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@MK_Piano, you’ve created another wonderful piece! The way the composition unfolds right from the opening is fantastic. The section starting at 0:55 reminded me of the sound of a steam train whistle; it has a real sense of momentum, and the percussion works well, too. The part starting at 1:55 is a particular favorite of mine—the melody is so memorable. The calm section that follows at 2:25 is also excellent; the piece really tells a story. I’m sorry I can’t offer any specific advice regarding the sheet music or technical details. By the way, it looks like you and @UncleRed99 get along really well! I’d love to hear a full-scale collaboration between the two of you someday :) Best, Lithl.

This^ My thoughts exactly

@MK_Piano and I have been composing together / critiquing one another's works for a time before either of us were apart of this forum. I recently brought him onto it, as a way for him to share his works with you all, when I am unavailable to give insight on what he is working on. Although, he is much more Theory-Literate than I am, on account that he actually followed thru with his music education, unlike myself, who dropped out of school back in 2018 😅 But yes, we have brought up the idea a couple of times, and even started something, but never followed thru with it, I think, simply due to incompatibility in terms of scheduling. We will likely get around to it, some time. But for now, consider many of our works to be collaborations in and of themselves. We've contributed something to many of eachother's scores, be it small or large contributions, we've had a hand in one another's work in some fashion for a time, now. :)

Hello @MK_Piano, many thanks for your urgent response and your helpful comments so far! To first give some context and answering the question 8. The Key., the underlying piano composition which I used for the orchestration is a six-part quadruple fugue for piano in B minor – the most complex composition I accomplished so far. It is 18 minutes long and has 360 measures and literally modulates to all 24 keys during its journey. I have chosen for the orchestration example, the fourth episode which is a modulating section from D# minor (wherein the fourth development section ends) to D major (which is the starting key of the fifth development section). Therefore, we have no B minor in this excerpt, but rather the modulation from Eb minor via C minor, A minor/A phrygian and finally by the C# diminished seventh chord to D major. Hupps, just as I’m typing that and wondering why you talk about a C# half diminished while I was sure that it is a C# diminished seventh, I see a typo in the last measure: in the piano original we have a B-flat but I have taken over a B-natural. However it also sounds good and I did not notice this mistake while listening, but I think, I’ll fix it. I just haven’t presented the entire piano fugue on YCF nor published it on YouTube yet (fortunately), so I came around with the – hopefully not too megalomaniacal – idea to use that material as the „sketch“ for an external composition competition. Therefore, again, many thanks for your comments, they will help me with this adventure. Sadly, I’m – if I participate in that contest – under „embargo“ concerning the material of the fugue I will use. 1. Page Margins. I also printed it and it has sufficient margins. Your troubles might have been caused since the PDF is in A4-format (as usual in Europe) and you probably tried to print it on an American printer? A full orchestral score on A4 is challenging, and one has to be very stingy with the space, but other commonly used formats for orchestral scores are not printable on a home or office printer and the contest’s request was also to use A4. 2. Having multiple colors within the engraving. I usually apply that colored annotations in fugues to highlight the subject entries, and I think it is helpful for analysis (thus, I use it in my videos and also when sharing pieces on the YCF). However, it is clear to me that a score intended for performance is only black and white. However, what do you think, would judges in a competition appreciate such a colored, analytical score, additionally? 3. Clefs and 4. Rests. I corrected the clefs with ottava numbers for Piccolo, Glockenspiel, Tuba and Contrabass as well as replaced the rests with centered whole rests whenever an entire measure is empty. 5. Rests again. Even if I have not yet seen your annotations, I guess that the suspected rests are merely those whenever two instruments share one staff. In this cases, whenever there are two voices on one staff, I often engraved the rests for both voices explicitely. But to make the score much more clearer, I suppose, you would suggest to apply that procedure only for the „divisi“ sections and in the other cases, if either only one instrument plays, or both in unison, to have only rests for the entire staff and not for each individual voice. 6. THE HARP. Yes, I have taken over as many as possible from the piano part to the harp, although I just had to make some simplifications concerning what notes are playable at one time (with a distinct pedal setting). I know that harpists are using only four fingers, therefore there are only „chords“ with maximum three notes in each staff. However, I suppose that you find some ninth intervals unplayable (while my online resources say that large intervals up to tenths would be playable using the thumb and the ring/fourth finger). What I perhaps could do, is to simplify the harp part - meaning to get rid from the (remainder of the) six-part voice leading in the piano score, and to notate all (or at least the most) notes to be played as quarter notes. I suppose, there is no big difference between a quarter note, a half or even a whole or tied note, as the length of the sounding is determined inherently by the instrument and there is no explicit damping required (as in the piano part, there are also long passages with sustain pedal). 7. Harp Pedals. I replaced the pedal diagram with letters (which is also much better readable for me ...). Episode4-Symphonic-Fugue-B-minor-revision1.pdf

