Search the Community

A very emotional piece roughly in the form of ABA. I really like music that is mood inducing. Let me know if I am right about this, but I detected 4 different moods here, in this order: serenity triumph sadness suspense My favorite part is where you introduce the piano with triplets, leading to sax staccato. I found that section quite intriguing, because it leads from sadness to a quick hint of triumph, then suspense. It threw me off a lot actually, but damn it's so good. I had to listen to this piece a few times to pick up on the moods, but this is a really well done and well structured composition. You also have a clear motive in the intro and ending (the serene sections) which I found to be quite nice.

The only thing I may watch out for is your key changing. It felt abrupt and unnatural to me at the 46 second mark. And similarly around 1:04 your key change felt too forced. A song like this doesn't need key changing, but if you feel you must, it has to be more natural, otherwise there will be too much of a disconnect. Unnatural key changing leads to very disrupted transitions in music. My favorite part of the song is at 1:30 when the cello comes in (or is much more audible). But I will say, the overall song is beautiful so far.

I wanted to post 2 commercials for Music Jotter that @Ken320 and @Monarcheon composed soundtracks for. These commercials are going to be crucial to my advertising, so I would like to give a little recognition here. They are going up on YouTube and if anyone is interested in subscribing to my YouTube channel, you may do so here. Commercial #1 written by Blaire, aka @Monarcheon. I wanted to commend her for working with me and under some certain guidelines. I had asked for a "hopeful" sounding piece of music, in which she not only composed beautifully, but also produced the mp3 to match the 2 minute commercial length without any issues. The transition into the ending was executed perfectly, and the introduction to the orchestral portion of the piece is just perfect. The commercial is here: Commercial #2 written by Ken, aka @Ken320. I gave Ken free reign on this one, since this commercial was shorter and not a primary commercial. Nevertheless, he shocked me with his skill level and presented to me a really well written Baroque piece that I felt played along nicely with this commercial: By the way, both commercials received some likes from the community I am building on my Facebook Page which you are free to like as well. Thanks again to Ken and Blaire, I wouldn't have been able to execute these without your help. If anyone has any feedback to the commercials and/or the music, feel free to let us know your thoughts.

Hi Arti, and welcome to our community. The way you implement your instruments is absolutely beautiful. I can hear every instrument with clarity and purpose. This is a well written and beautifully articulated composition. I will also subscribe to your channel, your music is wonderful.

Musically speaking, this piece is very beautiful. You were able to portray some various emotions here, and the one emotion that stands out to me is solemn. I enjoyed this piece very much. One thing I would like to talk about is the score itself. While the work itself is beautiful, I feel that some slight adjustments to the score would make it far more readable. I had a hard time following the score, and I think it may have to do with your constant time signature changes. I feel like all of these changes were unnecessary in this piece, and you likely could have written most of the score in common time. You really want to avoid changing time signatures too often unless the music calls for rhythmic updates. Instead, you could just make some slight adjustments to fit the music into 4/4 (in this case) and the listener wouldn't even notice. Bottom line is, if you find yourself constantly having to update the time signature, it means that you are being way too literal with all of your beats. And I just feel being too literal like this overcomplicates the score unnecessarily. But this is just my opinion.

I don't think music has ever made me laugh lol. This is a hilariously, well composed piece (hey, I think its well composed, even if its a joke!) that turns Beethoven towards the end. Your fugue section is also quite dissonant, but I was still able to follow it. Things get really funny at the 5:20 mark and beyond. Thanks for making me laugh, I needed a little boost .

Your melody is outstanding! I just made a dedicated short around Music Jotter's custom note spacing (it's only 16 seconds long), but I was able to loop the victory portion of your melody in pretty nicely. I will be launching my short sometime tomorrow, probably at 11AM EST. I loved the middle section of your piece too, I would have loved to use it, but it had too much of a boss-like feel to it (even maybe Prince of Persia like). I'll have to figure out how to work this tune into my longer vids.

