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Hi! Long time for not posting anything! I'm revising my old Clarinet Quintet and learning orchestration in the process. Here's something I'm working on. Clarinet Quintet in C minor is a work I finished 4 years ago in 2022 which I accidentally began my revision of it in April 2026. It's a work in four movements and in it I want to share my feeling towards despair, dream and hope. The piece is dedicated to my friend Ms. Merina Fung. Speical Thanks to @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio for me. Here is the youtube video of the movement: Here is the structure of the 1st movement: 00:00 1st subject, Exposition. Introduce the "despair" motive (0134), in some sort of sad waltz in C minor. The passage in 01:26 is directly copied from an old piece of mine named "Boredom" 01:48 Transition. Follow the tonal plan of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and modulate to tritone major Gb major (which is the tonic key of my next major work, String Sextet in G flat major). 04:09 2nd subject, Exposition. Introduce the "dream motive" (0247) and subsidary chromatic motive of (0123). Conflicts of the despair and dream motives continue, the dream seems to win at 06:53 with its own climax but easily defeated with a bold C minor half cadence right before the close of the exposition with a forceful perfect cadence in Gb. 08:42 Development, part 1. The dream breaks expectedly I really like the counterpoint in 08:59. Modulates to E minor for the transition theme, then build to a really beautiful climax in E major in 11:10 which I really love. Makes this movement sounds a bit less tragic. 11:36 Development, part 2. Another false serenity after the beautiful climax by a disappointed passage in G# minor in 12:38. The serene texture returns in B major in 13:17 but falls short to a dominant preparation of C minor in 13:50. I really love the retransition as it sounds really passionate to me (Actually I love all parts of the remianing parts in this movement after this point). A review of the keys visited in 14:27 with an octatonic falling scale, ending with two sorrowful monologue of clarinet and cello, just like the beginning. 14:53 Transition. I skip the 1st subject reappearence in the recap as it's completely meaningless to do so, given how the motive is developed in the entire movement. I really love the tragedy here, as I even have this passage reappears in the coda of 4th movement, after 40 minutes or so lol. Another false serenity in tonic major in 15:24, and I really love the nostalgic sounding passage in Ab major in 16:01, still base on the dream motive. The German sixth chord in 16:36 must be stolen from Schubert"s Quartettsatz. A fugato in 16:42 trying to fight despair and reclaim dream once more and "sucessfully" modulates to Gb major once again. 17:31 2nd subject, Recap. But when you want more you hurt more, as despair harms you more when you have hope. This time a hard C minor half cadence comes. The dream theme now becomes a nightmare in 18:07 and continues to sigh. 19:20 Coda. Previous themes keep reappearing as I myself used to ruminate my sadness all the time. Finally it ends with what begins the piece, the realization of despair in its original form. Structurally I am not really satisfied with how I expand the themes in the 2nd subject of exposition (Dream part) and how I treat the materials in development, as I am afraid I overextend too much. However I just retain most of the things originally as I wanna keep true to my old self. It's an absolute low when I composed this piece, as I really questioned myself whether I could really compose something good back then. Luckily I did finish the entire work and gave me some confidence, plus meeting some really good friends here. The whole 4 movement piece is composed with three motives mentioned above, as I wanted to keep the piece coherent. The inspiration of the work comes from Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet as I wanted to write a more tragic piece than his (of course this goal fails), but I am happy with what I’ve done. Strangely only now do I find how Brahmsian this piece is. One interesting thing is that despite the movement is in C minor, in the first 14 minutes (two-thirds) of the movement, only 2 minutes are in the tonic. In this revision I mainly modify spots I find unreasonble, some voicings and slurs, and breathing spots for Clarinet. Hope you listen through the music and read through the description, and my wish that enjoy the work! Feel free criticize the work as I know it's far from perfect. P.S. the old version of this same Quintet is posted before: It's my biggest mistake to post an hour long piece here as my first post. So I will chop up the 4 movements and post it one by one now! Henry Clarinet Quintet in C minor 1st mov V3.mp3 (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 1st mov final 20260501.pdf

