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Yes, that is a good idea...however I can't think of anything that would sound good over the Dbmaj7 chord without creating an unpleasant dissonance. Oh that would be perfect. And then I would just have to write a few measures before that of "prelude" material. And lead into the strings playing the melody solo, and then the oboe emerging from there. Thank you for the feedback! I really appreciate it

Ah...why didn't say so? If you are writing in 20th century idiom of Philp cage and others, then I see no issue here. I am sorry.

Greetings! Haven't stopped by in a while, thought I'd take the occasion of winning the 20 Year Membership badge (!) to drop in and share a big something I finished recently. This is one of those pieces I have worked with, off and on, for many years - I began composing it in 2001 and just finished it this summer. I cannot account for exactly why it took me so long to bring this to completion, except that for much of that time I didn't feel worthy of the material I had sketched, and couldn't readily come up with ideas to match it in quality. This piece is in my usual Classical style, unusual mainly in that I have employed an exceptionally large orchestra, including three trombones. Ostensibly, it is written for instruments of the period, roughly 1800 to 1810, though I have it on good authority that the flute part is in places nearly unplayable on a flute of that time - not impossible, but extremely difficult in such places as the frightful two-octave ascending chromatic scale in the first movement, and the mortifying cadenza in the third. Ordinarily I would have edited the piece on such advice, but there comes a time when artistic vision must prevail, and this was one of those times. The opening movement is a standard Sonata-Allegro as typically modified for concerti in the Classical period. The second movement (Andante) is broad and expressive. The third movement is a Polonaise (Vivace alla Polacca) in the form of a Rondo. I hope you enjoy the piece, and as always I look forward to any comments you may have. Thanks!

Well, I am 56 and have a BM and MM in theory/composition, and all I can tell you about species counterpoint, though of course I know what it is, is that my college Counterpoint manual made for thrilling reading, a real page-turner! 🤣 I like plain octaves in piano, especially two-octave spaced. Minimalist! This piece for my overseas friend was a real dash-off job, not my best, but I think pretty good for two hours! Anyway, if you have been composing for 38 years, if you want to write a piano piece really fast, you use the minimalist tricks, but you might take more time on some things!

Hi there! This piano piece is rather delightful. I love how charmful it is. However, in m. 6, the parallel octaves throw off the charming. In two part counterpoint, you normally want to avoid that. You should try mixing imperfect consances with perfect ones. I notice a lot parallel 3rds and 8ths through the piece. I recommend species counterpoint carefully and maybe reading through counterpoint book. There are a lot members on here who can help you.

I think he's referring to you posting personal information, like the person's email address I deleted in a post of yours. Protect your friends, anyone can view public forums and obliterate their inbox with spam 🙂

WIP Update : Orchestrated the melody I have so far. I want this section to just be the oboe + strings. I'm still trying to come up with some material to put before the oboe comes in. I start on a Gm/C chord (technically Gm7/C with the oboe melody), so I just need a progression that will lead me there 😂. I'm thinking French horn melody with suspensions and soft movements (think Hymn for Band by Hugh Stuart). If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Is it appropriate you post your friend's personal letter to a public forum? Does your friend agree? There are lots of personal matter here. Henry

I made these 8 mock-ups on 8 themes from Final Fantasy VI intending to use them to familiarize myself with the themes in preparation for writing a big variations piece based on them. At first, I only intended to write variations on the "Returner's Theme" but it soon ballooned out of control as I noticed how many of the themes in the game are inter-related thematically and so I had to include more. I am posting the themes here with PDF scores for your perusal in the order in which they appear in the game. Also, here are the links to the original tracks on YouTube: Terra's Theme - Terra is the main protagonist in the game. A half magical being (esper) half human. The empire takes advantage of her. Fight Theme Kefka's Theme - Kefka is the evil antagonist who overthrows the emperor to gain ultimate power and lead the world into ruin. Mt. Kolts Returner's March - The Returner's are an organization that is trying to resist the evil empire and Kefka and Emperor Gestahl. Martial Law - plays in town when the empire occupies it. Magitec Factory - In the Imperial capitol of Vector, the empire has constructed a factory to create Magitec armor granting magic power to those wielding it. The Gestahl Empire Troops March On To go to the thread where I wrote my own original music based on these themes go here:

I will await your 10th theme muahahaha!

Yes, I am on Discord, quite actively as I game regularly with a group of friends. I think it would be beneficial to push for more activity on the Discord side, and possibly some alterations to the discord server itself, as it's quite plain, and not extremely active compared to this forum, as far as I can tell. I have my own discord server for myself and friends to have community for many different topics, and I feel that it may help if I could provide some suggestions regarding edits to the server that would assist in navigation, accessibility and overall more engagement if the server administrators are interested in that

I'd be happy to chat in that part of the discord. As you already know, I am a member of the server, and am more active on Discord than I am here. I assume that corner of the server is reserved for Invite only, as I don't see it on the chat list.

