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Hi! I am continuing my revision on my old work. This is the 2nd movement of my Clarinet Quintet in C minor, which is completed 4 years ago and I'm revising it. Thx to my friend @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio! To me this is probably the worst movement in the piece, but only because it's the most one dimensional one: After the discovery of despair in the 1st movement, I started to fall into confusion and craziness of despair. Ironically this movement is written in a neat Sonata form with the structure presented below: 0:00 First subject, exposition. Start right from the despair Eb-D-C-B motive in quick Scherzo time to represent the fury and confusion of despair. Clarinet joins in 0:31, still playing at the despair motive, and in 0:33 the whirling figure using despair motive signifying the confusion is introduced. 1:27 Transition, exposition. I like this pizz. theme myself for how sarcastic it is. 2:34 Second subject, exposition. In F minor. A more "reasonable" theme finally with major keys visited, although finally succumbed to the confusing despair. I always go to F minor instead of G minor for the secondary key of a C minor movement for its darkness. 3:46 Development. Continue with the confusion by quickly modulating to different keys. I really love the 3:59 passage with a Brahmsian turn to a German sixth chord in 4:09! The fury ends with a "transcended" sadness in Neapolitan C# minor in 5:20 with a clarinet solo, but sarcastically laughed off by pizzicato strings in another Brahmsian German sixth. 5:49 First subject, recapitulation. Excitement reduced after a suffocating development. In 6:02 obviously I learn from Beethoven's 5th for that famous solo oboe passage. I love how fierce it is in 6:38. 6:47 Transition, recapitulation. Shorter than exposition's transition. I hate exact repetitions. 7:25 Second subject, recapitulation. Same as the one in exposition except in tonic key. Notice how relative major Eb major is finally used with some emphasis for the very first time in the piece, as the confrontation of B flat carried by E flat major and B natural by C minor of the despair motive would be the main battlefield later on. 8:38 Coda. One last cry and I am exhausted by the despair, thus ends the movement in tired pizzicato chords. Only with this exhaustion do I have the motivation to excavate the true reason behind the despair, which would be the main theme for the 3rd movement. Here is the score and youtube video of the movement : (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 2nd mov Final Version 20260707.pdf Harmonically I deliberately play with chord progression of augmented triad keys to reinforce that particular chord both horizontally and vertically, as well as resonating with the despair motive. Hope you enjoy this one and offer some critique to the movement! P.S. This is the 1st movement of the remastered version of the work: Henry Clarinet Quintet in C minor 2nd mov Final.mp3

Some interesting key changes throughout the piece with fun and playful motives. My favorite part by far is around the 4:20 section. Beautiful melody here shared between the clarinet and the cello with some nice key changing here as well. The fast pace of the scherzo is fun but not overwhelming, especially since you break up the pace a bit especially at around 5:30. BTW, the part at around 5:30 to 5:40 reminds me of Chopin followed by Tchaikovsky! Oh, and 7:30 is a great part as well! I feel like you intertwine your melodies in this section which is definitely more Beethoven-esque. But this is a fantastic movement, I definitely hear influences of your other works in this piece.

This has to be one of my favorite pieces you've written my friend...it's so delicate and tender and perfectly suited to the occasion. Your string voicings work really well to get that full, yet soft sound. Nicely done, my only critique would be the length, I felt the piece could've been longer, but works at the current length, especially for the occasion for which it will be used.

Hi @Scriabinian ! I feel like the dynamic level of the rendition is unvaried at all! The ff passage sounds the same as mp passages. I have to admit I don't listen to the full piece because of the dynamic level, will you update the post with a more accurate rendition? Looking from the score I think it should be a really beautiful piece featuring rich counterpoint in a Sextet setting! Henry

Hi @Oak ! I agree with @Lithl that the alarm sound doesn't need the percussion. I will go further, I think only the vibraphone will be needed to wake your friends up in a peaceful manner! Henry

Hi @MK_Piano ! A really exciting and enjoyable piece! I have a lot to learn from your scoring and engraving and orchestration skills. The energy level in the outer sections is so well maintained which reminds me how vivacious you are in real life and here. I thoroughly enjoy this one, as this is not something I can compose. I don't have this kind of energy level myself and hence nothing similar to show in my own pieces. My favourite section is the middle section. It's real nice contrasting section featuring woodwinds when the outer sections are predominated by brass and strings. The counterpoint here is better than the outer sections too haha, because in the outer sections you feature more homophony and octave doublings which is apt to the steam theme too! And then some of my subjective thoughts: I think there is a bit unbalance in b.47 Rehearsal no. F to modulate to D flat major. Maybe an 8 bar phrase will be better than the 6 bar phrase now, but that's my personal thought. Also, I think you can have more prominent changes in the last A section, other than the key which is the most obvious change. Yes the orchestration is varied there and the texture is even thicker than the exposition, but I think you can slightly change the order of events in the recap, and change the modulation plan, since you modulate from Eb to Db major in the exposition, modulating from F to Eb major sounds similar to me so the heightening effect by modulating is weakened to me. I think ending in Eb major is the right option as to maintain the same key for the beginning and end, so you can begin in a key other than F major in the start of section L, which gives another advantage for having another modulation apart from the middle section, which is also in F major. P.S. Huge props to you @UncleRed99 for bringing @MK_Piano here! Definitely vitalizing the forum much more haha! Thx for sharing this wonderful piece! Henry

Very professional and detailed score. Did you use Dorico? I wonder will you be getting this performed by real musicians?

