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Hello, yet again with another prelude... GAWL aren't you sick of them yet?? Anyway, this one flirts between Db and C#m. It's 6 pages, but not that long as far as measures. It's grandiose, yet soft and subtle. Unfortunately, the midi doesn't do it justice. The arpeggio measures don't hold the first chord/low note in each one, but hopefully the score paints the right picture. I think it's due to the amount of notes held with the sustain. I hope you enjoy this, and any comments or concerns are welcome. :) Prelude 18 - Db.mp3 Prelude 18 - Db - score - Full Score.pdf

Hello Everyone! Today, I am sharing an old work of mine that I have been reorchestrating and revising: The Golden Lakes. PROGRAM NOTE: The Golden Lakes is a short and evocative work for concert band telling a story of night and day upon a lake. Inspired by the geography surrounding the home of the composer, The Golden Lakes evokes the glimmer and sparkle of light from the sun as it crests over the horizon into darkness. During the night, the lake is left vulnerable to the winds, darkness and more, ever waiting for the sun to come back and bring warmth. Originally composed in 2024, this work was commissioned by Kistler’s former band directors. In 2026, this work went under revisions by the composer in the early fall following a period of chamber works he created. This version presented to you is the piece he revised in 2026. Join the concert band as they take us into the landscape and paint us the scenes from The Golden Lakes. This work is set to be a Grade 3-4 for wind band. If you wish to know more about the work, check out the "About" section on page 4! Lastly, if you enjoyed this work, leave a reaction and a comment detailing your thoughts! AUDIO_Golden Lakes.mp3 SCORE_GoldenLakes.pdf

I've taken to another exercise from Chapter 8 of Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" - "Compound and Mirror Harmony". This time I've chosen Exercise 7 - "Move a chamber group through several mirror chords where the reflective harmony is generated by the same tone and by different tones." In this case he is referring to using symmetrically invertible scales just like in Exercise 8 which I already did. In that exercise I built the respective mirror scales on the same tone (C) so in this exercise I sought to build the mirror scales on different tones only. I also created an inverted canon at a 10th and a quarter note between the Oboes and Bassoons. I used the following chart from the book to simplify the exercise for myself (so I used E Mixolydian in the Oboes and C Aeolian in the Bassoons). At one point I switch the Oboes to Ionian and Bassoons to Phrygian, just like in Exercise 8, but this isn't accompanied by key signature changes. Thanks for reading and for listening! I would appreciate any of your suggestions, comments, critiques or observations! Persichetti Exercise 8 - 7.mp3 Persichetti Exercise 8 - 7.pdf

Hi all, I'm overjoyed to share a recording of this plece played by my dear friend @Vasilis Michael ! He completely captures the calmness and serenity of the piece with many details, and he plays the piece better than I do, and he understands the piece more than I do, and he excavated something from the piece I don't. What an honor to have such a great friend playing this great recording of my piece!! Thank you Vasilis! Henry

Wait, what? One of my favorite composers in this forum, Vasilis's piece is played by one of my highly regarded pianists, Henry? Great, this is a good day, I can say that, certainly. Hey, Henry, well done — this is well played and beautiful. This performance breathes life into the piece even more. As for the composition itself, Vasilis, as I said, amazing. So amazing. Thank you, thank you for sharing this!! Shout out to both of you guys! Best, Lithl.

Good morning, my dear friends! I’m happy to present to you once again my latest work, Binary Sonata No. 28. It is personally one of my favourite sonatas, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!

Just as was the case with the previous movement I composed for this Requiem in the works, "Libera me, Domine", the subject came first and I then had to find a suitable liturgical text that matched the prosodic and accentual patterns implied by its rhythm and melody. Since today's current date, October 10th, has been the World Day Against the Death Penalty for over 2 decades now, I figured it was quite a reasonable occassion to post a Requiem movement as I just finished it. The picture to the left of the thumbnail was originally taken from a sarcophagus found at the Abbey of St. Clement at Casauria, Pescara, Italy. Its text, whose incipit serves as the main feature of this composition, belongs to Psalm 143 "Absolution of the Dead". YouTube video link: Original liturgical text and translations: Latin: Non intres in judicium cum servo tuo, Domine, quia nullus apud te justificabitur homo, nisi per te omnium peccatorum ei tribuatur remissio. Non ergo eum, quaesumus, tua judicalis sententia premat, quem tibi vera supplicatio fidei christianae commendat: Sed, gratia tua illi succurente, mereatur evadere judicium ultionis, qui dum viveret, insignitus est signaculo sanctae Trinitatis: Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. English (20th-century missal translations): Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord; for, unless Thou grant him forgiveness of all his sins, no man shall be justified in Thy sight. Wherefore, may he not suffer, we beseech Thee, the sentence Thou pronouncest in judgment upon one whom the faithful prayer of Christian people commendeth to Thee, to be a doom which shall crush him utterly. Rather, succour him with Thy grace, that he may be found worthy to escape the vengeance of that judgment, who, while he lived, was signed with the seal of the Holy Trinity. Thou who livest and reignest, world without end. English (Modern Standard Vernacular): Enter not into judgment with Your servant, O Lord, for in Your sight no man shall be justified, unless through You the remission of all his sins be granted unto him. Therefore, we beseech You, let not the sentence of Your judgment weigh heavily upon him, whom the true plea of the Christian faith commends to You. But, by the help of Your grace, may he deserve to escape the judgment of vengeance, he who, while he lived, was marked with the seal of the Holy Trinity. You who live and reign forever and ever. Choral Fugue Non intres in judicium in C-sharp minor.mp3 Choral Fugue Non intres in judicium in C-sharp minor.pdf

Hi Vasilis! It was indeed very pleasant to listen to. I do enjoy a lot these works "alla Scarlatti". The whole work seems to have been crafted with great care, both engraving-wise and musically speaking. It breathes, and does it very well in my humble opinion. I believe I have not listened to other binary sonatas of yours; this is probably, or as far as I remember, my first one, but you got a new subscriber! P.S: Pianoteq9 is great. Kind regards, Daniel–Ø.