Hi to all. I'm pleased to present my latest attempt at orchestrating a piano work. I've extended the piece, and added some of my own touches, including extra counterpoint lines. Haven't spent much time on it yet: so I'm sure I'll need to revise some things. Hope you enjoy!

What kind of options could this poll have? We have a few ideas that we've already come up with on the discord, as potential topics around which to base future competitions on. Not sure if those would be appropriate for just a light challenge or if we should save them for a bigger "money" competition? Do you have any specific suggestions in mind? If you'd like to become more involved in this whole process we could invite you into the Staff/Judges corner of the YCF discord server, where we discuss all of these things and plan out the competitions/challenges. Let us know!

Yeah man, these are all good suggestions. @PeterthePapercomPoser and I brainstormed a ton in the last few years, we came up with a lot of what you suggested. Many others before we were involved held them too. It kinda just depends on if enough want to do it. We tried money incentives, but looking Bach, the attraction it gave was nice for participant numbers but not so much for the "fun" part of it. I've found that if it's lighthearted, it's better for a community type of contest, but there needs to be a community. Maybe we could run them on our discord, are you on that? I roam both, but I know some use one over the other.

That is excellent idea: I was wondering what to happen to YC competitions. I remember those. 🙂

Hey Alex! First of all great job working at orchestrations. I saw you’ve done a number of them, and as someone newer to composing I think they’re a high quality way to practice and grow. I myself do arrangements of pop songs for Pep Band, which is a very similar process, so I get the concept. I think you’ve done a high quality job in many areas. You’ve got the piece generally laid out, with variations in timbre. The repetition had a semi-lulling effect, yet there was also variation to keep up interest. You’ve got generally nice timbre choices and pairings. I can tell you have a composer’s intuition:) It was a pleasant piece to listen to overall, so you didn’t do terribly:) To provide what I can to hopefully help you take it to the next level, I listened to your piece several times & a recording on YouTube of someone playing the piano version. In my opinion & sense, the original piece edges on a little too repetitive, but it does gain traction at about measure 8 when things start feeling developmental. It does have a kind of lulling effect though, so I think he achieved his purpose, but in my preference I wouldn’t encourage the composition to have any more length or repetition. Here’s my understanding of the original: it seems to actually have two melodies going on simultaneously, playing on each other the whole time, with the other notes providing warmth & fullness. He does a 4 bar A theme twice, then changes to the relative major on a big chord. I liked how the pianist did a little rubato at the transition, because otherwise it would just sound like a major sudden change with no warning, which would feel offputting here. Then he has a 4 bar cascading, what feels like an almost inversion of the previous, repeated (similar to the beginning). It feels like a reprise, concluding & transitioning. That section has large moving chords on the downbeats, and can kind of feel like the ending music of a movie scene. Then he has a iii chord, which I thought he was going to modulate to that key, but he continued developing for 4 bars ending on the B (V of E again). But he goes into a CM7 chord with the melody for 4 bars, the bVI no 5th, which to me feels minor. It ends on a B chord with cascading notes that feels like a cadence, into the final section. It’s an 8 bar near restatement of the A theme, which feels relieving and longed for. Then it ends on the iv, with sudden long chords, which to me just makes me question if whether the child fell asleep or not. Relative to your composition, and recognizing you’ve already done a good job and my comments are just trying to help you get that last 10% to make it pop, I think your timbre changes felt simultaneously too much and too little. At first I didn’t know what to comment, but I think you almost tried to apply film score, quick drastic timbre changes to a slow, lullaby-like, repetitive piece. I think if you were more clear & distinct about your timbre changes, especially using them on the 8 (or less often the 4) bar marks & to mark harmonic changes where he has them, that would help encourage the natural cadence of the piece. My two favorite timbres you used were the low woodwinds with clarinet melody, and the string ensemble. I also think the horn melody was a nice additional change, but it was much brighter & more poignant than the other timbres, so I think it would fit more on the 2nd set of 8 bars, or other more in-your-face moments. Whatever you do, keep the melody on one instrument through the phrase instead of changing so often. The second thing that would help would be the transitions. Ryan Leach on YouTube has a great video on writing transitions: I think both introducing newer elements earlier, and utilizing the more prominent changes (like the large, slow, cascading chords at m.8) in a prominent way will both make the sections fit more together like a natural puzzle. The last minor thing would be trying to make the upper & lower melodies equally as present, with the harmonies quieter behind. It’s a small thing that would make a big difference in this piece, but I think the flute was too loud, and I lost the lower melody over time. Great job, and please let me know if these helped at all. Happy composing!

I still need more ideas for my third sonata. Anyways, @churchcantor did you listen to them yet? (Like the full thing). I can wait though. Don't disappear.