Critiques people!!

[Wolf_88]

how many of our 375 members actualy wrore more 1 or 2 critics? i'd say 20 top! doesn't anyone else feel obligated to help fellow composers or is it just me?

[Dooby]

I'd like to do some critiques, but for some reason I can't download anyone's files? :)

[crazy voyager]

I have the same problem, I can't listen to files online. and 90% of the files arn't avaibeble for doawnloading :) so I can't

[Mike]

Sorry about the problem with attachments, it has been fixed now. See this topic for more information:

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/Attach...oblem-t692.html

[chopin]

That is why I think the board lost alot of activity. I didn't realize 90 percent of our files were gone. Thanks to those who brought this to my attention (even after I said the problem is with free space). Its all fixed...although it is a mystery. Furthermore, I added more space (which may have been unecessary after all) to limit the amount of deleted midis on the board.

[Adam]

Well I've only commented on one piece so far, but I haven't been around for long!

To be honest I'm still sort of picking up from other people's critiques the kind of tone etc involved; I don't have much experience in commenting directly on other people's music, but I will get more involved as I find my YC feet I guess.

Cheers,

Adam.

[Wolf_88]

That is why I think the board lost alot of activity.

[Marisa]

I just haven't the time. I feel bad about it, but I like to get to know a piece a bit before commenting, and I'm just doing homework constantly. I have time to stop in here, say hello or Ni! or something, but that's about it. Well, that's college for you. * gets back to work on English paper *

[J. Lee Graham]

Same here. Business was horrible for music in August, so I had to take a temporary day-job assignment. But even before that, I was starting to find it challenging to do as many critiques as people were requesting.

I don't automatically rubber-stamp unconditional acceptance, and often I just don't have anything to say; but when I do have something to say, I believe in going into detail. That takes time. Also, I often have to listen to some things more than once - sometimes several times - before I feel I have understood what I'm hearing well enough to comment. That too takes time...and sometimes a lot of energy and patience. Let's be frank: some of what gets posted here needs a lot of help, and I often don't know where to begin.

Also, on a personal note, look at some of the critiques I've done for people like Miquelio. He was here for about a month. I saw some potential in what he was doing, and asked him if he REALLY wanted me to be detailed in my critique, and he said yes. In a rather authoritative manner, I laid out for him what he I thought needed to do to make what he was trying to accomplish work - I've been composing in 18th Century styles for longer than he's been alive, after all. I spent hours on that critique, the equivalent of a free composition lesson. He made some revisions in his piece as if to humour me, then cheerfully ignored me in his next posted work, a string trio with parallel fifths in the first measure; when I called him on it, he responded that he couldn't find any other voicing that had the same "brio," whatever that means. Shortly thereafter, he disappeared.

Stuff like that doesn't make me want to share what I know with people. I fight the urge to hold back, but time is a problem.

[chopin]

Shortly thereafter, he disappeared.

I thank you for putting your time into helping others. It is people like you who really help this board stay high quality. You have a good point, although indirectly stated, that quality posts are much better than a "sounds great!" post.

People who ask for critiques and never return again really stinks. One thing to do is to check out someone's post count, or last time that person has been online. It really helps to see who is participating or not. And since I offer no incentives for high post count (i possibly may have just offered one now!), there will be no post count spamming (another reason for the amount of quality posts on this board). Therefore, a simple look at a post count really is a pretty good indication of someone's dedication over at YC.

I say, those that have higher post counts (20+ ... I'd like to say 50+ but the board is just too new still), put more detail into critiques and give them priority, than those who have a few posts (1-5 posts). Still give suggestions, and feel free to give a detailed analysis to a newbie if you feel up to it, but again, my suggestion is to save detailed analyses for people with higher dedication and post counts, to prevent losing sleep over the sometimes inevitable "disappearing person".

[CaltechViolist]

I haven't critiqued as often as I should have, either. But like Lee, I believe in critiquing in detail, and usually won't say anything until I've seen a score. That makes it hard for me to comment often, since I'm in medical school and don't have much spare time.

[Adam]

I couldn't agree more that although a detailed critique (which will require examining the score) is far better than a 'sounds great' (which however can be ego boosting - not unimportant in my opinion, certainly for this underconfident composer), some of us aren't necessarily skilled anough to create them.

Lee's critiques for instance clearly come from a background of deep understanding of the music at an academic as well as 'melodic' (for want of a better term) level - I certainly couldn't begin to come near them in terms of depth; I in fact have no formal compositional training at all. However I have been listening to and writing music for nearly 20 years, and there is a depth of experience in that, albeit of a different quality.