@Colenbacher Hello I understand your question very well. And I also understand that the answers aren't exactly what you're looking for. Although I agree with them as well. I believe that rather than learning harmony from the Romantic period, what matters is learning the compositional techniques that the composers of this period introduced and used (not just in terms of harmony). It’s absolutely true that to understand this, you need to start by knowing what happened in earlier periods, at least from the Baroque through the Style Galant and Classicism. Because many Romantic techniques are reinventions (“recycled”) of all those earlier styles. I don’t think you’ll find specific sections on Romantic harmony in general treatises and books. I’ve had that curiosity, and interest as well. But I studied the Baroque and the Galant period quite extensively, above all. I even started much earlier with the cantus firmus. And that historical and chronological perspective has helped me immensely in understanding even contemporary music. With this, you’ll see that everything is a continuum; even periods that broke quite sharply with what came before (Impressionism, dodecaphonism) are the result of an evolution. So, just as I did with other periods, I sought out the sources myself and compiled a lot of information on this topic on my blog. First, I provided a general overview, which I’ve transcribed here, and then I analyzed techniques such as augmented chords and modulation, secondary subdominants, dominant chains, chromatic thirds, (traditional) linear techniques, irregular resolutions, and so on. Not to mention that Romanticism is a vast genre and that each composer, moreover, has their own peculiarities. Brahms has nothing in common with Chopin. And let’s not even get started on late Romanticism. Some words from my blog: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD *New forms: symphonic poem, song cycle, music drama, *Study of the folk-heritage in music and imitation of folk-like melodic simplicity, *Predilection for exotic effects through employment of foreign national coloring or the folkloristic heritage (Chopin, Tchaikovsky, the Russians) [Chopin's more than 50 mazurkas represent one of the earliest examples of overt nationalistic sentiments in music], *Break-up of stylistic unity but more individualism, *Higher interest in melody and color rather than harmony and form, longer melodies *Higher dissonances and a freer employment of them, * More use of dynamics and articulations, * Rubato, *A more innovative treatment of chromatic harmony, *Extensive use of diminished seventh chords, *Modulation to distant tonalities, *Use of relations by thirds, *Greater interest in modal techniques (flat seventh [common to many modes], flat second [Phrygian], augmented fourth [Lydian]), *Assimilation of older elements, especially the revival of polyphony and Baroque forms under the influence of JS Bach [Mendelssohn, Brahms], *Thematicism plays a more important role in a sonata movement than tonality, *Thematic metamorphosis: A programmatic approach to composition often associated thematic material with a character or idea. Changing circumstances or emotional states were represented by the transformation of the thematic material (as in Faust Symphony or Symphony Fantastique), *Cell development technique in nationalist music, (music cell = small and melodioc design that can be isolated) *Use of a cyclic device: Material from one movement recurs in another (a technique related to thematic metamorphosis, idee fixe and leitmotive) (Serenade for Strings by Tchaikovsky; Mendelssohn's Eb string quartet; Beethoven's Symphony No.9), *Manipulation of sonata form, including mosaic and additive structures. More organic treatment of the form, *Postludes in the Lieder (especially by Schumann), *Unity on a large scale: merging of separate movements into a single span (Liszt's Sonata in B minor), larger instrumentations, *Finishing a minor mode piece in major (from darkness to light): Egmont overture, Symphony No.5 & 9 , Piano Sonatas Opp.90 & 111, and the second act of Fidelio by Beethoven; Schumann's Fourth Symphony; Franck's Symphony in D minor; Brahms' s First Symphony. *Intense energy and passion, dramatic opera,

Having read the program notes page, I think you capture the atmosphere of some of the themes (ie. betrayal, turbulence) you mentioned. It would be interesting to hear the rest of the soundtrack to see how the themes/motifs you have here develop. Though, I gotta be honest...film scores lately have a very generic sound to them and this (for me anyways) falls in that category. Some things musical things from the score I noticed: The way these harmonics are notated is confusing. I'm saying that as a string player. Some 2nd violinists might think you want an open E string, which I'm pretty sure you don't want. If these are actual sounding pitches, the 1st violinist would have an easier time understanding these notations (one is a natural harmonic, the other is an artificial....don't really have a preference): The 2nd violin note (if that is the sounding pitch) is impossible to play as a harmonic on a violin. As I said, players would probably play an open E string. The viola one looks alright, it'll be a natural harmonic on the G string. Saw this in the score a couple of times. Wondering if you could move the pp before the barline to avoid those awkward looking measures with rests. Overall, there seems to be over-reliance on doublings between instrument groups. E to the end is the prime example. I think most of the wind/brass instruments can drop out at 47 for a quieter ending. Also that section felt a little...static? Could use some more rhythmic drive (maybe bring back the bass guitar/cello figure from the beginning?) or just some counterpoint.

Upon further reflection the staff have decided not to allow subsequent entries from the same composer in the competition. This is because it would give the said composer a higher chance of winning a badge/award. In the Christmas Music Event which was not a competition, this was allowed because there were no "winners" (either that or everyone was a winner LoL).

I think OP wants to learn about the harmonic tendencies and practices of Romantic composers rather than chromatic harmony more generally, which covers a lot of styles, hence the choice of "Romantic" over "Chromatic". As for learning this style of Harmony, I highly recommend analysing works from the period (as others have suggested) or (if you're lazy like me) watching YouTube videos analysing works from the period.

