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Opposed to orchestral percussion, percussion ensembles usually get alot more room, which allows them to position instruments where its easy to transfer. Also mallet bags assist with this. Truthfully the rule about giving alot of time for percussionists is only if you do not know what their set-up will look like. However if you can calmly and easily switch in a quick time, then there is no issue.

@CrystalCanon Thanks for the extensive review! As far as the formatting goes, could you expand on what you mean by separate flows? I definitely agree with the triple-forte and the alignment part, that's just laziness on my side when editing, and it definitely shouldn't make it through to the final draft! The reason I sometimes wrote the hairpin above or below the staff was to make it clearer that it only applies to one stave. I'm not sure if that's actually a good idea in practice though haha. In retrospect, it's funny how composition works! Now that you pointed it out, I can see how bar 11 is so obviously out of place. I actually had it connected to everything originally, but during some voice leading edits I thought it was a bit too difficult to play for a piece like this, so I simplified it to the point where it doesn't really make sense anymore haha. It's always fun seeing people find all these different ways that the material is connected to each other. I never really thought about making that connection more obvious, but your comment actually sparked something in my brain. I really appreciate that feedback!

@CrystalCanon I completely agree that neoclassicism is a continuation (following a hiatus of more than a century). Of course, these composers looked to everything that came before, in response to what they considered “chaos” in the 20th century. But what prompted me to start this thread is the fact that many people automatically label music as neoclassical simply because it sounds like 18th-century music even though it was composed today. And that’s not the case. Neoclassicism has its own (new) characteristics. It uses dissonance—sometimes very subtle, other times blatantly so—along with polytonality. It employs surprise through rhythms and/or accents that become irregular and ever-changing. It shuns the idealized beauty of Classicism and seeks instead a sense of detachment and intellectual order (many composers omit violins for this reason). Here’s a very clear example:

Thanks for sharing @Alex Weidmann! I’m not qualified to comment on the orchestration, but I really love Koechlin’s colorful sense of harmony and sonority. It reminds me of Mompou in some ways, though less static. I’ll have to dig deeper into his work…

Becoz there ain't no fairy tales in modern world now lolol 😝 Also it reminds you drinking more milk lolol

Hello @MinGry, I really enjoyed your piece, and I love the amount of thought you put into its design! It even gives me some inspiration for my next sonatina! I’ll focus on the first movement right now, since it’s the most important, and I think it also shows the most room for improvement. Score formatting: The movements should be formatted into separate flows. When a hairpin follows a dynamic marking, the two should typically be on the same level. Also it’s easier for performers to read when they are between the two staves. Most of the time these guidelines are followed, but there were a few points that could be slightly cleaner (for example, ms. 22, 32-33, 43). The triple-forte in m.66 is probably excessive in a sonata—fortissimo will suffice! Compositional elements: I must admit, my first general impression of the piece was that I couldn’t tell if I was hearing neoclassicism, or bad counterpoint. I settled on the latter by the end of the movement, and more so by the end of the second movement — though I think you could set the scene earlier so the listener doesn’t have to guess. You could be a little bolder in your dissonances in this part, using a few more sonorities that can’t be reduced to triads or incomplete triads. The main figure for the transition (m.9) gave me a little bit of trouble, for two reasons. First, it contains a lot of internal rhythmic contrast, more than I’d expect in a transitional theme. Second, I didn’t hear how it connected either to the primary or secondary themes — it just sounds a bit out of place. I then observed that it could be derived from the figure in bars 6-7: But I think the link could be made stronger, and more audible, by slightly modifying the figure’s metrical position. One possible solution for m.9: I would also personally omit bar 11, as I don’t think it’s really necessary. My favorite part of the movement was the secondary theme, and I also liked how it was introduced first in the bass! Moving onto the mini-development, I wasn’t initially convinced by the figure in bars 24-25, though I find it creative how it connects to the coda, and to the accompaniment of the secondary theme. To give it more interest, I’d suggest consistently omitting the first eighth note when it occurs in the right hand, as you did in bars 24-25. It also leads more naturally to its target note that way. Overall, really good work! I have much less to say about the other two movements, because I think they’re pretty strong.

This sounds a lot more complex than it really is. The cool thing about this is that the music is quite unique, which is a paradox given how simple the music notation is. This probably has a lot to do with the instrumentation and dynamics. Quite an interesting piece, and unnerving too! Love to hear the vibraphone be used in a completely different context, other than jazz.