Hi Thatguy. I like the contrast between the arpeggiated chords and the almost solo voice passage. Both of them combined act as the structural pillar of the piece in my opinion, and you make good use of them. It may be true the midi doesn't do it justice. Engraving-wise I'd suggest putting these wide arpeggios in small notes so it's even clearer where the molto rubato acts and where the piece gets a bit more rigourus in tempo. I don't quite get the switching between Db and C#. Why is that? That aside, the prelude works for me but it wasn't my cup of tea compared to other preludes I've listened from your list. It's soft indeed and pleasant to my ears, especially the middle section in which the (1) seems to wander around chords. How many preludes are left? Or are they not gonna have a set end? Best regards!

Nice job on expanding your main motif, and excellent key changing throughout. Considering how long this movement is, the piece does a really nice job in keeping the listener's attention I think. About halfway through, you then change the pace but quickly get back on track. The harmony throughout is good, with sprinkles of pentatonic. Also, the last 2 minutes are very cool in how you conclude the piece. I like the change of pace here, with the slower, calm ending. Much of this movement is is quite steady / consistent, and your transitions are seamless.

Thx for your invitation, Peter. My longest time taken is for my Clarinet Quintet in C minor. I started the piece in 2016 Fall, struggling a lot with my life and whether I can really compose, and finished the final draft on April 2022, which was my 1st post here on YC Forum. And I've recently just finished the revision of it for a final version of it, and if this also counts, this work took me almost 10 years to finish. I am not one who love to be pushed by deadlines and commissions, hence still don't want to be a "professional" "composer". Music has their own lives and when they want to speak they will speak through inspiration. I never believe that by forcing myself would make good music at all; if I'm forced to write trash in order to fulfill commissions or for money, I will choose not writing at all. That accounts for 1 reason why I work really slow. One example is for my String Sextet: I knew very well in March 2024 that the piece has to be end in a palliative and serene mood, in pentatonic style. But by then I only finished the first 20 munutes in despairing minor and minor and minor passages linger. I couldn't make it. I truthfully believed I could never finish the piece as I didn't figute out how peace can be achieved after such sufferings, after all tragedies, wars, deaths happening in the world nowadays. You can ask @Thatguy v2.0 and he knew I am not lying. (But a big thx to his encouragement) So after suffering some real life pain, recovet and one day I walked and listened to a Chinesr music grouping, I was suddenly inspired-truly inspired. Inspiration came out of nowhere and I knew exactly how to continue the piece and finish it in the way I never thought possible. I always think that composer is just a pregnant woman (not people). Music just comes from God or Heaven or natute or whatever, and they never belong to you alone as they are only realized through you, hence never your own possession. (Although I am still retaining my copyright lol) That would need time to feed yourself with more nutrients from past human world and the nature, and the process won't be quick, and hence you can never expect your fruit to be born quickly. I am for sure no Mozart thus I can only slowly write my pieces with diligence and hopefully they go well. I wouldn't want to write trash and flashy and extravagant programme notes on my music's blah blah blah to lie to any listeners and myself. I hope everything I write is an honest representation of me, and that would take time too. Another thing is technical: I need time to get familiar with my material and medium and skills in order to adequately write what I want. In my multi movement works the 1st movements are always the worst because I need time to know my music and digest it to write. These are my brief explanantion of why I need much time to write. Henry

Nice little waltz. Some pointers: this is actually simply in F minor, which has 4 flats in the key signature. The raised 7th is very standard in minor key music and part of the harmonic minor scale, nothing modal about it, especially not phrygian. All those G sharps and C sharps would be spelled as A flats and D flats as well, and those pedal markings would not work on a real piano because it would just muddy up the sound. Repedalling every measure is pretty safe here. You don't need rehearsal markings; those are for rehearsals with multiple performers, but this is for solo piano. "legato" being on both staves is unnecessary. "Normal" is not a marking that appears in piano literature anywhere; if you want the legato to stop, either remove the legato and slur the passage, or where you have "normal", put "non-legato". I also feel that since the chord progression and motivic content repeats ad nauseam throughout the piece, it doesn't really merit being over 5 minutes long, but that is my opinion. Since it seems you also feel it's too long, here's what I would suggest. Remove a section, or more. I think this could work as a simple Ternary form or Rondo for example. And make the different sections contrast with eachother Listen to this beautiful waltz for solo guitar by Barrios and pay close attention Agustin Barrios Mangore's "Vals Op. 8, No. 3" played by Raphaël Feuillâtre on a 2020 Julia Wenzel it has a very clear structure: an introduction followed by the A section in D minor, which goes twice. Then onto the B section, also in D minor, but notice how he switches the new section up, even when in the same key: completely different rhythms and motifs, different register, different chord progression, etc. This section also goes twice. Then a brief return to the A section, going only once. After that, he switches to D major for a huge contrast in the C section, basing itself on one of the motifs from the B section, and this section is itself in a mini ternary form, before it transitions back to the A section and closes. For your piece, I wouldn't attempt to modulate like this piece does, since you don't quite yet have the skill to do so successfully, so keep it simple in scope. I hope this helps.

