Joshua Ng

I really like the counterpoint! It appears that your fundamentals are there, I think that you could try something more creative and adventurous though. Also with regard to the rendering, just curious, is this supposed to be with a harpsichord? Because it sounds as such.

Yep I am!

Wow this is really nice! Really like the romantic style and the adventurous modulations! Really sounds like it's out of a film! I think though, what it could develop to perhaps is a nice winds solo!

Interesting work! I would say that the use of harmonies in unconventional intervals is unique! It really did help the harmonies from not becoming too stale! However, I do think there could be more action or creativity displayed. u could for example try experimenting with pizz or gliss pizz to achieve the same effect, or sul tasto on the violin which would help to advance its tone colour (if u wish to, u could refer to Poulenc's Violin Sonata Mvt 2). I think you experiment with more adventurous figurations for both instruments as well

I think it is a pretty nice piece! I do feel that this idea can be developed on much further and can be explored to greater lengths. Perhaps you could try varying the reprisal of the A section to make it more unique.

Hmm, I think this is a piece with a lot of potential! However, I think in terms of how the harmonies are stacked I think there is more room that you could worked with, quartal and quintal harmonies would have been great! I feel that in addition, I know that this is a slow piece which will not be properly rendered on a midi, but I do think more momentum and a drive should be present. It feels a little draggy and something like exploring more interesting rhythms can be executed well. In addition, I think a powerful melodic line that can fit the melancholy of the opening could be iterated, as the A section feels a little underwhelming. Conversational textures I think can be better introduced as well.

Glad to hear you're really into Japanese music as I am really into it too! Perhaps you would want to check Gavin Leeper's videos on contemporary Japanese music progressions, or Adam Neely's video on Jazz and Jpop!

This is really cool! Unfortunately I'm not very experienced in orchestral writing but just from an auditory experience it's really interesting and unique! Was this related to Japan in any way? Sounds remarkably pentatonic and the title of the piece gave me that hunch haha. Thanks for sharing though!

Really nice piece! I like the ebbs and flow and the feel of momentum in the piece!

I really like the style and texture of this piece! It's really keeping to the Baroque minuet style that you're really going for as I can see. I think what you could perhaps try to lengthen this piece and insert a full structure like ternary or sonata form into the piece especially, I think it will give much more depth to the piece. I like the adventurous modulations though that is more a romantic concept rather than baroque haha

Really nice work! Your writing for strings feels very natural and conversational in nature, which is very very good for a string quartet. It is really a good effort for a string quartet. I think what you could try to do is to fragment the motif and really give it room to play around. Perhaps you could have included a few jazz references with the nice polyrhythms to add a little kick, but this is just my opinion as a suggestion. It is really splendid at its current form and I can really feel the Latin influences! You could also try perhaps inserting a tresillo rhythm too!

I think it's quite a good quartet, good melodic material that is easy to remember and latch onto. some pointers: - There is quite a lot of instances where there is a clear clash in registers which makes it very hard to distinguish the foreground from the background. Try to separate the registers more. It's also partly down to the dynamics markings - I think it would be better to make the semiquavers slurred, for the intended effect that I'm guessing you're going for. - Particularly like the idea at bar 19-20! However, the development of the motif can be improved, the second iteration doesn't draw me in nearly as much - Transitions between pizz and arco and back a bit too rushed at this tempo

I think one general rule of thumb is to try to make the left hand pizz descending in nature especially on the same string. It is hard for the same finger pressing down on the fingerboard to be the one plucking the string. Hence, it would be much preferred if the finger that was held down to play the previous note was the finger that plucked the current note. Of course, open string left hand pizzicato is much easier for the performer

It's an interesting piece! Do take note that the pizz-arco changes cannot be instantaneous for fast passages so some time needs to be factored in. I like how you explored the modes and the very interesting modulations. I felt that maybe the theme could be made a little more interesting, but I really do like the second variation, and the way that the momentum is built up throughout the piece and the contrast between the more musically lively and calm sections.

Ah thanks a lot!