Last year, I decided to try my hand at writing an opera. I have just one more scene left to finish, along with the overture and an Act 2 interlude. It’s written more in the style of Debussy or late Wagner, so there are no choruses, duets, trios, or arias (though there is a “folk song” at the beginning of Act 1, Scene 4, sung in character by the female lead). My vocal emulations aren’t very good, and it can be a little confusing to distinguish between multiple tenors, sopranos, and baritones. However, I was listening to just the orchestration and decided to bounce those tracks out without the vocals, essentially, opera without the words. I’ve started scoring it (I hate scoring), and the first scene is already done. Once I get the whole thing scored, I’ll add the vocals, since that will make it easier to follow which character is singing. I’ve included a short summary of the scenes. The story is a variation on the biblical tale of David and Bathsheba. If you have a moment to listen, I know that without the score you might not be able to give detailed comments, but I’d appreciate any impressions you have of the music. Another Man’s Cage Setting: Salem, West Virginia, circa 1910. Act 1: Scene 1 – Train Station Nathan and his son David arrive at the train station in the small West Virginia coal‑mining town of Salem. It’s immediately apparent they are not close, as they argue, Nathan accusing David of being a playboy who only cares about having a good time, while David fires back that he learned not to care from his father after his mother died when he was young. Their argument is interrupted by the mayor, a band, and a small group of residents who have come to welcome them. Nathan has recently purchased the town’s coal mine and has come to inspect it. David is shocked when his father announces that David will be staying to run the mine. After the crowd leaves, Nathan informs David that he will either run the mine and do a good job or be financially cut off. Nathan reboards the train and leaves town, while David is left behind. Act 1: Scene 2 – The Creekside Later that day, a group of women wash clothes in the creek and talk about their husbands. Among them is Elizabeth Hutton, the wife of the mine foreman. After the other women leave, Elizabeth stays behind and is startled when David appears, he has been watching from the trees. David is immediately struck by her beauty, but Elizabeth is not charmed. When David remarks that she reminds him of himself, “trapped in a cage,” Elizabeth quickly leaves. David watches her go, remarking that she is the only thing of value in the town. Act 1: Scene 3 – The Creekside The next morning, Uriah Hutton, the mine foreman, gathers several miners and their wives to host a reception for the new boss. Uriah grows irritated as David is considerably late, and the others joke about why that might be. When David finally arrives and meets everyone, tension rises as Uriah introduces his wife and David remarks that they have already met. After David gives a short speech and leaves, Uriah mutters that David isn’t here to work, only to please his father. Act 1: Scene 4 – The Hutton House A few days later, Elizabeth sings a folk song about a mountain girl who dreams of going to the big city, a dream Elizabeth shares. A knock interrupts her. It’s David. After telling him that Uriah is at the mine, Elizabeth learns David has come to see her. He makes an impassioned declaration of love, but Elizabeth insists he would only bed her and leave her to face the scandal alone. David continues trying to woo her, but Elizabeth orders him to leave. As he walks away, she stands in the doorway watching him go. Act 2: Scene 1 – The Mine, East Tunnel A few months have passed, and David and Elizabeth have begun an affair. Some miners gossip about it and how oblivious Uriah seems. When Uriah approaches and asks what they’re discussing, no one will tell him, though he clearly suspects something. Alone, Uriah admits he has noticed David’s attraction to Elizabeth but cannot believe she would betray him. He informs the men they will soon be working in the West Tunnel, which needs repairs, and vows he will not give up his wife to David. Act 2: Scene 2 – The Royce House David and Elizabeth lie in bed after being intimate. When David asks what’s troubling her, Elizabeth reveals she is pregnant. She knows their affair cannot be hidden now, no one will believe that after years of marriage to Uriah, she is only now with child. David insists that nothing will stop them from being together. Act 2: Scene 3 – The Mine, West Tunnel As the men inspect the West Tunnel, Uriah notes that the beams need replacing, but David is impatient and wants progress. Suddenly, one of the miners hears something, and before they can react, the tunnel collapses. When the dust settles, David and Uriah are cut off from the others, who tell them to stay put while they dig them out. David presses Uriah about Elizabeth, and accusations fly. As one of the beams begins to give way, David realizes the only way to be with Elizabeth is to eliminate Uriah. He pushes Uriah beneath the falling rocks, which crush him just as the miners break through the rubble. They are shocked to find Uriah dead under the collapsed beam, while David lies and claims that Uriah saved his life by pushing him out of the way. Another Man's Cage - Act 1- Scene 1.mp3 Another Man's Cage - Act 1- Scene 2.mp3 Another Man's Cage - Act 1- Scene 3.mp3 Another Man's Cage - Act 1- Scene 4.mp3 Another Man's Cage - Act 2- Scene 1.mp3 Another Man's Cage - Act 2- Scene 2 .mp3 Another Man's Cage - Act 2- Scene 3.mp3

I've been playing violin/viola for over 20 years now and I still find it hard to describe harmonics, lol. There's like a whole physics lecture behind them and most of it goes over my head Basically, there are two kinds of string harmonics: natural and artificial. In short, natural harmonics occur when the player lightly touches a point on the string to produce the harmonic tone. These are a little confusing to notate since what one might see on the page isn't necessarily the pitch heard. I In the example above, it's basically telling the player to lightly touch the note where the player would normally play the E on the open G string. This will produce the B harmonic (as notated in the parenthesis). Some composers might just notate the diamond note on the E, and not have the G...players will know what to do. . Artificial harmonics are a little easier to notate. In the example above, you're telling the player to press the string (in this case the G string...the IV means G string...but the B notated is only possible on the G string so it's redundant) with the 1st finger (the index finger), and then lightly touch with their pinky finger a fourth above (if the player presses hard with their pinky finger, the note produced will be an E). The resulting pitch will be a B, but a harmonic that sounds 2 octaves higher than notated. These perfect 4th harmonics are pretty much standard in orchestral repertoire and will always produce the lower regular note 2 octaves higher than notated. Obviously, you can't do these harmonics on open strings, there always has to be a stopped note. Both examples above will produce the same B harmonic. The natural harmonic might be easier for players to play/find. Hopefully that made sense!

