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  1. Good evening everyone! I'm excited to present a new piece I have been working on for the last month or so: Scherzo for Orchestra. I deliberately wrote this fairly quickly, with the intent to write something fun, conventional, and maybe even a little whimsical. I'm interested in any and all constructive feedback. I had a few goals in mind as I composed this, feel free to critique my success or failure on these: Write something a little more informal and accessible, with catchy, memorable themes. Start with a very simple idea, and build the entire piece off of it. The four bar opening phrase in the 2nd violins popped into my head one day, so I tried to build the entire piece off of this motive and transformations of this motive. Practice having multiple contrapuntal lines. Some details on this are below. Write something that would work as a middle movement of a larger work, such as a symphony. Write something under 10 minutes, since I might decide to enter it into a competition and a lot of competitions have a 10 minute time limit. The piece is loosely structured in a three-part rondo form (ABACABA). (0:00 - 1:32) - A Theme - A very quick staccato theme in C# minor. I based this on the idea of a fugue, with each voice entering at different scale degrees, before they all come together to cadence. I'm sure I broke a few rules on the counterpoint, but it got the job done. The section ends on the V (G# minor) (1:32 - 2:21) - B Theme - A soaring theme in E major, then restated in Db major. Here I tried to have descending chromatic lines to complement the ascending melody. (2:21 - 3:04) - A Theme - Restatement of the second half of the A Theme, this time ending on I (C# minor) (3:04 - 6:31) - C Theme - A waltz in D major that begins very timid, gradually gains confidence, and goes out with a bang. (6:31 - 8:01) - A Theme - Restatement of the A Theme, this time in D minor, with the orchestration modified slightly. I threw in a couple unprepared modulations up a half step, to Eb minor and E minor. As a result I may have broken a "rule" here since I ended the section on B minor (which is not the V of D minor, the key I eventually return to). (8:01 - 8:49) - B Theme - Restatement of the B Theme, this time in Db major and Bb major. (8:49 - 9:37) - A Theme - The second half of the A Theme again, eventually returning to D minor to end the piece. As usual, I have an onslaught of questions I would like specific feedback on. Feel free to answer as many or as few as you wish: What effect does the music have on you? Does in conjure up an image? Or an emotional feeling? Does it tell you a story? This can be the piece as a whole, or a specific part or parts. What was your favorite part? What was your least favorite part? Do you have any comments or critiques on technique, e.g. harmony, melody writing, counterpoint, orchestration, voice-leading, etc.? How do you feel about the overall form? Is it effective? Do any of the parts seem impractical to you? It's a pretty fast piece with a lot of technique, so I'm curious if some of the parts are impractical. I don't mind them being difficult, I would only be concerned if they are borderline impossible. Do you have any comments of the quality of the performance in the audio file? I really want this to be a decent representation of how the piece would sound if it were performed live, since it is unlikely it ever will be. Feel free to put your "conductor hat" on and critique the "orchestra". I have included a score and welcome any constructive feedback on its presentation. And if you're like me it's a lot more fun to follow along with the score. Are there any composers this reminds you of, that I might enjoy listening to? Sound libraries: Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra and Spitfire Percussion VSL Trumpet (only for some of the lyrical trumpet melodies) VSL Violins (only to layer with the violins in Spitfire) Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy! If you liked something I did and want me to explain how I did it, feel free to ask as well. -gmm
  2. Handel's "And With His Stripes We are Healed," but with my own contrapuntal addendums, twists, and best of all, vocaloid! Let me know what y'all think! The PDF below highlights all of my addendums
  3. Last Thursday was a special date for the history of Western music. 337 years ago, on the 31st of March, a child was born in Eisenach, a town located in Thuringia, modern-day Germany. His name was Johann Sebastian Bach, and he would become one of the greatest composers ever to live, even though most of his fame would be posthumous. Regardless, it has been of the utmost pleasure for me to dedicate one of my humble fugues to the birthday of Master Bach, in order to commemorate his art and work of such unfathomable abundance and heavenly quality as his spirit deserves. Link to the video:
  4. For the last couple evenings I have invested most of my energy into finishing this fugue, which as shown below the title is coupled with an aphorism in Spanish, my native language: "Cuando cae el respeto a la muerte, decae la vida misma", which, leaving aside metaphorical extension, would roughly translate into English as "When respect to death is lost, so degenerates life." Even though said aphorism wasn't the main inspiration for this piece, I thought it was a nifty addition given the fatigue and withering emotions it was intended to wake on the listener. Since it is difficult for me to describe the nuances of this one as strictly "enjoyable", I guess the most appropriate closing expression for this one would perhaps be "feel existential" or something on those lines.