Hello! I need to go to sleep, so I will just tell you my first impressions! (I will come back, probably) Very good, thick textures! I like it! Seems very American in style, I love the flute part and the timpani part. The timpani part reminded me of Shostakovich 7th Symphony for no reason. The second theme seems interesting, it definitely feels fun! Igtg tho or my dad's gonna kill me... Bye! -TristanTheTristan (unfinished)

Hi! Thank you very much for your thoughtful comments. I only started posting pieces on forums a couple of days ago and it's a real thrill for me to get indepth commentary such as yours. I love that you share your intial reaction of surprise about certain aspects and that you then see how these aspects make more sense as the piece develops. I say this because it mirrors my own experience: when I write pieces I play around with a lot of ideas and it's all a bit disjoineted and messy and then I gradually find ways of threading everything together and end up with results that surprise me, or take time to make sense, and also find myself doing things I wouldn't have ever done deliberately in order to adapt to the needs of the piece that's emerging (like these slightly "empty" bars in 10, 26, 36 and right at the end.) I also got the sense that the end was a bit short and I could have doubled it, making it more dense in the second part, but I tend to err on the side of caution in terms of keeping things simple and limpid and it might be worth reassessing that habit in this case. Most of all, I loved that you got this sense of it being "lifeless, but in a good way." I must say I was a tiny bit piqued for a few seconds until it struck me that it was spot on, another way of describing my overall feeling about the mood of the piece which is something like "surveying the first rays of dawn after having been up all night..." In fact I could have integrated that idea into the title somehow instead of opting for one which is perhaps a bit enigmatic. Anyway, thanks again for your comments, very much appreciated.

Hello, Welcome to the forum. I'll share some thoughts, having listened to it 3-4x now. I was very confused in the opening bars when you go I/V and then hit the listener with a very sudden i. But then, this decision seems to pay off when the piece takes off and like 75% of the piece has this idea of shifting maj/minor tonalities. Bar 9 seems a bit empty, though as the piece progresses, I think the idea starts to make more sense. So, you do something similar at bar 26 and again at bar 36, and you sort of finish the piece with this idea. So I want to be careful with my feedback...since this seems integral to the structure of your piece. m21 sounds pretty cool. m28 things really start taking off, the opening bars start to make more sense now. m48, the LH part of the chord is real nice. Personally, the ending seems way too abrupt. In my opinion you got this nice, almost hyponotic sort of pulse going and it just ends all of a sudden. Even if you just faded out (which I guess is more of a modern convention, they probably didn't do fade outs in Beethovan's day), that might work better. Someone recently posted a piece about trying to make piece about a lifeless doll. I don't know what it is about your piece...but it seems sort of lifeless? But in a good way! Hope that helps.

As of now, my best work! Hope you enjoy

My dear friend, indeed, this collaboration was a dream come true. It was an enormous honour and joy for me. And, as always, I want to thank you for your support and your wonderful words. May you always be well, my dear friend!

I can see a lovely collaboration here! I enjoyed it. I didn't check this piece of yours, Henry, but it sounds awesome. I love your performance too, by the way. And... Vasilis — your interpretation is right in the middle. Your touch and Pianoteq make a wonderful, gentle atmosphere. I don't know why, but when I listen to your playing, I feel warm vibes like autumn colors or something like that. Hey Henry, this piece is now under Mr. Vasilis Michael's magic, huh!? Beautiful, both of you guys! Please feed me such stuff if you guys have an opportunity in the future 😊 Best, Lithl.

Hi @Lucky ! Thx a lot for your engraving suggestion! I know it’s one of my major weakness and I look to improve it! I even got a copy of the book myself! Thank you! This complement is more than enough for me! Henry

Seeing as how a lot of the pieces posted here are more classically based...I will share something that I wrote during my own "romantic" era. For many years I did not listen to these pieces...aside from the music, there are events/stories that happened in my own personal life related to the music that made thinking about pieces too painful. But I think that it has been therapeutic to discuss and share music with you all in the past few months. So here it is. I wrote this when I was much more younger, much more angsty and had more hair. I am most proud of movement 3...if you only had time for one of these, please listen to no3. It's my baby. It's one of those pieces where I can die happy knowing that I did at least one nice thing in my life. Sadly I don't even know if I have the actual sheet music anymore, might have been lost to time. But the bare bones notation remains. I was a bit obsessed with the Chopin ballades when I wrote these, I ended up learning Ballade no 1, no 3 and no 4. So I've always felt like movement 1/2/3 sort of corresponded with the 3 ballades I learned. Anyways, hope that you guys enjoy...my technique has not been great these days, probably can't really play these pieces anymore in my old(er) age.

Nice, I listened to both. I think I prefer your version Vasilis. I don't know why, but measure 15/55 sound off to me. Measure 55, more than measure 15. I was wondering why and thus looked a bit closer at the sheet music. Perhaps it's because you usually change the chords around for the 1-2-3 (quarter/quarter/half), set up...but on measure 15 and 55...you skip that pattern and simply go for a pure repeat of the chords with no variation. It's like my brain is expecting it to have a slight Schubertian change in the chord, but it doesn't happen. I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing, but something that stood out...a little bit when I listened. Since you are obviously a talented composer, I thought that I'd be a bit more nitpicky than usual with my feedback. Hope it helps in some way. Loved it overall. Classical music lives on!

