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Dang, two new(-ish) pieces in a month? That's crazy. Tbf the main materials here are from a preexisting song, and the other piece is a full revision. Then again, I had to learn orchestration stuff for this and that took a very long time. aaaanyway, really happy about how this has turned out anndd imma just gonna quote the description from the progress update thread you could find the progress update thread here: also @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, I'm really glad I could be the first one to ever quote one of your themes! When I was sketching that section, I thought of wanting to quote, and I thought of your specific theme. Again, really happy that it fits really well. Also also, those syncopated rhythms are actually from the original song itself. But, I do agree that it fits this "cover" and the original song. Glad you liked my orchestration too! (vocal by Jillian Ashcraft, taken directly from the OST)

At last, I can post the studio recording of my Piano Quartet in C minor. The two movements were recorded in a 4 hour session on 5/23, and spliced/mixed today 5/30. I've learned so much, and am very happy with the result, as solo strings are not good on ANY VST, compared to professional string players. The pianist stepped in on short notice and did wonders humanizing the piano part--the chorale and 2nd movement theme sound fantastic! Now I have a concrete reference for what my writing sounds like with actual musicians. I plan to do another pass over the score, as there are things that need improving on my part. A worthwhile and important step in my DIY musical education!.... The artists: Fantastic musicians, and they all helped me consider my writing, score/part preparation and musical issues in new ways!---- Violin: Dan Winnick Viola: Chloe Thominet Cello: Michelle Kulwicki Piano: Derek Szlauer Recorded and mixed and Big Sky Recording, Ann Arbor, Mich. Geoff Michael, Engineer. 5/23/25 and 5/30/25.

Thx for your information! It’s really useful! I guess I won’t have my Sextet performed by them given the cost lol haha. Oh I also just finished a Violin Sonata commissioned by @expert21 and also feature dance rhythm…… 😛 Henry

Thanks for your comments, Henry--and yes, if you're writing chamber music, nothing compares to a live performance--the strings were so much more detailed and nuanced, emotive. This is very helpful for me to remember and to write with this in mind. I was shocked at how much Derek brought out of the piano part! The Cost?! A lot! The musicans were $100/hr. x4 hours for the recording session. The studio was $75/hr. This included the enigneer and access to the glorious Yamaha C-7 (7.5 ft conservatory grand) freshly tuned. I spent 3 hours in post-production for splicing and mixing. It was a $2k day. This is summer vacation money for a family for 5 or 7 days. This is how I choose to spend my treasure-- I rationalize it by calculating that a composition degree and access to musicans would cost $60k-80k (easily) at university. I hope to write something substantial each year and go to studio in the late spring /summer--at least untill I have internalized the lessons to be had from working with real musicans and recording. Next: A violin sonata (violin+ piano) which will be cheaper by almost half! I want to do a full-on string quartet after that.... The musicans: They were great! NO auto-tune here. A few pitch issues but really very, very good. All University of MIchigan trained string players. Master's degreed. Derek is a fresh graduate of Wayne State University, and has a great career ahead of him. He prepped this in 7 weeks, where 3 months would be the norm... I just googled for string players. They gave me the lead on the pianist... I think I got lucky... I think I'm going to start the violin sonata and back track and do the last movement of the PQ-- a tarantella tempo piece with a Siciliano B section (my mom was Sicilian). Up-tempo and a bit more adventerous...

Re-hearing the piece I was thinking if you could also use 3/8 at a slower tempo or 4/4 but all the crotchets here are then in triplets - since counting this fast may be challenging and unnatural, then I suddenly realize why you chose 108 per dotted minum, which makes complete sense - but again, just personal notational preferences at the end of the day I guess.

hahahahaha lol!!

Hey @Rich! The live version is so so so much better than the computer version. The sadness already contained in your music is a million times enhanced here, as I had listened to both versions and can easily listen the difference! Those subtle tempo rubato would not be possible in a computer rendition at all, as well as the very detailed changes of tones . There's one (two actually lol) question for me, how much is the cost for hiring the entire ensemble and also the production team? They are really professional here! How did you find them in the first place? Thx very much for sharing your precious live recording of your own movements! Hope you will also submit the other movements to them too so we can enjoy (free-ridingly lol) more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Henry

Any ideas where I could potentially collaborate with someone to add some kind of orchestration to these pieces? I'm only good with composing piano pieces I don't have much skill with musical software or adding multiple instruments

Hello @Eric N! The Invasion sounds like a chic version of a Bach Prelude which I like, with a 3+3+2 rhythm throughout the music. I personally love the eclipse more, it's more colorful with some effects on it. I think you can simply learn orchestration yourself! Never say you are only good at A or B, you won't be good at C had you not attempted on it! Thx for sharing. Henry

You could keep the main line col legno, but switch it to arco sul ponticello or sul tasto (staccato) for the latter part of the melody where the most rapid notes happen. And I don't know if your libraries have these options recorded but there are also different varieties of pizzicato that might also be useful in this situation. @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu would know about that given that he's recently explored Elliot Carter's music which uses different articulations on pizzicato strings to yield different effects. There's also the Bartok pizzicato which is a really strong pizzicato so much so that the string strikes the bridge of the instrument, but that's usually only used in a ff dynamic.

Thank you so much, Peter! Always appreciate your insights. I had purely chosen that articulation of strings from a sound standpoint and had not considered the difficulty of play (should this be turned into sheet music). What better articulation or instrumentation do you think would be best to convey a similar feeling?

@gaspard has asked me to orchestrate another one of his Clavichord pieces and I was happy to oblige! You can view his YouTube video here: Character Select Screen And you can view his score here: It took me about 8 days to do this orchestration and I am presenting here two versions - one that repeats the piece from the beginning and one that doesn't. I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear any critiques, comments, suggestion or just observations that you may have! This is the 2nd time that I've orchestrated one of @gaspard's Clavichord pieces.

Hey @Layne! Very tense track/cue you've concocted! I noticed that you're using col legno/with the wood of the bow in the melody of the strings. I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound practical/idiomatic for the strings to bounce the wood of their bows off their strings as quickly as you require them to in the melody here. The col legno technique, if I understand correctly, is quite an unwieldy technique on the Violin and is difficult to execute with metronomic precision which is why you'll often hear orchestras struggle with staying together when playing col legno rhythms. But other than that I like the mood/vibe of this piece! Great job and thanks for sharing!

Yeah those octaves running are causing me pain in a fast tempo lololol! Yeah I just try to write in a simple way in all four piano pieces of the same set, because I am way too complex finishing the whole Sextet and it's too heavy-loaded to keep talking matters of lives and deaths lol! Henry

Do not lose hope, ever. You're too young and talented, and there may be days where hope is the only thing you have to cling onto. Your music is inspirational, and thank you for sharing here where others can learn from your depth of knowledge and prowess as a composer. I truly hope the best for you, as all I can do for you is to hope too. Good luck my friend, I hope to hear more from you at some point. -Vince