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Wow, this is so great! You're a gifted writer, and I really love the fact that you took to heart your goal of constructing the entire symphony from the rising then falling motif. Brilliant execution of that. I admit I heard this when you first posted, but something this massive took a while with repeated listens to really figure out what I could even say, or what I even wanted to say haha. This is just bloated with drama, and a great introduction of your symphonic prowess. I've noticed that no matter what I'm writing, part of who I am and what my personal situation is leaks out into the notes. I'm curious how personal this is to you, since it's your first symphony "no.1" (😛)? It sounds so emotional that I'd have a hard time believing it was all puzzle fitting and theory crafting. I really enjoyed the overall arch of the dynamics. Even though it was slow, as you say, it had plenty of motion and variation within it that it wasn't a bother to me. But this kind of crescendo then diminuendo of the dynamics overall throughout it's duration was really cool, and helped make it cohesive as a one movement symphony. The melodies are all superb, it's so rich in emotional depth to me. I love how you're a phenomenal string player, but you didn't make this about the violin. The tossing around of motifs and careful planning of color balance was a treat. I also can't thank you enough for hiding empty staves, it makes it so much easier to read and much more worth a composer peer's time. I love this kind of discussion. THIS is what makes people better at composition. There's no right or wrong here, just opinions from talented people. I agree with Peter in a way. I'm not sure if he meant a literal scherzando, but a change in texture would be advantageous, especially for a one movement symphony. Right at M, I love where you go here. But I think this would have been the perfect spot to build your motif in a faster rhythmic way. I love the heavy drama here, the light-heartedness might not fit. But I found myself continuing to relisten to this spot, where it builds really massively and then ends solemnly. I just kept zoning out, and I think it's because I was so used to the slower texture that my ears wanted a change rhythmically. If this was movement 1 of a multimovement work, I think it's more than fine as is. But as a one-movement symphony, it may have been something to consider deeper, and definitely for future thought. Overall though, this piece of yours hits closer to my heart than you might know, as I'm almost done with a long symphonic work that's slower... and in the same key sig... and nearly as long... But I digress. 😄 Lovely music, wonderfully clean score, and congratulations on completing your first symphony! I've listened to this numerous times now, and can say that I'll reference this when I have my own orchestration or notation questions. Extraordinarily beautiful composition 🙂

Hey all! I just completed what was for me a massive project, Three Scenes for Ensemble is a set of chamber pieces (one of my first compositions) which I composed and recorded at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin. I felt this would be a great place to get some feedback. I know it's a ton of music, but it would be incredibly helpful to even if focus on one measure to show an example of different choices I could have made orchestration-wise, harmonically, notation-wise, etc... Thank you in advance and I hope you enjoy! If you would like to support please consider also listening on Spotify. Score Video: About the Music! Credits: Composer: Nicholas Schuman, Flute: Thomas Hahn, Oboe: Anna Schulkowski, Clarinet: Constance Morvan, French Horn: Melinda Gál, Piano: Daniel Zhao, Cello: Josiah Simonds, Sound Engineer: Arne Bergner, Assistant Engineer: Marian Hafenstein

Hot dang boy are you lucky. You got a review from @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu. Man, just typing @H pulls up Henry first. He's our forums most illustrious member, and anything he says is Chinese wisdom we all learn from. Sorry, I'm an unsuccessful clown with a guitar. 🤔 This was great! And wow, for your first piece, you have a studio performance? Wow, holy opportunity! I hope you asked them every question in the book, because the more you know of their instruments, the better you'll compose for them. Do they work with your school? What's it like to study abroad and record in Berlin? It sounds like you have an incredibly interesting story to tell 🙂 I agree with Henry with the score being rife with labeling and coloring. It's cool to see your analysis, and there is an audience for that. It shows you care enough to explain in further details questions listeners might have, or that you know your stuff. But I'd post a version of just the score too; I bet it would get more views than the analysis version 😉 Your music is lovely, and for your first composition, this shows a lot of promise. I like that your background is film scoring and the like. It'll help shape your voice, because it's your inspiration. But I really encourage you to study up on the great composers. Watch Youtube for hours of the score videos. It's free, bruh. Look up Romantic-era composers first; it seems to suit the style of the film people. But let it lead you to others. Study scores of Chopin and Beethoven (and WOW, many more!) if you're writing for piano. A lot of your parts are elementary and conservative, especially in solo moments. Guess what, that's ok! You made it work, you went through the recording process, the whole shebang. You COMPLETED your project, and you followed through. That's what it takes to make it in my eyes, to see it through to the end. Congrats 🙂 My advice, like I said, is to keep studying up on the instruments. I forget... do you play an instrument? It would be greatly beneficial to you to continue to explore one instrument in it's full capacity and to write for it in tandem with your school studies and projects. I'm a guitarist, and my knowledge gained of the instrument always leads me to perpetual new ideas about what other instruments might be able to achieve. You seem like you have a lot to offer the musical world, and hopefully the forum here. There are loads of talented people here to learn from, and their advice is free. And if you want piano pieces performed, Henry Ng charges $1,000,000 USD for a complete full album. It's worth it Oh yeah, welcome 😄

