I created this messy wip string quartet pls give feedback and what i can improve on

just what the title says

also pls give rating out of 10

Edited August 24Aug 24 by Woofi_9
to add audio

audio?

On 8/22/2026 at 2:32 PM, Some Guy That writes Music said:

audio?

i edited it

On 8/24/2026 at 5:30 PM, Woofi_9 said:

i edited it

Hi! Welcome to the forum. May I ask what your experience is with music?
Aka how much you know about music theory, maybe what instrument you play, etc.

In efforts for us to give the best feedback, it'll be great to gain an understanding of your background. Thx in advance!

Without going into detail, there are a few things to consider:

1. Consecutives: If your intention is to maintain independence between the parts (which seems to be the case) then you should note the parallel octaves. I saw several between the outer and inner parts. My pointing this out is less to say your part writing is ‘wrong’ than there are missed opportunities to enrich the voice leading/harmony, especially when two voices move in the same direction to the same note without apparent justification. In on instance where there are parallels, for example (bar 7) the A7 chord initially lacks the third which is not great.

2. Your choice of harmony, combined with melodic writing could be improved. Bar 8, for example, which contains only the tonic chord then proceeds to another tonic chord on the first beat of bar 9. I would personally look for opportunities for contrary motion where the upper voice is ascending. For example, with the ascent to the D in the first violin, perhaps the bass could descend to a B flat instead leading to a VI chord.

I haven’t checked to see if my suggestion works, but try to think in that way. Allow your melodic writing to flow naturally while considering the range of voice leading opportunities (that is, the movement of the other parts) your writing permits.

Edited September 3Sep 3 by Markus Boyd

Couldn't resist giving it a go

I have taken your outer parts only, which I suggest be your focus at first before attempting 4 part harmony.

My suggestion is not perfect by any means, but be instructive on how you might better approach voice leading in the outer parts. Composers of past tended to write the outer parts first before adding the inner ones. This makes sense, because the outer parts will form the skeleton that you will be working with. If you have nailed the outer parts, in that it sounds interesting and coherent, then the rest should follow suit. Inversely, you will be working with a shaky foundation...

Example.pdf

Edited September 3Sep 3 by Markus Boyd

On 8/22/2026 at 1:11 AM, Woofi_9 said:

just what the title says

also pls give rating out of 10

1. It is good to use triad make full if possible.

2. Note that continuously from start to end for phrase, make characteristique for rhythm and line. Every VOCI(Deutschen) is good to be independant and irregular or having variaty. Don't use same rhythm too continuously in same VOCI. It makes sounds very poor.

Edited September 3Sep 3 by Scriabinian

On 9/3/2026 at 12:41 AM, MK_Piano said:

Hi! Welcome to the forum. May I ask what your experience is with music?
Aka how much you know about music theory, maybe what instrument you play, etc.

In efforts for us to give the best feedback, it'll be great to gain an understanding of your background. Thx in advance!

i know a tiny bit of music theory

i also play violin and played viola for a little bit and its been a week since i got my flute

On 9/3/2026 at 5:48 AM, Markus Boyd said:

Without going into detail, there are a few things to consider:

1. Consecutives: If your intention is to maintain independence between the parts (which seems to be the case) then you should note the parallel octaves. I saw several between the outer and inner parts. My pointing this out is less to say your part writing is ‘wrong’ than there are missed opportunities to enrich the voice leading/harmony, especially when two voices move in the same direction to the same note without apparent justification. In on instance where there are parallels, for example (bar 7) the A7 chord initially lacks the third which is not great.

2. Your choice of harmony, combined with melodic writing could be improved. Bar 8, for example, which contains only the tonic chord then proceeds to another tonic chord on the first beat of bar 9. I would personally look for opportunities for contrary motion where the upper voice is ascending. For example, with the ascent to the D in the first violin, perhaps the bass could descend to a B flat instead leading to a VI chord.

I haven’t checked to see if my suggestion works, but try to think in that way. Allow your melodic writing to flow naturally while considering the range of voice leading opportunities (that is, the movement of the other parts) your writing permits.

could u explain that as if u were explaining it to a music theory noob?

also in bars 1-8 violin 2 has the melody

55 minutes ago, Woofi_9 said:

could u explain that as if u were explaining it to a music theory noob?

also in bars 1-8 violin 2 has the melody

Allow me to offer my interpretation:

When it comes to the basics of music composition, there are two fundamental concepts/ vocabulary: Melody and Harmony. Melody describes the side-to-side motion of music. Harmony is the up-and-down motion of music, aka chords. Think of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or of your favorite movie theme; what you might notice is that you can sing or hum the tune pretty close, however can you also sing the chords? Most likely, the answer should be no, as chords contain multiple notes played together/ at the same time, which is something the average person cannot do.

Thus, when it comes to creating a melody or adding harmony, we tell our brain to think in one or two ways. As Markus was describing, the entire ensemble plays the same note/ pitch a lot. Straight away, looking at beat one of measures (mm.) one and two, both Violins and Viola play the same pitches: Bar 1 = F4 (F above middle C), Bar 2 = D4 (D right next to middle C). When played live by a quartet, you'll immediately hear that the music doesn't sound "full" or "rich," instead, it will just sound like the same note distinctly louder than the cello. If you want the ensemble to sound full, you need the instruments to occupy the other pitches of a chord.

