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My reason for using the English horn, is that oboes can sound quite harsh and intrusive in their low range. A bit like a duck! So I thought an English horn would have a more pleasant timbre in that range. Alex this really is a misunderstanding of how an Oboe works! Let's throw out the meme about DUCKS! The lower range/register can be as beautiful as the upper range. (just ask Dvorak). The English horn in this orchestration will not add too much. It does not have the penetration ... it is better used a solo instrument or in a small ensemble. Please no more duck jokes! Mark

Thanks Henry! I'm really pleased you like this work, because I wasn't sure it was any good. I actually tried to use con sord. on the violins; but then I discovered the little CTRL-T speaker thingy has disappeared. So I can't access that setting anymore. Seems to be some kind of bug within MuseScore, and it only manifested after the latest update. Weirdly it's only affecting this project. When I load other projects, the little speaker comes back. Not sure how to put this right? I guess some of those notes are probably too high for the violins without using harmonics; though I haven't actually checked. Glad you like the bassoons combined with harp, as I wasn't sure about that orchestration. Hopefully they can play those big jumps across the break; but I'm not 100% sure about that either. My time signatures are a bit all over the place in this piece, and I will be simplifying those at some point. Thanks again for your review! Alex.

I've also read from several orchestration books that the lowest register of a double reed instrument including oboe, English Horn and Bassoon are all more difficult to control, and it's much more difficult to play lower than mp in the low register. Given the ethereal mood of the piece I agree with your treatment to use English Horn instead of 2nd oboe. Also I think it's quite common to have at least 1 Englisn Horn in every orchestra so I think that won't be a big problem in practice. Henry

Hi I composed this Wind Quintet, its 12 tone and I was wondering if anyone could help with checking the spelling. The piece itself is done and my main concern is now making it as readable as possible. The score is also transposed. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z2Rklc0NyWTGlxcjtitSqk2fFByDzm_f/view?usp=drivesdk

Yes there is a 2nd movement, thx for pointing out to add slurs there. I mainly wanted to focus on the spelling on the 1rst movement, so I can take the insight and bring it to the other movement.

Sorry - I was confused - I thought the score you provided was a concert pitch score. It seems your mp3 has more material than the score does - are these the beginnings of a 2nd movement? There's some more things concerning articulation that I noticed like for example here: I think the notes that aren't staccato in the above passage should definitely be slurred for clarity of performance - otherwise, in sight-reading that's something that would be easy to miss. I know you include legato and slurs in many other places throughout the piece so I'm puzzled why you forgot them here. Yes - I totally agree there. I was mistaken in my whole discussion before as I was reading the score as a concert pitch score. Musically speaking my only critique is that, since the whole piece is at the same tempo, there aren't any changes in character within the duration of the piece. The whole piece comes across as a sort of 12-tone invention with many recurring and recognizable rhythmic and melodic motifs. It is interesting as that, but I think it could be so much more if there were changes of character for each different motif. I enjoyed listening nonetheless and thanks for sharing the recording!

It autocorrected!!!!

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Hi thx for the feedback, we usually try and avoid B#, and especially FX. Ik the 2nd Vietnamese school used them but ive been told by my Prpfessors not to use those spellings. Also yes the piece does have some tonal moments, but that's more for color. So i try nt to base spelling on the horizontal movement but the vertical. There's two many parts where id be making weird spelling choices if I did that. As for the piece being transposed I thought thats how the players read the parts? I do also have a C score obviously. Also heres the musescore mockup audio if u wanna hear it, like I said its done. Gentle Winds mp3

Hi @Rafael Avila ! First off, I don't know if it is customary to use a transposed score for serial works. Perhaps due to the dissonant textures and lack of key center it is preferrable to a transposed score? I personally prefer transposed scores because then you see exactly what the player sees and the logic of the enharmonics is different and customized. Btw, would you provide an mp3 of the piece as well? I've noticed from the score that some parts of it might even be perceived as tonal. Now to picking at the enharmonics. In measure 3 you have the flute playing this: Since you have a leap here of a major 7th I would spell the notes in this measure as C#, B#, A#, Fx. And since the part continues in the next measure to D# and B it makes more sense (to me) to continue using sharps here. You might think that since the harmony underneath that is basically D minor, that using your spellings would be more logical in that context. That could be true, and I wouldn't blame you for keeping it the way you have it now. But it also depends on how devoid of key the piece actually is. Is this just a short moment of quasi-tonality in the midst of atonal surroundings? Or do various key centers actually play a part in the piece and how it will be perceived by the listener? On a cursory glance at just the beginning of the score it doesn't seem particular dissonant or atonal and uses lots of consonances and octave doublings. Like I said, I am no 12-tone serial connoisseur but this seems like a no-no for a serial work. Basically - if the piece is tonal here and there, adhere to tonal voice-leading rules in those situations. But if the piece is more devoid of a tonal center then spell the pitches as logically as possible within each individual voice regardless of what the other voices are doing in a sense. That's how I would do it. Thanks for sharing and I'd be stoked to hear this piece!

Many thanks for listening Mark. The doubled oboes actually just come from my standard orchestral template. I was too lazy to correct the staff label! So I only envisage a single oboe playing most of the time. My reason for using the English horn, is that oboes can sound quite harsh and intrusive in their low range. A bit like a duck! So I thought an English horn would have a more pleasant timbre in that range. You're probably right about the bass clarinet. I just thought it might blend better with the regular clarinets.

I entered an international competition in Italy. How do you think this piece would be perceived in the Italian vocal music composition competition scene? Is there anyone familiar with how works like this are evaluated in Italy? It has never been premiered with live instruments, never been published, and has never won any awards. This is my first time participating in a major competition, so I'm not really sure how it all works.

hello folks, while I'm working on some exciting big projects, I found this absolutely heart-gripping piece by Sibelius. It instantly found a deep part of my soul. I wanted to arrange it as some parts could be instantly imagined in my head. Some others where hard to execute with such beauty as the original performance, but i wanted to try. Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD7jiXWqhPs Arrangement:https://youtu.be/vZcKCGwQsrA The Spruce.mp3 The Spruce.pdf

Hi @Some Guy That writes Music ! I am not gonna comment anything on scoring or engraving since it's my so weakness and @MK_Piano will comment on that anyways lol. I have zero experience in arrangement too so my following comment is merely subjective. I think the beginning can really be accompanied by a harp. Will you think of having the piece in C minor? Then the violins can play the melody with the lowest G, and I think that will be stronger than the viola melody unless it's played by its C string. i personally would want that intensity of tone with the lowest string of either violin or viola given how beautiful Sibelius's melody is, but it's just me 😛. I actually think of having the b.33 melody played by English Horn AND cello as well as I love the high register of cello haha. I think for the catastrophe in b.45 polyrhythm can be introduced with some triplets and sextuplets (and possibly quintuplts too) beneath the semiquaver figure as to capture that effect in the original piece. For b.59 I actually think of the melody played a single horn as in Brahms' 3rd Symphony to capture that solitude, since strings is always used before for the melody. Thx for sharing this arrangement! Also, thx for introducing this piece, it's fxxingly beautiful! Henry

Hi everyone! I took a break from composing for a while. Recently, I started composing again, and I would like to present my latest composition, an Impromptu, written between May and July 2026. Writing this piece proved challenging – choosing the right material was an endeavor, and most of the effort was spent on completing the coda section. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and I would love to hear your thoughts! Carl Koh Wei Hao