Listen more, analyze more, find some good harmony books on it! Henry

Kia Ora Henry, I will admit that when I first heard the original version of your Clarinet Quintet I did not like it very much. Blasphemous, I know. Everyone else on YC seemed to love the piece, and I just... didn't. I found all too much, which I suppose was your intent; despair is overwhelming or whatever it was. After listening to this revision, my opinion has changed. Or at least my opinion on the first movement, which was one of the two of the original I listened to. I don't dislike it anymore, but I don't love it now either. I think it's a decently good piece, but far from your best work. My favourite part of this piece is by far the second subject which if I recall correctly, is based on the dream motif. It definitely has this dreamy, hopeful, idealistic Romantic, feel to it which I really really like. I mentioned something similar to this to you on discord, and I'll rehash it here, I think it could work really well readapted as a waltz theme in an orchestral arrangement or something. I think it really contrasts well with the first subject (despair) and is a nice break from all the despairing going on before it. My least favourite aspect of this piece is... I don't actually know. I've relistened to this version and skimmed through it a couple of times trying to find something I dislike but... I can't find I hate. I think I will have to listen to this a few more times and get back to you. Perhaps it was the awful playback in the original post that made everything sound worse to me, I don't know. Again, I'll have to get back to you on this In summary, I think this piece has really grown on me. Or at least the first movement has. That second subject is absolutely my favourite part of the piece but I don't really care for... something, I just can't quite tell to be honest. I think I find this piece less over bearing now than I did on my first listen years ago. Progress has been made! look forward to hearing the rest of your revision of this piece. Maybe the latter movements will convert me, a filthy heathen who cares not for the Clarinet Quintet in C Minor, into a believer. Ngā mihi, Archie

Ill be participating!

@therealAJGS has submitted the following quartet!

Hello, Little fugue i wrote today in the north german baroque style. First musical output in years. Simple in harmony, joyful and melodic in theme and counterpoint. Scored for four voices, work well enough with organ or strings. Fuga in g.mp3 Fuga in G.pdf

This is my submission for the Landscapes competition. For my landscape I have chosen this photo I took a few years ago while on vacation on Whidbey Island, which sits on the Puget Sound near Seattle. It's written for Oboe, Bassoon, and Harp. I wanted to capture the quiet, stillness of the moment with music that is very simple and delicate. Morning On Whidbey Island.mp3 Morning On Whidbey Island - Score.pdf

Written for the 2026 spring Young composer competition this work for percussion quintet features a wide range of natural and man-made percussion instruments to represent the integration of man and nature. Few years back me, and a few of my friends decided that it would be a good idea to cure our boredom by bringing a already busted up child size guitar meant for learning and to "" sacrifice it into the woods.'' the reservoir is a large body of water near where I live so it was a short distance, which then led to an easy walk into a bunch of colonial ruins where we laid the guitar and watch it rot away. Far deep in the reservoir lays a broken destroyed child size guitar that my sister got for her birthday as a child or something like that it’s been ever since sitting around around in the house and had transfer locations from her room to the living room room to the my room to the wilderness it’s final resting place. My sister never had been fond of performing music in her life. In fact she is quite horrible at it so my parents smartly in intelligently got her a low quality guitar anyways fast-forward a few years later, and I am now experimenting with multi instrumelity. However, though I got fond of extended techniques, playing it like a hammered dulcimer and even bowing the thing after me becoming friends with the lead guitarist to my modern day chamber band sort of situation, he starts to play it and at that point it only had two remaining strings. We all anonymously decided that we should bring it to the reservoir maybe hide a secret note in it after all the band was just a bunch of board teens, wanting something interesting to do with our lives, so what ended up happening was we snuck into the Reservoir found a foundation of an old colonial house and threw the guitar in it other than impact damage ever since the guitar has been rotting away however, though quite often me and my friends still visit it’s resting place only to see it in more final pieces I’m pretty sure I got rid of the note since it had some secrets that I do not want people finding and still to this day. It’s been resting there ever since. Percussion five has a lot of handmade instrument specifically for this work . The alcoholics shekere; is just a bucket with crushed up beer, cans, or soda cans is meant to be played in a similar style to a traditional shekere . the facidrum; faci- Latin for bundle, a bundle of resident sticks attached and tied up to a frame . Chopping block; a semi resonant piece of wood meant to be played like a table and a practice pad All of the other instruments should be self-explanatory Keep note that since because this was written in musescore bunch of playback loopholes has been exploited, although that there are more than five staves these are to represent each instrument in the set up rather than the actual part parts of represented by the groups that are bracketed. This is to create custom percussion set ups, and to satisfy an easier workflow with sound fonts. ' Sacrificed to the wilderness.mp3 Sacrificed to the wilderness.pdf

