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This is my first attempt (excluding some best-forgotten teenage stuff) at writing a concerto. The style is my own blend of Classical and some early Romanticism and perhaps a dash of Baroque, but I wrote for the modern valve trumpet. Admittedly, the tessitura may be a bit high, frequently going up to the 8th and occasionally the 9th harmonic. Any comments or feedback would be most appreciated!

Wow then I would get several of them for my works! My Clarinet Quintet is 62 minutes long so it will get 2 of them!!

We staff have decided that it might be a good idea to open the awarding of badges up to the members, not just the staff. The staff aren't perfect and can sometimes miss some good opportunities to award badges to members for some of their excellent or distinctive content. So if you feel like you have been overlooked for an award you deserve - let us know! Tell us which piece you think deserves what kind of award/badge and why and we will consider granting it to you. You can also suggest awards for other fellow composers' works! Refer to the following list of manually awardable badges. If a badge doesn't exist for your particular achievement you can suggest new badges/awards in that thread:

This is my second piece from the Spring Trilogy, April. It is the most easy-going of the cycle. It begins as a gentle waltz but it gets more energetic and drammatic. After a short recapitulation the piece ends surprisingly in dark contrast between bright pizzicatos and low, murky tremolos of the cello.

Hello! Here's a funeral march type piece. Form and harmony are very static and simple, in Fm with an A | A1 | A2 form. Hope you enjoy, and as always, any comments are welcome 🙂

There gonna be this one guy who’s probably treating the badges like Pokémon

I present to you the new badge - The Colossus of Prora

Hallo @PeterthePapercomPoser, I have created a PNG which could be used as basis for a badge. Some considerations: The original photo can be found at Wikimedia Commons under https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20-07-06-Prora-RalfR-DJI_0120.jpg. Please check whether it can be used concerning the license conditions. I have nothing against a „Collossus of Prora“ badge, but I would remind that this building did not have the best reputation because of its „problematic“ history. Originally erected by the Nazis as a huge holiday resort for their „Kraft durch Freude“ (Strength Through Joy) project. After World War II it was used a long time as military barracks, first by the Soviet Army, than by the East German Volksarmee. Since the mid-1990s, it stood empty for a long time and was exposed to decay and vandalism. Now it is (at least partly) renovated and houses a hotel, apartments etc. A more detailed overview can be found at Wikipedia under https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prora.

how about, "better than th..." oh nevermind

Upps, the "Colossus of Prora". Did you mean something like that?

Hello everyone, I recently updated a little draft of music for string quintet on the incomplete works forum and I just developed it into a full piece. After some thought, the section felt somehow like a developed theme, so I composed a main theme by using some of the musical features found in that draft I composed. The piece is an elegy and has the following sections: [m.1~m.9] Introduction -- The introduction was composed by making use of the most important harmonies of the piece: Cmaj, Cminor, Dbmaj and Gmaj. [m.10 ~ m.25] Main theme -- Main theme in C minor. This theme is in 2/2 (cut time). It works as a period but, in this case, both statements end in a half cadence (the second has a stronger modulation to G). [m.26 ~ m.40] Development section (original draft) -- Developmental section which starts with the main theme in Cmaj. This section is repeated once and it is in 4/4 (common time). [m.41 ~ m.51] Restatement of main theme -- second part of the main theme repeated once, this time ending in a perfect cadence (with picardy third in last chord). I am considering repeating also the first part of the theme in the restatement. Somehow I feel the development lasts for long enough as to justify a complete repeat of the initial theme, but I am still not sur. Any suggestion about the best thing to do is welcome! I think the atmosphere fits that title of "elegy", but it is also too hopeful at times so I am not sure if it is really an elegy. Please, let me know if you have any suggestion for the title! Also, I am not sure about the use of dotted notes for those moments in which they need to cut the phrase a little earlier. Would there be a better way for notating that? Thank you! As always any feedback is more than welcome and hope you enjoy it!

