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Wow, there are some really colorful moments here! I love 4:00 - 5:00, it's like you treat the orchestra as a percussion instrument 🙂 Very very cool! Love the big unanticipated chord at 8:30 too. Aw, lame, but I get it. I've been there, we are our own worst critics. I would have submitted anyway, it is quite good to me. Your score looks great too. I think the big changes you would want to do are better left alone, as you've done. Save those ideas for the next one. You can sit there and tinker with orchestra pieces forever, no shame in letting it be as is. Watch your levels in the mix, you have a few spots where I hear distortion, but that's an easy fix. Around the 9 min mark is an example. I think it's brass? Lovely piece, thanks for sharing! I've heard your music a few times now, I dig your style.

Hello my dear composers. Here my latest composition .6 Dances for piano . I hope you like it

Movement 1 - Just commenting on the guitar. - must show fingering and hand positions with notation. There are several moments where I had to try and figure out things, and when I did, sometimes the chords worked but felt awkward. I write tablature with notation, it helps and I don't have to show positions and fingerings. Sometimes I'll write fingering if it's weird. - in general, the guitar strumming sounds very parallel 5th heavy, to me it clashes with the string writing. Parallel octaves and fifths don't sound bad on guitar, but they just jump out in the midi. Maybe it's just that, dunno. Some of the chords could have smoother voice leading, it seems like you were rooted with open chords. - bar 2, last chord doesn't work (mistake?) - bar 8, why not have the pedal A? - bars 13-16, you do this a few times, but check the voices. You tend to drop or add voices freely between chords, and it gives a choppiness to me - bar 18, why the different Bb shape? - bar 49, first chord sounds out of place - bars 75-77, voices again - bars 85-87, because my hands are too big, I can't play that C barre chord on the A string (my finger mutes the high e), I have to play in on the E. When I got to bar 87, it took a minute to realize I couldn't play it there and had to be on the A string. I would've omitted the top note if I were the performer. Just an example of why positions in the notation are very helpful. - bar 90, let any of these ring? - bar 99, impossible chord - bar 107, last chord sounds out of place, it's a jarring transition That's all that popped out at me, hopefully this helps your writing!

When @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu first joined, he posted his clarinet quintet, it's like an hour long... and it wasn't until SIX weeks later that he got someone to give legitimate feedback, and all that while he listened to nearly everyone's music and posted quality advice. It seems unbelievable, but like literally everyone lol. No one even cared to reciprocate all his generosity and FREE labor for weeks and weeks, and it wasn't until @Omicronrg9 gave him quite possibly the greatest most in depth review I've ever seen. From that, I got to know Henry and Daniel better, and eventually @PeterthePapercomPoser, @chopin, and I all started conversing on discord. It's cool how you can meet people from all over the world with like-minded passions, and we still chat here and there on discord. I'm thankful for the community, for the friendships. But this happens because we're all actively engaged with each other's music. We're interested in helping each other out, getting to know each other, etc. Now whenever I see any of their new music posted, I'm quick to notice and excited to share a thought or two. Mostly because I just WANT to, but also because I know they'll do the same for me. Even if I never post music anywhere else, I know the YC bros will at least check it out. You seem young, get to know some people first! A lot of people here are in their teens and twenties, and they'll be more eager to share thoughts with a familiar username than a foreign one. You'll fit right in. And until then, poke around the forums too! There's TONS of cool music here. TONS of great composers roam this forum, even if some only come by occasionally, so don't be afraid to reach out 🙂 People will get around to your post, it's usually not as instant as you (or I) would like. I write song lyrics, but not much else as far as words. Keep posting more music too, because the more cool pieces people interested in your question can sift through, the better chance you'll have.

