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Hi to all! Have been trying to compose a piece for theorbo, and am finding it really hard! Mainly because of the 8 unfretted strings, that can't be tuned to accidentals. That seems to limit me to the 7 modes of C major; or something bitonal or atonal. Anyhow, I've posted two versions below. The first is what I wanted to write, and the second has been bent out of shape to eliminate accidentals on the lower strings. Am thinking I may have to throw the whole thing out, and start again!

Hi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ajinQMxk-QgKfzxODtrkC7839OCZmPYx/view?usp=sharing

A fascinating instrument. Tiorba is how I know it in my language. I don't know anything about how to write for this instrument. I thought, perhaps associated with the Baroque and its use as a continuo, that the lower open strings were for the bass. Although it seems that you use it differently.

A lovely theme and a quite pleasant orchestration. It reminds me of an Italian Movie score from the 60's ... 70's ... Nicely done. Mark

Hello @Gwendolyn Przyjazna! I am always interested in pieces featuring „exotic scales“ and modes and so I was excited to find out how your „progressive rock instrumental“ would sound like. Since you didn’t provide a score I could concentrate on listening: My impression is, that the harmonies sound very smooth together – not as dissonantly as in some of @PeterthePapercomPoser’s Persichetti excercises, for example „Persichetti Exercise 2 - 56 for Clarinet Duo“. Thus, producing a dreamy, melancholic sound where especially the transition section from 01:52 to 02:26 reminded me indeed at Kate Bush! I must admit that I had to lookup what the Lydian Augmented and the Spanish Phrygian scales are all about. And so I found the reason why they are gentler or even more similar each other than I expected in the pair Lydian/Phrygian: The Lydian Augmented scale is more „darker“ than the traditional bright Lydian mode (which sounds paradoxical at first glance), while the Spanish Phrygian scale sounds much more „brighter“ than the original Phrygian one due to its major third. You added the tag „counterpoint“ to the piece so that I was curious how a counterpuntual rock instrumental would sound like. But to be honest, I get the impression that for most of the piece, you only had one voice with a melody, while the other instruments accompanied in chords or long notes, so I have to admit that I didn't really understand what you meant by “counterpoint”. Thank you for sharing, I very enjoyed it!

Hello @MK_Piano! Yes, that’s really a good swinging big band piece which immediately reminds at Glenn Miller’s „Chattanooga Choo Choo“. Good old steam trains seem to have inspired many composers and musicians because of their „sound“ which comprises „rhythmic“ elements (the start of the locomotive, increasing and decreasing speed, the rattling noise when driving over the track joints) and melodic elements (the puffing of steam, the whistling of the locomotive, or the squeaking of the wheels when braking) which animate to be imitated musically. Who would write a piece inspired by the noises a nowadays train produces? Another good example of a piece dedicated to a steam locomotive is Arthur Honnegger's “Pacific 231”, which is not a jazz piece, but rather a dramatic symphonic work. I liked it very much and I must say that the repetitive character mentioned by @PeterthePapercomPoser didn’t bother me, especially taken into account the purpose of the piece as soundtrack for a movie where it does not appear in its entirety but is cut into parts to underpin the individual scenes. Or whenever it would be played in a bar as the background music, the most visitors would not even notice it.

Wow this is great! And you're getting a performance? Very happy for you, you should update this with the audio once you get it! I've made edits to my music posts too, and I think it's easiest to add the revised audio to your original post, or just remove the old one and replace with the new. That way when people click on your music they're greeted with the version you want them to hear 🙂 Great stuff, looking forward to hearing more from you

Dude these are hard to keep up with lol... but I guess I've been busy and haven't been on here as much... sorry! Listening... Ok cool! I'm almost finished with a counterpoint in two voice piano type of piece, so this is right up my alley. The language is different, but the upper part kinda looks familiar lol. I really wonder if it would have sounded better having the intervals closer together, but with them far apart it was like an eerie bi-tonal carnival ride to me or something 😄Were you mainly thinking of the consonance of intervals? It was dissonant but smooth. I know it was just an exercise and you had a prompt, but what about texture change? I'd love to hear staccato bass or something, even if just a segue in the middle. Cool piece! Have any of these exercises given you grander ideas for the themes you've used? What do you feel you've gained so far in these compositional studies? Hopefully your next major work has even more craftsmanship from your work. Well done!

Some badges must me earned. Some are given freely, but there is one badge that rules them all. Legend holds that a mysterious "better than thatguy" badge is given only to a chosen few. You must search through the members profiles and sift through their badges to gain further knowledge. I wish you well in your quest.

