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Hi all! As the Halloween season creeps closer, I decided to produce a small, ultra-short film rooted in my love of the holiday. A couple years ago I produced a similar short featuring some of these same characters, which I did also share on here. This is a pseudo-sequel to that video as well. I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and such! I did submit this to a local film festival and will hear back soon on if my submission was accepted. It was fun trying to play with some different things sonically, especially with the introduction of the theremin into the mix. While trying to go from an almost cartoony sound and look at the beginning, to a more sinister one at the end. Hope you enjoy the watch/listen!

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

Thank you very much for your comments! It's the first time I've really got any really good, substantial musical feedback on my music, and it means a lot to me. It is very motivating, so it really makes me want to make more! I often compose by improvising (I'm used to improvising in a jazz/fusion) parts/themes, either using a piano or flute sound, and then edit, change instruments, and adding harmony, voices. To get away from a certain predictability when I improvise, I recently sometimes experiment with pitch-class sets, or some of the messiaen-modes. Most of Eight Crows in a Tree was based on octatonic (diminished scale) melody and harmony, with some parts with polytonality, but not in a strict sense. I might use it as a starting point, and then edit it so it sound better for me. And yes, there might very well be parts that are un-playable, as I have never written for any real instruments. I'll have to be careful about that. And yes, I knew the glissandi wasn't sounding 100% natural, but I tried something else, but came back to this, as I thought maybe in a future version of noteperformer/dorico it will sound better. Also about the pitched percussion - I like to use the melodic percussion to emphasize rhythms, if I sometimes use 7/8 or similar. I can see that you, PeterthePapercomPoser, are interested in Japanese music, as you use some for your variations, they sound great by the way! I'm also very interested in Japanese music, the use of harmony can be interesting and complex, while keeping it very approachable at the same time.

Hello @stigbn25 and welcome to the forum! The Purple Fields - I like how sparsely orchestrated and motivically streamlined this piece is! And even all the different percussion instruments all have unique, exposed and important roles in the music. Some of the quick pizzicato figures are almost borderline unplayable at that speed, unless you instruct the string orchestra to play the instruments like a guitar (or on two alternating double stopped strings). The ending felt like a cliffhanger. Blue Jelly - I love the glissandi although they sound a bit artificial or like they're played by a synth. This one is a bit more unusual harmonically than Purple Fields. This is also rhythmically quite creative in how some of the grooves are constructed. Also sparsely orchestrated which makes for a more easy-listening experience dominated more by purely essential phrases. The ending in this one feels more conclusive although also avoids any kind of cliche. Eight Crows in a Tree - the mood of this one from the get go sounds much darker and menacing. Your focus on solo individual lines makes the moments where you orchestrate dyads/triads and more harmonically developed sections more meaningful. Some parts of this sound longing. Your characteristic use of pitched percussion makes a return here. Using all the strings doubled in octaves also makes for a particularly strong melodic effect. I love the ending chord! If I'm not mistaken it's just an E - G dyad with the G also in the bass. Very cool tone-painting there with that last chord. I think overall I can understand why you called these "Symphonic Fantasies". They're very free and through-composed formally speaking. This allows you to explore sounds in an unencumbered way. I actually have a project that I just finished that I also call a Symphonic Fantasy although it's a bit more of variations piece on pre-existing themes not composed by me. Thanks for sharing!

Could be for a game or a movie idk. maybe this fits more in a movie. This is in piano but I hope you can imagine it as an orchestral cinematic piece like I do. Just not really experienced in arranging orchestral intruments. Maybe Ill do it in the future. I think this is considered a scottish or irish style correct me if i'm wrong. Would love to hear your thoughts. https://on.soundcloud.com/8rUORnL2KJFhPd1P1h The mistakes in the start are intentional.

Hello my friends. Im new here . My friend Henry told me about this forum so im glad that i am here with you . Here a bagatelle that i want to share. Bagatelle in B major. I hope you like it https://youtu.be/oIjmE8spNak?si=nf4Rw0C4RrNsjRYM Here my youtube channel so you can check all my compositions. https://www.youtube.com/@VasilisMichael87 Thank you very much

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!)