So anyway, the last time I tried to write a symphony was almost 8 years ago, and it was so terrible that it's now called Symphony No. 0 and we never speak of it. I was 15 at the time. I suppose (most) teenagers aren't generally known for writing great symphonies. But I recently tried again. This is now my Symphony No. 1. I just finished it today. It's in one vast, slow through-composed movement. I wonder if, as you listen, it is obvious who my main stylistic influences were. The entire piece is built from one motif, the three-note figure that bookends the whole thing of the rising leap followed by the falling step. I've been working on this for about six months. This symphony was the product of a lot of experimentation and often changing course on the fly. Not only have I never written this much slow music all at once before, but these are the largest orchestral forces I've ever handled, with the greatest variety of orchestral color at my disposal. It's also the first time in a while I have allowed myself the luxury of a harp, as previously I had always been wary of giving myself the opportunity to commit any of a number of common orchestration blunders. I'm enjoying the fruits of the new Muse Sounds I have gained access to by virtue of switching to Musescore. They're wonderful. They can be a bit buggy, but sometimes it's almost scary how human they sound. Curious about how this will be received.

This dialog is pretty much correct I think. There's a difference between writing something abstract and writing something unidiomatic and needlessly difficult. Hiding behind supposed goals of abstraction and complexity to excuse bad writing is not an easily definable thing, but like pornography according to the Supreme Court, "you know it when you see it" if you are a relatively experienced composer. My use of harp is very sparing, but that's roughly in line with how it should be used. As Thomas Goss (of OrchestrationOnline) says: decoration, filigree, support. The harp is like dessert, adding great delicacy to a thin texture but rapidly becoming stale if overused. Every orchestration challenge he issues stipulates NO HARP CONCERTOS for a reason: beginner composers see the double staff and get overexcited about what they (think they) can give the harpist, and wildly overestimate the instrument's real capabilities. At the end of the day the harpist has an ungodly difficult part that just gets drowned or forgotten in the texture. Let the harp do what it does best. The harpist won't mind if they have to sit and count some rests any more than my poor trumpet players will. They're paid to do that, so to speak. Notice that some of the most idiomatic harp writing I employ comes in the come una danza sections where I use glissandi and rolled chords - two extremely common and standard harp techniques to just add some background lush flavor to the texture. The exact notes played, insofar as they make the right chords, aren't important. The most I have the harpist do in a foreground role throughout the entire piece is that little dainty rising scale in the reprise of the danza. Again, decoration, filigree, support. To the other point, this work is actually not drawing on minimalism at all. The glacial note values are an emotional expression tool, not an attempt to simplify or pare anything down. My contrapuntal lines are actually fairly intricate a lot of the time even when the note values are long and the textures are thin.

G'day fellas, We may associate each of the greatest composers with a condensed list of pieces that cemented their places in musical history. But now and again, we may encounter works by those same people that we feel showcase their talent, heart and soul equally or in some cases even more than many of those that made them into household names. In short, what are some of your favourite pieces from great composers that often get overlooked in favour of their more "popular" pieces? Here are a few of mine: String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 & Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 (Tchaikovsky) Ruy Blas Overture, Op. 95 (Mendelssohn) Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (Brahms) Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 8 (Grieg) Cello Sonata, Op. 19 (Rachmaninoff) Symphony No. 4, Op. 60 (Beethoven) Symphony No. 3, Op. 52 (Sibelius)

Hello, here my last composition for string trio and continuo in binary form.