Don't neglect your Daw! The strings are not bad for stock sounds. MuseScore for the win there. I will still say though, please do not give up your Daw over the stock sounds (if you can afford to do so), because EWQL and the professional sounds are still better. Strings are VERY hard to emulate, and although the new sounds are good, they still sound very stock and synthesized. Musicality of your piece Given the nature of your work, I was clearly able to pick out your motif, as it is evident from the very beginning, and love how you do variations around it throughout the entire piece. This is a very well written work. I also can appreciate how you mixed a hint of romanticism in here (I love Romanticism, so extra brownie points from me here 😄). The pianissimo sections are a little too soft, and the instruments sometimes sound muddled. But in a piece like this, instrument clarity is critical given the dissonance and reliance of different instruments picking up parts of the motif and rhythms. This is a perfect example of why you'd want specialized instruments over stock. It's also a good example of the importance of orchestration. Instrumentation / Orchestration I almost want to hear how this piece would sound with a chamber orchestra, or even string quintet. Solo instruments may help bring out the individual parts a little more effectively. Your signature by Gustav Mahler, "A symphony must be like the world - it must contain everything" is actually something I disagree with. I'm more of a minimalist and I think too many instruments can sometimes ruin the listening experience. Don't get me wrong, I love a grand orchestra! But in this case, I feel like you can nix 2 instruments, and perhaps convert this to a solo instrument listening experience. Nixing instruments - maybe Perhaps you can nix the second viola and the contra bass. The contra bass doesn't have much of a part, and the 2nd viola is unnecessary given that you have 2 cellos. This would simplify your piece, force you to merge parts, and this would make your instrumentation cleaner. Then you'd have yourself a really nice quintet. Fewer players = lower cost and easier to manage and play (I know we aren't always thinking about that), but you'd get the added benefit of simpler orchestration and a cleaner audio. Please listen to... I want you to listen to the first movement of Sergei Bortkiewicz's Piano Concerto 2. He wrote the piano concerto for the left hand only, and it shows you that you can make really awesome and full sounding music with 1 track of music; it can be done. There's also a solo violin in there somewhere, and it is super clean. Solo instruments are great, even in big orchestras!

There's nothing to criticize with this piece, other than the audio recording quality. It sounds like I am listening to a modern Beethoven who had some inspiration from Chopin. I hear slight hints of Chopin's first sonata, but other than that, this is your own voice. In fact this piece is much better than Chopin's 1st sonata. You have a gorgeous melody going on here which helps boost this piece's listening value. In fact, a lot of Beethoven's sonatas aren't as lyrical as this one. I found myself playing this theme in my head all day today (due to me listening to this piece like 4 or 5 times last night). I also had no idea you were quite the pianist either. Don't worry about the missed notes, it's more about the overall playing, and ability to convey the message clearly. Really the only thing missing here is the sound quality, because everything else is perfection. I might have to do a dedicated video of this piece on my YouTube channel, because this movement really captured my interest. I may experiment with recording parts of your piece in midi, to see if I can help bring out the clarity of some sections. And since you compose in polyrhythms, it's really a perfect study because I can demonstrate how Music Jotter can use the polymeter to score certain sections of this piece. What we have here is an expertly written composition and well executed performance. May I ask how long it took to compose this movement?

Carol I: Beautiful harmony! I heard some hints of 'Tis the season to be jolly there, was that intentional? Carol II: My favorite of the set. Nice sounding baroque style, and all the instruments were very clear. That is very important to someone like me, because when I listen to music, I analyze what all the instruments are doing (or not doing). Carol III: And this leads me to my criticism of this last movement. The flute is just too hard to hear, and I actually think you can get away with removing the flue altogether. As @Henry Ng points out, it is a little overwhelming, but it could also just be the samples you are using as well. With that said, you do emulate the 1700's style really well despite some of the instrumental nuances here. I enjoyed all 3 movements, and its getting me into the Christmas spirit 🙂 Also, I encourage you to join the Christmas Music Event:

Please timestamp your movements. Your Tone Even though this piece has a darker and intense tone, this is incredibly beautiful. I can't believe you wrote this in a few days, you must be a superhuman of some sort! I love how you gave Silent Night a cameo appearance in this fantastic piece. At around 8 minutes in, I hear the celeste, and I am wondering if you were giving homage to Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy? Your Dissonance As far as dissonance, I'm very tough when it comes to this technique, unless its done in a way where it doesn't butcher the overall intended mood. But you seem to pull this off correctly, and my ears certainly approve. Dissonance in general can be a very beautiful thing, and I think some people have more tolerance for it than others. You didn't overdo it, but you also used enough of it to create those beautiful and dark moods. Your Intro and Ending I love how you start and end your piece. They sound incredibly Romantic to me, and this is one of my favorite genres, so I will naturally be drawn to this type of music. Your "Wow" Parts At around 4:40 onwards, I was really wowed here. Since there are no timestamps and I can't really read your score (too small), was this the arrival of Krampus? Definitely one of the most intense parts of the composition and I love the usage of your harmony here. You know, I am that crazy type of person who will rewind music and listen to parts over and over again sometimes as much as 50 times or more if I really like a part. I've done this on some parts of your score, which means, I found something new that I want to learn from you. The 4:40 part is so cool and I like how you reintroduced that part again around the 9 minute mark. Your "Smoothness" Factor Piecing together movements is also another skill not really spoken about. But as I am listening to more composers, lately Tchaikovsky, I am seeing how these composers take portions or ideas of their movements, and intertwine them into later movements. You've done this with your intro and ending, and also at the 4:40 and 9 minute mark as well with your reintroduction of ideas. Really well done.

Same theme and similar rhythm, but a completely different context! Very modern sounding and I love your opening. Almost sounds a little like Secret of Mana (not sure if you know that game, its from the SNES days). But it reminds me a lot of the overworld music from that game. But interestingly enough I just got recommended by a friend to listen to Sibelius' Violin Concerto, and wow, the beat is very similar. I know you are going for the Harvest Moon beat, but I think you slightly change it up a little, and it sounds more like Sibelius now haha! I don't have any recommendations musically, it's a very good rendition. But in terms of your dynamics, I felt like the strings "release" were getting cut off by their attack. The strings just felt a bit too sharp and unnatural at times, but it could have been an issue with recording.

I love impressionism, and dark music too 😅. So like @expert21 this is also right up my alley. Your harmony is really well developed, and i like the walking rhythm that I am hearing throughout the song. I also really like the chords that conclude the piece, and it's incredibly haunting the way you leave the listener in suspense towards the end.

@Carl Koh Wei Hao There's a 2-3 minute section in my next video that explains the grace note (specifically the acciaccatura!). And the timing, mood and notation of your music is the perfect fit. Stay tuned for my next upload. As for your piece, around 2:00 in, this is where your strongest writing is because you effectively use the piano and violin to talk to each other.

@Zeldz This is a great mood for the intro and conclusion of my next video. I'm actually going to release a very long tuplet video (but hopefully more engaging this time around since I am getting a little better with pacing and editing). I will notify you when I release my next video, but be sure you subscribe to my channel. I am eyeing your other dungeon song as well! Please note that I had to repitch just by a semitone (just for the intro) so that it blends well with Chopin's Fantasy Impromptu (I am notating part of that piece on camera as a demonstration of Music Jotter's flexibility).

I think the actual video is pretty neat. A very nice touch to include the pictures of the various orchestral sections to help aid the listener. This music itself had interesting transitions and styles. From the beginning to ending, I felt like there was a gradual transition in style from Modern to Late Romantic. And at times I felt like I was listening to John Williams. The transitions in this piece are very clever and well done.

For the strings they should be balanced a little better, slightly louder in my opinion. However this recording sounds really realistic. Did you play the instruments and layer them in or something? What techniques did you use? I love the tune though! Was this tune inspired by Greek folk music by any chance?

You wont be surprised after you hear the recording. I just finished the recording this morning, and the transformation is really good. I'm going to have to have a chat with one of these piano sample vendors when I am ready, and see if I can have it come bundled with Music Jotter. I can work on other sounds little by little, but I want to focus on piano first. What piano samples are you using in this mp3, because they aren't bad sounding? Although your samples are good, the transformation is still rock solid and noticeable. Stay tuned for my next video. Now I have to actually make the video + script. And as far as your comment about not being tech-savvy enough. This is my biggest point here. People will call me out and say "Oh, Kontakt does this already". Oh yeah? How do you get it to work without having any tech knowledge? How can I connect it to my notation software? How about getting the recording? What about the ultra realism that I am demonstrating, which goes far beyond good instrument samples? Well, you can't do any of this unless you know what tech to use and which techniques to implement. My goal is to make it an all inclusive experience. And if you are still confused, you know who to ask for help as I have a YouTube channel, and I make myself available for questions.

@Thatguy v2.0 I love this piece, and it's perfect to use in storytelling. I may even use this again if I decide to make another video that is similar to this style. If you are interested in business, come watch my podcast explaining why I am running Music Jotter with my own personal finances.