Bravo! What a pleasure to come back to take a look at the forum and find a whole beautiful sonata ready for a wonderful listen. Thanks, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu As usual I wish I jotted down notes to articulate a nice meaningful helpful constructive and honest critique, but I haven't, so here's my superficial impressions. Wow! Dancing letters, and bird calls, and Beethoven quotes and spirit, and pentatonicisms, and random pauses, and self-citations, and myriad more things, all packaged in an incredibly cohesive and consistent dialogue that both stays within the confines of classical forms and pushes the envelope. At the same time?!? how do you do this? With mastery and an uncanny passion for c sharp minor, I guess? There are so many bits and parts that I loved (the andantino variation, the way the second movement - that to me started meh - grew on me maybe especially with the wonderful g flat section, the smartness of the scherzo, the interesting comfort of the first movement, where first and second theme look so alike, and yet are so different...), and not a lot that I did not enjoy (I remember a forte section in the second movement that seemed to me was compromising the balance of the movement, something in the general architecture of scherzo that did not persuade me, except that the middle section makes anything forgiven). Speaking of the mid section of the scherzo, that is such an interesting way to stay within the form, and yet - but with elegance and taste - step outside of it, a little self-referential joke about musical forms themselves, smart but also elegant and pretty to listen to, cerebral but lovely to the ear. Bravo! It is a real joy to listen to this, thanks again!

I might as well publicize the Google sheet since you're not the first to mention it: Scherzo Index

Yo Peter! Sorry I have been late to the party, due to laziness lol. Although I have listened to your excerpts tons of times, this is the first time I listen to a movement in full and with score. I must say, it sounds even more fascinating with a score at hand! I thoroughly enjoy this even though I have zero exposure to FF world, thx to my strict mum (time to blame your mum for a miserable childhood when you fail yourself in your real life lol!) I cannot and will not distinguish those 8 themes haha, just like Wanger's Leitmotifs which I can never remember their originals when they reappear at all lol. My most familiar theme is probably the Terra's theme because it usually starts a variation in imitation. I think this one really fits for a Scherzo. It sounds like an adventure and joyous wanderings but there is dark power underneath though not very apparent at the moment I guess. Btw, what are the short forms for the code of each of the 8 themes in the rehersal markings? The whole orchestration for me is fascinating and I will for sure steal something from here to my orchestration variations on your themes lol. lemme just take note of some spots I like: Beginning: I love all those imitations for the Terra Theme, it sounds like each team member is following the team's footstep into a journey to fxxk off the monster or final big boss, and the stretto treatment of the imitation gives excitement right at the beginning. The marching rhythm underneath with Timpani, Tuba, Cello and Double Bass is a pattern I should steal, though I may use add a bass drum to the snare drum as well. I also love both the Dorian C# and Phyrgian F natural in your themes as it really adds the folkore colour in the work. b.21 R Var.3: Love the very low register oboe, sounds dark to me. Since I'm also using harps in writing your variation, will you also follow the performance practice to the pedals the harp is using at the moment? You know what, I always get headached when I need to check whether the pedal notes of the harp is right. b.42 ES: Love the wind sextet setting, and then the string quartet plus horn setting. Sad the weird Musecore string sound sample which ruins the melody by always sliding ludicrously! b.72 FP Var.2: Love you start introducing the polyrhythm in flute in b.81, which will be used later for climax. Also, I really love the parallel fifth bass in b.89 as it sounds so prefectly disturbing! b.97 EA: I absolutely love the buildup here with both the tempo acceleration, tremolo, shorter and closer notes and more dissonances. I like the cilmax in b.117 esp. with the electric bass. Though, will it be great to add some brass here as well? It sounds a bit thin for a fff dynamic here for me personally. b.117 Scherzo beginning: I love the beginning. Though maybe for me I would also add a harp and a piano playing the low E here for that particular timbre, if there's not cost adding them haha. The new theme sound so peaceful, but the BD theme sounds greatly weird haha. I love the tremolo beneath and also your modulation to other keys here in b.170, since the music more or less stays in the tonal centre E for couple of minutes and it's the right time to add new things into it. And that G-Bb reinterpreted as G-A# to F#-B in flute, wow. b.180 L Var.3: Nice counterpoint between winds and horn themes even I forget where do the themes come from at all, and nice clash in b.183. b.196 FA: I really love the modulations here towards the hexatonic keys, they don't sound cliche as in many film music. The harmonic colour here is fascinating! Though, I may add a cresc. to ffffffff before the rests in b.207 and 211. b.218 AS Var.1: Nice relaxation! Nice imitation throughout as well. The polyrhythm from b.81 reappears as well. And that goddamn modulation to Db major in b.258!! It sounds so magical and refreshed after all those sharp key areas! But, it's so short!!!! And ruined immediately by the Kafka theme. Love the outburst of hextaonic G# minor and F minor at the end. It sounds unfinished which it should be for there are movements to follow. I remember Peter has an entire excel spreadsheet for all the themes he uses in each of the variation LoL!!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly I didn't remember any details in it due to my lazy nature lol. Very enjoyable! Looking forward to your other movements!! Henry

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.

Hi to all. Here's my latest attempt at orchestration practice. This one's from a piano miniature by Ravel. Haven't put all the slurs and fermatas in yet; but it's otherwise more or less complete. (N.B. Later revisions are attached lower down the thread.)