  5. Composed between yesterday evening and today afternoon, as inspiration finally came forth amidst the silent darkness of tedious stagnation, bringing along a burst of renewed hopes and a dusty fugal subject from my earlier days, forsaken inside a long-unopened folder up until now. Also, happy 337th birthday to J.S. Bach! (If he could hear me from Heaven...) Link to the video:
  6. After more than a year of inactivity in this forum, I've decided to return and paulatinely post my compositions from this period. Starting with my latest fugue, which as shown on the score PDF file was composed just two days ago and has undergone a key set of minor details being changed since I published it on my YT channel. Enjoy! Fugue in C minor #5.pdf
  7. Trying to get some experience writing counterpoint. Constructive feedback is much appreciated!
  8. First Fugue of my work "Colours of the Fugue". Enjoy and feel free to leave advice and any constructive criticism.
  9. Fuga a 3 in g minor.mp3I recently have been reading and working through Jacob IJzerman's "Harmony, Counterpoint, Partimento" which I highly recommend, and I was inspired to write some short 3-voice fugues, mostly just to see if I could write them convincingly. Here's one of them. I scored it for flute oboe and bassoon so that the different parts could be heard easily.
  10. Counterpoint is essential in my music (and it should be in general). I took some wonderful courses on counterpoint long ago, and they were essential in my personal musical development. I went into the idea of taking the basic concepts and use them in other styles. Fugue "a lo barroco" (baroque-style) is not my favourite field, but sometimes I do. it for fun, without that obsession about fifths and parallels, etc.... If it sounds good to me, it's OK. Three examples (the numbers is because they are part of a larger series): 08 Double Fugue in Ebm 11 Fugue in Fm (Doppo l'scuro nembo by Bellini) 19 Fugue in Am
  11. Two-part invention. My first "serious" invention written after analysis of Bach's two-part inventions.
  12. This is the first time that I improvised a fugue subject and multiple countersubjects and didn't immediately come across contrapuntal errors with my Check Harmony Rules plugin in Musescore. I haven't bothered to look more in depth though(like every note kind of depth). So there might be some errors that I missed. I want to resolve these before I move further with the fugue. As you can probably tell by the PDF file, I wrote this fugue exposition with the text of a Requiem in mind, specifically, the Introit, which is the first section of a Requiem mass. Augmented intervals, those most likely have to do with the leading tone combined with the minor key and thus, shouldn't be bothered with, right, so as to not stray away from the key too fast? Or are they unacceptable, even in minor keys? Here is the fugue exposition in image form, so as to highlight the Subject and 3 countersubjects: There, that is the fugue exposition. I figured that this Requiem fugue would be one of the best fugues for which the subject appearance order would be BTAS, or in other words ascending, to represent the ascent to heaven(I'm personally not religious, but I know some things about religion). Did I obey the counterpoint rules and write a good fugue exposition with 3 countersubjects? Or are there some errors that I missed? I mainly focused on not having parallel and direct octaves, fifths, and fourths, and not having too many parallel thirds or sixths, so I might have missed errors of unresolved dissonances and weak suspensions that did not get picked up on a first pass.
  13. hello everyone, this is my first post, I am glad to have found this place! I am doing my species counterpoint believing that there would be few instances of broken rules in actual works. I thought that I would have to be very strict when writing a countersubject for example. Below are the beginning lines from invention 1 and fugue in c minor on which I have marked intervals that are "forbidden". How can I make the jump from strict species to actual writing? thank you in advance, Aristides.
  14. Here is my contribution for the Christmas Event. Carol of the Bells is, by far, one of my favorite works. I just hope this fugue gives it justice.
  15. Have you ever wanted to learn Baroque-style counterpoint? I am now offering counterpoint lessons over at NewBaroque for £40 / week. Here's the link: https://www.newbaroque.org/lessons/weekly The format of the lessons is one assignment every week (or every two weeks), which I'll mark and give you feedback on. Requests for specific exercises are welcome too.
  16. I'm still not satisfied with my counterpoint, so I wrote these two little practice pieces. They're not mentioned for any instruments, but I had to choose something when making an mp3. Also, this is my first finished canon, that is I've written many canonical passages but this is my first standalone finished canon :D What do you think of these?
  17. Hi all! It's been a while since I've been on... and I'm returning with a question about Fux's counterpoint from Alfred Mann's The Study of Counterpoint: Are the solutions to each of Aloysius' examples (with corrections) the only acceptable solutions? In attempting to complete the very first exercise (first species counterpoint on the given cantus firmus, in the bottom voice, in dorian mode), I find there are good reasons to rule out most of the consonances that could be considered. However, I don't know if there are hard and fast rules which make the answers that Joseph gives the ONLY possible answers. Anyone have experience with this problem or insights? Thanks!