Hi @Cafebabe! This is a nice classical sonata! The thing that bothers me when listening to this at first is the really bad balance between the melodic right hand and the accompanying left hand. The left hand should be softer and the melody in the right brought out more to be in high relief. Before, the only way to make this happen is to use MS Basic Soundfonts and use velocity values for the right hand. But I don't know if you know about a recent trick I learned in writing piano music in Musescore Studio 4 using the Musesounds Piano. What I do now is I write the piece for two tracks of basically two separate pianos - one for each hand. I go to the layout options and have each piano displayed with only one clef in one staff rather than in a grand staff for both. Then I bracket them as if they're one grand staff but each retains its own individual identity. This way I can give each hand its own dedicated dynamics and volume, reverb and other settings giving me more control over what is the most prominent part of the composition at any given point. I also noticed that you don't have any dynamics in your piece at all. Maybe you didn't find it necessary, and it could be argued, it is more historically accurate if its meant to be played on a period instrument. Musically, I find the retransition back to F major at the end of the exposition a little abrupt and forced. Another thing is that I'd expect each theme in a sonata to have ample time to speak before going into transitional figures. This would usually be done by giving the themes a full period, double period or sentence form which you don't do and it makes the themes seem like they can't stand still and start to flit about try to run away from themselves before the listener has even had a chance to absorb them. Also, when the development section starts, it seems like it's just a chord progression without really any relation to the themes. It makes me question what, if anything, is being developed. Although I had a lot of critiques of this piece, I did find it an overall enjoyable easy listening experience. Thanks for sharing!

87053bd8f2cb48d184ee054407d37bb8.mp3 Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Please note that some of the grace notes are written like they are due to a better playback performance. Any advice on what the genre is? When it was just the first piece it was a Bagatelle, but now I’m not sure

I have already uploaded March and April from my Spring Trilogy, here is the finale, May. Since this month is traditionally rainy in Slovenia, the beginning has some features of rain with various aleatoric timbre playing on orchestra, while cello brings the initial melodic motif with its various transformations. Music becomes more "down to earth", more energetic and passionate. It continues to bounce between these two contrasting characters and ends with cellist playing improvised harmonics of a basic tone of c with unisono violins and violas while lower strings play some low ranged aleatoric pizzicatos.

Hell yeah brother

How about we just ban AI and trust that people are honest, and if people find out that it's AI, they get temporarily banned. This way, people will be afraid to post AI content and not post any.

I don't think we should be Draconian about policing this. I think the policy should be no posting music composed by AI, but I really think it would be a mistake to start policing and interrogating every post and assuming it's AI until proven otherwise. If there are indications that a piece might be AI (e.g. no score provided, telltale signs of Sonus, posted by someone with no prior history on the forum, etc.), then it makes sense to inquire further into it. But demanding proof of authorship from every composition would be a drastic overreaction to an issue that has, as far as I'm aware, only actually cropped up once here so far. I'm against AI compositions on the forum, but I'd rather waste my time once or twice giving useless feedback on an AI composition than chase real people who are posting real compositions off the site.

As far as the 3rd part of this poll, If we decide to regulate, I think requiring / encouraging the composer to give some insight about how they composed the piece, and their motivations of the composition should be enough.

As someone involved in education, AI has been a hot topic. I have a pragmatic view that AI, for good or bad, is ubiquitous in our society so it is better to control how it is expressed in the forums where you can set explicit guidelines and consequences for abuse rather than ban it entirely and have it go underground. I would advocate creating a dedicated subforum for AI music and be clear that AI music must be declared as such can only be submitted/discussed there and a clear policy that violating these guidelines can lead to suspension or banning from the site. Also in the end, if someone wants to pass of AI music (or any other creative endeavor as their own), it's really hurting them more so than others. They are not improving their creative process so any praise/feedback is hollow and meaningless. At least it's not stealing someone else's work and passing it off as your own (which has happened to me). I am of the mind that AI generated art in all forms will always be inferior to human efforts so in the end who really cares?. If AI every got to the point there were really think it is on par or superior to human effort, well, then great since a masterpiece is a masterpiece (I am just doubtful that AI will ever be able to achieve this).