Still so happy how the flute solo at b.76 sounds ;) Glad I could be of assistance, with both, what we referred to as the "Brass Hymnal" sections, and with the C Section of the piece. I had fun being involved in the process, directly :)

You know, with the score being two years old, and my experience also being two years younger at the time, I just assumed the horn staves were already formatted correctly as they are for all my scores/ templates now. That was an oversight by me due to complacency. C-trumpets are the preferred instrument for orchestral settings compared to the Bb-trumpet. Why? I am unsure the specific reason/ evolution to that answer, however, I know it is industry standard now to see C-trumpets in a vast number of orchestral works. Trumpets in D, Eb, and Bb are some of the exceptions with Bb being the other most common. I used for that reason and because I wanted C-trumpet for it's slightly brighter character compared to Bb. To add, the instrumentation lists Four Trumpets split between two parts (2+2 for volume). With the standard of 3 distinct parts over two staves, I kept the parts limited to two for simplicity when it came to orchestrating. That was done two years ago when I created the piece and I just kept it the same now. Lastly, I did not pair the woodwind staves together as they have very distinct parts between all the winds. Trying to condense them onto a single stave felt like a cluster-bomb I was not willing to tackle. Thus, having them explicit and separated establishes a strong clarity for what the part is doing. To add, as I have printed an earlier draft of this score once before, the pdf makes it feel smaller than what you will see physically. I do not think the measure/ part size will be an issue. Thanks for pointing out the horn parts, I will fix that immediately!

Hi @MK_Piano ! What a wonderful steam railway adventure you've created! I think it will fit right in with similar train-themed repertoire in the catalogue such as the Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop and Pacific 231. I love the spirit of the piece! The brass Eb major 6/9 chords do a wonderful job of mimicking the train whistle! I didn't even realize what chord that was until I heard this piece. The melodic variations and modulations keep the piece fresh and the modulation to Db major is a well conceived and welcome one! The descending Eb, D, C, Bb figure is a really great ostinato that puts me in a chugging mood! LoL I know you're a stickler to score engraving so I don't have much critique there except that usually the Horns are paired 1&3 and 2&4 on each staff. Also, I'm surprised that you used C Trumpets - and only two of them? When I played trumpet, Bb trumpet was still the standard and I'd expect 3 in the orchestra to be available. Also, any reason why you didn't group the woodwinds two to a staff? It would save a lot of space on the page. Those are just my minor critiques. Thanks again for your recent help on my Christmas Mash-up!!!

If someone would have written this for my wedding, I would've cried. It's so beautiful. Thanks for sharing. That's all I have to say.

Hello everyone, I am back to feature an overhauled work of mine: The Tuckasegee Flyer. CONTEXT: Originally written in 2024 by commission from my friend, Brody, this work was meant to accompany a YouTube video series he was creating. Two years later, and during this summer, I felt in a trough of composition. I have sketched a lot of ideas for themes or independent phrases, however, I had no passion or inspiration to make them into full pieces. So, after looking through my file system, I looked through this work and immediately, I had ideas. This work is an orchestral depiction of what it feels like to ride behind a steam locomotive as seen or felt by a passenger. If you would like to know more specifics and a longer explanation of the work, go to the 3rd page of the PDF (which is listed as page 1 due to the front and back of the cover page). Thanks for viewing my score and taking a listen! (Comments welcome) This work in its current state would not have been possible without the support of friends and fellow composers. Big thank you to @UncleRed99 for his help with understanding brass ensembles as well as non-YCF composer @Arbolav for his help in the development. You two elevated this piece and I am forever thankful! The Tuckasegee Flyer_AUDIO.mp3 The Tuckasegee Flyer_SCORE.pdf The Tuckasegee Flyer_SCORE.pdf The Tuckasegee Flyer_SCORE.pdf

I see! This helps a lot of understanding. So, the overall fugue is modal, where in this excerpt, we are in Eb/D#-moll and modulate to the next mode for the Fifth Fugue. That makes a lot of sense. To add, yes, I did print on American Letter. With the color engraving, I do not think it is good for performance. The simplest answer I can give to rationalize this, is simply to look at what is currently being printed and published now. No Das wohltemperierte Klavier from Bach is going to be color-coded by Henle, Bärenreiter, or Breitkopf und Härtel for the sake of showing the subjects. It is good for pedagogy and analysis, as printed theory books will include such information. However, not for performance. Anyone who has taken 18th century theory and counterpoint can identify that information with some effort. The other thing about it is the perspective. The only time you may even need to include that info is for study of the entire score... So, when it comes to the conductor, are they going to be the only one to see that information? Are you going to format the parts with extra color for when each instrument has the subject? If a judging panel were going to see it, those questions arise and it would beg the question 'why did this composer feel the need to do this?' When it came to multiple rests, when ever the part is playing, yes, please include the individual voice rests if only one of them is playing. However, when both parts are not playing, only use a single whole rest to show an empty measure. Yet, in the score, you still notate 1. or 2. for when that part is playing. This can be correct, however, at the beginning with the clarinets or trombones, if ONLY one is playing, then please show another rest for the other part that is not playing. This only applies on the score and for the entire duration a voice is playing. For the parts, you would format separate documents for each instrument (two-parts for Trombones, Clarinets, etc. - Four-parts for horns). This said. you DO NOT need to write divisi for any other instrument except the strings. Divisi playing can be notated by the 1. or 2. you are using currently, however any other time should be notated by stem direction and rests, NOT the term divisi. If both parts are playing together, then only show one line of music. Why? because the parts will be separated. A conductor will see the different stem directions and know what those instruments are doing. The exception to this is in concert band/ wind ensemble music. That field sees something like 7 clarinets on one part, and in that case, you can just use numbers and a-due (a2.) to show when the parts are together. In orchestral music, not so much.