Hi @MrBelegro! Welcome to the forum! For the Outstanding Orchestrator badge, you may look into pieces below which are awarded the badge for your reference: For the "Better than Thatguy" badge, actually it's named so because one of our moderator's username is @Thatguy v2.0, so you may check out his works to see if you are better than him or not lol! Henry

Hello @Tunndy! You have picked the perhaps most covered or orchestrated rock/pop song ever, the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody, which I consider to be a huge challenge. Everyone who hears the piece knows it and has its own expectations in the sense of „does it sound like the original“. I had the chance two years ago to attend a live performance of an orchestra and choir, and I was impressed how realistic that was performed - very close to Queen’s original sound. But that's also the problem when everyone is sensitized to noticing every little “mistake” or deviation from the original: you're faced with the challenge of bringing your own personal touch or interpretation to it. And that's exactly what you've done very well. The longer I listen to your orchestration, the more I notice some beautiful interpretations that really make it “your” piece. I particularly liked the ending, from bar 103 onwards! However, I could imagine that this personal interpretation could go even further. Therefore, as an inspiration, I have linked a YouTube video of David Bennet who reinterprets Bohemian Rhapsody in different modes or scales, which I find very fascinating. Thank you for sharing, I very enjoyed it!

Mother and Son 12-9-25.pdfHi all, Once again I resurrected an old work which needed a dusting off and a new look. It's called Mother and Son ... I describe the playful and sentimental interactions of a Mother and child as they play/interact in the park. Mark

Hi Tunndy, I notice your glissando lines have gone a bit haywire in Bars 54-55. Also in Bars 23 and 41 Violin II, you should flip the direction of the note stalks to make it clear what's going on there. Same in Bar 61 Violin I. Bar 55: some rests need deleting in the harp and Violin I. Same in Bar 66 Bass Drum, and Bar 69 various instruments. Plus a few more places where you have unnecessary rests. Bar 74: voices need tidying. Other than that good job! Also liked your recent Liszt orchestration of "La Campanella".

Another Persichetti prompted piano piece. This time the prompt was "24. Extend the following chromatically ornamented piano passage." The form ended up being ABACBA. Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

I don't know why, but it sounds neoclassical to me. I imagine this piece in an 18th-century drawing room. I think it has an intimate, somewhat playful feel to it. Good work on these exercises.

I‘m glad to hear that, and to see that you are not too „disappointed“ or overwhelmed by the discussions. Since I see that you are (again) in „good hands“ with @muchen_ continuing a detailed discussion, I will not go so much in detail, but give only some more general thoughts. I‘ve noticed your new version (v3.mp3 – not yet v3m.mp3). Will say that I put it together with the first one on my playlist and listened them, in a loop, perhaps a dozen times while walking. I do the same with my own compositions (where I use different piano soundfonts producing 10 different recordings of the same piece) and listen to them extensively while I take a long walk. This approach helps me to judge the piece whether it is fluent and I get distracted from my thoughts every time something „rattles“. Will say, a more relaxed review on the work thru listening only – being away from the score – is very useful to find out bars which need overhaul or get new ideas how a piece could be continued. Coming to the two versions of your invention I‘ve listened, I must say they are only slightly different (which is good in the sense that your corrections/modifications had no impact on the overall mood). The longer I listened them, the more I loved the subject with the repeated notes! Yes, in the first version there are the few bars, where the „octaves“ produced a bit „thin“ sound in the counterpoint. They have gone away in the newer version (what is good) except of – in my listening impression - two bars, one at the first subject entry in the lower voice and one bar nearly the end. So, I will now look to the score to see whether I can find out what I thought to have heard. ... The one bar which retains to sound „thin“ is bar 4 and the other one is bar 22. Yes there is an octave on an A on the second of the repeated notes. But I think, it‘s not the octave only - there are other ones on a C in bar 3, last of the repeated notes and on a F# in bar 5, second of the repeated notes – which don‘t need „correction“ in my listening impression. I think the „problem“ in bars 4 and 22 is more harmonic nature, I would replace the three sixteenth notes in the upper voice [G A B] with [E# F# G#] emphasizing the dissonance between B major and the four repeated A naturals. Because this was more detailed than I initially intended to be in this repost, so take it not too seriously. The more general question I have – and you probably have yourself – is what do you intend with, for example, this particular invention. If it is an exercise, you‘ll have learned something, especially about „octaves“ – and can leave it at that, going to the next one. But perhaps this is not the best idea to continue with the 1601st exercise, as you seems to me to be already somewhat „overteached“ and „overpracticed“. If you are about to create a „full fledged“ composition of it, we could further talk about episodes, cadences and a more elaborated ending. However, I suspect that you would prefer for that purpose another piece with a subject of your own, which than will be „complete your baby“. For that case, I would suggest you to put your composition in a more larger „framework“, such as in a cycle of, for example of six or twelve inventions, calling it somewhat like „Mein Notenbüchlein“ 😅. I think, that‘s quite enough for today! Greetings, Wieland.