I'll start by giving some notes about notation. First, looking at the first page, 127 is not a real metronome marking. Metronomes are physical tools that have notches at certain points, you can't pick any number. Quarter note to 126 would be a valid metronome marking. As Luis noticed, the nat. marking has no place here. If you're preparing music, prepare one file made focusing on playback for the audio, and then another focusing on engraving for the score. If you handed that to a string quartet, they would be confused. Throughout the score, there are a lot of mezzo dynamics. Avoid using mezzo dynamics. Mezzo forte is not a "medium dynamic," it is forte but held back. It is for special cases to achieve a very particular effect. If you're using mezzo dynamics to balance, don't. Real musicians will know how to balance musically on their own. Try to have the number of measures per system be consistent and somewhat few. For an ensemble like a quartet, try something like 4 measures per system, 3 systems per page. The first page is a little too spaced vertically, and too narrow horizontally. And the final 2 measures cutting off abruptly looks quite ugly. Now to actual compositional devices. Since this seems to be written attempting to be tonal, judging by the frequent raised leading-tone, I would make sure you're more mindful to follow basic voice leading rules. For example, mm. 2-4 there are parallel octaves between the 2nd violin and cello, and this doesn't seem purposeful to me. It creates a very empty shallow harmonic quality. Throughout, the harmony is also very clunky and poorly voiced, with lots of doubled leading-tones, chordal sevenths, etc. Check what kind of harmonic function each chord is meant to have, and revoice focusing on clarity, fullness, and voice leading. The use of spiccato is odd to me. It's not wrong, but spiccato is generally paired with quicker passages, so I'm wondering if it's the effect you want, or if just a simple staccato would be sufficient. I also feel like the piece could use more direction in general. Where is it going and why? Right now, it sort of just goes back and forth harmonically between somewhere tonic adjacent and dominant adjacent. It'd be nice to hear more push and pull, and like it's going somewhere. It's sort of static as it is, give it some momentum! The piece is a good start, keep it up.

Hello everyone! I’m happy to be posting my first piece on this forum. It’s a short and unpretentious waltz for piano in A major. After a couple years of much reading and sketching, but without a single completed work, I decided to revive one of my old ideas, with the encouragement of my best friend. It took me a little over a week to complete, during a vacation in Paris, and it’s very satisfying to be able to put a double bar on the end! I’m dedicating it to my friend, who plays the piano herself, and now lives on the other side of the world. It’s in a very tonal and functional idiom, and I had no intention of making the piece stylistically distinctive, though I think a few elements of my personal style definitely found their way in, such as a certain motivic organicism, and penchant for harmonic variety. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! (Sorry for the bad recording—I figured it was still better than the MIDI output, especially since I don’t know how to configure dynamics playback in Dorico yet). Home recording - Waltz A major .mp3 01 - Full score - Waltz in A major.pdf

Hello, It's a nice waltz. It's always great to hear live performances of original works! It's perhaps a bit short...leaves me wanting a bit more :) Thanks for sharing!

Hi @PeterthePapercomPoser! I really enjoyed your short piece, with its flowing polyrhythms. It has a distinctly nonwestern sound to it, perhaps some gamelan influence? It’s definitely its own thing though. I find it interesting how seemingly arbitrary constraints can help define successful and engaging music. As Stravinsky wisely said, “Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength”. While I’m not superstitious, I also find it artistically stimulating to think of music in symbolic terms. For example, I naturally each pitch with a specific color. Besides, composers already tend to associate musical themes with concepts in individual works.

What is Neoclassicism? I get the impression that many of us have the wrong idea about what Neoclassicism is. I often come across comments in posts such as: ‘Ah, this is in a Neoclassical style’, or even the composer themselves might say that their work is Neoclassical. But writing a piece that is reminiscent of Mozart, to take him as an example, is not the same as creating something Neoclassical. It is simply imitating, with varying degrees of success, the Classical style. Neoclassicism has a specific origin, a particular period (roughly 1920–1950) with its own historical background. And most importantly: it has its own defining characteristics. Without that, we are not creating Neoclassicism, but merely imitating the style of the 18th century. There are a great many composers who, at some stage in their lives, composed neoclassical works. To name a few off the top of my head: Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Bartók, Hindemith, Falla, Copland, Milhaud, Honegger, Chávez. And there are marvellous works by all of them – symphonies, operas, piano pieces, and so on... If you’re interested, we can discuss these characteristics and works. Best regards.