Coming back from the dead just to vote on this. The core of any artform is the creative process, and the use of genAI to generate music is anti-process. It focuses instead on the result, and advertises itself as a "facilitator", a "helper", or something to remove the "hassle" of the process. It misses the point that when passion is involved, the creative process is a hassle that one ultimately enjoys. There is no art without passion, and all genAI does is vomit results to the passionless. A creative process comes about through the passionate development of a skill, and it fosters further understanding of said skill. The result is one particular target of a process at a given point in time: it comes about as the inevitable conclusion of a process. This decades-long shift of focus to the result is what makes genAI seem legitimate, because it's the endpoint of a logic that defines art as the object instead of the craft. It's made of the same cloth as the commodification of art, and the reduction of everything to "content." It's a corporate point of view, which can't conceive of art in any other way, and only seeks to expedite what it wrongly perceives to be nothing but a very slow assembly line. I am a composer because I know how to make music, and I learned how to make music by making music. A prompt engineer did not learn how to make an illustration, they learned how to tell a particular machine to do so. One could argue that prompt engineering is a craft, because it isn't absent of human involvement. But where it fails is in never being directly responsible for the result. With genAI, nothing about how to directly reproduce the result is learned because there's no process involved, only instructions by proxy given to a glorified blender. What differentiates genAI from art is the absence of a skillful process directly related to the object. Therefore, the point, and what makes one anything from a hobbyist to an artist, is the process. It just so happens that one cannot go through the process without inevitably coming to a result, which informs more process, and so on and so forth. That's how an artist grows.

I was thinking about the ice that's formed here on the ocean. How in foggy conditions it looks like it never ends. I'd like to go sit at the beach of my cottage with an omni mic and just stare into the fog and play this... This is also a slight experimentation on both microtonal tunings (aesthetic) and in player's freedom. You'll note that my recording sounds a bit different to this (and was actually played on steel string guitar), but that's the point :D. I often feel that the player is not given enough free reign to interpret what they are playing - not enough free reign to bring themself to the stage. So this is a slight complaint to that I suppose. All thoughts, feelings, colours, landscapes, gibberish, textur 21st of jan.mp3 es that come to mind please tell me.

I see them. They're the tiny little arrows attached to the accidentals (see image below).

Hi @PaavolaPyry! It does sound improvisatory with all the sudden chord progession but I like it. Nice playing as well! To me it sounds like a Lute Baroque prelude in more modern chords. I am sure @PeterthePapercomPoser would like the piece as well as he wrote a lot of microtonal pieces, and @Thatguy v2.0 wrote many great guitar pieces. I hear some of the microtones but don't see them on the score, will you add them on the score? Thx for sharing! Henry

Kia Ora Alex, Nice piece. A few suggestions: Although tabs are quite common for notating guitar parts in pop styles, classical guitar pieces are generally only notated using standard musical notation. While you can still include a staff of tab in your score, it might be more conventional to remove it. If you do choose to include tab, please, PLEASE get an actual guitarist to write it out for you. The tabs generated by notation software are almost always shite and the one that Musescore generated for you is no exception. It has suggested some ridiculous unplayable shite (like in bar two, who the hell has hands large enough to press both the second and seventeenth frets at the same time?!) which render it's inclusion in your score quite pointless. All in all, this is a good start. I'm excited to see where this piece goes next! Ngā mihi, Archie

Hi @Alex Weidmann! I am no expert in guitar writing so I can't tell whether it's playable or not, but I would say the whole music would sound like something written in Chinese instrument Zhongruan (my fav. Chinese instrument due to its cute look lol!). It's also a plucked string instrument like guitar: Thx for sharing! Henry

The two staffs is a neat thought, but try out a single staff. There's a few moments where the higher or lower bits are on the staff that isn't higher/lower (Mostly thinking about measure 25 but it happens a few other times that aren't as easily solvable) and it just feels off. It would also solve a lot of issues of notes that are on both staves, which I would have no idea what to do with if I were to have to play it. As for if it's playable, I am no expert. But I can say that a lot of it looks suspiciously like you just threw in the 6 notes you needed and didn't think too much about fingering. Which, to be fair, is also how I would do a sketch. If you can, you really want to find someone who plays guitar and run it by them. Eveen having them just take a quick look is incredibly helpful (I know from experience). I've linked a pdf or two from when I was assigned to write a guitar piece so that you can also hopefully use them. (They are attached and are very helpful as someone who has never touched a guitar) As a piece itself, I like it! I am frankly not a great critic on pitch collection or form, but overall it sounds nice!