I understand! Strings are often hard to orchestrate especially for non-string players Yea I think that part can be improved, maybe by going for more distant modulations. I normally don't upload on youtube unfortunately. But I can link the drive link for all my compositions here! Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lhDLAsrn-ihh2xuUQ5beO7lS3E3gSOKB?usp=sharing

Oh junior college is equivalent to the second or third year in high school in the US or UK. Currently I would be considered 11th grade in the West. I see, yea that is definitely a good way to vary the piece and explore new relationships. Thanks for the advice!

Yea I can see that. The middle section felt a little too boring imo, because there wasn't any change in texture apart from the changes in who plays the melody. Hmm what would be possible distant relationships in whole tone though? I was trying to think of some but to no avail

Ohh I see, that is actually easier than the O Levels in Singapore for music. I am actually really surprised that the UK standards are so lax. But I would say that's kind of a good thing, because the music syllabus here is kind of overkill. In total, we have about 7 hours of lectures and tutorials for music during school curriculum, and we need to write about 2 music essays and 1 composition each week. Performance for A Level is really hard, my senior has an FTCL Diploma and even she finds it challenging. And composition is often very intensive, for compo major (which im doing) I need to compose 6-7 short works in total using contemporary techniques in the span of 2 years, and each work requires 5-6 drafts and a 600 word writeup, as well as a 5 min long free compo that needs to be playtested with equally as many drafts. The works we analyse are also very complex in nature. We're analysing Three Places in New England by Ives, Prelude Fugues and Riffs by Bernstein and Ameriques by Varese, all 3 very dense and complex works to analyse, compared to say the Romantic works. On top of all this we also have to study Malay and Indian music, which is another hell on its own.I really like the syllabus, it's just super competitive and tiring. Sometimes I do envy Western countries, because for you guys the pace of education is much more relaxed and free compared to Asian countries.

It is a really good piece! The harmonic approach of the piece is really good, and its use of dissonance, as well as contrast, is effective. It is clear that you understand and utilised the conversational textures well. What I think you can probably explore is more distant modulations and extended chords, perhaps in a more contemporary style. You could try a more motivic approach to the piece, and explore the usage of extended string techniques, which will come naturally over time as your experience with strings gets better. Amazing that your double stop writing for strings is well-done and not overly-straining. I think however, that you could experiment with the return of the fugue in a different key from the first iteration to add that element of surprise. In the live recording of the piece, I think what would have been great would be if you could advise them to use more baroque style of playing especially given the nature of the piece to really enhance the effect. Baroque bows in particular, and require a faster velocity of the bow to play. There is a strong tendency to use the extreme ends of the bow and play those parts of the bow louder compared to the middle, as well as a characteristic tenuto-like articulation to the key notes of the piece. That could be something that can greatly enhance the texture of the piece, given its nature of a Baroque fugue.

Thanks for pointing it out! Under the time constraints it must have slipped past my proof reading. I will edit that in future drafts! That's an interesting perspective. I can see where you're coming from, and I don't feel like a Dream is an apt title. Hmm I will think about it and see what programmatic title I want to give to the work. I am from Singapore, a commonwealth country that follows UK grading system of O and A levels. Our papers are set by local examiners but are sent to Cambridge for the grading. Over here, the pre-U syllabus for music is really intense and mainly centered around 20th century American music and compositional techniques.