Hiihiiii!!! This is my submission for the Spring 2026 Landscapes Competition :) For my landscape, I've chosen the mountains of Zhangjiajie, China. The first time that I saw these mountains, I was awestruck by just the sheer scale of them. Massive peaks and towers, overgrown with centuries-old moss, reaching beyond the clouds. Really just gorgeous. I wanted to try to write about them. The piece starts off zoomed outwards, depicting the sparseness of the clouds, until eventually, a melody begins to creep towards the first real theme--which I call the garden theme. The focus is on the garden now, zoomed in, it's a sort of natural oasis along the side of one of the tall mountainous pillar. It's beautiful, lush, full, until the garden begins to die as winter comes. The harmony because sparse and vague again, with large spontaneous gusts of wind... just very dry sounding overall. That is, until months later, the clouds darken, promising a heavy storm. Anticipation builds, until eventually, rain comes pouring down, so densely that it's almost like a wall. It's the first rain of spring!!! After the rain settles down, the garden comes to life again with the re-entry of the garden theme!! The piece ends as the focus zooms back out onto the clouds, and the tension finally resolves again. My goal with the piece was to try to represent the life cycle of the plant life out in the setting of Zhangjiajie. I hope you all like it !!!! AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.mp3 AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.pdf

Fair enough. But Henry did mention "It's a work in four movements". But the way he has time stamped it on the video does indeed suggest it's a single movement. I guess where I was coming from initially regarding the time is that we share music on here mainly for feedback, right? The longer a work, the more onerous that becomes and so that feedback may become more general and less targeted to actual technique. The most detailed feedback I have given people on here relates to relatively simple music composed by beginners. None of this is relevant to Henry's music, here; I am just offering my reflections.

Minuet in C for String Quartet.mp3Minuet in C for String Quartet.pdfHi all, A professional string quartet is visiting my home island and are wonderfully taking compositions from local artists to perform. It is such a rare opportunity for me, as someone who has never had my work performed in public. For this I adapted several pieces I have composed over the years for string quartet and to which I have made extensive revisions. Overall I am pleased with the music. One interesting thing I have been doing recently is utilizing AI to provide perspectives around the rule based system on which tonal music rests. I recognize that some of my understanding around certain rules could benefit from more flexibility and AI can really challenge my thinking. Although where it is terrible is in actual advice on voice leading in practice. For example, if you give it a passage to harmonize - even with a well crafted prompt with necessary context - it will often fail. I hope you all find the pieces enjoyable and please feel free to provide any comments as usual. A bit of baroque Fun!.mp3Staccatisimo.mp3A bit of baroque Fun!.pdfStaccatisimo.pdf

Hello The truth is, it’s very difficult to answer your question based on just one piece. And I wouldn’t attempt to do so anyway, as I’m not a professional qualified to judge something like that. What I can tell you is a bit about this piece. I’m used to listening to 20th-century music because I generally like it a lot. I don’t think this is atonal. It bears a certain resemblance to some works with dense counterpoint and a post-Romantic style, such as Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen, differences aside, of course. I quite like the way it sounds. I also had a look at the piano version you have on YouTube. Although it seems more like a ‘working’ version than a realistic one, because there are things I think are impractical. The sextet version gives me the impression that it sounds a bit too ‘flat’. Although there’s a profusion of written dynamics, you don’t really perceive any great contrasts; perhaps that’s down to the sounds you used. The fact that the texture is very homogeneous throughout also contributes to this. A piece of this sort always seems to be striving for a grand climax.

Hello These two pieces sound fantastic. I really like the contrapuntal style of the first one. It’s also a pleasure to see that the scores are so well-crafted, both in terms of their appearance and the dynamics and accents. Also, the sound library looks brilliant – may I ask which one it is?

Btw, this IS only one movement, and 21 minutes is a perfectly acceptable length for a romantic-style sonata form movement. Not everyone has the attention span of an ipad kid.