Hallo @TristanTheTristan! Even your Sonatina has a length of a Sonata, I think it was wise to call it „Sonatina“ only, due to its youthful spirit and its refrain from the drama and heaviness of a „full-fledged“ sonata. So it is a cheerful, enjoying piece at all! However, what refuses me to count it as a piece that I would enjoy to put in my playing list is its hyperactivity expressed by the much to fast and repeating passages with ornamentations (trills, tremolos etc.) which heavily remind me on your signature „TristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristanTristanTheTristan ….“. I can therefore only emphasize @PeterthePapercomPoser' questions about playability for a human performer and would love to hear the piece as it would be interpreted by a real pianist, whether it's a live recording or a recording from a MIDI file. In the latter case, however, more sensitivity to the technical abilities of a human pianist and their enormous nuances in articulation, dynamics, tempo, etc. would be required.

Hello @Alex Weidmann! A piece for theorbo – that is something for me! I really enjoy, that the theorbo is (at least here in Germany) increasingly being used in baroque orchestras alongside the harpsichord and a small organ as a Basso Continuo instrument. I think I first discovered it about five years ago and am always delighted when it is used, for example in Handel's Messiah. It lends such warmth or even a “Mediterranean feeling” to the accompaniment that it surpasses the somewhat “boring” harpsichord and organ, which are unable to play dynamics, while they are needed for rhythmic and percussive accents (the harpsichord) and harmonic filling and foundation (the organ). As I see, you have dealt extensively with the special features of the instrument, especially with regard to playability on the low, diatonically tuned strings. Even if I can’t read the tablature notation, I can imagine that trying to translate the notes into that notation helps to empathize with the player and to avoid playability issues. A two part invention with the voices distributed between the two registers might be challenging to play, but I like that counterpuntual style, together with the arpeggios and flageolet notes! As I used a theorbo too, in a piece I arranged for the 2025 Christmas event – not as a solo instrument but in a continuo, paired with a harpsichord and a small organ, I am no longer sure whether I have taken the ambitus of the theorbo and its special tuning features into account correctly. Therefore, I have linked this piece here, maybe you’ll find a lot of errors ... Greetings, Wieland

Hi there, Tunndy! Long time no see! You have made a wonderful effort into this orchestration, and have an intricacy I am not in the mood of describing, because it is unbelievably intricate. I like the harp solo-ish part very much, and also the section right after that! There are both very smart. By the ending the polyrhythms are also very good. Compared to the previous attempts of orchestration, you have improved a lot. I see you have taken some of the advice from people or, at least beings such as me or @PeterthePapercomPoser.

Hi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1priRSr7zZcLCeQ4INN-oQfIjUj7DOsqy/view?usp=sharing

A very thorough and beautiful piece of work. I find the music very visual, cinematic; you can almost see it in a film from the 50s or 60s. The level of detail in the writing is admirable. What's more, the sounds are fantastic. One thing I really liked is that you use a very “restrained” orchestra, with a romantic feel. In other words, nothing “hypertrophic.” But the amount of colors and sounds you introduce is spectacular.

Bravo. Great work. I really like it. The main theme is beautiful, and so is the development. I find the orchestration very balanced and brought to a climax very effectively. The sounds, which I don't know what they are, are not bad at all, except perhaps the strings, which tend to shorten the final part of their duration on long notes.

Great work. There are brilliant parts and some very original arrangements. However, I think that at times it is too literal with respect to the original song, which isn't bad, it's just a matter of taste. The introduction is very good, distributing the melody between the strings and the winds. I think the first verse forgets this dialogue a little and relies heavily on the strings, which then move to another level but continue to carry the melody. There are some tessituras that I think are unnecessarily out of place, if they are even possible to play effectively (double basses in 29 and 30). There are also several instances where the strings split into several notes and it is unclear whether they are double-triple stops or divisi. I also find it strange to see the piccolo and flute in unison, with the former in a very low register. In conclusion, I see a huge amount of work that sounds good. But orchestrating is not easy, and the orchestra you have chosen is quite large.

Thankyou for your review, im not very good at this AI stuff, your right it is limited, because of preset requests.