My dear Henry, I am truly touched by your beautiful words and by this lovely gesture! ❤️ It is such a joy and an honour to have the opportunity to share your music with others. There is something profoundly moving about this particular piece, something that touches both of us so deeply. Perhaps it is because it carries within it a glimpse of Schubert’s world — that delicate mixture of tenderness, longing, nostalgia and quiet melancholy that speaks directly to the heart. It feels as though a little fragment of that beautiful Schubertian universe has found its way into your music. And I think this is something we both feel and cherish so deeply. The more I explored your composition, the more little details and emotions I discovered within it. I believe that when we truly connect with a piece of music, we can sometimes reveal things that perhaps even surprise its own creator. But all this beauty comes from you and your wonderful musical imagination! Thank you, dear friend, not only for your beautiful music but also for your kindness, generosity and friendship. I feel very fortunate to have met you through music. Sending you my warmest wishes and a big hug! ❤️

Throughout my experience as a student and as a self-taught musician in various areas of music, one thing has become very clear to me. There are two types of educators, of teachers: those who theorize endlessly (and have never composed anything) and those who are actual composers. I don’t mean to say that just because someone is a composer, they’ll automatically be a good teacher. This year, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a teacher of orchestration. He’s also a composer by profession. And he doesn’t follow or directly recommend any book, treatise, or anything of the sort.... He says—and he’s right—that the real learning comes from the scores themselves. The most valuable thing I’m learning is how to find solutions to the things I want to orchestrate, rather than formulas for instrument combinations, etc. And I want to give an example that has caught my attention recently. I was listening to Otello by G. Verdi. And I noticed that, no matter what’s happening in the score—which is a lot and quite complex—there’s a pedal in the low register of the organ with three notes in a cluster: C, C-sharp, and D. This pedal lasts six and a half minutes!! And you can hear it in the background, especially with headphones and, I imagine, in a live performance. Why did Verdi write this? Why doesn’t it clash horribly with the rest of the music? These are the questions I’ve learned to answer. What do you think of this musical device?

My dear friend, thank you so much for your kind words and, above all, for your wonderful support. I truly enjoyed it immensely. There is nothing more beautiful than hearing your compositions performed by such fine musicians and seeing them appreciated so much. Once again, thank you both from the bottom of our hearts.🙏🙏🙏

I originally wrote the first version of this piece for a Cello Quartet, during a very dark, and sadly extremely depressive time period of my life. I decided to rewrite it into a symphony-style work a few months ago, expanding its one minute original version into a fully developed piece that captured and added a new perspective it hadn't had before. Currently, this symphony version is 7 minutes long from start to finish. I am curious to hear the world's thoughts, especially in regards to transitions, structure, and the arc of the piece. For some very simple context for my goals with structure, it is meant to not be "easy" flowing and clear. It's interpretive and dynamic, each section usually adding a little bit more context to the last time that variation was played. It's meant to symbolize the return of event-specific previous positive and negative emotions, how they shift over time, and that usually no matter what, thoughts of a previous time inevitably come back to remind you of it. However I worry that I emphasize the dynamic type of relationship too much that it could be negative and have an unclear arc perhaps...? Note: I am submitting this to a composition contest in a few weeks, so my goal is to have it fully understandable and clear by then. UPDATE: The deadline has already passed. The FINAL files are down in a comment below. Let me know your thoughts!

Hello fellow composers! I wanted to share a short piece I wrote called Forest Path. With this piece, I was trying to evoke the feeling of walking along a quiet trail through a dense forest — something intimate, peaceful, and reflective, with a sense of gentle exploration. As with my previous pieces, I’ve been trying to focus on melody, orchestral color, and restraint. The goal was to create a warm, lyrical atmosphere using relatively transparent textures and gentle harmonic movement, rather than relying on large dramatic gestures or extensive development. I’m continuing to experiment with writing short, self-contained pieces that establish a distinct musical character without becoming overly complicated. One of my goals with this project is to improve my ability to write memorable melodies and use orchestration to support the atmosphere and expression of the music. I’m particularly interested in whether the musical ideas feel engaging throughout, despite the relatively simple structure and restrained writing. I’d also welcome any thoughts on areas where the piece could be developed or refined. Thanks in advance for listening! Forest Path - CONCERT SCORE Ver 1 YT.pdf

Here I am delighted to share a recording of my sonata, beautifully performed by my dear friend @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu I feel truly honoured by this wonderful gesture, and I cannot thank him enough for the time, care and generosity he has devoted to bringing my music to life. Dear Henry, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are not only a remarkable composer but also an outstanding pianist, and knowing that you have chosen to perform a sonata that I dedicated to you makes this occasion even more special and meaningful to me. I feel deeply grateful and honoured. Thank you, my dear friend! Vasilis Sonata no.27 1st Nov 2026.mp3

Hello. It's been a while since i last posted here. Today I am back with a new piano sketch. Hope to get some good honest constructive critique on this work in progress. Thanks :) The Day Tomorrow Died draft2 wip - Bjarke Tan - Flow 1.mp3 The day tomorrow died revision 1.9 score.pdf

I enjoyed listening to this. I’m far from the best person to analyze other people’s music, but here are some thoughts on what I heard. First, I think you should just call this f minor and write it as such. Phrygian dominant would have a g flat, I believe. (But I haven’t worked with modes in years and you might have a different reason for not putting this is f minor.) Add accidentals for the natural minor as needed. It will still give the sound you are looking for and make it much easier for a piano player to read. Also, is that a tie on the top note of each pair of notes on beats 2 and 3? It doesn’t sound like it is in the recording. I think they are not necessary and I found them distracting when playing through the piece. I like the themes. They are pleasing to the ear, at least to mine. There could probably be a little more variety. Measures 13-14 do reverse the direction of the tune, but it’s still rhythmically the same, and I wonder if that is giving enough sense of “new material”. Also, it’s in the same key. (This is a problem I have writing music — trying to keep things familiar but not beating any dead horses). How about putting something in a related key, maybe a major or try reversing measures 13 and 14, so you would have the new phrase start with three quarter notes. How about putting in some theme that has wider intervals. You have mostly step-wise motion the whole way through with the exception of a few jumps in the octave section. I think measure 39 and following have the more successful new material. Good variety but the key is still intact, so it’s provides some connection (again, for my ears, can’t speak for others). Maybe don’t use repeats for measures 63 / E section. The listeners’ ears will be well-familiar with the ideas by that point. Finally, I vote for an authentic cadence to at the end. It sounds unfinished. Like I said, just some thoughts I had.