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

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?

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!

How about this version? I've basically split the difference between the tempo of my original rendition, and the piano performance mentioned above. Also added lots of tempo variations.

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!

Never ❤️ Oh, and cool music!

Once again ... Hi all, Here's something I've worked on .... it's a children's classroom song. I plan to submit to the music teacher at my grandson's school. So some feedback is appreciated. I might add more refrains ... (original lyrics). Mark

Thanks Peter, will try speeding it up. I couldn't find a metronome mark for this piece: so was trying to use my musical instincts! Think it probably should be a bit slower in the orchestral version, as it seems to work better that way; but I probably went too far. Actually haven't done Ravel before. So far I've orchestrated Debussy and Schumann.

Hi, I'm new here on this forum. I've been making music as a hobby for many years, first mostly guitar (fusion) with keyboard and a DAW (studio one) and in the last couple of years more and more "classical" or rather symphonic music, first in a DAW, but now mostly in Dorico as i like the workflow much better. I've self-studied a lot of theory from books and youtube-videos. These are 3 of my latest compositions. I tend to make something I would call a "fantasy", as I like to let my mind flow and let the themes and ideas flow. Maybe it results in a mess, I'm not sure...😀 I'm writing in Dorico with Noteperformer and I'm using the standard sounds, except the strings where I'm using Spitfire BBC core. The Purple Fields Blue Jelly Eight Crows in a Tree

Hi @Alex Weidmann! Ah, so you decided to try your hand at yet another Ravel piece to orchestrate! This time on a piece he wrote based on a transliteration of Haydn's name! I listened to the original by Ravel, and its duration is only about 2 minutes, while your orchestration is twice as long! And when listening to your orchestration, I definitely have the impression that it's being played too slow. I'm not saying up the tempo everywhere. Ravel's original was I think subject to some rubato tempo and rubato tempo is something that is possible for orchestra as well, not just in a solo piano piece. They way I would apply rubato is to literally put rit.'s and accel.'s where appropriate throughout the score. It could bring so much more life and vitality to the music if you did that. Thanks for sharing!

I'm nervous because this is my first ever musical comission. This waltz is intended as a birthday present for a friend, she likes a lot studio ghibli and Tim burton's so I decided to write a waltz trying to imit these styles Since my friend is not a classical listener I used simpler harmonies, but my perfectionist self wanted more so I decided to orchestrate the waltz and, duuuude, it's the best desition i could have ever made I hope you like it!!!

Hi @Samuel_vangogh! I think you definitely accomplished your goal of writing a piece like Joe Hisaishi. At first, I thought you intended to write a piece literally using the "Happy Birthday" melody. But now I understand it had nothing to do with that melody and you just meant to write a piece of music as a birthday gift. The music is very bittersweet and emotive. I wish you had written a final ending chord! It seems like that's all that's missing from this. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, this is my own original material, just inspired by Medtner (as I've put it in my catalogue) Really appreciate the feedback, thanks for commenting!

Hey @ferrum.wav! I don't remember if I reviewed this piece anytime throughout its development. I definitely feel like I am really well familiarized with the music by now however, having heard it multiple times before. I think the piece has a great melodic, harmonic and rhythmic identity! And you sustain this melodic adventure for upwards of 7 minutes which is a feat! I went back to the original post to maybe read up on whether this is a piece based on themes from somewhere - but I couldn't find anything, so I assume that this is all your own original material? Great job and thanks for sharing!

ah, I see your point now, brotha. Since I've tried to emulate a more "jazzy" style, there is probably a lot of improvised-sounding sections. At that time, I wasn't sure how to develop the theme since it doesn't really lend itself to motivic transformation, at least in the classical sense. I just had to, most of the time, repeat it with slight variations and different key schemes throughout the piece. You're actually right about the ostinato being the center of attention from bars 1 - 20; it makes its full appearance at b.21. Now that you've mentioned it, I can't stop unhearing the piano ostinato in the B section, perhaps there are balance issues there too. Thanks for clarifying your thoughts, peter. I am glad you found good things about my piece.

Danke, Henry!

I still think it's the best piano piece I ever wrote, in 38 years. I am 56. When are they going to kick me off this site for not being a "Young Composer?" Young at heart, I guess.

Schumann orchestration? Contrary to legend, Schumann was not a bad orchestrator. Workaday, like Brahms. Not a colorist like Mahler, Ravel, let's see...Rimsky -Korsakov? Just keep working, but only when you feel like it. That would be my advice, and it is what I do. Great exercise to orchestrate a Schumann piano piece, and piano music in general is hard to orchestrate.

Thanks! there are like two mistakes before the bass comes in but it's kinda lowkey.. Yeah maybe it could benefit from a change of rhythm in the bass. I kinda like that it sounds simple in the piano version but surely as an orchestral piece it would be more serious and complex.

