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It's usually the other way around for me. Instead of "feeling" what I compose, I compose the feeling I want to convey. But the feeling comes more from music appreciation. Depending on the composer, I can usually feel what the composer's message is. I think a good example of this is Tchaikovsky's last movement of his last symphony. Or lets go ancient! Baroque has emotion too, such as Bach's Toccata in D minor. Here, we have music from the 1700's and Bach was able to create a story out of this piece. Absolutely wonderful because I feel this specific piece is very freestyle, and almost a little like Chopin's Ballades (in terms of storytelling). And speaking of Chopin, he was also very good at creating emotion using the piano, as any one of his Ballades is literally equivalent to a short story in literature. Going contemporary, Schindler's List comes to mind as very, very emotional and something I think most people can feel. It conveys a slightly different message than Tchaikovsky's symphony 6 (*without knowing anything about this movie...it sounds more like a love story gone bad, or someone who is dealing with a great loss). This piece is musically less sophisticated than Tchaikovsky's 6th, but more modern and may appeal to a broader audience. And in terms of Tchaikovsky's 6th, he's conveying death and darkness of some type in a very eloquent manner. Both works however do the job of getting the listener to feel sadness though, and I think even an inexperienced listener can understand that the last movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th is absolutely devastating. * Peter told me what this movie was about. After research, it appears to be about a man named Oskar Schindler, who became a humanitarian and gave up his savings to help those in need during WWII. I had no idea. No wonder this music is so emotional.

Hello people! Late last year I helped organize and host "The Tortoise and the Hare" Young Composers Instrumental Music Composition Competition and now I've finally had the time to write a piece in that theme as well! I've picked Bassoon for representing the Tortoise, Piccolo for the Hare and Solo Violin for the Fox. I didn't intend for this to be a fully exhaustive set of variations on each theme - only to allow me to characterize each personality in the fable to the best of my ability. I've also tried to follow the fable in the form of my piece which goes as follows: 0:23 - A - Enter Tortoise 0:46 - B - Enter Hare 1:04 - C - Hare mocks Tortoise 1:20 - D - Enter Fox 1:36 - E - Tortoise & Hare agree to Race 1:58 - F - The Race Ensues ! 2:09 - G - Hare tires & falls asleep 2:17 - H - Tortoise hurries 2:34 - I - Tortoise passes Hare 2:51 - J - Tortoise tires 3:02 - K - Fox spots Tortoise 3:13 - L - Hare awakes and hurries 3:30 - M - Tortoise wins! Let me know what you think! I welcome your critiques, suggestions and observations!

This is a really old piece that I dug out of my archives and decided to finish. It is an exercise in how to turn a really banal and repetitive melody into (hopefully) something more interesting through polytonal harmonization. Also, there's lots of cross-relations but I tried to keep them tasteful. I decided to keep some traditional cadences intact despite the polytonal context. Needless to say, this is a bit rough around the edges and might qualify as more of an experimental orchestral sketch than an actual piece LoL. Let me know if you like it or not. I welcome your critiques, suggestions or just observations. Thanks for listening!

Thanks to @PeterthePapercomPoser and @luderart for the ideas in this. It was my first dabble at using the mystic chord and a #4b7 mode, as well as trying out a short undeveloped form. I like the result, and hope you do to.

Mind you that madman Henry is learning the 12th one now!

@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu has successfully learned 11 out of a possible 12 preludes. He's a madman I tell you... how does he do it?!?!?!

Updated with the one and only @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu rendition of the music. ❤️ Thanks so much Henry, I've learned so much from hearing your recordings 😄

Hello! Earlier this year I had the pleasure of organizing, hosting and judging the "From Bits to Bangers" Instrumental Music Composition Competition, and now I've finally had time to write a piece using the requirements of the contest as inspiration! I've chosen an 8-bit track that nobody else used - Harvest Moon - "Mountains" which I've also attached here for your listening pleasure. I didn't write this in my regular method, by first finishing everything on paper before even allowing myself to input anything into the computer. I think the very repetitive nature of the original track was a challenge for me to make something interesting out of and I coped with that by entering the music piecemeal into Musescore. Let me know if you like the result or not. I welcome your constructive critiques, suggestions and observations! Thanks for listening.

Wonderful music here. I love the quirkiness of the rhythm, and although repetitive, it never gets boring. I especially like the 7/8 - 3/4 rhythmic section. I definitely think it worked, and a lot of aspiring composers could look to this as inspiration getting out of a creative rut, or just as a method of continually honing their compositional chops when their method's might be in need of a change. I think it's really healthy to take different approaches to your craft, and the more ways you have to execute musically the better off you'll be. I just listened to this and 2 of your other more recent pieces, and I must say you've gotten way better at creating interesting textures with your music. It's something I remember always making note of while listening to your work, but it's not something I felt the need to critique with these pieces. Sometimes I feel like us composers are always trying to fill in spaces in the music, but when you let off the gas a little with it, it turns out to be maybe the change the listener needs from time to time. Great work, Peter, it was fun getting reacquainted with your music, and I love the new sound you have as a composer. Can't wait to hear more!

This piece would have been great to use in our dream competition! I think your particular use of polytonality made for a very dream like piece, one that made me feel like the boundaries of reality and dream were blurred, each coloring the other to create a murky illusion of a fair or amusement park that's possibly not being experienced in the real world. I like how you favored a more consonant flavor, giving the harmony a blurry jazz hue instead of harsh dissonance I'm used to when hearing polyharmony and the like. Again, the musescore sounds are great here. This piece has a catchiness that lingers after listening, I really enjoyed this music a lot. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent composition my friend. The writing is mature and crafted with an experienced hand to my ears. Not only do you do a superb job weaving and blending themes and material, but the music is soaked with character. Even without the programmatic cues in the score, it's very easy to decipher what's going on in the music with the great care you took with instrumentation and color. As a side note, musescore is sounding great! It's awesome to hear your music come to life a lot more. Sure some of us can hear past gritty midi sounds and focus on the more absolute part of composition, but it's always an obvious advantage to hear your work with more life to it as far as sound quality. The writing is idiomatic, and I think you have a knack for writing with a prompt in mind. Is this still a goal of yours? Creating music for the gaming industry? If so, stick this piece at the top of your press kit; this one is a "winner" 😉

I completely agree with @chopin, I compose what I feel or I make myself feel the emotion the piece is trying to portray. But I don’t usually feel anything while composing, just when I listen to what I have just composed, when I improvise or when I try to plan or imagine in my head the dramatic climax of the piece

The MIDI controller and coffee cup

Interestingly, I usually don't feel anything while composing, but when I've just finished composing something that evokes a very negative emotion, I usually feel horrible after I'm done, it's kind of like I just finished unpacking a bunch of bad feelings. However, I am a very passionate and emotional performer, so I love watching or hearing my music get played.

Very convincing, and very much shareable with my non-musician friends. Thanks for this very small treasure in the form of a prelude. I tend not to like very short pieces much but this might be one of the clearest exceptions. The care you put on the score is also appreciated. Kind regards, Daniel–Ømicrón.