Hi, today I upload my most recent work. It's an impromptu in D-flat major in which I tried to recreate some dream-like textures within a late romantic style. I hope you like it! Impromptu.pdf

Grieg - 4 Album Leaves, op. 28 ( all four are beautiful hidden gems to me ) Some other of his even more obscure Lyric Pieces. Sibelius: - op 24 no 9: Romance in D-flat major - 6 Impromptus, Op.5 (No. 5 Vivace: B Minor) - The Sapin Op.75-5 - Etude In A Minor Op. 76 No. 2 Heino Kaski Night By The Sea - Op 34, No 1 Oskar Merikanto: - Idyll Op. 73 No. 1 - Valse A La Chopin Op. 6 No. 5, in G minor, Piece No. 14 - Merella Op. 47 No. 4 Aarre Merikanto Six Piano Pieces op. 20 ( all six ) --------------------- Still quite well-known, but ( perhaps undeservedly ) much less known than their other pieces: Brahms Rhapsody in G minor, Op. 79, No. 2 Tchaikovsky - October of "The Seasons, Op. 3" and other months other than June.

Hi, it sound really good and feels approviate for a religious porpuse. Well done!!! I would like to see some organ or keyboard score to have a closer look to the harmonies...I am terrible reading C key. By the way is ther a particular reason of using C keys? I sing in a religous choir myself and I have seen it very seldom.

You guys are awesome, thank you so much for the kind words once again. Im actually studying production and sound engineering at Catalyst Institute in Berlin, and for my final graduation project we get to propose any large scale project that we want and we had about 4 months to make it all happen. It was absolutely incredible, only the cellist was from my school but everyone else are working musicians here in Berlin. I bothered them as much as I could with questions and comments and my greatest success throughout the process was the musicians themselves somewhat enjoying the music. That meant a great deal to me since they're true professionals. I do play piano, most of my life actually, but I never really practiced so now I just use it as a resource to write music. I fell in love with classical music only about 4 years ago, before that I was into classic rock and some current pop/indie music, but man it hit me like a sledge hammer and for reason I just felt like I could do it myself. The biggest issue with composing is that I read music at a kindergarten level, like barely at all. So much of the simplicity is me just not knowing how to score what I'm thinking of or even playing on the piano. The main reason I felt confident doing this whole project is because i picked up some things in terms of orchestration, so understanding the instruments even a little bit was enough for me to jump right in. Score reading is one of my weak points for sure. As often as I do it, it's so hard for me to actually use what I learn and usually still go with my instinct. I will keep working at it, possibly by narrowing my scope so I don't get overwhelmed thinking that I need to analyze a whole symphony. I love being abroad man, Berlin is absolutely incredible. A true treasure of a city, I would recommend it to anyone. the change in scenery has also been a great excuse to push myself as much as I have been, let me know if you're ever in town! 😄 Thanks again man! Best, Nick Schuman

Many incredible moments! It is bursting with color with a subtleness not everyone can balance. Bravo! If I may begin a discussion about some of the orchestration, you are free to respond by explaining why you made these decisions rather than me just claim them as 'mistakes' whatever that means in terms of music 🙂 - The flute is much too low to be heard over the instruments, many of which play in mezzoforte. I understand it is not a solo instrument and you want it to blend, but it would be completely swallowed up. It is also too low of a register to play mezzoforte itself since these low register are very delicate in terms of air flow. Usually you would right louder passages higher on the flute and quieter passages lower. Think about how the flute works overall, the 1st partial (octave) is reached by overblowing the given note, so the lower notes need less air by the nature of the instrument. Hope this makes sense. If you wrote the part an octave up, I believe you will still achieve what you were going for since the flute is still rich and woody until you get into the higher 3rd register. Another option, would be to right it as an Alto Flute, which is one of my favorite instruments. It has an incredibly warm and beautiful quality to it. - The second violin enters in a piano dynamic at the end of the first page and later on crescendos back into piano, i dont see a real need to have a piano violin over a mezzoforte viola, maybe you meant to write mezzoforte from the beginning? - I see you thinking very much like a conductor in terms of dynamics which is great, never loose that instinct, but the players may not interpret it how you think. remember they only have their own parts so when you have violin 1 playing piano and violin 2 playing mezzopiano, there wont be much of a difference. Sometimes less is more, or at least accuracy is more. Sometimes writing 'solo' over an instrument is all you need to tell the player to stand out or even simple crescendo marking or hairpins rather than inconsistent dynamics all throughout. I would say score read specifically with dynamics in mind, probably impressionistic French or Russian composers. - Also check your rhythms to make sure you don't blur any beats. You should always be able to see a strong beat. Amazing work overall, dont let my thoughts change this great creative accomplishment. Thanks for sharing! -Nick Schuman

I absolutely love it! You clearly have a great grasp on theme and repetition. I can also really 'feel' the off-axis left hand with those 16th rests, it works very well. The accompaniment perfectly adjusts to the highs and lows throughout. Such as the beginning of measure 15 having an up-down direction in the left hand, but in measure 17 it climbs higher, staying on the top of the staff as it crescendos. Well done!