Hi to all 😀 This work is loosely connected to my last post "Chills". As I wrote the piano version of that piece, it brought to mind the style of Charles Koechlin. So it seemed fitting to make an orchestration of one of his lovely piano miniatures. I wonder how many of you have never heard of him? (I hadn't until recently!) I've posted two versions below: 14 has a different woodwind arrangement of the opening passage, and a percussive hit added in Bar 8. I wonder which you think is best? As usual it's a rough score, intended for midi only. I haven't got round to adding slurs, and the 1st Violin passages would probably make more sense if I split them across 2nd Violins and Violas. The original piano piece can be found in the You Tube link below. Koechlin - Roses Au Soleil De Midi #14.mp3Koechlin - Roses Au Soleil De Midi #11.mp3 Koechlin - Roses Au Soleil De Midi #14.pdf Koechlin - Roses Au Soleil De Midi #12.pdf

I declare my interest to join this competition

Greetings all! Just wanted to post my latest orchestration. It's another piece by Frank Bridge called "The Fairy Tale" (why does it keep autocorrecting to "The Dairy Tale"?!) I've only tackled the first movement so far (titled "The Princess"). The original piano work is very light: so I've tried to keep it so here. At one point I alternate between pizzicato and staccato in the 2nd violins, to provide a different colour. Not really sure this works? Perhaps I should've stuck with staccato only. The poor doublebasses have nothing to do. I wonder where they could play a role? Perhaps pizzicato would work somewhere? The celli also could do with more material; but not sure where to bring them in? All tips very welcome! N.B. I haven't bothered to write in alternations between the 1st and 2nd flutes, clarinets and oboes as yet. I will add some later, so they don't run out of breath. Bridge - A Fairy Tale (orchestration) #13 (added ZL compressor).mp3 Bridge - A Fairy Tale (orchestration) #13 (added ZL compressor).pdf

Thanks Mark. Hopefully I've converted you to Koechlin! Many of his pieces can be found on You Tube, as well as an interesting documentary about his life and works.

Hi I listen to the original piano work; although your orchestration is full of color and is well thought out and quite enjoyable. The orchestra version from my mind when compared to the piano is not as ethereal/light or distinct as the original piano version in feel. I guess orchestrating from piano is not easy at all. Mark

Once again very nice sounding work ....

Alex, this is a lovely work. My only observation/suggestion is all the doubling in the woodwinds. When playing with multiple persons tuning the octaves among the players takes a bit finesse. Mark

Hello, Sometimes the problem with writing so much music is that it takes so long to listen to it all. I have been listening to the your pieces gradually in the last few weeks while at work to try to take it all in. I think others have made more specific comments, I'll just say a few things about overall impressions. Maybe there are more thoughts after...but I think when you've created something like this - it sort of takes on a life of it's own. I mean from the most fundamental level, I find your music interesting to listen to and I enjoyed listening to it multiple times. So in that regard, from a subjective perspective, I am a fan. I dig your style. The opening notes from your first prelude sort of says: This is Classical music, but the chords are gonna be a little spicy at times. Which is great. Listening to your music feels familiar enough for me, but also exciting enough through the nice harmonies and ideas you got going on. It's clear that you have put a lot of thought into it all. The pacing works great. I'm thinking that the 10 pieces need to be played in this order. So the second thought is...can you actually play these compositions yourself? It gets very virtuosic at points. I would absolutely love to hear a recorded version of yourself playing it. I think there is only so much that comes through in these simulated recordings. The third thought is that you clear have a style that shows through. Prelude 5 goes a bit off on a tangent stylistically from my ears, but I mean I think I hear a distinct "SergeOfArniVillage" style if that makes sense. My favorite is probably Prelude 7. The right hand accompaniment that you do throughout is so nice. Really tickles the right places in my brain, if that makes sense. While you have the "loud" songs and the "soft" songs. I think I prefer the more quite and contemplative ones. I also enjoyed Prelude 9 very much. Probably my second favorite. I'm a big fan of adding descriptive titles to your pieces. I totally get if that's not your thing, but it would be so amazing to hear your own thoughts on what inspired you and what you were sort of going for when writing these pieces.

Good day, Fruit Hunter! I see you have a orchestration that is vibrant. Listening to the piece, I would say the piece would follow a form that might be quasi-fantasia? The effort put in to this piece is obviously a lot, and I must appreciate this piece for that reason. It definitely feels like a potpouriss, but it is also energetic, just as the poem follows. Good Job, -TristanTheTristan