Pacoleo - El Castillo de La Asomada Hello. This is the first original piece I’ve composed for piano. I also mixed and mastered it myself in my DAW, so any constructive feedback regarding the composition or the music production is welcome. Synopsis: A composition for solo piano inspired by the castle of the same name, built in the 12th century. This nationalist-style piece reflects the strength and vigor of its builder (Ibn Mardanish, “the Wolf King”) by combining elements of Spanish nationalism and Islamic tradition, which are in turn embellished by impressionistic coloristic techniques. Thank you for listening.

HELLO Let me just say that if you have no experience in composition, you’ve got a long way to go before you can compose a proper fugue. I get the impression you must have some knowledge of counterpoint. But before you start composing fugues, you need to master other, less demanding areas of strict counterpoint. It’s simply not possible to come up with a logically structured composition just by studying two of Bach’s fugues and leaving it at that. What you’ve written doesn’t sound bad, but, in my opinion, there’s a point (which I think is the one mentioned by @Lithl ) where everything falls apart quite a bit, and that’s in bar 6. Because you’re forming a D#–A tritone which, although the intention is for some of these to be passing notes, I think that should resolve into a Bb chord. Enharmonically, you have Eb–A, a tritone which, in this context, must resolve in this way. The solution you’ve suggested for another context is fine, but here, at least for me, it ruins the whole thing.

sorry to necro a dead thread, but I was just checking my socials when I remembered this post! I actually just had this piece recorded by the principal strings at the Bolshoi Theatre, believe it or not!! They're definitely worthy musicians lol, so here's a link in case you're interested: https://youtu.be/SIrKsoVDBKU

It's been a while since I've composed anything, so I felt like getting back into doing some Persichetti composition prompts. I am now on Chapter 8 of Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" which is titled "Compound and Mirror Harmony". The particular prompt for this piano piece was "8. Write an opening section of a two-part piece for the piano employing two symmetrically invertible scales. The mirror writing should be kept strict throughout." So I tried to do just that with this ~1 minute long piano piece. I tried my best to make an actual piece of music rather than an exercise, but let me know how I did! I'd appreciate any of your comments, critiques, suggestions or observations! Thanks for listening! Here's the form of the piece: A - Right Hand - C Mixolydian, Left Hand - C Aeolian B - Right Hand - C Ionian, Left Hand - C Phrygian A Persichetti Exercise 8 - 8.mp3 Persichetti Exercise 8 - 8 Score.pdf

Ok, so to help you understand what I'm trying to say, I've copied and reworked the first 18 or so measures with tonal music theory in mind whilst trying to maintain a baroque aesthetic. Notice in my rework what I have done. This is how I would have done these first 4 bars had I written this piece. I have relabeled the Roman Numerals to better reflect the harmony that you suggested (which was simply i-V65-i). Also notice I have included dynamics at the beginning of the piece, as well as a metronome marking, and I've nixed the solo violin as I felt it was redundant. I have revised the second violins to not interfere as much with the first violins; see how they overlap much less. This provides melodic and harmonic clarity. Look also how the bass line now has the scalular run in melodic minor, which means it includes the leading tone for F-minor, making the tonic feel stronger. I also made the beginning of the 2nd bar in the bass an E-natural to bring about better harmonic clarity (dominant chord in first inversion). Finally, notice how at the ends and starts of each new measure, the lines cadence to each chord with smooth voice leading. This next system had a very nice sequence over the circle of fifths. The biggest changes I have made was to raise the leading tones, which makes the harmony clearer. I have also changed the Roman Numeral analysis, since much of the harmonies you analyzed would actually not be functional. This would simply be labeled as a sequence. The next system felt imbalanced because of the premature resolution. I decided for this example to extend the dominant pedal, and I believe it had a great effect. I also adjusted the harmony to better reflect what you implied, which would be some augmented 6 chord (your analysis said VI and then later, VIb5, however, the functionally since it leads into the dominant, it would be augmented 6. In the second one, there was no flat 5 present, instead the 5 was actually raised, making it a Germain 6 chord. In the future, be sure you understand chord functions.) Here I have continued to adjust the notes to match the harmony you implied. In particular, I found the parallel 4ths to be problematic and changed them to parellel 6ths. Finally, here I felt that the music began to lose momentum, so I simply cut out a few bars. Note the entrance of the soprano has a dynamic marking, and it appears above the music. This is so it doesn't interfere with the lyrics. Also be sure to divide the syllables properly and know that the "____" marks the ends of words being sung over multiple notes, and the "-" only occurs between syllables of the same word. Your usage of both of these is very inconsistent and unclear. And note how I simplified the line to make it slightly easier to read and sing. The rest of the piece has similar issues throughout. In terms of playability, I have already explained that the soprano is too fast and intricate and especially goes too high for this speed. Here is a great chart for vocal part ranges. choral-ranges.pdf Slightly simplifying the melody, especially removing the appoggiatura, should help. As for the violins, you mentioned they may go too high in some areas. They do not, the range is fine. What bothered me were these huge leaps. However, having checked with a violin player, these are actually doable. The changes I've made are obviously free to take what you like and discard what you don't. The important thing to keep in mind is that the music has proper voice leading, and clear harmony. My revision does improve it, but there are other ways to improve it besides what I did. Just remember to study voice-leading and harmonic function more in depth, and you'll be golden OVosOmnesReworkAndAnalysis.mp3