Lovely and simple

Also some description of Variation 3: It's in 3/4. Tempo will be a metric modulation: the quarter note will be the same length as the 8th note from the 2nd variation.

Hi @shirz! I didn't hear any mistakes in the beginning. I definitely can imagine it orchestrated and it kinda reminds me of the epic and heroic main theme from Chrono Trigger that plays after the title screen. Although I think in an orchestration, there should be some kind of change of texture to give the ear a break from the constant bass notes. Leaving some parts out at strategic places for a pause would give a welcome relief. Great job and thanks for sharing!

Hello! I finished a new piano song that I had fun playing and started as a sketch last summer. I'm happy to finish it! I hope you enjoy ~

hi @PeterthePapercomPoser thank you for the feedback as always! I agree with you it should be cut-time. No wonder it felt a little strange.. haha. I use a combination of Musescore and Dorico.

Hey @Alex Weidmann! So this is the piece you wrote that was inspired by "To Zanarkand" from Final Fantasy X? It's not bad! When I listen to the original piano piece, and compare it to yours the first thing that I notice is that, in the original the melody is brought out more in high relief. You can do this too if you use MS Basic Piano soundfont and offset the velocity values of the melody to about 32 higher than the rest to really bring it out of the overall texture. There are plenty of great emotive harmonic moments in your piece that get lost among the mind numbing narrative of imbalanced piano noodling. When you don't bring out the melody, the listener doesn't know what to listen for and retreats into a passive listening mode, which is what I think is happening here. That's my advice - thanks for sharing!

Hi again @kaiyunmusic! What a wonderfully sweet and relaxing piece! The musical content itself is great and I wouldn't change a thing about it! My only critique is with how you notated this. I would notate it like this instead: Your version is essentially in cut-time (or otherwise known as 2/2) while this version is in 4/4. What program do you use? If you wanted to convert your score to look like this you could select all of your notes and there should be some option somewhere for diminution by half or "paste at half duration" or something. Thanks for sharing!

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

Man the woodwinds writing on this is insane, heck I think the woodwinds are the spotlight of this movement (and the horns too). You've managed to really use all of the family's characteristics to their fullest. Love the canon woodwinds-only section on b.42 for contrast, followed immediately by another color contrast on b.58 by the string quartet and the horn for pedal tones. It's really dense with the variety of themes playing counter-points with each other. The harmonies are so colorful, also really like the transitions between the variations. Random things I've noticed: brass fanfare interruptions on b.228 are from the beginning (b.17), the upward fourths figure from the cellos on b.72 gets a lot of variations after this as foreground (starting b.89), middleground (tremolo strings from b.101), background (b.97), and cadence (b.86 violins, b.126-127 clarinets and oboes, b.135 strings, b.142-145 strings), figure from b.81 by string and oboes gets variated on b.166 (love this section) and b.258, the arpeggiated power chord figure on the harp gets used a lot until the end. Overall, I really like it. Thanks for recommending me your piece! This really motivates and inspires me to continue my own symphonic variation.

Hey Vince. Thanks for your review! I actually do have Terra's Theme stated that way in the solo string quartet section of the piece here: The 1st Violin and Cello have Terra's Theme in a form that's closest to its original form here. Yeah LoL .. well, it would be a misnomer no? If I persist with this project then this won't be "final" at all! Haha LoL I never thought somebody would call it a "quagmire". The rehearsal marks are a headache even for me. I have a Google sheet with a catalogue of all the variations and their meter, tempo, themes used, and page number in my notebooks (as you've seen I think). Those technical details aren't really useful for anyone except me if I ever plan on continuing other movements or in case I still want to use unused or unrealized variations in the piece. Thanks! Saving Kefka's theme for the end was a happy accident actually, and it's a modified version of a 4/4 variation that didn't work quite as well and was going to get cut anyway. I hope so! As I said, there are so many unused and unrealized variations still in my notebooks - it would be a shame if I didn't utilize them in another movement. Thanks for your kind words!

Hey @AngelCityOutlaw! Very cool track! Reminds me a little of Kow Otani the Japanese composer who wrote the music for "Outlaw Star" an anime that was popular right before the reign of "Cowboy Bebop". Thanks for sharing this cool "Asiatic" track!

Hi @Fugax Contrapunctus! Very cool idea! I actually do something like this harmonically speaking in my Variations on "Deck the Halls" for Piano and Orchestra. I cycle through the whole circle of 5ths twice over before returning back to the home key, although it's not a canon. Very effective orchestration here, starting with just strings, adding woodwinds and then introducing the choir - very multi-dimensional approach to a simple repeating canonic structure. Thanks for sharing!