Hey Henry! I remember when you originally posted this piece on this site, and at first, I couldn't get past the awful instrument sounds, but I knew there was something great hidden behind those ugly sounds. So, what I did was I opened the score and I opened musescore 3 and I copied it by hand (only got through movement 3). Doing this, as well as listening to the older versions and reading their descriptions, really helped me to understand the structure of the piece, and its philosophical journey. And the piece is really masterfully conceived, especially structurally. Now there were issues with it, in particular, being a tonal piece, it had some counterpoint issues, and the instrument parts weren't written the most idiomatically either, but these issues you addressed in this revision. And this revision has its improvements, but... I fear it comes from an idea that the original was somehow lacking or "not good enough." I'm going to be honest; I still very much prefer the original version. I listened to the revision a few times now, and some of it just kind of disappoints me. I felt like the modulation into the second theme being shortened wasn't a necessary change and now feels abrupt to me. I thought the dissonance at m. 344 was really interesting without feeling out of place, and that was removed. What really disappointed me was the change you made to the retransition; why remove the dominant pedal for the beginning of the retransition and what is with that awkward clarinet note on 384? IMO it completely ruins the great momentum it had before. I'm also pretty confused why you notated many of the grace notes like this? Was it to fight the playback? It just really looks weird, and you're not consistent with it either, as you sometimes DO use actual grace notes. That being said, there are definitely some things I like. For example, adding pizzicato accompaniment to the cello solo in the exposition's transition was a good move, and I LOVE the additional chromatic lines at the end of the second theme. It's also good that you kept breath in mind for the clarinet and bowing for the strings this time. And overall, the counterpoint was improved (think it could still be better though U.U). I really do love this piece of yours, more than your sextet even, and I think you should be happier with it overall. Some composers here have criticized this movement for having too many ideas, being too long, etc. but I really think that they're just approaching this piece wrong. The piece is a philosophical journey, from point A to point B, and all the steps that you take are necessary for it to be as effective as it is. This movement in particular is tragic--it introduces several ideas and breaks them down. The second theme is derailed, the beautiful climax in the middle is derailed, and the surprising return of the second theme is derailed and corrupted. It's really effective, and really powerful and moving. You're like Mahler but for chamber music lol. I hope you appreciate my praise lol. And understand my issues with the revision may just be my own bias from having studied and loved this piece for so long. Seeing as the middle 2 movements, while also AWESOME, were imo the least polished, I look forward to seeing how you revise those :)

Hello, everyone! How are you all doing? I’m happy to present my latest composition to you. This time it’s my second Concertino for oboe and harp: https://youtu.be/JxpGgbgH_Y4?is=gqxZEb_TLF88EW9e Thank you to everyone who listens to the piece, I really appreciate it!

Of course, I didn’t mean it quite that literally 😅 Form and knowledge of music theory are obviously important, I just meant to say that the form I incorporate into my compositions isn’t always immediately apparent 🙂

Hello, thank you for listening, I really appreciate it! I view music as something living and fluid, much like flowing water. Even when the structure is crafted beneath the surface, I prefer the form to avoid feeling obvious or rigid upon first listen. My approach, therefore, focuses less on strict harmonic formulas and more on movement, texture, color, and the natural evolution of musical ideas. While traditional harmony and voice leading remain important to me, I treat them organically and flexibly rather than as strict academic exercises.

Hello I've recently decided to take orchestration seriously. Just as I did with counterpoint back in the day... Yes, although I study on my own, I have always been self-taught, at some point you need guidance from an expert. So I am taking a course in orchestration. It is really for a very small group (only four people), which means the feedback is very powerful, as each person's work is reviewed in depth. I've learned a lot about the classical style (paradigm: Mozart). Why and for what purpose each thing is used. And here I share my version (reviewed by my teacher) of the orchestration of the first movement of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 5. Now I'm working on Mendelssohn.

Thanks. What is your theoretical approach to composition? Do you think in chords, voice leading, traditional harmony etc?

With respect, your reply reads like something generated by AI. And I really wouldn't be surprised if the music was in fact AI generated. It asks a good question, though: "Is it objectively correct that the piece is problematic because it sounds like a continuous mass of dense, abrasive chords without a clear melody?" I did not suggest that my position was objective. I made it clear that I was coming from a perspective influenced by personal taste and training. The atonal and textual messiness without clear direction or distinct character in this work is unlikely to become more than an intellectual curiosity that only you can only possibly understand. This is not objectively problematic, but when you consider the taste of your audience, it can become so if it does not align with broader aesthetic taste. A composer that does not need to care about that is surely privileged but not of much value to the experience of others. And this inadvertently circles back to your question: "[are] my composition skills are strong enough to work professionally as a composer for instrumental music". In the professional landscape, you will need to compose in accordance with other people's vision.

Nice ideas Henry! Nicely lyrical. I do find your voice leading strategies at times in need of work, particularly in the bass. But I recognize that your conceptual approach may ultimately differ from mine. I would suggest that for such long works, that you post each movement separately. It could improve your engagement with the piece overall, as most people I don't expect to watch beyond 5 minutes.

Good day, I had a listen to your work. It would really help providing info on your inspiration, intentions etc. Evidently - at least from the title - this is program music. What is everlasting Hegemony? Regarding the music itself, it is of a medium that I do not understand and as such I am in no position to judge its quality. That said, from the perspective of my personal medium (tonal music/common practice) I struggle to hear anything memorable. The music sounds like a continuous mass of crunchy chords without much pause at all or distant melody. This is a problem for me at least. I prefer art with clarity and a relatable structure.

