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Title MelodiesThemes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste AVG The Voyage of a Lone Ship 9 9 7.8 9.8 9.5 7.8 4.5 9.6 8.37 Overall, you did a really good job with the piece the one gripe I only have though is just some of the double stops in quadruple stops could be impossible. You did a really good job of storytelling. The reason why i tanked your execution score Just like all the other responses, this exceeds the eight minute maximum however though I must give where credit credit is due as I think that the nine minutes was all enjoyable and wasn’t a huge problem musically This is a good story, but it doesn’t correspond to a specific landscape strongly but anyways good work

thank you so much for your comment!

This is very awesome to hear! Apologies for not conversing in French, as I’m sure it’d be more comfortable for you. It is my opinion that the idea of a musical is no where to be found in the sample you provided. I think it both safer and easier if you work your way up to it instead. If you have not written for solo instruments or chamber/ small ensembles, then trying to take the complexity of a musical, ballet, or opera is not going to benefit you. It’s similar to this metaphor: If a child just learned to write and comes to you to say, “I want to write a research paper!” You might say “that’s a good goal, but you need to do these steps first.” Those who’ve just taken to a skill and are now striving to do the complex works in that genre will give you great challenge. Regardless of the actual notes on the page in this post, consider starting small and writing simpler works. Simpler works that focus on your use of harmony and melody. Something to do that is exercising your skill without having the brain challenge of a large ensemble. Most western musicals will only have 6-15 musicians in local communities and more often than not, it may be one or two brass players switching instruments. So, try writing a brass trio with Bass-Trombone, French Horn and Trumpet. That way you can expand different octaves and still be in territory you know as a brass player.

To answer your question about these techniques Chopping is a percussive technique where you pick up the bow and you near the frog push downward at the string. There should be done with a good amount of pressure, causing a short, percussive chopped sound. The subharmonic is another string technique where you grab a little more pressure than usual on the bow there should be a sweet spot to this. A very good contact point should be a little towards the fingerboard, but the resulting pitch that comes out of this should be an octave below the target note. This is created because that the bow is gripping twice as much times when Bowing, so that heimholtz motion is doubled

Hello It’s quite a pleasant piece. But I agree. There’s some technical issue I’m not aware of, but it all sounds very unbalanced. On another note, I don’t know what your background or training is. But I think there are certain pitfalls we all fall into when we’re beginners (and even until we’ve gained enough experience). And that is: we put a large orchestra on paper (or screen) and think that by filling it up as much as possible, we’re orchestrating. But that’s not how it works. I think your first orchestrations should be with small, chamber orchestras.

thank you so much for your feedback! ill try to implement your suggestions in my next work

Some nice use of extended string techniques here. I've never seen sub-harmonic and chopped directions before. Wonder if you could explain what they mean, and how they're performed?

Hello @PikapikaHei ! Welcome to the forum! To me actually the piano writing is idiomatic! The melodies are also good. For me it would be the structure of the piece. You are going for an ABABA structure which the A and B sections provide good contrast with each other with different mood, tempo and texture. I would suggest you adding more developments in each of the A and B sections after their initial presentation, rather than just changing keys. For example the recurring A sections you could have developed the melodies with variations rhythmically and texturally. Also, it would be great if there is an assimilation of the two sections at the end. However, this is a very good attempt especially from someone who has never attended a composition class, so props to it and keep writing! Henry

MelodiesThemes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of GivenChallenge Taste 8.7 7 9 9.5 9.8 9.5 10 5.8 Avg.. 8.66 Everything is well, but this wasn’t really my cup of tea, though I can you should really take the taste category with a grain of salt as again, that is very arbitrary Anyways, you did a really good job exploring the wide range of mood and emotion

I'm starting a musical (or trying to) and since my band instrument is the trombone (though I mostly use piano to make melodies) I wrote the parts I have so far for me ad two fellow trombonists. 2 'pieces' so far, only 30 seconds long. Please take a listen any advise would be lovely. I'm to nervous to show my teachers. FlatTrack 1 demo - Sheet music for TromboneMade by referencereverend. Music notation created and shared online with Flat

Alright, thanks for the tips!