Hi Henry! What an honor to have such a thorough and kind response, especially to my first post. I want you to know that it truly means a lot to me. Yeah, my themes are all over the place and as much as I wanted to make sense of it all, i still have much to learn about themes and development. Much of it came from the stress of a deadline (for school) and writing segmented sections which are later forced together. I love how you discussed it's 'aura' :). You gave me new confidence with this response and very useful criticism which I will learn from. I'm most definitely very excited to go check out and discuss music from other composers on this forum. Cheers! Nick Schuman

Are you sure your 12 distinct themes are complex and abstract or messy and absurd? Isn't the timbre of harp and strings pizz. different? Henry

Hello yet again! Here's another Muzoracle casting for you. (Muzoracle is a storytelling/divination tool similar to the Tarot card deck, but with cards with musical concepts and 12-sided Musician's dice and Solfege dice.) This time, Jamie asked the Muzoracle if she will find true love: My interpretation of the cards and dice are displayed below. This time I wrote a piece for flute (because the Minor 7th card at left is in the suit of woodwinds and Jamie used to play flute), piano (because the Minor 7th card in the middle is in the suit of percussion) and soprano (because the Minor 7th card at right is in the suit of voices). If you'd like to find out more about Muzoracle and how castings are interpreted go here: https://muzoracle.com/ This time I managed to stretch out the musical materials and make them last 2 minutes. It is however just meant to be an aural representation of the casting and not necessarily it's own fully fledged piece of music with different sections (that's one of the difficulties I am having is how to bring structure and contrast to different parts of the composition while still staying true to the casting). The piece is in F# since the black 12-sided Musician's die landed on F#. The solfege dice landed on Se, So, Ti and Fa and I ornamented the piece with the minor 7ths above each degree since all the cards drawn were minor 7ths. If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy listening to this short chamber work I wrote to represent Jamie's casting. Comments, suggestions, or critiques are of course, always welcome.

Eh don't rack your brain over it. I like that these are very short solilo... uh, pieces. Maybe form could be left for non-dice-related music. Or maybe your forms could somehow be derived from dice... hmm... 🤔 Anyway, this is my favorite one so far. I really liked the theme this time. But, maybe since it was randomly generated I randomly liked it... HMMM So much thinking this time, yeesh. But the theme and especially the left hand piano line were stunning. Maybe take from these when you're done and develop cool ideas further for future pieces? Overall though, definitely enjoyable to hear. Maybe the flute could have faded out with the other instruments, it kinda dragged a bit at the end to me. Thanks for sharing!

i love this concept and the music is so interesting. I used to be all up in these kind of “next level” things so the fact that you combined it with music is ingeniously creative to me.

Music hw sonata new fixed again wm 4.pdf Though there is some skill issue with my playing lol... Context Hw4 maybe better.mp3

I freakingly love the music in this scene…. Ofc!!!! Sometimes I wonder why there are so many great existing music to use and directors just choose to use cliche ones… I always like how Stanley Kubrick creatively use classical music in his films!

Hey @PCC, I really find the alternation between religious chant and folkloric rondo interesting. The movement is quite difficult to play esp. b.11 to 14, good job on that! The texture in b.67 reminds me of the finale of Waldstein. The counterpoint in b.86 is quite crafty with the canon of both the inversion and rectus! I hope it stays longer haha. Where does the rondo theme come from? Is that a quotation of the chant or just a new theme? If it’s a new theme I may hope it’s more related to the chant section! Overall I like this piece. I think there are lots of quotations throughout the whole sonata and it just stirs me up a little since I have a goldfish’s memory LoL! Thx for sharing! Henry

Your use of piano and harp is horribly excessive and unidiomatic! Try writing a piece that uses neither instrument -- at all -- and see what it forces you to learn about orchestration.

Hi guys, here's a wrote song I composed and recorded. Would enjoy hearing your thoughts. Thank you!