Hello! This piece was one of my favourites to compose, sadly the software that i use to render the lyrics (Cantamus) didnt work nicely for the words: Cricket, Leap'd, Jump'd, Alive, Pass'd and Tra la la. So sorry for that! I hope one day they can update the software and its able to render it correctly! (If you guys have suggestions for free realistic vocal synthesizers i would be pleased to check them!) The story is about a woman and her beloved singer cricket, who sadly has passed. Alternative title (Detto lo) "lament for the death of a singer cricket." Lyrics: I once had a cricket green and strong and he went: tra la la la He leap'd and jump'd and sang, He did not use the common slang tra la la la Then one dark day he pass'd my cricket went away No more music no more dance, goodbye my cricket. tra la la la. I once had a friend that sang for me and he went: tra la la la But now he's not alive, And i still sing in the wildlife tra la la la No money in this world can buy my cricket back No gold coins nor golden rings can buy my cricket tra la la la. Poem written by: MYSELF! mixdown-_1_.mp3

Well, considering what’s available for voice-overs, it sounds great. It’s true that English isn’t my first language... I found the composition very fresh, and the text too.

Hi .............. I expect one of you Experts will know what this is called ? I heard it late last night on ClassicFM,& did quick Rendition this morning, But they didn't say who it was,.................Is it something from Dvořák ? Unknown Composition.mp3 UNKNOWN COMPOSER.pdf UNKNOWN COMPOSER.mid

Updated score.

For these competitions, can you send in more than one entry?

As stated in the title, I've been recently experimenting with ways to add more voices to Bach's 14 canons (BWV 1087) based on the multiple contrapuntal transformations of the harmonic bassline of the Goldberg Variations' Aria. Despite being derived from the tonally transposed inversion of that main theme, the so-called "Theme 2" has been kept separate across this whole compendium since it isn't contrapuntally compatible with its inversion when also retrogradated, syncopated or played with "per arsin et thesin" imitation simultaneously. Had the latter not resulted in whole segments of parallel ocatves, an 8-voice "omnibus" canon might have been possible, but that seems to be out of the scope of these musical materials without significant alterations that would render their canonic accompaniment non-imitative and thus, non-canonic at all. There is one canon from the original that is conspicuously absent from this recollection and that is the penultimate, 13th variation: a triple canon a 6 so densely packed and finely tuned in its original conception that adding more voices without irrecognizably altering the basic structure of the others turned out to be practically impossible. Almost like Bach himself knew this one canon, in its apparent simplicity yet brilliantly complex counterpoint, was the worthiest and most perfect when he chose to be depicted holding it for his portrait. Admittedly, this video would have been better suited for this year's 276th anniversary of Bach's passing (July 27th). However, due to my tightly packed schedule this summer, I find it highly unlikely I'll be able to post anything in time to commemorate that date, hence why I'm posting this video as soon as possible in order to leave room for focusing on my final exams. Lastly, it would be short of an understatement to recognize late Gerubach's video on the 14 Canons proved invaluable to my understanding, research and tinkering with these canons, as well as the core material of much of Bach's repertoire as a whole. Some of his most laborious contributions have since been taken down after his passing more tha three years ago now in 2023, such as for example the scrolling video on the Art of the Fugue. The quality of my scrolling certainly doesn't come anywhere close to his standards, and yet, as poor and humble a homage this may be, I have chosen to honor his memory and the tireless spirit of his countless contributions by acknowledging at the very least the gargantuan influence he has had on the accessible spread of Bach's music and its myriad intricacies. YouTube video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g00QMPNDyY Google Drive folder link (full score + audio): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1J8NblMrM6T-3muEjVO4j8TKspVfyzDuk?usp=sharing J. S. Bach - 14 canons Vocibus Pluribus Additis.mp3 J. S. Bach - 14 canons Vocibus Pluribus Additis.pdf

Thanks! I’ll take a look at these books. I’ll look at pieces too but its important that I first build the background to be able to take in the stuff that I see.

Entry: Chnese Fuge Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 5 5 1 10 10 n/a 1 5 Average Score:5.2 Review: Execution: Failed to meet the meet time requirement of the challenge. It would not pass the first round! Form: this supposed to be fugue? All three voices start all the same time... Score: the score was presented in clean manner. There were no errors that I saw. Playability; I can not judge this area because of instrumentation. Creativity: It was creative and original Texture: There were unique themes from each instruments that interacted each other. This is not a fugue. But more imiition. Taste: It is interesting to see a different take on what fugue is. But i was confused by it? I felt lost... :( Themes: Each instrument had unique theme,

Yes please make sure you submit on time! I want to make sure I can review and scores objectively.