Well I've been in music as an art class for almost three years now(I'm at the end of sec 3 now), playing the trombone instrument in band. But this year I was in a special program that where I have music class for about three hours every day, plus lunch practices for and I stay after school for improv. I know most of the basics in music theory, but I learn in french so I cant really give specifics. Still, I know alot let about actualy creating music since we didn't go over it much yet. Just harmonies, tension and release and simple concepts such as those.

Hello and welcome to the forum! Forgive me in this comment as I have made various hypotheses. I believe you are to be a young composer and perhaps a younger musician who only started to take composing seriously within the last year or two. To help us give you the best possible response, can you provide some context of your skill/ training, can you share some of your background? (I.e. how long playing, how long composing, or how much music theory you know?)

i like the usage of chinese instruments here. definitely unique and original. i will choose to not grade the playability since i do not know the intricacies. the score is definitely readable, but it lacks a lot of things (dynamics, articulation, etc.). the resulting look is very bare. i could not hear any memorable/distinct themes/subjects as they are not presented well. sure, there are contrapuntal lines, but they are just that, lines. without noticeable melodies to cling onto, the lines fall flat imo. one can probably notice upon further score inspection (or multiple listens), but i do have to consider the first couple of listening experience as well. furthermore, i couldnt associate the piece with the given pictures, other than it sounds chinese. the piece leans heavily into pentatonic, but there is also no clear harmonic direction. it feels aimless. good contrapuntal writing though! Melodies Themes Motives 2 Harmony Chords Textures 2 Form Development Structure Time 3 Originality Creativity 7 Score Presentation 4 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability N/A Execution of Given Challenge 3 Taste 2 Average Score: π (3.14, not the exact value of the pi decimal preceding it, but still lol)

Good start, idiomatic and the part leading is correct.

Hi Sam, The first problem I notice with this, is a technical one. It sounds like you have your master level set too high in the mixer, and it's causing a lot of peak level distortion. There's also quite a lot of octave doubling across the orchestra. This is notorious for causing distortion, because the instrument libraries are artificially adjusted to be perfectly in tune. So you get lots of frequency build up that you wouldn't have in a real orchestra. Some more expensive libraries allow random detuning, which helps circumvent this problem. Octave doubling is something forbidden in strict counterpoint, because it sounds weak. So it's probably best avoided where possible. (I'm being a bit of hypocrite here, because I've made exactly the same mistake in the latest piece I've posted!) Anyway, hope that helps a little. Alex

I agree! Bach's WTC, his piano suite, inventions, the art of fugue, and many more should have you greatly! Also, look into his chorales. That is always best place to start. Take a theme and harmonize in 4 parts. :)

Thanks for your kind comment. I’ve been doing this for a long time now, and I’ll say that this kind of counterpoint is a process of continuous refinement, that is as much formed from my ear training through extensive listening as my technical training. Generally outer voices have initial priority during the process that I QA largely by ear. The most difficult aspect is structural: not just developing ideas but directing them in a tonally coherent and ascetically pleasing manner. That’s where the great complexity often lies beside the voice leading intricacies.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 2 4 1 3 5 N/A 0 1 Disqualified, but otherwise average is 2.3 It really doesn't do what it's trying to very effectively. Nothing fugal about it.

Thank you, sir I'm glad that you were able to enjoy that, despite it being a piece that, frankly, I had difficulty finding inspiration writing for... This was definitely difficult, to me, and I certainly feel like there could've been more done within it's current duration to elaborate on the overall consensus of the story the notation is trying to portray. Personally, I feel that it's a bit repetitive, with a couple of nuanced expressions of the original idea spread throughout... which is fine, technically, but makes for a less impactful story in the end. I just hope maybe others might think differently but I suppose that has yet to be seen and we'll know for sure as more members comment their thoughts here. Thanks for the feedback, and the kindness you've shown my work :) -Unc

It’s an interesting piece. I think you make excellent use of the dynamics and the rhythmic foundation, creating an intriguing yet effective contrast with the slow section. What I like most is that the piano really sounds like a piano; I mean, the writing is idiomatic for the instrument.