Thank you! Yep I understand the concern! I do think that it is not high enough to make the fingers hit the bow, I just tried it with my violin and it wasn't impossible. But I definitely agree that the effect may not be as noticeable in that range, I think for the sul tasto sections in upper registers I will alter it for future drafts! Hmm yea I get your point, and definitely this movement I am still very unsure on the title to give this piece in particular, especially given the whole tone nature and I can't really pinpoint on what effect specifically I am going for as of yet. Worst comes to worst, I will scrap the title and just label it as absolute music (although I feel this piece is really suited for an overarching theme) Yep I understand your point! My compositional style is strongly late romantic-early 20th cen. in nature, and I definitely do want to try composing in the style of Messiaen and other contemporary composers! Well the good thing is that the criterion isn't necessarily requiring me to compose in the style of Messiaen but rather just using his modes of limited transposition. Thank you for the feedback! Dorico is a very interesting notational software! The pricetag was really steep and was only slightly less than Sibelius, so yea I would suggest you try Dorico on a free trial first before fully committing to it. It has its set of advantages and disadvantages. First of all, User interface is really really really streamlined. It feels so much less clunky compared to the infamous Sibelius interface. The engraving tool in Dorico is particularly easy to use and powerful, and I was amazed that I intuitively understood how to use the engraving tool without needing to check a tutorial, so formatting scores and making score videos are a breeze. The presets of specific instrument techniques were also really helpful and the keybinds for certain things like key signatures triplets and text were easy to figure out! The whole software felt much cleaner compared to Sibelius and However, there's some drawbacks compared to Sibelius. While Dorico is already very advanced, there are still some minute stuff that Sibelius has and Dorico doesn't. Free meter compo is much more complicated on Dorico for one, and it doesn't have certain features I would like. Noteperformer works far better on Sibelius than Dorico as Dorico doesn't support some techniques compared to Sibelius, such as glissandos (which I often use and it is so annoying to not have its playback capability), artificial harmonics, molto vib and slap bass. But overall I still really enjoy Dorico and it is really a joy to use compared to Sibelius! true haha I originally meant the piece much slower so I will probably change the title in future drafts.

Hi everyone! This is a composition that I composed for my mid-year examinations in music! With much requests to convert the String Quartet Movement Octatonic into a full length string quartet, I have done so and this is the second movement of the newly-coined string quartet no. 3! (Currently in draft 1) The criteria for the work had to be: - Requires use of at least 1 contemporary technique in modes, rhythm, meter or pitch (I used whole tones and rhythmic counterpoint) - 25-30+ bars (39 bars in this composition, totally did not extend the meter of the last bar to fit the criteria hahaha) So the motifs I have used are: - widespread use of the interval 4ths in doubling and between notes - dotted rhythm with semiquaver accompaniment - high register tremolos with staggered entries in the instruments (to recreate ethereal feeling) - triplet scalic passages - this pitch and rhythmic motif and theme (in the image below) These motifs (apart from the last one) were first introduced in the introduction. Some other interesting considerations I took: - Used open strings in double stops to add resonance that contribute to ethereal feeling - High register tremolos as mentioned - Whole tone creates dreamy effect - The movement of many lines in rhythmic counterpoint in dissonance creates very ungrounded, free feeling especially when used in extreme registers - Opening and closing scalic lines between intruments emphasise whole tone nature to set mode clear to listener from start and sort of transition the listener in and out of the dream state. -Explored new techniques (sul tasto, left-hand pizz arco gliss) Let me know any feedback for this work! Would really appreciate the feedback as this is a work that will be accessed as part of my academic grade and perhaps GCSE A-Levels!

Thanks so much for the kind words! Yep there is the heavy Beethoven influence in the piece, and I decided to add the hints of chromatism and distant modulations to add my own flair to the piece. Unfortunately, due to the time constraints I was not able to add a coda, which I had really wanted to do. I think I may add one in another version that won't be performed. Thank you so much! Yea I can see the possible use for film! Yep I believe in the ability of my school's string ensemble! Yep, I will be more than willing to share the recording of this when it is completed! Thank you so much!

Hi everyone! I finally completed my scherzo for the String orchestra in A Minor, op. 5. It was commissioned to be performed by my school's string ensemble in a community concert, where the proceeds will be donated to a children's foundation for kids in need. The maximum stipulated duration for the piece was 3 minute 30 seconds (hence the short nature of the piece) and it follows an A-B-B'-A' structure. It uses an overarching melodic motif omnipresent throughout the piece with numerous rhythmic motifs along the way. Feel free to provide some feedback! Scherzo for the String Orchestra, Op. 5.pdf Scherzo for the String Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 5 - Scherzo for the String Orchestra, Op. 5.mp3