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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!

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

Thanks very much! The Hummel concerto (as well as the Haydn) was very much in my mind when I was writing this. It took me a little over a month to compose this; I think I started it in early November and finished mid-December. I have no contacts at all in the music world, so no, I'm afraid there's no way this would ever be performed.

Hello my dear composers. Here my 2nd movement of my latest Sonata. I hope you like it.

I've now moved on to Chapter 4 of Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" which is about quartal chords. The prompt for this one was "10. Extend the following string-quartet opening. Feature pentatonic melodic and quartal harmonic writing." Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations!

It's good to see how others organise themselves. The idea of working on the sketch in three staves or more, depending on the volume, is great. Perhaps in a future project I will try to do the sketch for solo piano, as the intention is not so much to imagine orchestral colours as to establish the structure, parts, climax, harmony and rhythm.

Parking lot, parking lot, You are what all I've got Please give me a shot And don't act like an AI bot!

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

Thank you for organizing this event. It has been wonderful to listen to such a variety of proposals.

Hello hello! I've technically known about this forum for a while, but it's time to finally post! I'm hopefully going to start being more active around here to keep myself accountable and continue working on my composition skills To start this out, I wanted to share a piece I've been working on! It's still a WIP, (Basically the only thing in this file that is actively unfinished is the ending and I want to rework the start), but other than that it's a pretty complete piece. I wrote it for a solo-violin assignment in my composition studio, and because I got really mad at a choral concert I went to because they sang a piece called "Shalom" that had nothing to do with the language of origin or culture of origin. Anyway that's a rant for another bit. Here's the little klezmer!

Hi @jejrekmek! I don't find the intro boring at all; on the other hand I find it very religious which reminds me of Buddhist or Hindu music. Your singing is like chanting which is religious as well, and the chords, like Peter said is other-worldly. After it it's more in the world but the accompaniment reminds me of Gamelan music in the interlocking repetitive structure. Nice use of some microtones as well. The section after 5:30 is so interesting to listen to, it's almost like a musical example in a World music class with those drums and percussions! The rhythm throughout the piece is fascinating, again reminds me of world music! The ending is really calm to listen to like many of the pop Japanese music! I really enjoy this one, thx for sharing! Henry

Until I switched to Dorico from Finale over a year ago, I had never heard of Elaine Gould or her book. I do have a PDF of it and it’s certainly interesting, but as with any manual that purports to provide rules, I’m not going to agree with all of it or even most of it. Notation is a very personal thing, and when you consider the scores notated by folks like Feldman or Shapey and many others, there are many “rules” that get broken all the time, yet the music does manage to get performed, and generally performed very well.

I was trying to make a symphony a bit like what Gustav Mahler would make, that's why the orchestra is so large

I looked at the score. My advice regarding symphonies would be first master traitional symphonies ideally with traditional orchestra (a whole lot smaller orchestra) in the cannon style of classical or late romantic style before even attempting experimental or innovativ music. How can you invovate without a good foundation of the tradition? Brahms spend 21 years on his first symphony and beethoven so i heard spend from sketching to full orchestra 30 years on his symphony no 9. A symphony is not something you should be doing lightly. I don't say this to be rude but just to give some perspective on the symphony. If you comfortablely can craft a symphony that stand along side Beethoven for example or at least immitate the form style and orchestration then and only then I would say you should try something like this. Also how are you going to get this performed in the future with a orchestra so large? Compose for the musicians not the computer. I would also recomend sketching on a single staff or piano sketch. This is to make something more idiomatic and playable. Only after the whole piano sketch is complete then orchestrate.

I can see why you struggled though, the motif is not the easiest. But this is one of your best exercises so far in my opinion, because it encouraged out of the box thinking for this one.

I've written yet another piece prompted by an exercise from Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony"! This one is for 2 Clarinets and 2 Bassoons. The prompt is: "Extend the following passage for two clarinets and two bassoons." I tried to make an actual piece of music out of it instead of just a harmonic exercise, but let me know what you think! Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations!