  18. In my ongoing project of composing six small preludes, this one was very difficult to write for me and I am not very satisfied with the result. Basically, it is a canon from measures 1-11 with the upper voice leading, and and then a canon from measures 12-30 with the lower voice leading. M. 1-6 and 12-17 are virtually identical with the voices just exchanged and once in the tonic, then in the dominant (double counterpoint). The tonal plan is C Major -> G Major -> e minor -> G Major -> C Major. Very simple, but it was a new experience for me to change keys in a canon. I wanted to compose it with a hint of moto perpetuo movements, but this didn’t work out. So, without further ado, the prelude in its current state:
  19. Christmas is coming... Just for fun I took some traditional melodies, some of them from Spain, and did something with them: CAMPANA SOBRE CAMPANA Partitura completa.pdf Hacia Belén va una Burra Partitura completa.pdf FUN FUN FUN Partitura completa.pdf NOCHE DE PAZ Partitura completa.pdf CAMPANA SOBRE CAMPANA - CAMPANA SOBRE CAMPANA (fuga).mp3 Hacia Belén va una Burra - Hacia Belén va una burra rin-rin (fuga).mp3 FUN FUN FUN - FUN FUN FUN.mp3 NOCHE DE PAZ - NOCHE DE PAZ.mp3
  20. TL;DR underneath. When I first learned things about harmony and voice leading, I learned to avoid parallel and direct fifths and octaves, to avoid dissonances, and things like that, because they're against the rules. I reasoned that the rules weren't arbitrary, so they had to be there for a reason; people want their music to be likeable, things that sound bad aren't likeable, therefore, invent rules to keep music from straying into the boundary of bad. But, as everyone knows, one of the first responses to that is, 'But that doesn't sound bad!', and the reply, 'It diminishes the independence of voices'. When I first learned this, I simply thought there was something wrong with my ears, because I often couldn't spot errors except by sight; however, when I recently began studying counterpoint, I listened to my exercises on Finale and/or played them on the piano, and my rate of mistake-spotting went much higher, along with my finding some things that I particularly disliked. This, obviously wasn't anything to do with hearing them, 'cause I'd been doing that all along with pieces; but I took it to be simplification of texture (I hate octaves or any interval but an imperfect one in two voices, on the beat - three, not so much - four, impossible to avoid in a standard chorale setting). And there were numerous 'exceptions' to the 'rules' (e.g., direct fifths okay between inner voices &c.). Often, these were just things that couldn't be avoided, but I figured that, if they were allowable just because they were unavoidable (Mozart fifths, for example), and some people don't notice them from just hearing the piece, but may spot them by sight, then they can't be that bad! In that spirit, I've posted six short phrases, all in common time and ending with a whole note, that increase gradually in complexity, in a couple of tempos and with a few renderings. I'd like people to listen to them, listen out for mistakes, and post any you spot, here, in a spoiler. You can range from saying what the mistake is and between what voices, or simply stating where it occurs without knowing exactly what it is. Of particular interest is if people can only spot the error in a certain rendering (which I doubt) or a different tempo (which I don't). Please do not use any theoretical skills to work out where they are: this isn't a test or somewhere to show off your aural abilities, and you'll just ruin it for me and everyone else involved. This essentially amounts to listening and pointing out things and/or parts you didn't like. I'll post the score as a spoiler when a tolerable amount of people respond. TL;DR As an experiment in observing the practicality of abstract counterpoint; listen to these six phrases and point out what sounds technically crap. 110 BPM Piano VST Harpsichord VST Piano MIDI 55 BPM Piano VST Harpsichord VST Piano MIDI
  21. I was wondering about how to start writing a fugue? I understand they are hard to play, so is there a good process? I mean like composing in front of a piano kind of way. Help appreciated!
  22. To improve my skills, I am now in the process of writing a set of six small preludes for piano (or any other keyboard instrument with a range of four octaves) with a contrapuntal flavour. Four of them are somewhat finished, and one of them is this prelude in d minor that is planned as number 6 of the set. It has a rather simple structure that in the literature is sometimes described as reminding of simultaneous double fugues, because the main building block is a small subject and an fixed accompaniment in double counterpoint, quasi a countersubject. The subject and countersubject visit in a quasi-fugal way several keys; these visits are connected by sequences that use some material from the subject or countersubject, though sometimes the relationship is difficult to see or hear. I am still a bit unconvinced by the sequence connecting the subject in g minor and the reprise in d minor, but haven’t found a better solution. The same for the final cadence. Please feel free to comment, criticize etc.
  23. Greetings. When I start to compose a piece, I start writing the melody, usually for instruments like flute or violin. Then, when writing melody is done, I start thinking of orchestration and arrangement. I usually harmonize violins like this : Violin I plays the melody I wrote, Violin II plays the same melody one octave lower (and when musescore or other software warns me about notes which are not on the instrument, I just replace them with rests). But, when It comes to other instruments, like Cellos, or Violas, or any other instrument, I really don't know what should I do. These are things I done before : 1. Playing the third of first note of each bar in the viola section (for example if I started violins with G, viola played B for whole bar) 2. Playing the first note of each bar in the Cello/Bass section 3. Playing the fifths in double bass section . And the same for other instruments. And for keep it working well, I just tried to keep my compositions "one chord per bar", at least when I try to write classical music. Is there any tips or advice to improve this? Regards.
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