Hello, I really enjoyed the piece. Lacking perfect pitch, I don't pretend to have any sort of these savant like abilities some may have around preferences for certain keys. I feel like the piece works really well in F minor. I don't know why. It just feels like it should be in F minor. Bravo. In my opinion the main theme is very memorable and stands out. It's always nice to hear you return to it. It's got this sort of devilish, mischievous character to me. I was listening to again for the third time, I noticed something in measure 37 sounded a bit off. When I look at the sheets, I see Enat in the left hand and Eb in the right hand. But then again, you do this at other parts in the piece and it doesn't sound off at all. Maybe it's the Db in the RH? It might not be any significant, but I figured that I would at least post it here.

Hello, The sheet music doesn't seem to correspond to the music? I looked up the BDFI tune on youtube...battle for dream island? the first 3 minutes or so...there were parts that sort of sounded like 8bit video game music. Maybe it was the fast repeated chords. But yeah, made me think of video game music. There are some nice chord progressions up to the 5 mins mark that I liked. It's a bit hard to comment otherwise without sheet music for me personally...since the audio play back is computer based...it's hard to imagine the sound that you are trying to go for without either you actually playing the piece, or having the sheets :) for example at times I thought that there was weird stuff going on harmonically, but that could just be the playback. Can't confirm without seeing the sheets, or a better recording. Hard to be sure due to above mentioned factors, but you seem to have this 0% to 100% approach. Where it's either like wall of sound, or softer sections. I mean, maybe it's your style or what you are going for. I personally think music can be a bit more interesting with a bit more held back sometimes if that makes sense. In other words, it sounds objectively nice, but I also found myself getting perhaps a bit fatigued at times listening to it all! Once again, this might just be due to the recording. Around 10:30 or so there were some nice harmonies as you ascended. The Coda and the diminished runs was pretty unexpected and fun. Overall, the piece sounds bombastic, grandiose. It's so cheerful. Brings a smile to my face :) Love the never-ending...ending. Those are always fun. I'm a bit older...when I reflect on the type of stuff that I was writing at age 15...I would say that you have something really nice here :)

Ollo! I will be looking at this score soon and giving some feedback. To preface some the explicit comments I will make, there are still a lot of engraving errors within the score. 1. Page Margins. I tried printing the score from my Google Browser and it increased the page margins of your document/ made the score smaller to fit the page. I would increase the margins by default. 2. Having multiple colors within the engraving. I can understand doing this for pedagogy or analysis, however, for publishing and performance, do not add multiple colors UNLESS it is for specific reason (i.e. Contemporary/ experimental music). 3. Clefs. Glockenspiel does not read a 15ma Treble Clef. Tuba does not read in 8vb Bass Clef. Piccolo does not read 8va Treble Clef. They all read the normal versions of the clefs, however, the concert/ sounding pitch may be in those ranges. 4. Rests. Even in 6/4, 3/2, or 5/4, an empty measure is represented by a singular whole rest, not the dotted whole rest. To add, in the current version of the score, they are all offset. An empty measure needs to have its rest centered on the bar. 5. Rests again. I will make specific annotations of this comment. 6. THE HARP. The harp is not a piano, and comparing to your Piano score, it feels like you dragged piano elements to the harp. To emphasize some of their differences, harpists DO NOT use their pinkies when playing. So, some intervals or passages/ groupings of notes, can become impractical if you just copied it from a piano part. 7. Harp Pedals. They do not need a pedal diagram for every change. A simple, and clearly placed letter will be enough to show which pedal to change. To add, most harpists will just write one in if you only pedal charts. It's visually redundant for performance (in my experience) 8. The Key. Your Title says B-minor, then you open the piece in Eb-minor and end it on a C# half-diminished chord. So... which is it? Are we really in B-minor? I didn't see the key signature for this mode at all. (I have not done any harmonic analysis at the time of this comment) I will highlight some of these comments over the next day or two, however, let these serve as some food for thought. Good work!