Really good stuff here! Your second half really killed it in my opinion. I'm imagining how this would sound in a live performance, and I think it would do very well on stage. The only thing that may worry me are the lack of pauses and continuous fast playing for a 3 minute piece. Chopin had a presto prelude that went on for about a minute nonstop. And his Scherzos are difficult, but they do still have pauses. However, a 3 minute piece with constant playing like this at one pace is quite a different story. I'm conflicted though because this sounds soooo good. You should watch my Beethoven videos actually. I feel like I am spamming you with my YouTube videos lately lol, but I actually talk about Beethoven and his craft around his rhythms which you may find interesting, especially if you are into Beethoven. Feel free to check them out at your own leisure: The Intricacies of Beethoven's Rhythms A Fur Elise Time Lapse Both videos talk about Beethoven and his usage of rhythms, and the reliance upon a metronome in order to play his music correctly.

I like the harmonies a lot, but I had to strain to hear them. The volume of the entire composition must be increased. But more importantly, the balancing of your bass is very off. You want to balance your left hand so that the bass is much more audible compared to your right hand. As far as the composition, having a fast piece that plays without any pauses can actually work, but since you have just one tempo throughout, it creates this very monotonous tone unfortunately. You do break it up at around 1:05 when you change up the style a bit, and I loved that part. But there are ways to record music to keep your original intent and not sound so monotonous. And this has to do with adding in your tempo changes and articulations. This helps create more of a player-like feel to the piece. If you want to learn more about this, check out my video about another Etude that also had a similar problem. And you can see some of the techniques I used (and listen to the before and after results). Nuancing an Etude (tips and tricks)

Welcome to the forum! We spoke in discord, but the main takeaways: Try not to use so many unnecessary ties. If the music isn't fitting into the measures, reconsider your time signature, or make use of triplets rather than dotted or tied notes. When possible, don't use ties within the measure, use dots instead. I am usually a fan of the tuplet, but in this case, you have unnecessary and confusing "tied" tuplets (triplets) which is extraordinarily difficult to time, especially since this is a solo piece (no left hand or another instrument track to measure the time against). Honor the title of your piece title. A solo viola piece should not sound like a string quartet. Try to avoid fast octaves in string instruments. You can get away with this for piano (Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique!), but definitely not for a viola. Unless you are writing some kind of exercise, avoid avoid avoid. The music itself is good, however you may want to consider some more variations.

This is such a clean composition, and well structured. I'm getting impressionistic vibes here (Debussy, Ravel), and this is music I started getting into later in my composition endeavors. Your middle section does sound challenging, but I love it! The repetition is fun to listen to, and your staccato playing is really quite good. I hear 2 themes in this Nocturne, and the way you transition between the 2 different themes is actually very smooth. It's impressive how you were able to include two themes, write variations around these themes, and transition between them....in just 4 minutes! What the heck? Really good job here, you sound like you have racked up some experience around composition.

Your very welcome! The video was fun to make, and it's already received around 50 views since I posted it! I'll try to figure out a better way to advertise my Young Composers videos. But most likely, I will add the tag #youngcomposers to every video when I use music from someone else on this site. The tag has to get indexed by Youtube though I think.

My favorite out of the bunch is your second etude, but let me go through each one. Etude 1: Just wondering if this was very loosely inspired by Franz Liszt's sonata in b minor? Maybe not, but the piece will definitely help someone learn how to play Liszt given how that composer loved his parallel octaves! I think that the very loud dynamics of your piano samples does your piece more of an injustice. Even if you mean to play forte, I would tone it down a bit so that the piano samples don't sound jarring. Etude 2: This one was my favorite, and I will tell you why. Your dynamics here are excellent, and you don't overdo it with the forte. It sounds more like a piano composition here, and I love it. You did a really great job making it sound as realistic as can be with these samples, and the musical expressions you create are fantastic! Great job on this one. Etude 3: Again, the forte does a huge injustice with your composition. The arpeggios at the beginning of this piece are jarring and sound almost unreal to the ear. But you can fix that very easily by adding articulations, tempo changes etc to simulate something that will sound more realistic. The thing that kills me is that your non forte sections are so good, and I know it has to do with the samples. Overall, your middle etude here is the winner, because of the excellent expression and dynamics of the piece. I think if you were to rework some of your sections to use mf to p, and only use forte sparingly, it will greatly improve the output and presentation of your music.