Sylva Train Runnin' | Official Motion Picture Score from A Fire Within Hello! Over the last calendar year, I have been creating my first short-film called A Fire Within. When completed, the film will follow the tragedy between two friends: Sam and Andy. The story focus on the theme of betrayal as being cordial does not stop greed or jealousy from bubbling within someone. This score is paired with a travel sequence in the film and is my 4th attempt at writing for Big Band Swing. I am very happy with the result and simply wanted to share it! The style was meant to replicate late 40s/ early 50s swing to match the era in which the story takes place. I sampled a little of Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo" to help tie into the railroad theme with the main structure being based in verse-chorus with multiple repeats and a key change. If you would like to know more about the score, go to the "About" section on page 4! ________________ Program Note: A Fire Within is an original story written by Mason Kistler detailing betrayal between two friends. Featuring an original soundtrack, soundscape, voice cast and more, this story established itself as the first short-film made solely in the video game Railroader, which was released in December, 2023. Join the orchestra as they bring you in towards this cinematic universe and involve yourself in their soundscape. All aboard as the saxophones open the throttle and the ensemble leaves the station! [DO NOT REPLICATE]

Thank you for the suggestion! The score is also on IMSLP and I think it is great to see the orchestration and musical devices they use. One day, I too plan to add my addition to the repertoire on steam engine : D To add, I've updated the score in my OG post as I have now changed a few parts.

It's been too long! I thought I would share this piece written for my theory and composition class at Berklee. We were asked to work with a couple of "exotic scales" from a selection including the whole-tone scale, the octatonic scale, and modes other than those derived from the major scale. I felt drawn to the Lydian Augmented and Spanish Phrygian modes. I ended up with a contrapuntal rock instrumental in rough ABCA' form. The A section is in B♭ Lydian Augmented, the B section is in G Spanish Phrygian, and the C section an unbroken transition into D Spanish Phrygian. Finally, I modulate with the common tones D and A back to B♭ Lydian Augmented, for the A' recapitulation. The title (Iridescence) was inspired by my understanding of modes as a concept. With many modes sharing the same collection of notes, the tonic note that each mode centers on is what makes it unique -- gives it a unique color. And, iridescence is when something appears in different colors depending on the angle of viewing. I see that as a fitting metaphor. The artwork is my own, made with ProCreate. I didn't paint it for this track, but as a birthday present for my mother, inspired by Kate Bush's song "Kite". She is a massive fan of Kate's and introduced me to her when I was a little girl. I rediscovered her recently and I've been spending a lot of time with her early work. My current favorite album is Never for Ever...whose influence I thought was bleeding into this track. So, in the end there is some relation. 🙂 I hope you enjoy! Any feedback on both the mix and composition is more than welcome. ~ GP P.S. I was required to include a detailed score for the assignment. It might be too precise for a rock track in general, but if enough people are interested I will upload that, too.

"Night Train Home" I wanted to write a jazz instrumental but never studied jazz technique before. So I dug into jazz theory three weeks ago and began writing my first jazz quintet! I wrote all the chords and notes and performed the virtual instruments on keyboard. Except drums which started with midi loops that I heavily edited. No AI. Comments welcome!

Hello @MichaelJohn! Congratulations for your first jazz quintet. It is amazing when you achieve such a piece after studying jazz theory for only three weeks! Since you didn’t provide a score I could concentrate on listening. I really enjoyed the relaxed piano improvisation and the swinging rhythm. So, if you did not mention, I would thought that composing jazz is your bread-and-butter profession for a long while. With a classical (and even more counterpuntual) background, writing jazz music is a huge challenge for me, since my compositions are more „head driven“ and improvising is an art I have never learnt (yet). But that doesn’t matter since one could compose fantastic jazz music „on paper“ without the ability to improvise, the best example is Nikolai Kapustin who wrote outstanding jazz music especially for the piano while using classical or baroque forms or techniques, for example its 24 preludes and fugues or its sonatas in jazz style. So thank you for sharing, you have inspired me to take a closer look at jazz theory again in the near future.

Ello! This is was more of a joke than anything. So please don't take it seriously. And its one of the few times i compose baroque music because i absolutely SUCK at writing baroque music. I hope you guys like it!

Thanks for the comment! I used an Alto kalimba for this, thats the reason i composed in F minor actually because i saw the image of the range of the chromatic alto kalimba and its from F to F. I would post the score surely but its full of parallel octaves and fifths so i decided not to 😬 and also most of the violin parts are probrably unplayable with jumps larger than a 10th!