I think we are discussing more on the authorship when a composer is REALLY the one who composes the work themselves. As long as the AI doesn't interfere with the composing process it should be allowed, so AI programs like Cantai or Note Performer are no problem at all. Henry

Here's the thing, though: "AI", by itself, is pretty much meaningless. For decades, people have been using "AI" to refer to the programming controlling NPCs in video games, for instance. Sometimes, "AI" is used in a sense that covers any machine learning or neural network application. More recently, "AI" has caught on in the context of Large Language Models like ChatGPT that take a prompt as input and then use some minimization function over their corpus of training data to predict what the most likely response to that prompt would be. The broader class of software including LLMs and similar models that output images, sounds, etc., are called "generative AI". And because "AI" is such a hot topic now, anyone whose software product uses anything resembling a neural network is going to be sure to advertise it as "AI". In my opinion, it would be better to use more precise language and, when we mean LLMs, say "LLMs". But I suppose that ship has sailed. In any event, clearly what is under discussion here is whether music composed by a generative, LLM-like software should be permissible here - and as I've said, I don't think it should be, since this is a composition forum and there's no sense in posting a piece of music you didn't compose. But by the same token, if you composed the music, then of course you should be permitted to post it, regardless of whether you used tools that are advertised as "AI" to produce the audio mock-up of the music you composed.

I’m kind of on the mix opinion here for me AI music seems very dishonest and rather very silly in its own part. It should have no place competing against real human work however, though I am completely foreign, even encouraging the use of some AI music software’s. (stuff like cantai.) that allows for the performance of a human work to be perfected. Thing number one: I definitely feel like that a performance using AI is not as bad again this is not regarding about the performance of music. This is a regarding about people’s compositions. Thing number two: it should be unfair to have AI as a wild thing in competitions. Sure they could be in an events. Events are perfect for AI as that nobody is competing against anybody, however, though I feel like top priority should be given to real people’s human works first AI could wait. Competition competitions and AI do not mix unless if you have a AI only competition My final thing to say though is, I am very mixed about having a AI only sub if we do have one sure I wouldn’t mind as much and it’s not a huge problem but again you’re not composing music at least there should be someplace for AI music here and to have at least a very strong filter that can be unable to get rid of it for those who do not want any part of it things to go against AI is definitely some anti-AI software to tell if someone is using it for ill intent. At least some knowledge of a piece of music can work as proof and even if it’s a short thing, then at most a score to accompany with it. Honestly for contests score in audio should be mandatory unless if stated otherwise. Thank you.

I got my piece to play for today 😁

Exactly. Completely agreed. It wouldn't be appropriate to post, say, a Haydn string quartet in the "share your work" forums, because it's not your work. In exactly the same sense, it doesn't make any sense to me for someone to post an AI-composed piece here, because it's not the poster's work. What would be the point? Best case, you fool people into thinking it's your own work. What then? People give you feedback, assuming you wrote the piece, and that feedback is totally useless to you since you didn't, in fact, write the piece. I suppose maybe somebody will say, "Good job," to you, and OK, congratulations, you tricked someone into praising you. (Though, I must say, to date, I still have not heard an AI-composed piece of music that I thought was anything better than mediocre). This is exactly what I can't understand. What would anyone expect in response to a piece of AI-generated music? Sure, I could pretend that a human actually wrote it and write a critique of it based on that fiction, but I can't imagine why I would ever do that, nor can I imagine what use that would be to the person who posted it.

skip to 3:30 if you get bored of the vibraphone intro lol

This piece is for a concert later this year. Just started on it tonight, and it's the first time I've written for guitar. So I'm sure it's probably unplayable! N.B. I decided to use two staffs to make it more readable. Think it would look very cluttered on a single staff.

Very nice piece, with the cross relations between E and E flat. And very nice performance by Henry, as usual. Well done to both of you!

Hello, I recently finished a piece, Introduction and Waltz, and am wondering if the score is MOLA ready. I'm submitting to a competition thats due on the 10th (parts are not required til a later date). Thanks a lot and feel free to also listen and give feedback!