This piece confuses me... Why are there 3 violin parts and not just 2? 2 violin sections, 1 viola section, 1 cello section, and 1 bass section is the norm. Writing for nonstandard ensembles is fine, but using a standard ensemble, in this case string orchestra, but with minor ordering differences just 1. makes it look like you don't know what you're doing (and you demonstrably don't) and 2. makes it significantly harder to have your piece performed. Who's going to have a string orchestra with 3 violin sections? No one. Why are there numbers all over the page? Roman numeral analysis is for... well, analysis. You don't include it in a score, and the other numbers I guess might be for figured bass, but that's not how you do that? Learn how to do something before doing it is generally a good rule of thumb. The instruments are not written for idiomatically. Those leaps in the violin in the middle of the piece are way too big. The soprano part is also WAY too hard, even for a professional soloist. It has super technical and absurdly fast extended passages in the very high range. If you gave this to a soprano, she'd would absolutely refuse to do it. Some of the harmonic choices are also odd. You seem to be wanting to do an imitation of a renaissance style, but it's just not achieved very well. It lacks the right harmonic language. I'd expect more raised leading tones, piccardy 3rds, etc etc. There are people on here that are much more familiar with this style that may be able to provide more specific feedback, but it sounds very messy to me, not elegant like the music of the time. Finally, the music doesn't match the text at all. The text is beautiful, solemn, contemplative, and the music just isn't. Why? I sing gregorian chant for a TLM parish, I'm very familiar with motets and liturgucal/sacred music, and this just isn't something I would choose to include at mass. I wouldn't even include it in a secular program. It's just not that well put together or though out. I would take more time to study the ensembles and instruments you write for, including vocal ranges. Also look into studying counterpoint, doing species counterpoint exercises, and harmony of the period. Studying galant schemas might also be beneficial for you. And most importantly, study scores! If you don't know how to notate something, reference a (modern print) score. Clearly you are amateur and young (young composers, haha) so don't worry. You will improve, probably quickly, but you need to spend more time studying theory and practicing with study pieces and exercises.

I present to you my next cantata - "Laudate, pueri" (Ps 112) for tenor, flute and basso continuo consisting of 6 parts. It's rather short and for small ensemble, but it has a chance to be played in real life - until then computer playback will be added. It's meant to lighter than my previous cantata, with more concertante technique used... The first part is a dialog between two soloist, the second (and fifth) is tarantella-like with basso ostinato. Third and fourth i wrote what I had on my mind XD. Fifth is fugue (or fugato to be exact i think) with soloist doubling the theme entries. Any tips and feedback welcomed! Laudate, pueri.pdfLaudate, pueri.mp3

Hi @islav , compositions such as yours is one of the reasons why I am keen to be part of a platform like youngcomposers: your work is really novel and inspiring. I didn't like everything, otherwise the many changes of rhythm in the melody, as well as the many strange and unexpected dissonances make your piece very coherent. Things I didn't quite like (really personal taste): bars 7-9 were too mellow for me I felt like the end was too abrupt, and didn't really go well with the piece I felt like the trill was used a little too often (e.g.: bbs 58, 67, 69...) Things I particular liked: the transitions in bar 20, bar 39 or bar 53, really surprising and somehow relaxing the rhythm pattern you regularly use, e.g.: in bbs 43-45 Thanks for sharing and continue the good work! Julien

Hey Tunndy, Some feedback: I like the beginning: the rhythm, the darkness, really cool! Bars [7-10], really not my favourite section. I like the change of tone bar 28. I agree with Tristan that having forte everywhere would deserve a bit of nuance... In general, in enjoyed it, thanks for sharing! Julien

Now, it's a time to help someone who wants to discover music - since I was helped by YC members a lot :) I have some examples that would be up your alley. Ludovico Einaudi: Moments of Peace Nils Frahm: Felt Ólafur Arnalds: Trance Frendz Hope this post helps you, have a wonderful musical journey and welcome to YC! Best, Lithl.

The allegro below was an earlier movement for a wind quartet (back in 2019) that now contains lots of revisions. At the time, I thought it was 'perfect' but almost 10 years later, evidently it was not! 😬 Second movement recycled from another standalone piece I had made for wind quintet originally. The Rondo is a work in progress. Currently working on the C section (minor). I quite like the theme... think it is catchy. String Quartet in C (Allegro).mp3 String Quartet in C (Second Movement).mp3 String Quartet in C (Rondo Idea).mp3 String Quartet in C (Allegro).pdf String Quartet in C (Second Movement).pdf String Quartet in C (Rondo Idea).pdf

Thanks for clarifying, Vasilis — I misunderstood the obstacle as the audio recording rather than the video's room sound. Since you already record into GarageBand/Pianoteq, one option is to film the same performance and use its GarageBand export as the video's soundtrack. Align a clear first key strike in both recordings, check alignment again near the end, and mute the camera audio. That keeps the actual performance while leaving mechanical keyboard noise out of the finished soundtrack. If you use iMovie on Mac, Modify > Detach Audio separates the camera's audio so it can be removed after alignment: https://support.apple.com/en-mt/guide/imovie/mov267936bb2/mac A short test would tell you whether that is practical with your setup, without committing to filming a whole sonata.