Hi @Aria Donn, I love this so so so much!!!! Not because it’s in my favourite C sharp minor, but the tragic emotion, the struggle, the hope for brightness and the disappointment is so authentic and honest here. It’s a long slow movement in 18 minutes but I never feel a single moment that is boring, since anything which has real and honest emotion is almost always worth listening to. For me I love the coherence of the movement. Even though the motive is not really strict in a Beethovanian sense, it definitely provides the tragic sound with that sighing of minor 2nd and your clash of minor 2nd (which I use in my pieces too!). The orchestration is masterful for me. Your string writing is of course masterful given how great you play violin, but your Tchaikovskian use of woodwinds and Mahlerian brass is so great a combination in different passages. I love section G onwards very very much since you invite a lot of counterpoint here and I love all those dissonance. Definitely see the influence of Bruckner here with that famous C sharp minor slow movement. The climax in section Q is so so well built, as well as the cooling down of it for quicker note values! For the ending maybe I will invite some Picardy chords before having it crushed by the tragic C sharp minor, thus making the fate more cruel and tragic!! But that’s subjective. I totally agree with your choice here. A scherzando section will ruin the tragic aura of the piece and make it a cheap soap opera! It would be strange to invite some unwanted contrast when the main body itself is so well built and logical. I love your total darkness with a bit of light here very very much. Maybe I love C sharp minor too much, I personally feel like it can stay longer at the beginning! I think the A major contrasting passage gets in a bit early in section C! But that’s personal. Thx so much for sharing your masterpiece here Donn! I enjoy every second of it and I wish it’s just a slow movement of a huge symphony like Bruckner’s 7th, so I can enjoy more from it! Henry

Hi @Quinn St. Mark, Me like Vince don’t know the difference between them! I have never heard the term Saltarello LoL !! Watching this I think they are literally the same thing?? I really enjoy those complex chord progression! By the way, why don’t you write the piece in 12/8 so that you can cancel out all those triplets? I think those octaves in b.15 onwards can be really difficult to play! I mean even Brahms Piano Sonata or Chopin Scherzo no.3 are around the same or even slower tempo! I think like Vince said, you can develop a bit further first before having those virtuosic passages! Thx for sharing, it does look promising! Henry

Hey there I can't help you with the saltarello tarantella difference, mainly and predominantly because I don't know (lol), but if it at all helps it starts like the famous tarantella in a minor? Speaking of which, maybe a potential direction you could take this is returning back to the quarter note rhythmic pulse you established in the beginning. In all honestly, this piece to me got insanely complex or virtuosic (why the E above middle C on beat 3 of bar 13 for the left hand? Why not an octave lower? Stuff like that). To me it would be cool to have all of that complexity and then return to the simple rhythm from time to time. I'm curious as to where you take this piece, it sounds very promising so far!

I originally wrote the beginnings of a scherzando section that was going to appear at M, but I eventually scrapped it and put in what is there now. So it's definitely a thought I had, but I rejected it. I didn't think it fit. It broke the dramatic arc for me. I don't know very much of the oeuvre of either Bruckner or Sibelius, though I've started trying to explore Bruckner more recently and I am at least consciously aware that at times his influence did start to make itself felt as I got into the middle and end of the symphony. However, a much nearer and dearer inspiration to me is Mahler, and Tchaikovsky was on my mind heavily when composing the dance-like sections, despite me not really being aware of any specific piece by him that has those characteristics. I wasn't aiming to emulate any particular person though, so I could very well have created a hybrid style.

I don't usually like slow movements but this is quite captivating! Once the triplet subdivisions come in it doesn't sound that slow anymore. You seem to have gotten the hang of Musescore pretty well! I find it hard to discern the theme in such slow music though and it would've been great if you had included a scherzando section for contrast. I know you subdivide the music in various ways, but those subdivisions aren't thematic. Your melody is throughout the movement plodding along at the same slow rate which makes at least that part of it a bit monotonous. This review is based on just one listening of your work though so take it with a grain of salt. As to what composers you might be emulating: might it be Bruckner? Or maybe Sibelius? That's just a stab in the dark LoL. Thanks for sharing!

This makes sense, considering I thought this was your piece from the title. I thought, "How come Luis isn't using chord names anymore?" 😄 Lovely piece Guillem, it's very elegant and stately as the style represents.