Since you say this work is in D-minor, then immediately in the opening chord, we expect to see D-F-A. However, your chord is missing an A-natural and the result is a thin sound. To give body and foundation to the opening bar, add an A-natural in the Viola, and move Violin 2 down to D-natural. By making a change such as this, you will make the opening chord strong and resonant; to add, with F-natural being in Violin 1, it will naturally stand out and draw attention to the instrument versus having three instruments do the same thing. Now apply this thinking to other measures in the work. Instead of doubling pitches and repeating things, try to fill out the instruments by making them sustain different pitches of a chord; allow them to be unique and enjoyable.

Attached on this comment is my educational PDF, and mp3 for the examples, on understanding Melody and Harmony. It was made for a different user, so please excuse the pronouns or context in the latter half of the document. (Which I need to update).

PDF-Undstanding Melody.pdf

17 hours ago, MK_Piano said:

Allow me to offer my interpretation:

When it comes to the basics of music composition, there are two fundamental concepts/ vocabulary: Melody and Harmony. Melody describes the side-to-side motion of music. Harmony is the up-and-down motion of music, aka chords. Think of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or of your favorite movie theme; what you might notice is that you can sing or hum the tune pretty close, however can you also sing the chords? Most likely, the answer should be no, as chords contain multiple notes played together/ at the same time, which is something the average person cannot do.

Thus, when it comes to creating a melody or adding harmony, we tell our brain to think in one or two ways. As Markus was describing, the entire ensemble plays the same note/ pitch a lot. Straight away, looking at beat one of measures (mm.) one and two, both Violins and Viola play the same pitches: Bar 1 = F4 (F above middle C), Bar 2 = D4 (D right next to middle C). When played live by a quartet, you'll immediately hear that the music doesn't sound "full" or "rich," instead, it will just sound like the same note distinctly louder than the cello. If you want the ensemble to sound full, you need the instruments to occupy the other pitches of a chord.

Since you say this work is in D-minor, then immediately in the opening chord, we expect to see D-F-A. However, your chord is missing an A-natural and the result is a thin sound. To give body and foundation to the opening bar, add an A-natural in the Viola, and move Violin 2 down to D-natural. By making a change such as this, you will make the opening chord strong and resonant; to add, with F-natural being in Violin 1, it will naturally stand out and draw attention to the instrument versus having three instruments do the same thing. Now apply this thinking to other measures in the work. Instead of doubling pitches and repeating things, try to fill out the instruments by making them sustain different pitches of a chord; allow them to be unique and enjoyable.

Attached on this comment is my educational PDF, and mp3 for the examples, on understanding Melody and Harmony. It was made for a different user, so please excuse the pronouns or context in the latter half of the document. (Which I need to update).

You have created a guide on harmony! Awesome!

So many of us are prepared to impart knowledge and experience without a single penny. I think such things are a wonderful testament to the commitment and passion of this community.

Hello @Woofi_9,

since you are (relatively) new at this forum, first my warm welcome!

Whenever one posts an unfinished piece – what I think is here the case due to the title and the plenty bars at the end with rests only – there is a good chance to receive rich feedback with usually polite suggestions for improvement.

So I very appreciate @MK_Pianos explanations on „Melody and Harmony“ which are not only intended and useful for you, but for all readers of the forum.

I can’t compare myself to him because I don’t have an entire „tutorial“, but only a repost with some considerations about „Rhythm and Texture“ which, I think, supplements Mason’s explanations.

I intentionally just did not listen to the piece and am focusing only on that I am seeing in the score, trying to formulate my concerns and suggestions – however the piece might sound fine.

A string quartet consists of four individual instruments, usually playing a single voice (and, furthermore, of four individual humans). Thus, it perfectly fits for a four-part-voice leading where each voice is „independent“ and „equal“ to each other. Such kind of music is called „polyphonic“ or even „counterpuntal“ music – the opposite to a musical „style“ that consists of a (prominent) melody voice and (subordinate) accompaniment. I think, your piece is a kind of this approach.

However, we do need a memorable melody and rhythm, often called a „theme“, which is played multiple times (sometimes unchanged like in a canon or fugue - or otherwise slightly altered) by all instruments throughout the piece. So the role, which instrument is most prominent and which are the accompanying ones changes, finally creating variety.

And there I’m coming now to my concerns or „criticism“:

• I can’t recognize such a memorable „theme“ which I would usually expect at the beginning of the piece in the upper voice. Instead, the Violin 1 has a somewhat repetitive texture with repeated half notes for the first 6 bars.

• Although the piece has enough distinctive textural motifs (each one bar long), they are not distributed well enough between the voices resulting in that the same motif is repeated too often by the same instrument (for example, the Cello in bars 9-14).

My suggestion is, to take the one-bar motifs and create a „theme“ from them. In the example below, I have taken two passages, snippet them out and glued them together to create such a „theme“ from then which I would consider to distinctive enough. (Note, that I didn’t take care of the melody, i.e. the pitches and didn’t bother how it would sound, it is a rhythmic or textural example only).

I would start with that „theme“ in Violin 1 and would repeat it at least two times (or better three times to involve all four instruments) thereafter by other voices. The other instruments should than apply rhythmical motifs which are contrary to that bars of the theme, meaning where the theme has a slow motion, the other instruments should have the faster motion – and vice versa.