Hi Mr. Chkheidze, welcome to our forums. The overture sounds wonderful, as well as the second movement, but I was revising the score of the first movement you submitted and I see that it gets cut off. In the last page (78) you can see it clearly. I suppose that it goes attacca but if it does, I have no way to know just from the score alone. It seems like the movement does not finish there. My suggestion —in case it was cut off— would be trying to export it as A3 or even bigger paper so there's enough space. It's true that even in that case, it's not easy to follow a score of such dimension. If this was not cut off, I would suggest a double bar at the end or a double final bar, marking "attacca subito" if you intend to keep going to the second movement without pause. Maybe you do know about this, but just in case! That you release this (or the final, recorded product, I suppose) in Vinyl is surprising to me, just as a note. Is it costly? Now on the piece itself, I would say that you have a lot of ideas, and you sure know how to make bombastic stuff that could fit very well in a soundtrack. I normally listen to the works twice or thrice before emitting some judgement, because often a single listen is not enough for me to grasp enough details or places I would like to stop and comment. While writing this comment I'm listening to the work for the second time and as I progress in the piece I see that this great music you have brought us may err on the side of excess, in my humble opinion. Excess of bombastic fortissimo moments, of tutti, of fast contrasts, and of lack of elements that would make the piece be perceived as a whole. Of course, there are very good transitions too, like the one you do from movement 2 to movement 3, and a whole lot of enjoyable moments, but I don't really get the impression of listening to a cohesive multi-movemented work, but at well crafted environments or atmospheres, or even excerpts of music that do share instrumentation in common and that would, as you suggest, work as part of some cinematic product. There is, in my opinion again, A LOT of material here that could be further developed to make a whole suite of itself. Finally, I hope the translator doesn't fail. My favourite part of this work is undoubtedly the clarinet solo part on movement 7. It reminded me a lot of "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAXE-lczgu4 Many thanks for submitting your work here. Best regards, Daniel–Ø.

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Dear Daniel, Thank you so much for your kind words and for taking the time to listen to my sonata. I’m truly glad you enjoyed it! Interestingly, this sonata was completed in just a few hours. It was one of those special moments when inspiration takes the lead and the music seems to find its own way onto the page. If you ever find the time to explore my other Binary Sonatas, I would be absolutely delighted. I would be very happy to hear your thoughts and impressions, as your opinion would mean a great deal to me. Regarding Pianoteq 9, it is actually one of the things that helps inspire me as well. It is incredible to have such a plugin at home — in my opinion, it is the ultimate piano emulator! I have purchased almost all of its available piano models and have spent a great deal of time studying them, particularly the fortepianos, which I absolutely adore. I have also made several recordings using fortepianos, which you are very welcome to listen to on my channel if you ever feel curious. Thank you again for your kindness and support. I’m very happy to welcome you as a new subscriber! Warm regards, Vasilis

I do have to admit the general textural density remains quite staunchly homophonic-sounding for quite a good few passages, mostly in the developmental section. As with my previous motet, the main focus here was once again textual intelligibility, so in order to break that lack of variety in note values and durations across voices I would need to add in new passages or modify the existing ones by pruning the underlying counterpoint to accommodate for longer values, which at this point seems... somewhat unfeasible, to put it lightly. I could have added an Amen section at the end but after repeating the same incipit in the stretti and then following up with a Da Capo al Fine at the very end, I doubt it would have made much structural sense compared to, say, placing it right after the "Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum" phrase where it is normally expected to be ennunciated. Nevertheless, pondering your suggestions has made me realize that the underlying structure was not calculated thoroughly enough, and even if it does have a clearer sense of direction, structural integrity, Fortspinnung, etc. than most of my other compositions by my usually fairly chaotic standards, it still falls short in the end. Had you not pointed out the textural flaws I might not have considered the whole absent Amen tangent. Thank you kindly for bringing these points forth.

Hello all! This is a piece I wrote for college. The first movement was performed, and I was supposed to have the rest performed before the end of the month, but unfortunately, the ensemble that would have played it got too busy. The piece is kind of in a similar vein as my first large scale work, the Seven Sorrow; a program piece based on a traditional Catholic devotion. The difference is, while no other composer had written a piece on the seven sorrows, there are composers who have written pieces about the stations of the cross (Liszt's "Via Crucis" comes to mind), though I approached it quite differently, I think. Rather than a movement for each station, I made it a 3-movement brass quintet where each movement represents several stations. The first 5 stations in movement 1, the next 4 in movement 2, and the final 5 in the finale. The stations are shown both in the score and in the video with pictures. The Stations of the Cross for Brass Quintet - YouTube Stations of the Cross.mp3 Stations_of_the_Cross_Full.pdf

Hello @Lithl , Someone introduced to me George Crumb recently...he has this fun piece he wrote for his dogs. The best part is the end, where I guess I'm spoiling a bit, as he ends it with a spoken word - "bad dog!". There is another one called Echoes of Time and the River. His scores are beautiful and almost like a work of art themselves. He also uses the instruments in more unique ways. Not totally my cup of tea personally, but can definitely appreciate the genius behind his stuff. So there ya go, hopefully this is avant garde enough for ya :)