LoL I am not familiar with idioms at all and thought you guys are talking about Fifty Shades of Grey! Henry

Updated the mp3 with Henry's performance. If anyone's interested, he didn't listen to the mp3 render first 😄 Henry = 🔥

Since this is a composition form, it is difficult to have to have live performances, I will ask this: What are your thoughts regarding Note Performer? @PeterthePapercomPoser @Aiwendil Here are mine: NP has it owns instruments that are used in playback in notation play back. Thus, this is similar to how VST library operates: each library is. They have they own instruments. It cannot replace DAW and those VST. When it comes to mock-ups, composers usually work with in daw. But they could use NP, too. The studio string orchestra that performed my piece was sent a midi mock up with score and parts. I.e. I am fine with a midi mock-up with score and parts (either from daw or using NP). But I am not fine with something like Suno. That is not mock up! I hope this helps

Right because by that reasoning .. if I were to use a VST plugin with AI assisted vibrato modeling or some such thing, it wouldn't be permissible to post.

(Verse 1) Welcome to the playground, where the rules are all a lie You say you want a show, but you can’t look me in the eye Fists behind your lipstick, whispers in the hall You want me to be quiet, but I’m breaking down the wall (Pre-Chorus) You dress me up in sugar, but I’m made of something rough You want a perfect puppet, but I’m calling out your bluff (Chorus) I don’t wanna play in your fight club, Don’t wanna bruise for your fake love You want a winner you can pick and choose But I’m not here for you to use I don’t wanna bleed in your fight club, Don’t wanna break for your fake hug You want a trophy you can push around But you’ll never knock me down (Verse 2) Broken crown and knuckles, you love a bloody scene Cheering for the chaos while you’re hiding in between You want a pretty fighter, but I bite back twice as hard I’m not your little secret, I’m your battle-scarred (Pre-Chorus) You paint me with your rumors, but I’m coloring outside You want me by your side, but only if I hide (Chorus) I don’t wanna play in your fight club, Don’t wanna bruise for your fake love You want a winner you can pick and choose But I’m not here for you to use I don’t wanna bleed in your fight club, Don’t wanna break for your fake hug You want a trophy you can push around But you’ll never knock me down (Bridge) You want a show, you want a scream But I’m the fire in your dream Not your game, not your pawn I’m the war you can’t move on (Chorus) I don’t wanna play in your fight club, Don’t wanna bruise for your fake love You want a winner you can pick and choose But I’m not here for you to use I don’t wanna bleed in your fight club, Don’t wanna break for your fake hug You want a trophy you can push around But you’ll never knock me down (Outro) So ring the bell, let the punches fly I’ll still be standing, don’t need to try I don’t wanna play in your fight club But I’ll survive your fight club.

😁

This looks quite useful and interesting! I have to admit, I don't pay special emphasis on musical engraving at all because I never consider an essential part of composing at all. Henry

I also must admit that I’ve never read or heard about those two books. However, score engraving is an interesting topic for me and I take a lot of care to produce satisfying scores for my compositions. Therefore, that „debate“ should be something for me, too. The only „literature“ I’ve actually read about the art of music score engraving is the „Lilypond Essay“ which I’ve linked here. Even if I run the risk of @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu is thinking that I am a Lilypond lobbyist or salesman (😆, I must think on the „rodeo“ between Henry and @SeekJohn14v6 ...), I am just a Lilypond user, and I’m glad with this notation software for two reasons. First, the approach of writing „source code“ and „compiling“ it into a score and a MIDI-file is the right one for me, since in my everyday work I'm familiar with writing tons of lines of source code rather than using a WYSIWYG-interface. The other, and possibly more important fact is, that the resulting engravings are much more satisfying and similar to old-fashioned hand engravings than the most of the other notation software solutions are currently able to produce. So I had a small look again at the above cited „Lilypond Essay“ and, interestingly, the two books you mentioned can be found prominently in the „(Short) Literature List“. I looked around, if I could find some PDFs, excerpts etc. on the internet – and indeed I found some, so that I can take a view on that books to be able to participate in the „debate“ soon. Thanks for the suggestion!

