What do you think motivates people to review your music?

As a composer and Young Composers Forum member, what do you think motivates people to review your music?  The poll is multiple choice and the results are public.  And also - if you review frequently ::ahem:: @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu ... Let us know what motivates you to review others works!

Hey Peter,

Actually that's the question I wanna ask myself! To be honest I always get depressed and disappointed when my piece posted on forum doesn't receive replies, no matter positive or negative. I know it's irrational thinking since doing reviews for me isn't a way of exchanging products but I sometimes just cannot get my mind out of it! Combining with my post partum syndrome after finishing a huge work, for example recently that six part fugue makes me feel depressed and wanna get out of YC altogether, to be honest.

But thankfully after having my post partum syndrome away I usually get my love towards YC back. It's exhausting to listen to pieces attentively and review them and I sometimes wanna give up. But for me that's my responsiblity to review as the moderator here. Most importantly, reviewing for me is one of the best way to learn composing. Seeing a great piece would make you wonder how the member composes it and you will start to learn from it, for example for my own String Sextet movement I learn from @Jean Szulc and @Thatguy v2.0 and without their inspiration I would never be able to finish my own music. Even if you see some works that are more elementary, you could still learn much from it by reviewing since you have to give tips on how to improve it and this will in term guide you on your own composing. And it's so interesting and rewarding to share with others with our thoughts right? I love receiving criticism (and ofc praise!) since it helps me improve most.

For me what motivates me most is when they give me a reaction in return, to be honest! My own priority of reviewing one's piece is 1) review someone who will give reactions to me and other members, since I LOVE reaction points. If I leave a review and I don't even receive a reaction point or reply of it, I will think maybe the member doesn't treasure my reviews and this will greatly diminish my desire to review their pieces! I hope people really treasure my reviews and for me that's the most rewarding thing. Second is of course the quality of the music, I would love great music! Third I will ALWAYS review members' music who review my own!

But I always hate anyone who thinks themselves are genius and have a condescending tone, just like "I am vouchsafing my pieces here, come and listen to it and kneel before it", I always hate these guys. Unless you are Beethoven, I won't accept this kind of behaviour and will NEVER leave any review to these self-proclaimed geniuses, even though your works are great whatsoever. YC is a forum both for sharing and reviewing, but not a platform for your own showing off. I also don't like members who never reviews or replies to other members' music and comments, but less so than self-proclaimed geniuses.

And hey @PeterthePapercomPoser you haven't left a reaction point (preferably like or haha haha; don't give me a confused, thinking or sad LoL!) to my six voice fugue. This will GREATLY diminish my motivation to review your music haha!

Henry

Difficult to answer. My stuff is more abstract, surreal and (in common parlance) discordant. Been described as "postmodern" in that it takes what it needs from different "schools", sounds serial but isn't, interspersed with isles of tonality and chromaticism. My titles are usually non-committal. So I really don't expect much response especially from members still writing in keys, standard rhythms and structural forms.

If I get even one reply I'm lucky! 

I'm happy to receive any criticism good or bad. It's always possible different views may help to solve unsolved issues. I'd ask for comment on overall structure, duration, scoring. Does the work make any sense?

There's also the matter of how many reviews I offer. It's always time: time devoted to composing; to practice; to (professional) work; household admin etc., so time is always at a premium. If I'm unable to review many works of others I can't expect them to review mine. I'm more likely to go into detail with work from a less experienced composer where I may be able to make suggestions. 

One does ones best. 

On 1/24/2024 at 2:37 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

what do you think motivates people to review your music

On a very technical level, as with many other online forums, responding to people does add up to the numbers, whatever they may be, likes, reactions, views, upvotes, favorites, etc... the accumulation of these " points " can translate into more concrete forms of power like karma as in reddit, or soft power. These are incentives.

On a more social level, it increases the level of engagement you have with both the community as a whole and the individuals within it themselves.

From the perspective of self-promotion and self-improvement, we give both ourselves and our music greater exposure to the world, which

- increases overall engagement with your content due to a larger pool of audience

- makes us more vulnerable but also opens us up to people and perspectives for us to improve.

Most of these are understandable desires and natural consequences. As long as one

- does engage with others on contents beyond their own ( ideally at around the same level which others engage in theirs )

- does not overly-self-promote and spam

I think It's fine.

On 1/24/2024 at 2:37 PM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

what motivates you to review others works

Quite the same as above so I shall not repeat. This is actually compulsory in some Reddit music forums; this part is auto-moderated. I think the reasoning behind it is fair, though I think ppl should do it themselves rather than it being a rule to be enforced.

For me, any form of engagement with people's contents can also reveal more about that person / how they view their own music / their other musical perspectives. It is only through clarifying things the poster of the content reveals more ( than what was originally posted ). I generally find it interesting.

And if possible ( not having expectations ), make friends ( and thus expand internet social network ), find supporters and collaborators ( ? )...

Thanks for the post anyways!

Edited January 27, 20242 yr by Aw Ke Shen