This is the 4th and last movement of my Clarinet Quintet in C minor, which is completed 4 years ago which I finish revising. Thx to my friend @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio! Here is the score and video of the movement: (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 4th mov final 20260922.pdfClarinet Quintet in C minor 4th mov Final Version 20260922.mp3 https://youtu.be/r4Y7eVQdom8 It's finally the time to solve the problem after excavating deeply into the despair and sadness itself in the last movement. The despair motive is almost everywhere in the movement to show the struggle with it. The movement is basically under sonata form (or sonata rondo) structure with an extensive coda: 0:00 1st subject, Exposition. Despair [0134] theme combines with anapaestic (or dactylic?) rhythm behind to present the action to solve it. A sudden reflection with halt appears in 0:44. What is this despair? Eb major arrives the earliest in the whole piece of music in 1:10. 1:49 Transition. Begins in Ab major, the 1st theme enters in 2:06 cello but stop by a chase to Eb major in 2:25. First time to dissolve the despair with bare harmonies. 2:39 2nd subject, Exposition, in Eb major. Some struggle in 3:02 in c minor and reached its climax in 3:21 but dissolved (or ignored). Trying to achieve a more hopeful ending but ends in deceptive cadence in 3:47 with the scare of 1st subject theme. Eb major never achieves its perfect cadence here and go straight back to c minor in the development. 4:17 Development, 1st part. Most complicated part of the movement (it should be), 1st subject theme enters into each instrument individually like nothing happens(that's why it can be either sonata-rondo or sonata for the structure). The sudden halt reflection suddenly interrupts in 4:53(which will keep appearing in the development). Keeps modulating with sudden reflection (or rather because of the reflection) to finally reaches e minor passionately for the 1st climax of the development. 5:28 Development, 2nd part. The emotion gets complicated as 5 part counterpoint is achieved here. I initially was in doubt of the counterpoint here during revision since the sound is so confusing and muddled but I think it's a good way to represent the confusion of mind here so I retained it. Certainly I don't have the ability of Mozart here haha. It cools down to b minor with 2nd subject theme singing, ending in German sixth chord which gives hint to C major/minor as V7 of it. But it instead it enter F sharp minor. 6:23 Development, 3rd part. The use of F sharp minor here is to reiterate the polarity of C/Gb which is established right in the 1st movement (I also use it in my Sextet). Another climax in 6:42 using transition theme. Falls to aura of despair in the opposite pole in 7:17. But only when you fully admit and immerse yourself in despair hope appears, as it magically turns into Eb major with the ultimate climax. The hope theme shines completely in 7:50 and in 8:11 even the despair motive appears hopefully in the clarinet! It ends in a calm pentatonic aura but it proves itself short lived as it cools down instantly. 8:23 Development, last part and retransition. It falls again to the weak Ab major and ends in a long reflection in 8:45. I think it's anti-climatic to allow unmoving passages in a development but I do it as preparation to what comes after it and a preparation of the coda. Sadness deeply felt and rebounds in agitation, as rhythms from all previous movements appear in 9:38 and in 10:00 the outburst of despair motive is played in unison. 10:13 Recap, 1st subject and transition. Themes recapped and reordered in a much more agitated manner than the exposition. I definitely learn from Mozart's G minor Quintet for the texture here. Transition in 10:54 as 1st subject greatly shortened. 11:38 Recap, 2nd subject. Time to enjoy the moving sadness by despair theme here. Try to grasp hope but despair seems fully taking control... 13:28 Coda, 1st part. My fav. theme in 1st mov quoted here: do I have to end in this way after all these struggles?? Are they futile at all?? I sink myself and dissolve myself into harmonies only after all the counterpoints before. Yeah! Despair may not be solved but it can be dissolved! To acquire it isn't to have hope defeat despair, but rather embrace despair and carry its heavy weight on your shoulder and still maintain that the world is hopeful. 14:40 Coda, 2nd part. By no means I am merely copying Beethoven's op.135 3rd mov (my all time fav mov) note by note here: the Eb-D-C-Bb motive there is the perfect solution to the despair motive in this entire piece. But just like Beethoven's op.131 or Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, what's happen next is not the issue here, so the ending is somewhat unfinished, and what's left undone would be further developed as in 16:00 the melody begins my 2nd Clarinet Quintet in E flat major. Feel free to criticize the movement here! A more complete narrative of the whole piece will be put in the video featuring the whole piece instead of here. Thank you if you follow the whole piece of music and read the long descriptions here! Henry P.S. Here are the posts of previous movements of the same Quintet: 1st Mov: 2nd Mov: 3rd Mov: The passage in Mozart's String Quintet in G minor: The slow movement of Beethoven's op.135 Quartet:

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu ! Congratulations on finally finishing this revision of your Clarinet Quintet! I'm glad that you are now able to move on to other projects! I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet - I think you did say something about someone mentioning that parts of this reminded them of Brahms? For me the pickups to mm. 63 reminds me of Brahms Clarinet Sonata No. 2 2nd movement - Allegro Appassionato. Especially the b2 Neapolitan inflections in the Clarinet melody there really remind me of Brahms. I guess you have the 2nd part of the Development without a key signature because it's so modulatory? I like the canonic imitation in mm. 359! I also enjoyed the simultaneous diminution/augmentation of the motivic material in the last part of the Development! I love that slow theme you brought back in the 2nd part of the Coda! Great job - thanks for sharing!

Again, the first sentence of the clarinet is great, and the next time the same phrase is played by the strings is nice too. I don't know why, but when I listen to your clarinet works, I can't help but imagine a raw recording. It is natural to do so. The dialogue between instruments is also very well structured, making it quite difficult to fully grasp in just one listening. I think it is wonderful how so many different elements come together as one. The section starting around 14:44 is beautiful—I feel the vibe of "to the supreme". Also, the section around 8:35 sounds nice to me. The audio playback is nice too—great job, Mr. Vince! Henry, I appreciate your works! Well done! Best, Lithl.