Hey Markus, I haven't seen you in a while, glad to hear you're still writing 🙂 I love these kinds of posts. It's really cool to hear your problem, then for me to try it out and mess around on it. Thanks for posting your thought process, as I can start with yours and see where that takes me. One idea I had was to let the clarinet be a pedal point for the E7. I had F for the "Dm" chord measure, but it didn't sound good to me. I liked the absence of the clarinet here, so maybe keep it simple if this thought leads you somewhere. For me, it helps to see the entire 4 bar phrase as E7. I know that one spot is tricky, but it just seems like a big cadence to Am (Also, this whole transition from Bb to F is wonderful and very smooth. Is it Am - C7 - F? I like the iii - V7 - I movement). If I look at it as E7 with a bunch of chromatics, it's easier to think about the clarinet. I came up with this pretty quick, I'm sure the notes could be tinkered with. I don't remember, but little rhythmic motifs you may have used could go well with the clarinet, I just came up with something simple. Oh, and our music player sucks lol. It's hard to go to a certain spot within a piece, so I think I've heard the first minute or so several times 😄 Hopefully some of these thoughts are useful 🙂 Great stuff, keep us updated! P.S. The bassoon starts on B nat. right?

Hello again my friends. Here is my piano sonata dedicated to my favourite composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I tried my best to imitate and capture the style . I hope you appreciate it

Hello again. I had posted my minuets for string quartet in another topic, and after a suggestion from peterpapercomposer, I’m now creating a separate topic just for them. As I mentioned in a previous topic, I am mainly a composer for piano, but I equally love orchestral music and chamber music. Chamber music in particular is my favorite genre. It’s just that, as a pianist, I had never really sat down to work with other instruments, since in the past I never had ambitions to become a composer. The desire to compose came about two years ago. I’ve made two attempts writing for other instruments, and I can say it’s quite a good effort. For now, I don’t have a cleaner score. I’ll post the video now, and at some point I’ll edit it and add a clearer score. Thank you again. Edit: I forgot to mention that both of them are once again in a classical, Mozart-like style.

Based on the same core concept as the last two canons, this one took roughly under four hours to complete (as time seems to fly once I finally get inspired) and is intended to incapsulate the essential technique employed in these more recent compositions with a greater measure of brevity and conciseness involved, for perhaps three minutes of the same nonstop iterations (as was the case in the previous one) may have turned out quite a bit too repetitive, I regret. YouTube video link:

Minuet 1 I find this piece of music very appealing to my ears, especially the part from bar 4 to bar 7. It is very smart of you to write that area. I am completely impressed by this amazing composition, though I believe you should write subito to these bars as well. I really like that it is Allegro but feels like Allegretto, which is slightly slower. I see that you might have taken inspiration from Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca from his 11th Sonata. This because from bar 15-17 you have that thing for the Violencello. All of the four instruments work well together, which is another area of this composition that is impressive. You also have a very original idea. Lastly, you have a clear idea of the main theme, which is a rare talent found in few people. Minuet 2 Another very Mozart-like minuet. I can clearly hear the main theme in C major. I see you really sudden notes, which are marked fz. Again, your Violoncello is doing an important job. I really like the small A minor bit, with the subito thing. This time Allegro is actually Allegro (lol). I think that Ternary Form does in fact fit in well! Sadly, I feel like that there are too many sudden notes. I am afraid of getting a heart attack from this. Otherwise, it is very good, and I believe you have a lot of talent, potential, and hard work when it comes to composing. As I said, before, I am incredibly impressed.

Well, me: can't play piano at all! Well, a simple thing like that Chopin E Minor prelude or the accompaniment to Schumann's Ich Grolle Nicht aus Dichterliebe, 1840 I could play if I practiced for a few hours, but it still wouldn't be very good. I guess the best instrument I play is Electric Bass, and I'm far from the best!

Damn, five measures or so is enough to tell me you know already how to write for strings. I could probably teach you something about double-stops and chords, but not much else. As the Germans say, Kein Problem! I'll listen to the rest later. You are a fine Neoclassical composer.

I love Beethovens violin concerto. Actually is my favourite violin concerto. 🙂 Ok I'll post my 2 minuets here if you want to check and let me know .

Sure, post one! Even MY favorite composer, Beethoven, could not always write perfectly for violin, so of course I can't either. His violin concerto is a masterpiece, but has too many scales and arpeggios.

And you say you love chamber music but are scared because you feel you are unfamiliar with the instruments as compared to piano, which you play very well and tastefully? I could teach you to write for violin in an afternoon, with both of us sharing a few beers! Guitar is harder, but I keep writing guitar music anyway.

Thank you so much my dear friend. I'm so glad that you like it 🙏

Good Lord, but you can write a waltz, a good one I mean! Highlight of my morning so far.