My dear fellow composers, after some weeks of quiescence, I’m presenting to you today my first attempt at orchestrating an existing composition for a full symphony orchestra. The „sketch“ I have chosen is a composition of my own, a huge six-part quadruple fugue for piano in B minor, from which I picked the fourth episode being a transitional section between the development sections. I especially love that section for its modulations, its slow arpeggios and the interwoven voice leading, which finally leads to a calming point on a diminished seventh chord before starting the next fast development section. As I have no experience in orchestration for an entire ensemble, all kinds of feedback are appreciated. During the last few months, I thoroughly followed the excellent reviews of @MK_Piano on orchestrated scores, so that I hopefully got around with the most obvious pitfalls due to its help. However, there are a number of open questions remaining. I hope, you’ll enjoy the piece. Wieland Episode4-Symphonic-Fugue-B-minor.mp3 Episode4-Symphonic-Fugue-B-minor.pdf

I’m starving. Really, starving. Starving for new music. Starving for new composers. He, the Algorithm, he is always offering similar menus. But I want to eat a wider range of music. Any kind of music is fine, totally, fine. Ethnic, Avant-Garde, Pop, Classical, Jazz, WHATEVER. Yes I promise, I promise to react to your post in this topic whenever I log in. So please… please… let… me… know… I’m Starving...

Dear Henry, I’m a bit shy to post the entire piano fugue now here in public. I intend to participate in an external composition competition where the rules say that the work must be „never performed in public and unpublished (even at the author’s own expenses)“ and that „arrangement, transcriptions will not be accepted“ (whatever the latter means). So I consider the original piano work as a „sketch“ for that purpose, from which I’ll take material for the orchestral composition in that competition. I very appreciate, that I have made you curious, so I will use the „send message“ functionality of the YCF to give you access to the original fugue in a „non publishing“ matter.

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu!! This is an energetic piece that keeps the listener engaged from start to finish. The dynamics are well crafted, and the other instruments really complement the clarinet. I was surprised by the sudden shift at the 3:15 markーit’s inventive. I also like the section around 5:27. The ending is really nice too. The clarinet melody around 1:53 is catchy, too; I imagine its qualities would shine in a live performance. Just picturing a musician bringing out those nuanced dynamics... it would be so wonderful! You’ve created a fantastic piece, well done! Best, Lithl.

Hello you all , it's me here Liaway (this is my nickname/pseudonym to not say my real name) I just recently found this forum which looks like a great ground for feedback and appreciation on my work and I don't know is it on-topic or not but I think my work fits pretty well with Classical music so I'd post it here I'd like some feedback on my work as I am currently 15 Op.2 No.1 Audio (no image) (1).mp3 Op.2 No.1 (Original Cadenza).pdf

Here is the song that I take it to be the first of the project to be transcribed

Thank you so much!! I’ll revise the rendition with the dynamics in mind!!

Hi @Cafebabe ! I really like this piece! It reminds me so much of Schubert with the main theme! Devilish, a bit dark humor just like his F minor Moment Musical and the figuration is really similar. The rhythm there is so funny. The piece is idiomatic on piano with all those quick notes. I have perfect pitch and I agree this piece works so well with the dark F minor. Really enjoy this one and thx for sharing! Henry

I think I posted this one in the past, however, whether I did or not doesn’t matter… lol I wrote this arrangement something like 2 years ago. At that time, after having decided to revisit it, I believe I wasn’t all that great with harmonies. I’ve decided to re-voice the chords in this score, and have utilized some of my new playback sounds to create a much better listening experience with this one. Let me know what yall think. I believe I’ve been able to embody the patriotism, and somber nature of what the bugle call Taps was written for. taps.mp3 taps.pdf

Hi @UncleRed99 ! I forget either lol! I really like this one. It sounds so solemn and very proper for the theme. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Kvothe ! I agree with the alto clef suggestion by @Fruit hunter and the register issue by @Luis Hernández . To me it sounds like Chinese music featuring mostly pentatonic melodies. I think you can feature more solo moments by each of the three instrumentalists in their unique color: The high unique register of piccolo and the C string area of viola are never explored in this piece, while the harp is almost monotonously playing broken chords except the glissando near the end. To me chamber music should have the players fully enjoying their own parts with some challenging passages, while playing together there should be 1+1>2 effect, rather than weaking all players' uniqueness. Thx for sharing. Henry

Hi! Will you post the original piano work separately first? I feel like I will have to go through the original full work before commenting on this one since I want to get to know how the four subjects are introduced before getting into this one! Henry