This is quite nice. I like Persichetti's book but I've never done the exercises in it; you're making me kind of want to give them a try, though!

Oh I must have overlooked them! I am getting old now......

I made a song for my sister. I asked what to call it and she said "I don't know so I took that phrase and put it through a fancy and long for no reason translator and It gave me something really long, so I shortened it to "shrouded in obscurity" also, this is the last short and effortless song I will make, because I'm trying to make better quality music.

I come to you with yet another quartal exercise from Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" - this time for a trio of Trumpets. The prompt was "4. Continue the following passage for trumpets preserving the general character." Thanks for listening and I'd love to hear any of your comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations!

A really nice fanfare! You certainly preserve the general character till the end without sounding artificial at all. You maintain the 027 set and quartal chords very well and the trumpet makes the more hollow sounding chords full. I myself might write for 3 flutes here. Thx for sharing! Henry

What an enjoyable concerto for trumpet. The theme of the opening movement reminded me of Hummel's trumpet concerto's opening movement's theme. Bravo. I wonder how much time it took you to compose it. Also, are you trying to have it performed?

Thanks to @Churchcantor, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, and @bkho for listening! I'm quite gratified by your comments, because I really am quite happy with the piece.

Quite an impressive work. Honestly compares quite favorably to my ears at least to the classical trumpet concertos which I tend to find forgettable. Bravo!

Very serene, and sad at the same time. I feel like this style can be a candidate for some Zelda music perhaps. Or maybe a segue scene in an RPG game. Peaceful, yet you can tell there's still friction in the air.

Get musescore studio. I use that.

Any feedback is largely appriciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi @Aiwendil, Now is the time for the 2nd movement. I like the broad theme and structurally you keep varying and contrasting which makes the movements more interesting. Structurally the arch form is also interesting. I really love b.27 when the orchestra takes the lead as it sounds really grand, and more so in b.140 with the dialogue there! The turn figure in the D minor contrasting section definitely reminds me of Don Giovanni. B.73 passage reminds me of Beethoven’s 7th’s slow movement, good use of the opening theme. B.116 horn solo really gives a broader sound contrast with the trumpet soloist. Love the ending as well. Looking forward to the finale! Henry

I love the quartal chords, and the harmony in b.10! I literally do the same thing in my Sextet when C and Gb pentatonic just juxtapose with each other. I also love your sul tasto touch! Henry

Sad, I'm too old for it!

Quite excellent! More like Haydn to me. I am good at using elements of the Classical, Baroque, or even sometimes Renaissance styles, but am not good at staying in style!

Fantastic. You took the exercise to the extreme without compromise. Everything is vertical structures. But the sound is very consistent throughout and captures the interest. By the way, that book by Persichetti is wonderful.

Hi @Aiwendil! I will review your Concerto a movement a time. This one is for sure very high spirited Classical Concerto reminds me of Mozart and early Beethoven. The energy and motion is very driving throughout the whole movement, motives very coherently used and the opposition between C major and minor is well noted, and the double exposition structure for a classical Concerto is well manage. The modulations within the development add much variety to the harmonic colour, and the interplay between other instruments is lovely. The modulation to F# minor in b.236 is a pleasant surprise to me!, it’s a great way to create crisis before resolving it in the cadenza. Just one question, will you add a concluding trill to signal the end of the cadenza? Thx for sharing! I will review the remaining movements. Henry

I have yet another short piano composition for you prompted by an exercise from Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony". The prompt was "16. Expand this piano passage of eleventh and thirteenth chords preserving the general character." I added lots of dynamics and tempo fluctuations to simulate rubato and bring expression to the music. Let me know how I did! Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any of your comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations.

With the accelerando it sounds like Mario music, but later on it sounds like Prokofiev with those dissonances!