Act 1: Scene 1..............Exceptional Chords especially @ 1:25 You've left the HERD in order explore & Discover your own Unique Contribution to the world & yourself. In the 1st Track , You created an Immediate Impact, Which could easily be Part of a Big-Budget-Film-Score

Some more ideas for the Landscapes - Soundscapes competition: "The Peace of Nature" award "A Rustic Mood" award "Nature's Garden" award "Nature is wild" award

Errr...probably still won't work. It would be better to keep all those runs within the same instrument family (strings or winds). This reminds of a passage in Brahms' 1st Piano Quartet where the piano has a mini cadenza towards the end: https://youtu.be/uwAQ7zVM6sE?si=HpAKiiDPOwnDPdHC&t=2285 Arnold Schoenberg eventually orchestrated this piece and had a clever take on this passage: https://youtu.be/7wzJluXJ5H8?si=th4OTUQ7RTSntfSD&t=2422 The Fauré passage is bit different in character, but I think Schoenberg has a good example of something you can try. Maybe give those runs to a 2 clarinets: 1 Eb for the higher pitches, and 1 regular Bb clarinet. They'll be sitting close to each other, and would easily blend in to each others' runs and timbre. The violin/piccolo combo would be too jarring in tonal color, and the fact on stage they'll be separated by a few feet, making the coordination really difficult.

@danishali903 You are correct for most of your assessment. I never learned the proper format for notating string harmonics. This is a gap in my knowledge and the way I meant to convey the information was the pitch written is what the harmonic should be sounding. Not to start a harmonic on that pitch. In a simple fashion, I liked what was sounding based on the notes I picked and decided to keep it.. whether it was correct or not 😅 If you are able, would you be willing to explain the notation? Are you meant to write the note head lower? I saw your example note heads, however, I am still confused by what the information is conveying. With the dynamic marks/ hairpins, yeah… I got lazy the last few weeks on this copy. I was focused on school and actually publishing the movie versus all the final engraving passes. It is fixed on the completed soundtrack score with all 12 pieces back-to-back. Lastly, while I can understand the stillness of the B-section may not keep everyone’s attention, I have my reasons. While I can add more movement in accompanying instruments, it is kept simple for the title theme so I was able to expand upon it in later installments. To add, I also know not all pieces of music need a moving line in the accompaniment. It was my goal to focus on the harmonic language and advance the harmony compared to the A-section. ‘Simple and sublime’ if you will. I intentionally went with doubling as it is reminiscent of how I play it on piano. Just slow moving chords moving higher in register. Adding the weight from the literal sound and feeling the vibrations from the entire ensemble. Thanks again for the comments!

True. There definitely will be some comments made though lol. Also, Rachmaninoff’s symphony is in the friendly key of E Minor, not E Flat minor.

"Orchestral players are not going to love it" 🤪 Rachmaninoff wrote this piece in the same key...Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 / Vasily Petrenko / Oslo Philharmonic Professionals will be fine. Student musicians are the ones you have to worry about.

I don't really know...I just like lush, full-sounding harmonies. O don't really need help for rn...I'm gonna take a break from the piece til August-Sept., and really study & get a handle on form before proceeding.

This piece of music did it’s a really good job, capturing the quietness and beauty of the given landscape. It’s not really my cup of tea, but it’s relaxing and it gives the atmospheric feeling that you’re actually there. Melodic material. 7.5 Chords and texture 6.7 Structure 7.4 Originality 8.2 Engraving 9.7 Orchestration and playability 7 Execution 9.86 taste 5.2 Total 7.69

Hello, I will do the overall judging of your piece. First, let me talk about the program notes and also your stunning picture out of curiosity though have you took this to yourself? Anyways, you give a very interesting concept so I’ll see how that ties in with the music and you’re very descriptive. I like to say at first that I enjoy the use of the artificial harmonics This gives a very alien in what I like to call crystalline atmosphere. Almost glassy in a weird good way. I also enjoy the dynamic use as well. As for the change structures, this is the only thing you really listening for so nothing is really a pallet cleanser however, though this is a five minute piece so there’s no need for one. Melodic material : 3.5 Harmony and texture: 8.3 Structure and development 3 Original creativity 7.56 Score presentation 9.79 Orchestration 8.9 Execution 9.04 Taste:7.9 This average is out to a 7.25

i love the texture in this. its very subtle but it goes really well with your description! it is imaginative in a way that i could visualize the imagery. for example the gusts of winds starting on b.28 using the dynamics, or the rain on b.52. the beginning usages of harmonics to represent the clouds and the subsequent ones are also pretty cool the string writings are lovely in my opinion, in the way that you took advantage of the different individual string timbres of the quartet. those low C string cello notes are powerful and prominent, especially on b.48 where, i think, it indicates the start of the "wall of rain" section contrasting the high register notes of the preceding section and finally, im fond of the way you use the variety of dissonances and added notes, it feels very effective and not over bearing that you're drowning in a chromatic porridge Melodies Themes Motives 5 Harmony Chords Textures 9 Form Development Structure Time 10 Originality Creativity 10 Score Presentation 10 Instrumentation Orchestration Playability 7 Execution of Given Challenge 10 Taste 9 Average Score: 8.75 final note: its peak.

😯 Wow... This piece really transported me there. Therefore an amazing submission, outstanding work. You seem like you may be a string player with your preference on hand position, and your pfp, but I still must say, this is some very difficult music to play. If I were to find out that a chamber group was going to play this, my first question no matter the group, would be if they could pull it off. But if I trusted the group, I would NEED to hear this.

Thank you Peter, I become the first recipient of this badge!!!!!! 😍