You should have posted this when I composed my Sextet, so I can steal your technique of interchanging between tritones of C major and F# major!! I spent too much time then to find a solution linking those two key areas lol! On the music itself it's a really jazzy waltz with very nice voice leading throughout. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hello everyone, I am back to feature an overhauled work of mine: The Tuckasegee Flyer. CONTEXT: Originally written in 2024 by commission from my friend, Brody, this work was meant to accompany a YouTube video series he was creating. Two years later, and during this summer, I felt in a trough of composition. I have sketched a lot of ideas for themes or independent phrases, however, I had no passion or inspiration to make them into full pieces. So, after looking through my file system, I looked through this work and immediately, I had ideas. This work is an orchestral depiction of what it feels like to ride behind a steam locomotive as seen or felt by a passenger. If you would like to know more specifics and a longer explanation of the work, go to the 3rd page of the PDF (which is listed as page 1 due to the front and back of the cover page). Thanks for viewing my score and taking a listen! (Comments welcome) This work in its current state would not have been possible without the support of friends and fellow composers. Big thank you to @UncleRed99 for his help with understanding brass ensembles as well as non-YCF composer @Arbolav for his help in the development. You two elevated this piece and I am forever thankful! The Tuckasegee Flyer_AUDIO.mp3 The Tuckasegee Flyer_SCORE.pdf The Tuckasegee Flyer_SCORE.pdf The Tuckasegee Flyer_SCORE.pdf

No, this is all within MuseScore Studio! Uncertain on the second part. It is registered on ASCAP and when I get the parts finished, I will self-publish to J.W. Pepper. In terms of performance, I have prepared an email to be sent out to a director of a 60-80 member orchestra in Joplin, Missouri. I was reached out by their principal trumpet player last year in regard to this work. When I notified him yesterday of the overhauled work, he gave me the contact of their director. We'll see if it bears fruit. My universities orchestra director gave me the chance to drop off some scores to her office for a reading session, and I have ordered Waves of Frisco Bay and Tuckasegee Flyer to be print at the beginning of next week. To add, I sent Waves of Frisco Bay out for two separate Call for Scores and should be notified of those events over the course of this month and into September. TL,DR: Hopefully!

This^ My thoughts exactly

@MK_Piano and I have been composing together / critiquing one another's works for a time before either of us were apart of this forum. I recently brought him onto it, as a way for him to share his works with you all, when I am unavailable to give insight on what he is working on. Although, he is much more Theory-Literate than I am, on account that he actually followed thru with his music education, unlike myself, who dropped out of school back in 2018 😅 But yes, we have brought up the idea a couple of times, and even started something, but never followed thru with it, I think, simply due to incompatibility in terms of scheduling. We will likely get around to it, some time. But for now, consider many of our works to be collaborations in and of themselves. We've contributed something to many of eachother's scores, be it small or large contributions, we've had a hand in one another's work in some fashion for a time, now. :)

I see! This helps a lot of understanding. So, the overall fugue is modal, where in this excerpt, we are in Eb/D#-moll and modulate to the next mode for the Fifth Fugue. That makes a lot of sense. To add, yes, I did print on American Letter. With the color engraving, I do not think it is good for performance. The simplest answer I can give to rationalize this, is simply to look at what is currently being printed and published now. No Das wohltemperierte Klavier from Bach is going to be color-coded by Henle, Bärenreiter, or Breitkopf und Härtel for the sake of showing the subjects. It is good for pedagogy and analysis, as printed theory books will include such information. However, not for performance. Anyone who has taken 18th century theory and counterpoint can identify that information with some effort. The other thing about it is the perspective. The only time you may even need to include that info is for study of the entire score... So, when it comes to the conductor, are they going to be the only one to see that information? Are you going to format the parts with extra color for when each instrument has the subject? If a judging panel were going to see it, those questions arise and it would beg the question 'why did this composer feel the need to do this?' When it came to multiple rests, when ever the part is playing, yes, please include the individual voice rests if only one of them is playing. However, when both parts are not playing, only use a single whole rest to show an empty measure. Yet, in the score, you still notate 1. or 2. for when that part is playing. This can be correct, however, at the beginning with the clarinets or trombones, if ONLY one is playing, then please show another rest for the other part that is not playing. This only applies on the score and for the entire duration a voice is playing. For the parts, you would format separate documents for each instrument (two-parts for Trombones, Clarinets, etc. - Four-parts for horns). This said. you DO NOT need to write divisi for any other instrument except the strings. Divisi playing can be notated by the 1. or 2. you are using currently, however any other time should be notated by stem direction and rests, NOT the term divisi. If both parts are playing together, then only show one line of music. Why? because the parts will be separated. A conductor will see the different stem directions and know what those instruments are doing. The exception to this is in concert band/ wind ensemble music. That field sees something like 7 clarinets on one part, and in that case, you can just use numbers and a-due (a2.) to show when the parts are together. In orchestral music, not so much.

I don't use DAWs , my main music notation app is MuseScore , also the section that you mentioned as a bit repetitive is my attempt on a tocatta and also I am not formally trained musically as I mainly go to online sources for music theory The reason why I marked Opp. is because it is a bunch of other works that would be transcribed into solo piano Anyways , thankies for the feedback