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I am stoked to finally release this great collaboration with @Maharani that we've been working on for over a month! I first found out about Marissa's Solo French Horn sonata through the United Composer's Collective discord server (UCC). I offered to play and record at first just one movement but then it turned into a full 4-movement project. I spent a lot of time practicing almost everyday getting my chops into a state of preparedness. Honestly - it was a bit like training for a marathon! LoL The movements are as follows: Sonata Aria Capriccio Ciaccona We are also including two versions of the score - the handwritten one by Marissa and a more official and mistake free engraving by me. Bandcamp link: https://maharajah.bandcamp.com/album/sonata-per-corno-op-4 Let us know what you think of the composition, engraving as well as performance of this work! We'd be stoked to hear any of your comments, critiques, suggestions or observations! Thanks for listening. Sonata per corno – 1. Sonata.mp3Sonata per corno – 2. Aria.mp3Sonata per corno – 3. Capriccio.mp3Sonata per corno – 4. Ciaccona.mp3 Sonata per corno – handwritten score.pdf Sonata per corno Complete.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

These days are great in that I can see such nice collaborations like Henry & Vasilis, plus the Peter & Maharani pair! 😊 Peter, these pieces were good to hear. This kind of solo melody music is somehow difficult and you made nice pieces. I love your reverb version and, of course, Maharani's one. I think I like "Sonata" - this is a good opening for starting listening to these. Thank you for sharing. By the way, I've never listened to horn solo pieces. I know solo trumpet, saxophone - jazz sometimes does that but are there any solo horn pieces like that? I don't know. As for solo music, I love Paganini Violin Sonatas, not horn, though. That's awesome, isn't it? Anyway, nice job, both of you! I enjoyed it :) Hello Alexx, you can see Peter's horn in this topic, haha. For your reference! Best, Lithl.

