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It's true. Music is simply expression. It's an outlet of human creativity, spiritual or scientific. We make it for unquantifiable reasons. The density of answers to this question is so thick, no one answer can really cover everything. Philosophical enough for you? haha.

I have an honest question.What are you alls purpose in music here at YC? Do you make money out of it, do you plan to make money in the future? I would appreciate the top-bottom status in YC regarding this question. Thank you for your time.

The tenor is very low, but it doesn't seem that hard compared to a lot of modern choir music, perhaps you're just writing to an amateur choir and need to re-arrange some of the voices because of that.

I like how most responses here are "Your piece is bad", not "Your piece needs work. this is what's wrong and this is how you make it better"

Beats doin' stuff.

Write for real players, or your music will never be played, ever.

It isn't and yes. You're not a misunderstood genius; the piece is bad. You should take to heart the criticisms and suggestions here. You will not get better if you ignore anything negative said about you.

Maybe one too many new posts for one day... Mine is: "Say a little; Say a lot."

See what he did, there? I feel as though my swag has been unmercifully jacked...

He's trolling - he's trying to get you upset to get his jollies. Just ignore him, he's not even being serious. Don't be discouraged either. Keep listening to music.

What a computer spits out is not how it sounds, only what the computer's interpretation of it is. You will only hear how it really sounds by hearing it sung by a choir. Ironically, the piece isn't written well for choir at all, so you will never hear how it sounds. What I think your problem is that you don't know what sounds good. This is fine when you're young and ignorant: you will learn. The "rules" are there because they sound good, not because they're arbitrary. Listen to a good piece of music and those "rules" are followed a lot. That's the point of theory and study of scores.

Don't worry, he's an idiot. But to answer your question, no. It's just with having a work actually performed, the performer has to be generally familiar with the style of composition unless they have a decent length of time to study it. If you're giving music to a group (and you aren't famous), it should generally be in a common style, or else easily graspable. The piece you showed us is not in a vocal style at all. Look at the chords you are creating and try to hold common tones whenever you can. The piece looks piano-like or perhaps even more, brass-like. I don't think Piston's book is good for a beginner. It doesn't hold your hand. Studying common practice harmony will solve a lot of your problems.

Such as a baseball game?

Neapolitan chords. So overused. Oh, and Perfect Authentic Cadences. So 300 years ago.

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Note also that we reserve the right to change any and all sections of this in the future without notice. (1) This is a music discussion subforum. This means that discussions/debates are not only welcome but encouraged. When making a new thread, make sure that the content of the OP can lend itself to discussion. Seems obvious, but it's important to remember this is not a miscellaneous forum for posting whatever doesn't fit elsewhere. (2a) Use the search feature. It is your friend. There have been many good discussions already and maybe the one you want to start is similar to something we already had. This shouldn't discourage you from posting, but if you are to post make sure to either reference to the archive or try to continue where it left off to some degree so that we don't need to always start from scratch every time. (2b) ... But do not revive ancient threads. 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Understand where each topic stands on that spectrum of subjectivity is crucial (eg, talking about how many strings the violin had in a period in history is not up to debate as much as how interesting it could be to write for violin.) Keep it in mind. (9) Have Fun! Finally, if you're not having fun, then you're doing something wrong. --- F.A.Q Q: What is regarded as "trolling?" Why is everyone calling eachother this? A: Unfortunately there's a bad habit in the internet at large that when a discussion isn't going your way you can just pull the "troll" card. This here is not acceptable and calling someone a troll is a rather serious thing to say as it invokes the moderation to act. Therefore, trolling here involves: A) Someone who is deliberately posting derail/disrupt posts that do not contribute to the topics they are posted in. B) Someone who flings insults around/attack members without any good reason (out of the blue, or not called for.) This is not the same thing as a thread degenerating into insults due to people being riled up by the discussion, as here the intent is to outright disrupt. C) Makes threads/posts purposely vague to bring up controversial topics in a way that pushes buttons rather than encourage reasonable discourse. (Eg: Atonality/composer/whatever sucks! threads.) If it doesn't involve these things, then it's not trolling and reporting it as such may get YOU in drama instead (specially if we catch you calling people trolls when you're just losing an argument.) Don't summon moderation unless you are absolutely sure as it can disrupt the thread just as much. Q) It sounds like a lot of work to do this discussion thing, why should I bother to look things up/be clear/check my terminology/consult others? A) If you plan to frequent the discussion area, people will pay attention to how you behave and if the quality of your posts isn't good then they'll also stop taking you seriously. It's entirely understandable that if someone refuses to research something yet keeps parroting about it they will lose respect and people will take to mocking or w/e. And really now, it's your job to avoid making factual errors or simply putting out silly arguments and we can't really do much if anyone else tears it apart and laughs. Q) But what if I just want to state my opinion without others commenting on it?? A) The moderation here isn't for protecting you from the backlash of your statements UNLESS they derail the thread entirely or become too abusive. Just like you can comment on others' opinions, be prepared to be commented on. If you do NOT wish others to engage your ideas then do NOT post them. Q) But I DO really think that all music after 1740 sucks and Mozart is the best composer ever! A) The forum isn't your personal blog. What you say has consequences and be prepared if you really go out and say stuff like this. 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