I knew that didn't look right...really, after 38 years, writing an impossible violin chord! I can forgive myself for an unplayable guitar chord once in a while...

Thank you!

The chord would have to be played by splitting and with your inversion, only A5 and D6 with be played as the final chord and leave a barer sound. With F#5 and D6 it definitely sounds fuller!

Why not write with A4, F#5 and D6?

This sounds like an interesting and inventive subversion of a waltz. I'm curious why you describe it as two movements, though. I guess you're considering a new movement to start at m. 106, but it's in the same tempo and style. Also, you probably know this, but the stuff in the right hand at m. 158 and forward would normally be written as tremolos. I assume you wrote out the notes so that the notation software played it back correctly, but in such cases I'll usually prepare separate versions of the score for playback and for display.

I have heard that JW does use 8 staves, too @PeterthePapercomPoser. Writing out a sketch would help me. I am slowly learning orchestration (Adler's Tome is a lot to take in). My recommendation would be: master piano writing! 🙂

Hi @Luis Hernández! I personally use different numbers of staves to sketch things out for orchestra depending on how far I am in refining my material, what my needs are or how big the orchestral forces I'm sketching out are going to be. If I'm sketching out for a string orchestra I usually don't need more than 3 staves (treble clef, alto clef and bass clef). If I'm expanding the string orchestra sketch for a bigger orchestra I use 6 - 8 staves: 3 staves for the strings, 2 for winds, 2 for brass, and 1 for percussion. Finally, if the score is really complex I will write things out for a full orchestra partiture upwards of 16 staves. But I rarely use just a 2 stave piano score for an orchestra - for me it's too small. I've heard that John Williams uses 8 staves when he sketches out his film scores. Great topic!

Hi @Bjarke! Is this the piece you messaged me about? I think it is quite melodramatic trying to keep such a high intensity and drama without any relief. I don't personally perceive any "climax" because of the constant high intensity. You could create contrast by varying the tempo/tessitura or the thickness of the chords. Currently the chords are voiced so thick all the time that the thickness comes across as the most salient feature of the music and the sense of melody is lost. Also about the tempo - there are few classical pieces of music that are at this tempo and intensity that still manage to keep a sense of being sublime like classical pieces are usually expected to be. Is there any particular reason you're trying to write this piece at such a high intensity/tempo? It isn't conducive to musicality imo. Because of this the cohesiveness of the melody also seems lost to me - the melody seems arbitrary with random seeming modulations. Most importantly there's no sense of tension and release without any sense of cadence nor harmonic resolution. That's my perception of the piece. Thanks for sharing!

I find this one refreshing to listen to and easy to follow due to the sequences!

In the uploads forum, you may notice a "yes / no" button asking you if you'd like to opt-in your music submissions to be considered for usage in one of my videos or shorts. In case you aren't aware, I am delving into the Youtube world to talk about the merits of music notation and music appreciation. Naturally, creating videos requires the use of music to help keep these videos engaging. This is where I've been struggling because I have to be VERY careful with copyright on Youtube. Right off the bat, your music will still remain your copyright, so don't worry about that. This is really just an extra opportunity for your music to be utilized in an interesting way. And if you do "opt in" and I happen to utilize your music, I'd do the following: I'd give you a shoutout in the video description (with a link to your thread in Young Composers) In some cases I may give you a shoutout in the video itself I'll notify you in the Young Composers thread and link you to the video in which I've utilized your music If I end up getting too many submissions, what I may do is put in some requirements. For example, you must have at least 5 reviews, or a reply from me. But let's see how it goes before I put in any requirements.

Hi @Churchcantor, Welcome to the forum! I only listen to the first movement and I quite like the modulation you have in the movement. For me maybe you can add more moments when the piano carry the melody and the violin can sometimes play the accompaniment. Also, slurs for the violin would be essential! Dynamic details and phrasings are also crucial in both parts! Thx for joining and sharing. Henry