Hi @draingxngceo! First of all, a hearty welcome here to the forum. I’m very excited about your post, because your passion for fugues and the attempt to compose your own ones after studying the Well-Tempered Clavier remind me of my own first steps in composition many years ago. You have tagged the post with „beginner“ and mentioned that you „don’t really have composition knowledge or experience“. However, the short „sketch“ of an exposition of a fugue is not „nothing“, so I think you indeed have acquired a basic knowledge about fugues through studying the ones from the WTC (or you are just extraordinary talented from nature :-)). That said, some of my more general explanations about fugues below might be obvious to you, but that basic knowledge on fugue writing/analysis might be interesting or useful for other readers, too. Getting started. Before I’ve listened your fugue exposition for the first time, I took a look at the score to get an initial impression. At the first glance, it is not entirely obvious what key the piece is in and how long the fugue subject is. Your fugue subject does not prominently start at the pitch of B or G# and the last note of the fugue subject can only be identified by comparing all three subject entries: It is a B, the first sixteenth note in measure two. Therefore, I am now certain that the fugue is in the key of B major (which is perhaps hinted at by the title “B Majuh,” but—I’m curious—what language is that?). No that is not an error - it makes it somewhat harder to analyze the fugue. With that first impression and the comment of @Luis Hernández I have now taken a closer look at your fugue in order to conduct a more detailed analysis and perhaps offer some suggestions or solutions for the few issues I noticed or that have already been mentioned by other reviewers. Below you will find my annotated score as well as an audio version. The fugue subject. A fugue starts with the introduction of its central melodic material, called the fugue subject. As the fugue subject is introduced by one voice solo, anyone can easily recognize a fugue. A melody to be used as a fugue subject must meet certain requirements in order to be suitable for this purpose: It should have a distinctive melodic and rhythmic character so that it is memorable. The melody may contain smaller fragments (motifs) that can be developed later in the fugue independently. The subject must clearly define the home key (tonic). However, a good fugue subject avoids a final, closed cadence and appears “open” to forward motion. Typically, subjects are relatively short (from one to four bars), although they can be longer, and stay within a moderate range (often an octave or less). The melody should maintain a steady flow - with a mix of rhythmic activity - that creates and preserves momentum. You’ve created an interesting fugue subject that meets almost all of these requirements. I especially like its memorable rhythmic character. Starting with rests (I see, you have studied Bach’s fugues from the WTC where he often starts its fugue subjects with rests), helps that the subsequent subject entries encounter seamlessly in the continuing flow of the fugue and prevents that the fugues rhythm becomes too „static“ or „blocky“. The only „weakness“ concerning the above definitions is that it „meanders“ around the home key B before the tonic is established by the final note. There is nothing wrong with that fact – it might bring some more harmonic freedom or possibilities within the further development. In my annotated score I have emphasized the fugue subject in blue color and marked its start with the letter T (i.e. „Thema“ for subject in German). As you can see, I have separated the last sixteenth note of the subject from the following ones and included a caesura in the phrasing to emphasize the end of the subject and to separate it somewhat from the following sixteenth-notes runs, which represent the (beginning) of the counterpoint. Dux and Comes. Once the subject has been played by the first voice, it is then imitated - one after the other - by the other voices. The answer is not a repetition of the subject on the same pitch, but transposed one, up a fifth (or down a fourth) to the dominant. Such an answer is called “Comes” (i.e., companion), while the original subject entry is called “Dux” (i.e., leader). The third voice enters again in the tonic as Dux, the fourth voice - if present - in the dominant as Comes, and so on (although there may be deviations from the order Dux - Comes - Dux - Comes). Your fugue exposition consists of three voices which create an „ordinary“ arrangement of Dux and Comes: First subject entry as Dux in the Soprano in the tonic key of B major, second subject entry as Comes in the Alto in the dominant ky of F# major and finally third subject entry as Dux in the Tenor (or Bass) in the tonic key of B major. Real and Tonal Answer. Whenever the subject entry by the Comes is a literal, note-by-note transposition of the original subject as played by the Dux up a perfect fifth, we speak of a „real answer”. However, it might be necessary for some kinds of subjects to perform a slightly modified transposition - called „tonal answer” - especially with regard to the dominant note (i.e. the 5th scale degree), if it appears prominently at the beginning of the subject. In the second subject entry you have altered the first pitch from an A# (as it would be when applying a literal transposition) to a B, in order to stay in the tonic key of B major for the first while. That is a kind of a „tonal answer“, but interestingly not applied at the fifth or the fourth, but on the third. There is nothing wrong with it; rather, it proofs that the fugue subject is somewhat „advanced“ or „challenging“ in its harmonic line. Counterpoint and Countersubject. The counterpoint is a distinct melodic line that accompanies the fugue subject (or its answer) in a different voice. It provides musical contrast and rhythmic independence against the main subject. Whenever it appears more than once, it is also called „countersubject” - as it is a recurring companion of the subject, perhaps throughout the entire fugue, but at least during the exposition. It must be constructed to sound harmonically correct when inverted (e.g., if it is used below and above the subject), calling it an „invertable counterpoint”. If the melodic line accompanying the subject does not return regularly, it is considered rather than a formal countersubject. Your counterpoint is a „free counterpoint“, not a recurring one that could be considered to be a „countersubject“. Because of its sixteenth note figures, it moves forward, introducing momentum. Furthermore, especially in bar 5, you have distributed that movement between the Soprano and Alto which is a good example for counterpoint in its rhythmically sense. All in all that rhythmic texture creates a (nearly) perfect „complementary rhythm“, that is when the different voices complement to each other so that there exists a played note on every sixteenth beat, from whatever voice it comes. In the transition from mm. 3 to mm. 4 I have introduced some slightly modifications (highlighted in yellow) in order to emphasize that complementary rhythm, ensuring that all sixteenth notes beats „are played“ mitigating the somewhat „thin sounding“ octave on F# on the first note of mm. 4 (even if it is not a parallel octave, that particular note sounds „thin“ for my ears, causing me to “stumble” a bit while listening). By the way, the tritone in bar 6 – which was mentioned by @LuisHernandez – does not sound so bad to my ears, so my mitigation for that passage is also more a rhythmic modification in the sense of complementary rhythm (with the benefit that the dissonance is shifted more to a passing note): Exposition and Development. The complete, subsequent entries of the fugue subject in all voices is called a development of the subject. The first of that development sections - e.g. the initial introduction of the fugue subject through all voices - is called the exposition, since the subject is presented here for the first time, usually obeying the rules of „Dux and Comes” as explained above, thus presenting the subject in the tonic and the answer in the dominant key. In the subsequent development sections, those „rules” are often interpreted more „relaxed”, meaning that the subject now appears - after a modulation by an interlude (or „episod”) - in other keys (such as related keys as the dominant or subdominant or the parallel key, or even in more distant or unrelated keys). Furthermore, now „fugal arts”, such as inversion, augmentation and diminution and stretto are applied increasingly to depict the subject in an altered nature, or to create tension. In the closing section of a fugue, the subject finally returns to the tonic key, sometimes over a tonic or dominant pedalpoint. There might be a passage after the ultimate subject entry, which is called a coda and whichs purpose is to bring the fugue to the end with the respective cadence. Your short example (measures 1 to 6) is – in my opinion – a good exercise for a fugue exposition. Episodes . An episode is a transitional section that separates the development sections of a fugue, acting as an interlude to modulate between keys and to create contrast. Episodes often feature sequential repetition of a melodic pattern, which contributes to the modulation and creates a sense of forward momentum. As a general “rule”, the complete fugue subject does not appear within an episode. However, episodes typically - though not always - use motifs derived from the subject or countersubject. Measures 7 and 8 could be the beginning of an episode (while I consider mm. 8 „unfinished“ in the soprano part). When listening that final two bars, I could imagine, that the fugue subject re-enters in the second half of bar 8, thus closing the gap in the soprano part with its first upbeat-motif ... Conclusion. I very enjoyed your attempt at composing a fugue and I’m excited to hear more about the success of that fugue(s). Perhaps, my comments and my slightly modified version can be useful in that process. (And as you can see – and hopefully hear -, I have introduced some extend of dynamics, articulation and tempo changes in the score and audio, expressing somewhat how I would interprete the piece as a piano player.) As for the suggestions to start by studying books and trying out “simpler exercises” (such as inventions, etc.) - yes, that’s undoubtedly true. However, if you enjoy trying out writing fugues, I would strongly recommend to continue that - and, of course, study Bach’s fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier - only the best source is good enough for learning! B-Majuh-piano-steinway-b.mp3 B-Majuh-colored.pdf

