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@interlect I appreciate the comments! I must admit I am a little confused. The work acts a means to capture differents scenes about the ocean. In order, they read as follows: 1. The Shore | Waves Crashing 2. Sailing over the Waves 3. Swimming | Seeing the sea life 4. Getting lost 5. Seeing a whale 6. Travelling to the shore | Sailing 7. Returning to the shore 8. End The competition also has a minimum length requirement and there is not enough time for me to completely overhaul the piece for the chance of creating something so original it will wow older professional musicians. This has already taken 3 months of work over the last year in on and off periods and is meant to be a little programmatic so it can fit other concert cycles. I think it is both a piece fun to play as an ensemble and fun for the audience as there are a lot of things that one can imagine when listening and not have it feel stagnant. My reservations are with the execution as I feel the flutes, harp or certain instruments will get lost in the texture(s).

Since this is in essence a revised version of my earlier Enharmonic Perpetual Canon No. 3, whose single contrapuntal flaw replicated across all voices required a modification of an octave leap which ultimately ended up necessitating a transposition of the whole canon a perfect fourth higher, I decided to change the title of the entire series thus far to "Pantonal Perpetual Canons", as the previous title didn't quite serve as an accurate descriptor of the technicalities within the compositional process that gave rise to these pieces. Due to the necessary integral transposition of this work, however, the coda's newly resulting ending key (F-sharp/G-flat major), the only key along with its relative D-sharp/E-flat minor that displays an equal number of accidentals when enharmonized, far too many inconsistencies relating to the enharmonization of melodic intervals can be found in this version. Normally I would have managed to transcribe the melodic theme across all its internal transpositions in a way capable of satisfying apparent melodic continuity throughout the notation process, but due to the ambivalent quality of this key when it comes to enharmonization, not even the coda could be perfectly transcribed without far too many double accidentals. As such, as much as it irks me to see it like this, I have had no choice but to leave the currently notated version of this canon as is. The choral lyrics of this canon (once again, in Latin) translate as follows: "Change is inevitable in all things. Everything flows in the balance of those who are tempestive." As for the coda, its own lyrics further drive the meaning of these aphorisms to greater clarity and realization. YouTube video link:

Hey everyone, I have just finished completing my newest orchestral work. I have done so for the purposes of a Call for Scores competition in Colorado and I am very excited. I find that the work is completed, however I do feel there is potential for extra material or amendments to the current score. I am a little worried about playability in performance and in the Harp and Horn parts specifically. From my understanding, everything is playable and there may be some challenges. However, I am looking for an extra set of opinions and ears to give me some feedback. I do not mind comments of varying facets, but would prefer specific feedback on ensemble execution and individual parts if able. I appreciate any who comments and am eager to hear your thoughts! ______________________ I am keeping information limited as to avoid the judging panel finding this work before they rate my score. It has yet to be submitted and if you would like to know more about the score, go to the "About" section on page 4! SCORE_Waves of Frisco Bay.pdf

Hi, Are you familiar with the work of Erich Korngold? Some of you beginning melodies could be directly lifted from his work/style. Your composition has a late romantic quality and would perfectly fit in the movie sound tracks of the 1930's.

Hello @Fugax Contrapunctus! I really enjoyed listening to your revised canon, as it sounds very harmonious and has a constant flow that could perhaps go on forever, musically underscoring the lyrics. As reading your introduction, I see how much effort you’ve invested to make the piece what it ultimately is, and that you have dealt with the challenges to finally find a satisfactory enharmonic notation that is both harmonically correct and easy to read, so I have not gone into detail about your score. Surprisingly, although the rhythmic texture consists of only a few motifs that are repeated dozens, if not hundreds, of times as they move through the voices and instruments, it is not boring, but illuminates the theme from so many different angles until it reaches the coda, which initially introduces more tension and finally resolves. In this context, I am reminded of Bach's D major fugue from WTC2, BWV 874, which also repeats its short fugue subject extensively. Now for some thoughts that should be understood not as criticism but as questions I am asking myself: Your canons, especially this one, are magnificent examples of how contrapuntal imitation techniques can be brought to absolute perfection. However, I am not sure whether a cycle of, say, six or twelve such canons would be presentable in a live performance for an audience other than a highly educated one. For such a purpose, I could imagine that the canons should alternate with “less demanding” pieces, such as fugues, chorales, etc. (That could also be the reason why The Art of Fugue contains only two canons, as far as I remember ...)

On the one hand, yes, it can be less daunting to work on smaller projects at first. On the other hand, you don't seem to be daunted, and look at how much helpful feedback you have gotten by making this brave attempt that can guide you going forward! The bigger the piece, the harder it is to get it performed, but in terms of learning, write what interests you. That will keep you writing, which will keep you improving. 1. If we are never allowed to share what we write until we feel we are on par with Beethoven or Brahms, the world of new music is going to dry up. 2. No one says you need to stop with this single draft, you too can keep revising this piece for twenty years. 3. I bet Beethoven and Brahms shared what they were working on during their 21 and 30 years of sketching and revising, it's how we keep finding new things to fix and are encouraged to keep going, so keep writing, keep revising, and keep sharing periodically. I never learned to knit because though I tried to learn several times, the people who taught me always insisted I start with a scarf, and I would diligently get about a foot in with nice even stitches and be dying of boredom and ask if I could put it down and try a simple pattern for a hat or pair of socks and they would refuse to share the secrets of hats and socks until I had made several more feet of scarf. So if working big is what interests you, to me, that's fine, as long as you don't need the encouragement of seeing things performed, which is easier to get with shorter pieces for smaller groups of musicians. As long as you are interested, you'll keep going, and that means you'll keep learning and improving.

Hello MK I would like to be Brutally Honest , and Hyper-Critical in my Review. Starting with : 1: The Cons 2: The Pros "A Call for Scores competition in Colorado" 1: The Cons- I suspect that the Judges will have heard 100's of composition entry's over the years, to the point where they've slightly Switched off, with thoughts of: "We heard it all before", Nothing Original. Your "Intro" to the start of your composition, seems like a waste of time, what are we waiting for, and why are we waiting ? 2: The Pros- Start the Composition @ 3:40 | THIS is where the ACTION starts,and will Wake up the Audience, as well as the judges. Not only will they not be expecting this, but it will also evoke Originality,making you stand out,by elevating your composition to a Whole new level, compared to Who they had to listen to Before,and after your presentation. Your arrangement of the instruments and the quality of the performance,is of a very high Caliber, and shows Experience and wisdom in top quality Composing. I wish you Luck.

Thank you for the suggestion! The score is also on IMSLP and I think it is great to see the orchestration and musical devices they use. One day, I too plan to add my addition to the repertoire on steam engine : D To add, I've updated the score in my OG post as I have now changed a few parts.