Does this mean that the type of critque I could offer (being less 'formal' and more 'intuitive') is perhaps not really what is wanted? Perhaps I haven't given enough examples here for people to judge I guess.

I am not trying to start an argument here at all - I genuinely want to be involved as best as possible with this board - I think it's very exciting; as I said in the post above I feel I'm still 'finding my feet' in this community, but I have high hopes.

P.S. don't attach any value judgements to terms above like 'academic', 'melodic', 'formal', 'intuitive' etc, I was just finding it very difficult to find the right words to express what I meant, and those were as close as I could get - no offense at all intended to anyone.

Adam.

[CaltechViolist]

Give whatever you can. I have no formal training either, and I've only been composing for about 3 years, so my critiques, when I actually post them, tend to be mostly intuitive.

[Wolf_88]

Give whatever you can.

[Dooby]

I like to critique by ear first, then maybe look at a score. It's just an ingrained habit with me :P , when I was younger I didn't really have access to scores for analyses and things, and I had to transcribe and analyse things by ear. Of course, scores do make that a lot easier :huh:

[chopin]

Everyone can recognise quality (up to a cirtan point).

Correct. Even an untrained ear can determine what sounds good and what sounds bad. We, the audience are the evaluators. A composers job is to please the ear of everyone who has an interest in his style, or has an interest in music in general. Not everyone who likes music will be a composer. And some composers are not good at examining music! In fact, I tend to think that a regular guy can sometimes give the better critique because he or she is not specifically "looking or expecting" for anything in particular, other than good sounding music.

With that said, Britney Spears fans are mostly teenagers, and do you think the majority of her audience can compose? Most likely not. They still value her music, whether they can compose or not. Otherwise Britney Spears would not make so much money.

So as you can see, the goal of a composer is to please more regular people, than composers, because that is probably going to be the majority of your audience. A regular person's opinon counts just as equally, if not more.

[Wolf_88]

With that said, Britney Spears fans are mostly teenagers, and do you think the majority of her audience can compose? Most likely not. They still value her music, whether they can compose or not. Otherwise Britney Spears would not make so much money.

Yes, but when you value the music of someone like britney spears, you are valuing 99% of the lyricists, composers, and arrangers and 1% britny herself. lol

[CaltechViolist]

Yes, but when you value the music of someone like britney spears, you are valuing 99% of the lyricists, composers, and arrangers and 1% britny herself. lol

Either that, or you're valuing her wardrobe. :blink:

[Wolf_88]

Either that, or you're valuing her wardrobe.

[Marisa]

Either that, or you're valuing her wardrobe.    :blink:

Hehe!

Yeah, I was just going to say...that and peer pressure.

[chopin]

I knew I should have used another example! :blink:

[Wolf_88]

People, people... are we experiancing the same problem again? critics aren't exacly massive... they were close but only for a second... now some topics (in the critique section) have 2,1 and sometimes even 0 replies for over a week!!!

[CaltechViolist]

I'm going to plead lack of time again. I'm in the middle of exams.

And I've been waiting for critiques longer than anyone else, I think. If you think one week is bad... my thread's had exactly one critique in A MONTH AND A HALF, and I've posted in it three times in that time. I find it especially disappointing because, as usual, I've invested 100% of my composing time for over a year into a single piece.

[chopin]

This site still has problems. We have too much demand and too little supply. It takes time to provide a good critique, but I try to help with this imbalance by providing different and cool features on this site.

One cool feature I am working on is the ability to create your own sheet music through the web browser (will look very professional, like the sheet music you buy, but syntax takes time to learn...the output is amazing though). Another is the ability to put your music in your own album (paid). I also give 3 megs of free space, so I try to be generous. Furthermore, I do periodic free recordings to higher members to show my appreciation. Nevertheless, we still need to give this site some time.

Here is a tip though:

Make sure to "bump" your topics if you see no activity. If you reply with "bump" or "anyone?" or any piece of text, your thread will go to the top again.

[Guilt]

Just keep in mind that the site is still growing. Already, hundreds of people come here to learn and express, and there will be a lot more. Just keep doing as you're doing, and they'll come.

As far as critiquing goes, I could possibly do some if you guys just can't reply to all of the works here, unless this is something that you'd rather save for the higher ranking members. Just to let you know that I am brutally honest.