I have borrowed a motif from my Ice Cave VGM track that I published not long ago. This time I applied a microtonal inflection to the motif (in 24 TET). The environment would require the player to go cave-diving during this music. I tried to make the piece sound watery through the use of Alto Flute and a low Vibraphone (played by Lumatone) ostinato. The idea that prompted the creation of this track was to layer on top of each other heterophonically or polyphonically different microtonal variations of the same motif. Let me know what you think and whether I've succeeded! I welcome any of your comments, suggestions, critiques, or just observations. Thanks for listening!

Fun thing I arranged today. I've been working on learning new solo guitar pieces, and recently have been learning some of my favorites from the classical/concert realm. This isn't the most popular of Mr. Sibelius' work, as it's a cold funeral march type of thing, but I love it. I couldn't find a guitar version, so I dabbled at my own. I might record this at some point when I can stop screwing up measure 12 😄

Thank you so much for your wonderful words and your appreciation of my music. Yes, I consider myself a composer mainly for the piano, although I truly love orchestral music, and especially chamber music. Chamber music is my favorite... I just don’t feel familiar enough with the other instruments, although I have written a divertimento for winds and two minuets for string quartet. For a first attempt, it was quite a respectable effort, and I would definitely like to continue and write music for more instruments—it’s just that, at this point in my life, I don’t have enough free time to achieve that. I have also played Chopin’s mazurkas and polonaises in my repertoire, but I haven’t yet happened to compose something similar, although I would very much like to, and I thank you for pointing it out.

Hi again @Vasilis Michael! I love this little set of waltzes! And I like how you composed them to be played one after another. They're both Chopinesque and perhaps Schubertian or Schumannesque too. I love the chromaticism! No. 5 is perhaps my favorite of the bunch with it's chromatically descending harmonies. I wonder if you've ever tried your hand at a polonaise or mazurka? But also, from what I've seen of your YouTube channel you consider yourself, like Chopin, a composer primarily for the piano. Maybe you could explore composing some chamber works or even works for orchestra? Thanks for sharing these gems!

Edited the melody a bit for some more interest and movement

Hey @GospelPiano12! I think starting out with a really simple phrase like this is a great way to start! In my own experience, I've always relied on being able to come up with variations of the main melodic idea that my piece is based on, and in the case of a concerto type of piece, virtuosic variations. Even if your ultimate form isn't going to be a theme and variations, being able to pre-compose various different versions of your main theme will get you far in terms of giving you the ideas you need to put the piece together. So, what you have here is a really great simple idea that you can easily subject to virtuosic variations by inserting notes in between the melody notes you already have: This could also potentially lead to the formation of ostinati or repeating accompanimental figures which can give your piece some rhythmic drive! Also, since you're writing a concerto for a wind instrument, it's important to remember to give your soloist choice places to breathe. Most of my own concerto type works have been for piano and orchestra. I've written things for Violin and Piano or Violin and Harpsichord, but they were short (and the former, microtonal). I think you can, if you want, use this thread as a place to bounce your ideas off of the community as you make progress. If you're comfortable I can make suggestions like this periodically. I always have more ideas for more variations! Like they said in the movie "Blazing Saddles" - "My mind is a .. a raging torrent! Flooded with rivulets of thought .. cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives!" LoL

Another ragtime piece from me. This one I'd really love to hear any thoughts on; I'm not really sure about a few passages and transitions and I'm trying to decide whether to revise it. Are there moments that sound awkward (in a bad way) to you?

VARIATION TROIS (3), is fully scored. very "tutti" variation, lots of moving parts. On the beginning bars, I contrasted the woodwinds from the previous variation with strings only.