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 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

Good evening=) I’ve watched and listened to your Quartet. It seems to me that this is a very raw piece that needs serious revision. There are a great many purely technical issues. Even in computer playback, your texture doesn’t sound good, and with live players it will sound even worse. Your voices often cross and double each other. For example, in the “Pastorale”, right at the beginning, the cello and viola play the same notes, but the cello sustains quarter notes while the viola plays eighths. As a result, both will sound poor, and the accompaniment will get muddy. What’s more, your voices aren’t independent. You double many of the moves (literally in the second measure the cello, the viola, and the first violin, which has the melody, all play the same descending B–A together, and in the fourth you for some reason double the melody in the bass). This sounds extremely inexperienced. Avoid this. If you do double something (for example, if you need it for some effect), double everything, and do it consciously. If you don’t double, then don’t do it anywhere. Avoid moving all the voices in the same direction, especially in four or more parts. You’re working in a style close to the classical one, and such moments really grate on the ear here. In fact, they sound bad almost everywhere, and here especially so. Why you changed the type of texture in the 5th measure is completely unclear. There is neither the end of a section nor some especially important part of the theme there. It isn’t needed there either structurally or in terms of meaning. It’s as if you tugged the listener by the sleeve, they got ready to hear something important, and you didn’t say anything. The listener was disappointed :) You are trying to fill the entire vertical space from the bass to the very top, and there is no good reason for it. There is a good rule: the lower the register, the wider the intervals. Narrow intervals in the small octave and below sound unclear. They can be used there only with a clear and evident purpose. In your piece they often just sit there for the sake of being there. That will sound bad too. More notes doesn’t mean a richer sound. Four voices are quite enough in a quartet. They will then sound very clean, expressive, and beautiful. And if you want a rich sound, it is achieved by making the texture more polyphonic, not by mechanically adding notes. I hope you’re not offended by my remarks. All of this can be easily fixed, and it will come with practice :) I wish you luck and inspiration. Alex

Hello A fantastic piece, rich in colour and beautifully orchestrated. I find this sort of work for wind bands to be a rather distinctive genre, and by no means an easy one. In the area where I live (Spain, on the Mediterranean coast) there’s a very strong tradition of street bands (marching bands?). They play whilst marching the whole time and consist of dozens of clarinets, oboes, flutes, sometimes saxophones, and percussion—including timpani, which are constantly pushed along by two assistants. There are many bands here and they play at the local festivals. For example, in many villages and neighbourhoods, ‘Moors and Christians’ festivals are held (lasting 3–5 days), as this country was under Muslim rule for seven centuries (from 711 to 1492) and these festivals re-enact the final Christian victory. Anyway, it’s fascinating. And that’s why we have such a wonderful Muslim heritage in this country in every aspect (traditions, cuisine, the language). These bands parade with various groups throughout the day and play pasodobles, music that sounds ‘Arabic’, and so on… That’s why I’m so fond of this sort of band. Anyway, sorry for rambling, but I’d like to congratulate you on this music.

Piano sketches can be useful for beginners in composition because it keeps them focused on making sure the raw musical material is worth actually expanding into something big like an orchestra. However, once you are skilled enough in simply "composing", and your familiarity with the orchestra grows, you tend to outgrow the sketch and see its very limited utility. I actually sort of dislike the piano as an instrument, because it is really not very expressive and sterile, whereas the orchestra can play from whisper quiet to deafeningly loud and with a huge number of articulations that a piano simply cannot emulate. What can happen if you rely all the time on a piano sketch is that you will orchestrate the music in a very basic manner; no trills, horn rips, portamento, mordents or other ornamentation...because the piano is not really capable of it. Another issue is that in orchestration, tone colour is of paramount importance and basically why you would use an orchestra in the first place. A melody played on the oboe can have an entirely different character than it would played by the horns; the piano captures neither. Where this also manifests itself is in harmony. For example, in a piece I am presently working on, it begins with the horns playing a Gm add9, no5 chord at piano dynamics. This has a real warm, ethereal quality that the piano and sustain pedal couldn't capture. Thus, if I had reached for the piano instead of a horns patch in my DAW, I don't think I would've come up with the harmonic language the piece has. Another thing is that: I compose for film. Two films I did this year I had just a few weeks to compose the score before the premieres in a major city. So there were hundreds of people counting on me to be on time. I just don't have time to sketch things out in a piano and then try to translate it to an orchestra. Especially not in film, where the picture itself influences the structure and orchestration; makes way more sense to just go straight for the instruments you have in mind. You can also get some sample libraries these days which are quite playable or at least set up a couple of patches to play in tandem (like staccato + long) and "sketch" that way, with the instrument sounds right at your finger tips. In notation software, you could play your melody on your keyboard, and then just enter it straight away to the violins. Don't like how it is on the violins after all? Copy/Paste it to the flutes in a second. Piano sketches have their uses. Concert composers might still find use for it and beginners will value it, but modern technology has given us better alternatives, I find. It should also be noted that composers of old often didn't really use a "piano" sketch even if they worked at a piano. Following what @Sojar Voglar said, John Williams' sketches were always 3-stave reductions for winds, strings and brass. So even when he was writing at the piano, he was pretty much orchestrating it at the same time. He was always composing with the orchestra in mind.

Hello everyone! I'd be most grateful for any feeback on this piece. Thank you in advance! View-from-the-air.mp3 74PDF.pdf

Thank you! It was a pleasure working with you! I hope to take full advantage of the embouchure conditioning that my chops have been through to get to be able to play your sonata! Here are the files with reverb as a bonus! (and also my preferred version for my own listening pleasure) Sonata per corno 1. Sonata reverb.mp3 Sonata per corno 2. Aria reverb.mp3 Sonata per corno 3. Capriccio reverb.mp3 Sonata per corno 4. Ciaccona reverb.mp3

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.

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?

Hi all, It's been a while since I posted an orchestra composition. This is the first draft ... it still needs to be reviewed and brought up a finished state. However, it's all here. As I stated I have not titled the work. I am open to all suggestions .... My objective in the composition is to develop the introductory motifs and create a balanced arch from start to the end of the work. As always all feedback it appreciated. Marknewmusx10-24-26.mp3 Marknewmusx10-24-26.pdf

A lovely piano miniature in the style of Erik Satie. Mark

This is so lovely! Congratulations on the performance and the composition. The slow, out of body piano part suits the text well and the spread range of the soprano part should be very satisfying for the singer.

I think simply waiting for inspiration isn’t the best idea. As Tchaikovsky said, inspiration is a guest who doesn’t like to visit the lazy. Of course, there are times when a flash of insight comes. But often you have to grab yourself by the scruff of the neck and drag yourself to work :) I also sometimes go through many different versions of the same theme or the same piece. At times I’m amazed at how much changes from altering just one note or one duration. A theme that once seemed unsuccessful can be transformed so much that you almost consider yourself a genius and simply enjoy the result. So I think one should keep working and working. As for the appoggiaturas, no, the issue isn’t that the notes are too long or too short. It’s just that the notation itself, purely graphically, looks somewhat old-fashioned on the page. That’s how it was usually written in Mozart’s time. Nowadays it’s more common to write regular notes. For example, you could write a reverse dotted rhythm there, or a triplet, depending on exactly how you want it to be played. An appoggiatura gives the performer some freedom, whereas if you write out the notes, they have to play it exactly. But of course, it’s up to the composer. Your notation is by no means bad or wrong. Just unfamiliar. =)

A lovely lush work with interesting harmonies .... reminds me of pieces by Samuel Barber. Mark

Hi Julien, sorry for the late response! I want to thank you for the revision of my work, very appreciated and i will work on this little collection on the future. The idea of the seven pieces is from the idea of the woman's body. I've been inspired from the most common carateristic of it. I have a problem with repetition I know ahhaaha. I'll reply about your doubts: 1) the eight notes are meant to be played with the preferred hand, if you are skilled enough to trill while playing the voice you can do that. 3) not my favourite either. The idea was about a lulluby, so one simple melody with little changes in the armony, but not good as I thought it would become 4) I was in doubt about the repetiition section, now you convinced me to delete or change it entirely 5) I think there's some paralel, but not in my interest 6) the dissonance is very attuned on a real piano, in the MIDI is quite harsh to listen 7) this one piece (the little motif in particular) born from an impro which is recorded on my YT. The fragment remained in my head so long that I wanted to re-use it on this little piece. The single one bar which is blank is made for a cadenza ad lib. or a impro on the theme. I think I have to clarify it. The idea is to remember (like i remembered the fragment, which comes frome the past). I leave the interpretation with the other pieces of the collection to the listener :) Thanks again!

Hello. I’ve watched and listened to your work. It’s a very worthy composition. I like the thematic material, the harmonic language, and the form. It’s a complete and well-proportioned prelude. The only thing I don’t quite understand is why you use this notation with long appoggiaturas. It looks rather old-fashioned, as if it were still the 18th century :) I also have a question about the voice leading: why do you remove notes from the accompaniment when they are doubled by the melody? But these are all minor details. Best of luck, and may inspiration be with you! =)

Beautiful horn sonata, and this sounded exhausting to play lol. Also, the recording with the reverb is excellent. This would be really fun to layer with an orchestral backing.

I am absolutely ecstatic with Peter's recording!! Peter, thank you so much again for your hard work and dedication. I could not be happier with the result, and I feel I've made a new friend as well. ❤️ Feel free to upload your versions with reverb as a bonus! :)

What I would appreciate feedback on: The overall harmonic balance and voice leading. The transition into the Andantino (Trio) section and the return to Tempo primo. Rondo G dur op 1.mp3 Rondo G dur op 1.pdf

Hello Lithl! Yes! I do like this sort of beautiful post-classical vibe sort of thing. I like to refer to it as a more neo-impressionistic style personally since I tend to see a lot of crossover between both the very modern contemporary style music as well as some ideals of the impressionistic era. I've never heard of Nils, but I think I have at least heard of John Adams. My inspirations come from the composers Max Vinetz, Caroline Shaw, Ravel, and Christopher Cerrone. Highly recommend listening to the following for each: Max Vinetz: Stars On the Ground and Wax Catalog Caroline Shaw: Plans & Elevations Ravel: All of his works, but particularly his string quartet for this specific piece Christopher Cerrone: High Windows I did set out to make the composition more and more strong as time progressed since I didn't like how some classical songs made a hook and then did something random and not memorable right after lol. I'm just not really a fan of that, I want the listener to have to reach the end to get to the cool parts. This was recorded by a professional quartet which was hired! Thanks for the kind words, Lucky

You are so lovely Vasilis! Thx to you I met new ppl in your channel! To me I wrote it and conceive the piece really as a “Musical Moment”, which means I never thought deeply in how to develop the piece or so, but only get directly from my heart to write what I want. Maybe those emotions are long stored in me and I just took them out in this piece. My writing motto is simple: Be honest. By listening your playing I know we are connected. If we aren’t you won’t play this great. Maybe the beauty is hidden in the piece, but it’s you who excavate them out! You for sure love the piece more than I did!! Nah you have to admit that your playing is better! 🤩 But thx for enjoying playing the piece, it makes me feel happy and honoured! ❤️ Henry

My pleasure to play it! I thoroughly enjoy it! As you’ve said in my Musical Moment, sometimes performers can look into a piece in a different perspective or approach that even the composer doesn’t think of, but all the notes and inspiration come from the composer himself! Plus, I’m also a composer myself so I love creating things from any score, whether it’s written, not written or even against it haha. Thx for dedicating one of your favourite works to me! That makes it more special! Henry

My dear Henry, First of all, I want to tell you what an enormous honour it was for me to have you perform my sonata and dedicate so much of your time to it. I cannot thank you enough. You cannot imagine how happy you have made me. Regarding the sonata and its sections, what you said about the B section is exactly what I had mentioned in a comment somewhere, although I cannot remember where. The B section is much more dramatic, restless and profound compared to the playful character of the A section. And you conveyed this contrast through your playing even better than I ever could. Your interpretation of the B section was truly exceptional. Thank you for everything, my dear friend. Apart from being written with great affection for you, this sonata is also one of my favourite works among everything I have composed.

