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I made a plan for the keys of the movements and how i wanna structure each movement and stuff, I already have a sense of what i wanna say with the music, however i can't really express it as smoothly as i want, that's why i was unsure if i should focus on a smaller size work before composing something like a symphony. Thanks for the sibelius tip!

In Sibeilus, input the first note of the ten-tuplet (in this case a 32nd note on the downbeat). Then with the note still selected, go to Note Input > Triplets > Other. Enter "10" in the top of the dialog box, then hit ok. It should create a ten-tuplet for you to fill in. Write with a plan. Why do you want to write a symphony? What do you wish to "say" with your music? What structure do you want it to have? Start with the big picture, then work your way down to the details. If you're just starting out, don't take on more than you can handle. Focus on coming up with a plan and executing. How did you write this piece? Did you have a structure in mind when you started? Or did you write the first thing that came to mind?

Hi. thanks for listening and commenting, i will change the time signature to 6/8. Regarding the weird rhythms i tried placing the note on the 2nd beat, but it seemed to come to soon, when i did it with the original score it came on about where i wanted it to, i tried to make a ten-tunplet in Sibelius however i don't really know how to, i'll also respell the accidentals. If you could go more in-depth on how to fix the rhythmic thing i would be grateful. I started working on a 2nd movement however, i'm getting slightly discouraged at writing an entire symphony, i scrapped the 2nd movement and decided to make the 1st movement into a extended symphonic work like something ravel would do, however i don't know if thats a good idea, i've never been really good at writing extremely long pieces of music. Would you have any recommendation's on what i should do?

Interesting piece, thank you for sharing. I like the contrapuntal stuff you do with the strings, for example m. 4-9 and m. 32-34. I wanted to ask what your intention was on some of the metre throughout the piece. There are several places where, as a listener, I feel the time signature to be 6/8, but in the score it's in 4/4. For example, m. 48-52. The feel of 6/8 is so strong here it would make sense to me to write the score in 6/8. Was your intention for the piece to feel this way, or am I missing something? There are several spots like this where I think the notation would confuse the musicians, m. 62-63 is a notable example. I would try to write this so the rhythmic emphasis occurs on the beat, instead of the second note of a set of sixteenth notes - see below. I might redo the scale at the beginning as a "ten-tuplet" so the E falls on beat 2. Also there are several spots where respelling the accidentals would make it easier to read. For example the horn solo in m. 82-90 - I would spell all of these accidentals as sharps instead of flats. Thanks again for sharing, are there any more movements to the symphony?

I will try to ask them but they don't answer questions like this very often. Thank you for the information.

It depends on the style you are writing, the form you have in mind...That's right that a 8 bar phrase can be easily extended to a 16 bar phrase (first half-phrase ended in Half-cadence and second half-phrase ended in tonic). There are different techniques to extend the musical ideas. One can also start a new phrase with the dominant after the first one with similar motif but from de dominant instead of the tonic, that's an easy way to develop a musical idea. Also possible to start a new phrase from the subdominant instead of the tonic using the same rythmic idea. One can also repeat the same phrase with some small variations or change the texture, orchestration or the register (just changing the octave can be an interesting variation) like in Beethoven's Op.13 Pathetic Sonata II mov. The first 8 bars are repeated just changing to the higher octave with some extra filling notes in the accompaniment. If you want to go more in the Theme with variations form. Haydn or Mozart have countless exemples of that as 2nd movement in most of the symfonies or sonatas, like in KV331 or the famous Emperor Quartet from Haydn. Regarding the you mencionen I never used most of them. I used inversion once in a piano inventioin and augmentation or diminution just a couple of times. I never used retrogradation, I find a very abstract way to develop. I know Bach used it frequently, but I couldn't never find a use on my works...to abstract for me 😅. Ornamentation, of course. I would also add fragmentation, when you use just the begining of the motif, or a part of it. That's a very used technique on the development of Allegro-Sonata form. If you have a phrase you want to develop, it would be easier to suggest more specific ways.

Sentence and period forms can be expanded to 16 bars, don't forget. The thing with the soundtracks that you mention is that they don't follow any sort of traditional structure (most of the time) and are often either just short, through-composed tunes that loop, or a dynamic soundtrack where different loops and ideas are brought in according to what happens in the game. One thing you might consider is that you don't actually need a theme present at all times in the music; some places of just accompaniment and then bringing in the melody or other elements later is useful, but if you're using samples — samples really struggle with that.

Beethoven, to me at least, is the undisputed master in this; taking even the most banal melody or harmonic progression and transforming it in such profound ways. His variations in C minor and the 2nd movement from his seventh symphony are particularly good examples of this.

You're doing the right thing here: trusting your gut! There's no correct answer to your question, though. Take a break and listen to some of your favorite music (or be adventurous and try something new)... I guarantee an idea will come to you eventually. The main thing is not to force anything, and it sounds like you recognize a forced variation when you hear it. That's good news! Keep at it, and don't be afraid to scrap everything and start afresh. Sometimes I'm amazed at how themes I've trashed have found their way back into my musical tapestry. 😉