Hey @UncleRed99! Nice Brass Quintet! Definitely an ensemble I should write something for in the future considering I played Trumpet and French Horn. I think my favorite measures in this piece are 16 and 44 because in those measures you abandon the chordal approach to the music where it sounds like the music is just an elaborate but slow (I mean a slow harmonic rhythm) chord progression. Overall measures 12 - 16 and 40 - 44 are the most awesome to me, with a unique approach to melody, rhythm and scoring (I especially like how you create a natural delay effect where the 2nd Trumpet imitates the 1st at a delay of a 16th note. Where there's room for improvement is something I already touched on above: the harmonic rhythm seems like it's usually one or two chords per measure. You don't necessarily need more chords or anything, just varying the harmonic rhythm to different note values could be enough. And you could also have built some kind of accompanimental ostinato to kind of set down a cool groove underneath the melody to create a banger. I also feel like there isn't really a long leading song-like melody that really sticks in my head that I remember easily after listening to this. I've listened to this piece a few times while writing this review and somehow I still feel this way about it. Perhaps there are what you might consider melodies but they're just not unified enough or self-similar enough to really stick in my head? Or maybe I just have fringe expectations about this? Or perhaps they're interspersed too much with passages that are dominated by too many long notes and chords that don't seem to create a melodic impression for the listener? That's my impression. Thanks for sharing!

Hello to all . Here 2 of my albumblatt pieces . Very short pieces . I hope you like it

This was a lot to digest, but I liked it! I have to admit, it took a few listens to grasp everything going on, but there's no denying your talent with composition. It's wonderful. I feel like I've asked but I can't remember... do you play piano? It seems very difficult in some areas, and although that's not bad, I just wonder if this could be executed how you intend. What I love about your music is how fresh your ideas are. I guess I'm speaking of your music in general instead of just this piece, but it's a pattern I've noticed. Something I would be mindful of is to me you really teeter the balance of too many ideas and developing existing ones. I think your balance works, but sometimes I wish you would strip down the amount of new musical material you write within a piece and develop more. Maybe you do this and I don't always hear it, or maybe it has to do with how complex your music gets. I just get lost sometimes listening, and it might help. It's not necessarily your language, btw. For instance, right before :30 we're hit with a ritard... but I was just getting into the rhythms! Now at :47 or so, there's another change of pace... all that drive we had lost again. You could argue that is the effect you're going for, but it's just an example of what I mean. However, I'm reminded of Debussy pissing off his professors because he didn't develop his music the "right" way. I do like your free flowing jazzy way of writing, I think it's a really vibrant way to approach form. I personally just need my ears to rest a little when listening to your music. It's like, your flavor of cheese is great for nachos, just don't drown them! The score looks amazing to me, bar 92 D# should be Eb was the only thing that caught my eye. I'm excited to hear the other pieces in the suite, hopefully it isn't too long before you continue them!

Mysterioso in E Minor is a piece I made for a full orchestra. It is approximately 3:50 long and has 122 measures. I'm looking for feedback on the overall composition and how well I orchestrated it. (P.S. I might change the name to "Adventure in E Minor" due to its wide range of themes, emotions, and tones.)

Alex I enjoyed your orchestration ... especially the use of different chamber sections: winds, brass, strings in the reiteration of the theme. Mark

This one's so short and beautiful, I couldn't resist orchestrating it tonight! Whilst working on it, I discovered a weird bug in MuseScore, that causes low dynamic quaver triplets to be played as semiquavers, with an extra note added to the front! Seems to affect all instruments. After about an hour of fiddling around, I finally managed to get rid of it by raising the dynamics of that phrase to mezzo forte. They also seem to have broken vst3 support, as my copy of Spitfire BBCSO lite will no longer load. I just get a Spitfire control box with an error message. Wondered if anyone else here is having the same problems?

Far as I know, this Ravel prelude from 1913 has never been orchestrated before (unless any of you know different?) So here is my attempt. I've used fermata of various lengths to create rubato. I wonder if I should use more dynamics? (Though MuseScore tends to exaggerate them.)

Wonderful! I loved all of it

Wow that was incredible! The modulations in the second half of this invention seem incredibly smooth. 40 seconds in you really start to experiment with the harmony, and I think you do a really good job at making the transitions as seamless as possible here. I just wish this was longer, because I feel like you really start to take advantage of the microtones around 40 seconds in, but then you conclude way too fast after that, just when things were getting juicy!

The only thing I might suggest is to bring out the melody a little more by either lowering the right hand by an octave (in some parts at least). Sometimes its hard to hear the very high notes, especially when paired with the deeper notes of the left hand. But aside from that, the music itself is beautiful, especially in this context of an Ice Cave.