To tell you the truth, I don’t love this piece that much until Vasilis played it. To me I only wrote it in 2 days and hence not much emotion with it (not like my Sextet or Quintet when I wrote them for years hence have a lot of emotions towards them), but Vasilis excavated the essence of my piece out, plus his own interpretation of the piece. Big thx to him! And a thx to you for loving the piece! Henry

Hey my Vasilis! I feel bad not to reply earlier since this piece is dedicated to me! For me at first I find the piece humorous to listen to, but only by playing it I realise all the details and contrast of different passages. This piece is again primarily Scarlattian and Schubertian, the energy and phrasing is Scarlattian while the harmony, like the modal texture and Augmented sixths, neopolitan sixths are Schubertian. I really enjoy playing it! It’s much more difficult than the score appears since there are lots of details. Also I occasionally ignore your markings because I feel the piece in a different way haha. For example in section B I feel like the piece can be more dramatic, so I ignore the decrescendos. Thx a lot for dedicating this piece to me! Henry

Thank you so much for your wonderful words, my dear friend! I truly appreciate your kindness and the time you took to listen so carefully and share your thoughts. I would also like to make clear that my intention was never to create any kind of comparison between Henry and myself. Quite the opposite! My only wish was to serve this beautiful piece as best I could and bring out as much of its beauty and musical expression as possible. It was a genuine pleasure and privilege to perform it. Thank you once again for your lovely words and your friendship. It means a lot to me!

I've written many love songs over the years for specific individuals. This is...really just another love the song. The opening notes are supposed to represent how my heart stopped and fluttered when I saw her and hopefully my feelings for her will now be immortalized on the internet. I noticed that people don't seem to post too many love songs on this forum...but which one of us have not written a love song at some point in our lives? I wrote this one earlier this year and got around to recording it last weekend. Trying some new formats. I notice that a lot of people here don't tend to post live pieces. Do people like having the sheet music, vs watching someone play? Let me know....Recorded on a Bechstein Grand. I might try to add the sheets in so you can see my hands playing and the sheet music, if people feel this is a nicer format

Thanks for the kind words, friend. Once again...very humbled to have conjured up images/feelings of Bill Evans for you. I have not heard of Living Time. I had a listen on youtube...it sounds a bit more avant garde, perhaps more up your alley! For some reason, it reminded me of parts of the SimCity2000 sound track. I love the track titles... Event I/Event II, brilliant! I am going to have to take some to digest it all. Once again, thanks again for giving me something to chew on. For now, really liking Event VI. Very funk/rock and roll jazz feel! You bring up a great point about sheet music. This is something so obvious that I did not even consider. I really appreciate you sharing that point, it helps me much more than you might know. If you ever write a love song one day, please do share it! This forum needs more love songs (in my opinion).

Hello, This is great. I usually try to listen to your pieces when you drop a new one. This one feels a bit different, in a good way. Love the out of tune piano to start. Really digging the rapidly shifting colors that you are putting out there. I almost feel like I am listening to impressionistic music with through the lens of a solid classical music foundation. I could be wrong, but it feels like you are perhaps experimenting a bit? P.S. I personally adore Schubert D960.

Stunning stuff from what I hear! Some people seem to complain a little bit about it not going anywhere, but I think I can see the very slow development of it from my perspective at least, and I don't got any comment on the actual composition. Generally, the composition is great I just have some small nitpicks on the engraving that I think would go a long way in making the score look more professional/ be more readable to others. All of this is easily fixable, like changing how the instruments are displayed on each system. From movements 2-3 there's a small line connection thing that joins like instruments, but that aspect isn't consistent in the first movement where like instruments aren't connected to each other. Consistency in that, in my opinion, would help in making sure the score looks like one full composition. I would also note some collisions. There are places throughout the score where the slur comes fully in contact with the notehead or articulation, and this leads to less clarity in the engraving. Dynamics are also not aligned consistently. There was a spot (forgot the timestamp) where the middle dynamic was positioned far down from the hairpins which might result in less clarity for musicians reading this piece. Dynamics are also on occasion closer to the part below it or so close to its part that. In fact, there's a lot of compactness in the score and not a lot of room for conductors or performers to write down notes or see things quickly with clarity. I think a potential fix here is to increase vertical space between parts and decrease vertical space between some systems where there is a large blank space (nothing crazy though to make sure each system is still separate. If possible, I would also add a system divider.) You could also scale staff space down by some small amount to make for more space, but don't go crazy otherwise it might be so minimized it's not legible at a distance. If you would like, I have a full engraving book pdf called "Behind The Bars" that I could send you just to look through. I think doing this would help in getting your, quite frankly, amazing work get played live or be published professionally. Again, amazing composition, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you!