You're crafting some truly captivating sounds here! While I'm impressed with what you've achieved, I have a few concerns regarding the practicality of certain elements for a live performance. Firstly, let's discuss the organ melody as written. It's beautifully intricate, but in its current form, it requires an extra hand to execute precisely as you've composed it. This becomes particularly apparent when the melody coincides with sustained notes, making it challenging to perform without resorting to another registration with a separate hand (e.g., measures 7, 11, and 13). One solution could be to revoice the harmony to avoid overlapping pitches with the melody. Secondly, I'd like to address the bass line in the chorus. While the organ part is indeed grandiose, it tends to overpower any vocal bass, especially in the lower register. To maintain balance, I'd suggest removing instances where the vocal bass descends below the staff, allowing the organ to take precedence in that range. This ensures clarity and avoids the choir struggling to be heard, particularly in passages with voiced consonants like "rie elison." Considering the organ's formidable presence, it's crucial to carefully select registrations to prevent it from overshadowing the choir, especially given the nature of the text. The MIDI rendition might suggest a certain balance, but in reality, a choir of fewer than 60 singers would likely necessitate adjustments to the organ sound to complement the vocal parts effectively. Regarding dynamics and registration shifts, it's essential to clarify your intentions to the organist. While you've indicated four dynamics, it appears you're aiming for a consistent principal classic organ sound throughout, as hinted by the use of crescendos at each dynamic shift. However, it might be beneficial to specify desired registration changes either through text near double barlines or as a footnote. For instance, transitioning to a lighter, more flute-like registration when the choir enters could enhance the overall blend and balance, particularly during quieter passages indicated by decrescendos. You could then increase the intensity between verses. Overall, your composition shows great potential, and a few adjustments to accommodate practical performance considerations could elevate its impact significantly.

You know, I like this piece a lot. You break out of your usual style of writing here, creating a balanced contrapuntal texture that is not dense, with plenty of nice sequences and imitation that brings contrast (the hockets like in mm. 19 to 21 are great). I also don't agree with some of the things @Guillem82 mentioned: I don't see or hear any harmonic mistakes/unresolved dissonances, and I don't mind the doubled notes on the violin. Sure, it's uncharacteristic but in this case it works fine, just like the distant modulations. Moving on to things I don't like...I would surmise it as: There is no apparent organisation or plan of your musical motifs. Let me elaborate. Regarding the first point, I remember saying to you before to analyse what Bach does in the WTC with his fugue subjects in order to get an idea of how to develop them (the formal term is fortspinnung). I really would like to make this recommendation again. It is not just fugues, or even Baroque music that this skill applies to - a control and constant development of a limited number of musical ideas is a trait of virtually all classical music. Especially in contrapuntal music, a failure to do this ends up making much of your music "noodling", where you have correctly constructed melodies, harmonies and parts that work with each other, but virtually zero connection between one bar and another. As an example, when I wrote the fugal section of the Overture of my Keyboard Suite, I recognised that the driving rhythm will be 6 semiquavers-per-bar. To achieve motivic unity, I limited myself to three possible settings of notes to this rhythm: an ascending scale, a turn figure (both of these can be found in the subject), and a rising fourth from the 2nd to 3rd notes followed by a descending scale (found in the countersubjects). You can check for yourself that except at structural cadences, every group of 6 semiquavers in the 242-bar long piece belongs to one of these three settings or their inversions. This is a somewhat extreme example; the Air for example is far more loosely bound by motifs, but I stand by my point. When you look back on your fugue, ask yourself: what is it that ties the whole work together? To me, it's certainly not the subject! The lack of subject entrances aside, the head (very nicely composed) has a characteristic descending, dotted, pattern which completely disappears after the first few bars! The tail (also very nicely composed) comprise of a descending scale and a rising seventh chord in quavers. Both of these elements return very rarely for the rest of the piece. So, if your core musical idea isn't actually the subject, what is it?

Hi @Hcab5861, I really like how you change the harmony for the original Twinkle melody with a chorale usage of the melody! Although it’s a figured bass scoring, I would really wanna know the RH of the harpsichord (piano) too! Thx for sharing! Henry

I think before anything else, you need to work on the ritornello theme a little - it is for the moment way too short. The descending fourth - ascending second harmonic sequence you have written so far however is fine. Afterwards, think carefully about what you want to do for the stuff between the ritornello theme statements. There isn't really a particularly interesting melodic line at the moment.

My own works

A very well written orchestral piece, it's quite impressive how it all comes from one theme, yet it doesn't at all feel repetitive or monotonous. If my use of the harp was "horribly excessive", this goes to the opposite extreme - the harp pretty much doesn't exist at all. There are so few notes for the harp here that it begs the question: why not just drop the harp entirely and put those notes as pizzicato in the strings instead or something like that? Funnily enough, this seems to be in a way the exact opposite of my orchestral work. This appears more minimalist and even somewhat impressionist, while mine is complex and abstract with 12 distinct themes. Was this intentional or just a normal consequence of your usual style?

I have a silly suggestion, but I guess this may work. You can download the song as an mp3 file using Youtube premium maybe.