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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

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!

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.

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.

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.)

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

This small piece started after i wrote first bars and i liked the outcome. I noticed that i can make up a whole composition from it. It is played by clarinet with some added echo. I don't have sheet for it at the moment. Duration 2:07

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.

Never ❤️ Oh, and cool music!

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.

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.

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.

This one was intended as a kind of character piece. Honestly, I was watching the new season of Wednesday Addams and the music from the show inspired this. LoL There's dynamics in this that hopefully a Clavichord would be better able to perform. Thanks to @Alex Weidmann for his input about how to get the Violin to play classic phrasing rather than portamento! I would appreciate any kind of feedback, comment, critique, suggestion or observation that you may have. Thanks for listening and I hope that you enjoy!

This is so unique in such a familiar format. I see see this representing a chaotic character for sure! And I don't think you're using microtones here but for some reason it sounds like you are lol. Very fun to listen to, and great job at keeping it interesting throughout.

Hi all 🙂 On vacation doing little treks in the eastern Vosges mountains in France, I profited by my late afternoon free times to give a first try at a woodwind quartet. Here's the result study. I merely structured it as A B ... A B 🙂 and there are one or two harmonic attempts in it. Regards

Lovely and simple

Sounds great at least for as much as what the title suggests. Jewish influence?

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.

Hello my friend @PeterthePapercomPoser Thank you so much for your attention. You are totally right. Schubert and Schumann are the composers who influences me most. But in general all my compositions my goal is to create my own voice through my influences. Also my sonatas in Binary form is where I think my own voice shine. Inspired from scarlatti sonatas I put also and my other influences. Mozart , schubert etc . So my goal is to write as many I can . Ill try to post some of them today and Ill be glad for you to check it. Yes I play all my compositions . I have pianoteq8 plugin so I record myself through garageband 🙂 Thank you so much again and I'm glad that you like my little bagatelle 🙂

A soundtrack idea of mine for exploring a haunted abandoned theme park where the ghosts have unfinished business (probably related to the theme park being abandoned) and you're looking for clues to uncover the story of the theme park... This is mostly a piano rendition, although I imagine the song having organs and strings. But I haven't gotten around to doing it yet... https://soundcloud.com/sheeye/remainders-of-the-fun-we-had?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1&si=79ddede14a264ba09c51b5f61e3a2635&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing Edit: Full instruments version: https://soundcloud.com/sheeye/remainders-of-the-fun-we-had-1?ref=clipboard&p=a&c=1&si=1f755d42d956498ab5e09c14594f9a8b&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Hi! thanks for the reply. I kind of am but with the two instruments at the start i tried to give the illusion one of the instrument's melody's was different than it actually was.

Hi @therealAJGS! This sounds really spooky and unnerving because of the harmony. It seems like maybe you are combining sounds without really any regard for what harmonies they might create together. The harmony is what makes the mood/vibe of the song what it's meant to be, not the instruments or the samples. It does sound kinda ambient though with the high reverb. Thanks for sharing!

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 @Vasilis Michael and welcome to the forum! There is a Schubertian or maybe Schumannian quaintness to this bagatelle! It is classical/early romantic through and through. The harmony is always bringing variety and seamless transitions. And it sounds like you played this yourself! From your YT channel I can see that you already have upwards of 50 piano compositions - it's quite modest of you to introduce us to your music through only one composition, and perhaps such a brief one in comparison to the others! Do you perform all your other compositions as well? Great job and thanks for sharing!

Well, you might not want to hear my WW Qt movement from college, but I could revisit the form; perhaps add a guitar...

I didn't say that! I said it appealed to me more the more I listened to it over and over. That's still true. I do hear that theme now, when listening for it. The theme is actually quite easy to follow! But what perhaps detracts from the theme is that the material in between the statements of the theme doesn't seem related to the theme (and doesn't seem to be a development of the theme). Also, when the theme first comes in in bar 9, the ostinato seems to take center stage and all the attention while the theme is relegated to the background. But now that I listen for it, the theme is quite lucid and tuneful! But don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed this composition and even more so now that you've helped me notice the theme!

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!)

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

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!

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:

Trio In A Minor For Violin, Clarinet, And Guitar-1 Free Sheet Music by Robert C. Fox for Various Instruments | Noteflight Trio In A Minor For Violin, Clarinet, And Guitar-2 Free Sheet Music by Robert C. Fox for Various Instruments | Noteflight Trio In A Minor For Violin, Clarinet, and Guitar-3 Free Sheet Music by Robert C. Fox for Various Instruments | Noteflight ...and a joke piece... Birds Like Minor Thirds-Interval Teaching Catch Free Sheet Music by W.A. Mozart, transcribed by Robert Fox, and the birds. for Various Instruments | Noteflight