even more timbre here, but both are excellent and unique, especially with Jean's own rich and mellow singing! 5. @Gwendolyn Przyjazna's Violet for Saxophone Quartet This one is such a magical piece full of film noir mood. Such a delicious piece for the ear. 6. @Ivan1791's Una noche de primavera (A Spring Night) Such an emotional deep piece with Ivan's spectacular benighted style! Of course Ivan plays the piano part. 7. @Eickso's Toy Box Suite Such an impressive piece featuring the percussion instruments and Evan's aleatoric style well fit with the timbre here! 8. @PeterthePapercomPoser's Variations for Wind Trio in Bb minor There'a no way the king of variations in this site is not featured here with one of his variations. I choose this one over his London Bridge one or the Wind Trio in Gb major one, simply because I love this one more LoL... (wait I forget that the London Bridge is a piano work rather a chamber piece...) 9. @jawoodruff's String Quartet This one can be hard to get into in the first place, but as Jason has said it IS indeed very serious, and here you will see mature chamber writing! 10. @dhslamas's Variações Seresteiras(Woodwind quintet) This one is unforgettable even though I remember it in the last place... Great wind colour, mature writing and fascinating harmony and rhythm... Do you want more??? (11. My Own String Sextet LoL... But that will be unfair!!!) P.S. Remember to watch Mike's premiere on the result announcement for the Dreamscape Competition! Henry