How might one make this more Scherzo-like? How flexible do you think the Scherzo form is compared to others?

Continuing from this threads in reddit and here - https://www.youngcomposers.com/t47262/inquiry-for-parts-of-a-piecepiece-without-a-clear-tonal-centre-how-do-we-put-accidentals/#comment-1186752923 - where I asked for notation advice for my score and integrated them in my edits (thanks again to those who advised me), I would now like to ask how might I actually make this piece more of a Scherzo (whether its the conventional matrices of 3 time, ABA structure, more parts with playful/satiric parts, or beyond these) using the themes/motifs I already have or should I make new ones?

https://musescore.com/user/62605720/scores/25131706
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O29_xr6AwbA

This is because while I find there is contrasts as "touching/happy" parts and more allegro parts and quite some parts in 3 time, but they are (1) not really fun/playful (2) not really satirical (3) not really majority 3 time, I know a scherzo doesn't really need all parts as such but still...

Imposter syndrome here, and my main title and initial for the piece is a Prelude, not Scherzo, though in the process I felt like I want a Scherzo (story can be found in my YT/Musescore).

Some forms are more flexible than others, especially because people have broken the rules much and overtime. Scherzo seems to be a form which inherently is more flexible and encourage people to go beyond? Correct me if I am wrong.

How flexible do you think the Scherzo form is compared to others?

Hi @Aw Ke Shen!

Wonderful piece!  I really like it a lot!  I think your piece is very differentiated and has a lot of contrasts and a lot of different sections within it and ideas all thrown together.

8 hours ago, Aw Ke Shen said:

This is because while I find there is contrasts as "touching/happy" parts and more allegro parts and quite some parts in 3 time, but they are (1) not really fun/playful (2) not really satirical (3) not really majority 3 time, I know a scherzo doesn't really need all parts as such but still...

Perhaps another characteristic of scherzi is their (4) driving tempo and rhythms and (5) sudden and surprising changes in dynamics.  You certainly have some sections of the piece which have intense driving rhythms in a fast tempo.  And your score shows that (especially starting at measure 40) you do intend for there to be sudden dynamic changes, but the rendition doesn't really make that audible for some reason.  Also I could add a 6th characteristic:  the inheritance of a dance-like nature from the Minuet-Trio-Minuet form which the Scherzo came from.  Even though the Scherzo is considerably faster than a Minuet, usually it can still be considered to have the same dance-like character.  I'm also unsure if your piece is a scherzo because it is so heterogeneous.  Like I said, it has so many different parts and ideas thrown together, while a scherzo would customarily just have the driving Scherzo idea and one contrasting Trio idea.  But no matter, I am working on a Scherzo myself right now and it doesn't meet all the requirements either, so ultimately, it is up to you whether you call it a scherzo or not.  Thanks for sharing!