Based on ruminations ("the action or process of thinking deeply about something") on "contingent ephmeral art" and the absurdity of the mundane. Liner note (also on last page): Ruminations for String Quartet in G, Jan 2026..mp3 All thoughts welcome! Every little piece of attention feeds my ego-

Daybliss.mid Daybliss.mid

Among all the other previously published canons of its type, this one might as well have turned out to be the most demanding to perform, in no small part due to the choir's conventional maximum ranges being reached in at least three voices, including both soprano (C6) and bass (E2), making it no small feat to sing. The main lyrics would roughly translate from Latin to English as follows: "In the direst of circumstances the true heart of men shall sing with great hope of leaving behind a memorable life. Even death can conquer those whose memory lies in the glory of their good deeds." The coda, as per usual, reinforces the core message in a variety of ways. YouTube video link:

Hello there Pyry, I appreciate your comment and I like that you are giving your opinion in such a peaceful way, unfortunately the score for this composition as for some others is lost and as it is finished I didn't have a reason to make it again and it is not an easy thing to do actually, I had kind of the same opinion from one friend that I had who plays the piano and composes also, and I will agree with you at some point as I did with him and with myself, I hate my music more than anyone but I also like my music more than anyone and I'm listening to it like a drug addict and I always want more from me so I know exactly what are you talking about and thank you for mentioning it with honesty. Best wishes from Greece, Demertzis

Hi @ComposedBySam! Really like your poem, piece and singing! I like the occasional short imitations between parts like in b.9 or b.17 which strengthen the chasing theme. I really like the "dismantle this church that bows before strife" lyrics when you really dismantle by getting up an octave and ends on a high register, and then a half cadence which is resolve sacarstically to A minor. Wonderful job here. And also the "sacrificed in vain" lyrics when the voice ends in confusion with diminished 7th chords and the voice breaks off! The F minor modulation in b.47 is wonderful when it's matched with "grave" in the poem! A wonderful lied in my opinion. I think you should definitely make more lieder out of your poem, instead of having a strophic setting, because your through composed technique is wonderful and well matched with your lyrics! Thx for sharing! Henry

Congratulations for this enjoyable and galant short sonata! It is nice to see such an easy and playable piece which comprises compositional skills to let it sound in the mood of the late Baroque era. Allegro An easy to play but clearly structured sonata form movement! I especially liked the phrases with the syncopated, perhaps staccato eighth notes in the second theme in bars 17-18 and 21-22. To make this second theme even more colorful and to avoid the tendency of repetition, I would try to vary bars 13, 15, 19 and 23 slightly, for example by introducing more counter-movement between the voices, at least in some of the repetitions. Might be that the finale could be made a little more elaborated, for example by creating two variants for the last few bars, so that in the repetition there could be some more ornamentation when reaching the final chord. Some aspects regarding the playability and “aesthetics” of the score. Measure 31 should be moved to the first page to avoid turning the page, which is only necessary for one measure here, and I would try to balance the distribution of measures between the staves so that the last staff does not appear so stretched out. Andante Serious, with slow rhythm, but also with a dancing character, perhaps an Allemande. I would avoid the octaves between bass and treble in bar 4, third beat and bar 5, first beat. Perhaps the bass could be in mm. 4-5 as | D E A Bb | F C# D F |. The same in bar 13, first beat (G instead D). Minuet The minuet is another superb example how an easy piece can be expressive and full of character. I love the articulation and ornamentation which unmistakably emphasize the dance-like character of the minuet. By the way, I think I have recognized some more or different ornamentations in the recording than in the score, for example in the repetition of bars 7 and 15 of the minuet and the repetition of bars 4 and 6 of the trio. Is it a live recording or, if not, did you have to realize all that ornamentations in your notation software „by hand“ to achieve that realistic effect and the distinction between the different occurrences of the section due to the repetitions? I ask this because I do the same thing when writing a score, having a „print“ score and a „midi“ score achieved through „if-else“s in the same Lilypond source code. (Yes, I have seen in your profile that you are one of the few composers who also use Lilypond ...) Rondo At the end the fun, the fast rondo. Here, I would assume that this is not a live recording, which would bring to the piece the intended lightness and elegance with more soulful phrasing - that the composition undoubtedly contains. When reading the score, I was initially somewhat confused because I could not see the upbeat note that introduces each next phrase. Therefore, I would divide the two eighth notes at the end of measures 4, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37, and 61 into separated ones that are not connected by a beam.

@Aiwendil Exactly. Those who favor AI do not want it monitor and regulated. But there was incident in holiday contest where someone used suno. Imagine Suno was used in real life. Then what?