“Moreshka” is one of the musical illustrations to Max Dalin’s novel “The Bonfire and the Salamander”. It is a folk dance of the Coastland, one of the countries in the novel’s fantasy world. Imagine a southern port city at the beginning of the 20th century: its people, its life, and of course its music. What you will hear here is the music of the city’s lower classes, the kind that was played in the streets, in taverns, and on town squares. A dance of fishermen and sailors. In terms of melodic character, I deliberately tried to create something that sounds both familiar and national, yet at the same time neutral. Of course, you will hear echoes of Russian, Moldavian, Jewish, and Romanian melos. However, I avoided any overly obvious stylization. Imagine some folk festival where ordinary people are celebrating. And tell me, did it work? =)

This is my piano miniature. In this music, I wanted to capture the image of a doll or a figurine: a cold, lifeless kind of beauty... But is it really lifeless? =)

Thank you. That’s a very interesting take: a doll playing on winter nights. I love it :) Best regards, Alex

Yup, they are 陸王心學 instead of Zhu XI's 理學. And I really love them! I didn't go through them one by one, but I did read some Chinese philosophy books so I can basically grasp their thoughts. And their thoughts are essential in this piece of music. Thank you! I love that section too, it's definitely the climax of the 1st movement! I'm not that knowledgeable about Chinese music either so I don't know why I write like this, but in case the product is good it's good haha. But the Chinese spirit is true, I write this piece totally because I'm inspired by Chinese philosophy. Yeah again I don't know how I wrote that! Thank you! Thank you! Henry

I've already listened to this piece of yours, but I didn't give you feedback. Now, it's time to do so! My first impression was, "Tasty, this is a great composition." Really great, man — you've composed a great one! Around 12:35 was a so shining and beautiful section throughout listening to the whole piece. I don't know why, but I felt some kind of Chinese music spirit in that section. (Sorry, I'm not knowledgeable about Chinese music, but, you know.) Also, I loved how 40:00 was unique. I liked it. Nice, man, hats off to you, Henry! Oh! I know Lu Jiuyuan! He eventually influenced Wang Yangming, right? And... I know Zhu Xi, Zhou Dunyi, Xunzi, Zou Yan, and Song Yingxing, haha. I knew about them through learning history. Best, Lithl.

Me. I've never written a single love song in my life. That is because no one wants to receive my noisy music 😅 But maybe someday? If I get a "beautiful musical spirit". Honestly, watching someone play is better for me. One reason is that I can glimpse their individual spirit a bit. On the Internet, it is difficult to get their character, so it helps me to understand not only their music but also themselves even better. Another reason is... "I CAN'T READ SHEET MUSIC!", haha. It's very personal since most of you guys can read it. As for this piece of yours and the video itself, I have already commented on your video, as you know. Have a wonderful day, grant. Oh, also, glad to know you love Bill Evans. I really love him too. He definitely has — hard to explain — unique and lovely, gentle, harmonic textures, touch, and tone, really great. I love him... He is one of the few musicians whose music, even when I hear clipping in his album, I not only don't care, but I couldn't care because I am totally indulged. Have you ever listened to the album "Living Time"? That is different from his main musical spirit, but it is also an amazing one. I talked too much, sorry, haha. Best, Lithl.

Hello, Since you are looking for feedback on the images your piece evokes I will share some thoughts. measure 1 - it feels very playful for me. measure 17 - I get this very specific feeling of a sense of wonder and hardship measure 25 - this part feels especially dance like measure 36 - it gets a bit goofy here measure 52 - it ends on a playful note for me. The piece is very nice, it doesn't feel too lifeless to me.