Hello @L.S Barros! I think this is a wonderful concerto! I don't think you suck at Baroque music at all! I found the whole thing quite easy listening and unique and enjoyable! Did you write this for the 17-key variety of Kalimba? Seems like a very restricted range to write for, but you seem to have pulled it off! Btw, do you have a score? You would probably get more reviews if you also posted the score. Thanks for sharing!

Hi to all my fellow musicians. Here's my latest piece for piano, that I spent the last two days writing. Haven't quite finished the phrasing and dynamics yet. I may possibly extend the work; but I'm not quite sure yet. Hopefully I haven't accidentally stolen ideas from other pieces I've heard? I know the initial chord progression of C#m to Am(maj7) came from a You Tube video; but can't remember which piece they were discussing. (Pretty sure it was from a film score; but can't remember which one.) Anyway, hope you like it. I wrote it for a concert in May. P.S. Can you guess which composer inspired me to write this? (N.B. Revised scores will be posted below.)

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I come to you with yet another piece prompted by an exercise from Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" - Chapter 2: Scale Materials. This time the prompt was "11. Extend the following polymodal and polytonal passage." I chose to change the instrumentation to Bass Clarinet and Sopranino Clarinet as I thought that increasing the distance between the voices would preserve their individuality. I also heard the bottom voice as being more in C dorian rather than in G aeolian. But for the end of the piece I defaulted to a kind of linear cadence rather than ending each voice on its individual tonic. Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

Outstanding orchestrator and Better than thatguy (in this case I've outbeaten Julius Fucik and Leo Chernetsky and that was my goal) for "March Hare" march

A high tension piece that wants to resolve but ultimately fails in doing so. We almost get there at 0:20. It makes me wonder if you don't really want to go into teaching, or if you have anxiety over the prospect! Overall, I'd say one of your more interesting castings. Honestly, I was surprised that you resolved this at the end.

Cool bass beats along with a fun motif! Gets a little repetitive, but maybe this can be used for a boss fight. One thing you will notice with AI tunes is that the harmony can get quite stale. Even with the interval key change, this basically is the same harmony for the full 1:40.

Hi everyone, I finished a new piano piece called Cloud Ame and wanted to share. I hope you enjoy listening and welcome any feedback! Thank you

Hi, I really don't quite understand the theory underlying the composition ... (although as a retired professor of social work, clinician, and school administrator ... retired); if you have any questions about a career in social work feel please to ask me. Now about the music ... my only observation is the pairing of the English Horn with the French Horn. I think matching dynamics would be a bit difficult since the timbre and projection of the instruments are quite different especially in the lower and upper registers. The work is quite pleasant to listen to .... and flows quite nicely. Mark

That sounds fantastic. Perhaps a version without so many annotations would be clearer. Although for educational purposes it's great. And well, you've left me wanting the second part.

MP3 Play / pause Persichetti Exercise 2 - 57 0:39 1:25 volume > next menu Persichetti Exercise 2 - 57 > next PDF Persichetti Exercise 2 - 57 Nice! You have a nice sense of atonalism. It has an eerie and mysterious feel to me. (ending on a V7? That is one reason.) Also the use of the whole tone scale is nice and surreal. It is not fully used, but definitely has the characteristics of it.

Here is an extended and revised version of the piece. I’m still experimenting with having a wider variety of instruments, for now they are the same. I’m in over my head with making arrangements like this so all feedback is appreciated

This time I share with you a musical quote from "The Occult" by Colin Wilson. And if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading!

Unique and very calming. The crescendo and decrescendo throughout gives the piece an interesting sense of grounded emotional instability.

You have no idea the wonderful suggestion you have bestowed upon me. I have been searching for various ways to capture a steam locomotive with the western orchestra. That piece is SO COOL!! It's luckily on IMSLP too, so now I have a score I can study. Thank you!! Yeah... The repetition was more for simplicity to be blunt. I felt I did good with the saxophone writing, however, I admit I am not too knowledgeable on ways to utilize the brass in the Big Band style. In the film, it is cut in half with the key change happening after the first shout/ chorus section. So in context, it only repeats the form twice. I copied the first section in this version as a means to extend the work. Thanks for the comments!

Sad, I'm too old for it!

This is my first submission (of two) to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event. We are all awaiting (or at least the children do wait for) Christmas Eve. Since there are still a few days to go, the time should be peaceful and quiet – despite the stress and noise as it is in reality. Thus, the idea behind this piece is to imagine the night before Christmas, the church where crowds of people will gather tomorrow to celebrate Christmas Eve. The church is empty, or seems to be empty, but there are three musicians playing a piece that is reminiscent of either night music or a final rehearsal before the upcoming concert.