A very good effect overall. The high tessitura of the melody, as well as the arpeggios in that area, give a very ethereal effect and also suggest drops of water falling. Another thing that I think contributes is leaving the note suspended in the second part of the bar in the accompaniment. There are also some very beautiful harmonic changes, such as in bars 6 and 5... It sounds fantastic.

would love fedback

In terms of structure: Introduction (b.1-8) A (b.9-24) B (b.25-40) C (b.41-64), I combine and develop both melodies from previous materials, while adding a new dance-like melody. Clarinet melody of b.41-42 and b.48-50 are from A, the ascending 5th motion of b.50-51 is from B. Clarinet theme gets repeated on the piano starting from b.53. B* (b.65-78), with the ostinato and thirds from the intro. Cadenza (b.79-100), contains materials from A and B. A* (b.101-120), I develop the theme a bit more with a climax at the end. B** (b.121-128), B theme with imitative counterpoint between piano and clarinet, transition to the Coda. Coda (b.129-142), the first part of which is the Introduction section paired with the B theme on the clarinet, b.137-142 is the beginning of A but more conclusive, b.141-142 on the piano is the B theme.

Thanks Mark! I seem to have caught the orchestration bug recently. Have made another one today, this time of a never previously orchestrated Prelude by Ravel.

A very engaging work .... which requires very skillful players! How would you categorize your work? It has some many different melodic elements. Mark

Definitely has a folk quality in the thematic presentation. There is a feeling of music from the Caucuses and well as the some slight Hebraic feel. With a bit more Hebraic influence/style - it could be a lovely nighttime pray. Mark

This work reminds me of There sections akin to your style. I enjoyed your experimentation .... Mark

Hello everyone, I present to you my newest composition: A waltz. Yes. I wrote another waltz. 🙂 Waltz Grazioso

This is a wonderful tender charming work. The thematic motif is endearing and the rhythmic gestures delightful. And the subtle harmonic movement creates a gentle push forward. Quite mysteriously romantic indeed! Mark

It's definitely better, but imo there should be a faster tempo/accel. up to bars 6 - 7 and 14 - 15. Cuz those figures seem like the culmination of the phrase. If it were my piece I would accel. up to that point and then perhaps rit. afterward. But it's your orchestration and you should of course do what you feel is right. Thanks for sharing this update!

Dude, this is so great! I'm curious why you didn't want to release this in October, but if I remember right you like a lot of the spooky horror themes in your music regardless so I get it. I'm no film expert, but your shots all looked really good to me, nice camera too. I really loved the lighting at the 2 min. mark! You seem to have a lot of talent with this, and your music fit really well. To me it wasn't so distracting to take away from what was going on, and had tones to give it comedy and cuteness (like the Theremin sound). I think it deserved that 🙂 Nice job, loved it!

Lovely and simple

That's actually easy to change. When the first note of the phrase is selected, Control-T brings up the little speaker icon above the staff. Then you click on it, and select "classic phrasing". (Why they've chosen to have portamento phrasing by default is beyond me!)

Really enjoyed your piece, @Kvothe Nice melodies, expressiveness, and a story telling writing ; that's what I like in music 👍 Regards

I made these 8 mock-ups on 8 themes from Final Fantasy VI intending to use them to familiarize myself with the themes in preparation for writing a big variations piece based on them. At first, I only intended to write variations on the "Returner's Theme" but it soon ballooned out of control as I noticed how many of the themes in the game are inter-related thematically and so I had to include more. I am posting the themes here with PDF scores for your perusal in the order in which they appear in the game. Also, here are the links to the original tracks on YouTube: Terra's Theme - Terra is the main protagonist in the game. A half magical being (esper) half human. The empire takes advantage of her. Fight Theme Kefka's Theme - Kefka is the evil antagonist who overthrows the emperor to gain ultimate power and lead the world into ruin. Mt. Kolts Returner's March - The Returner's are an organization that is trying to resist the evil empire and Kefka and Emperor Gestahl. Martial Law - plays in town when the empire occupies it. Magitec Factory - In the Imperial capitol of Vector, the empire has constructed a factory to create Magitec armor granting magic power to those wielding it. The Gestahl Empire To go to the thread where I wrote my own original music based on these themes go here: