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Made a new invention with a mix of influences. I am really curious to hear other people's opinion of it so I can improve Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koz_Q2sDa1I Score: https://workupload.com/file/NBMKPKG69zw

"Blue Hydrangeas" - Ragtime Two-Step for Piano - Composed: August 6 – 9, 2020 at Austin. - Style: American Ragtime, ca. 1905. - Form: Through-Composed (A B (A) C D). - Duration: 04:10 - Recording: MP3 of an electronic rendering generated by Finale 26 music notation software’s "Human Playback" with NotePerformer 3 artificial intelligence assisted interpretation. After sprucing up my earlier piano rag "Peony Posies," which I posted here last week, it seemed my every thought was in ragtime; I just have imagined every syncopated turn of phrase mathematically possible in the space of a couple of days, so there was nothing for it - I had little choice but to appease and compose a new piano rag, which I completed yesterday (Sunday) morning, calling it "The Blue Hydrangeas Rag." Overall, I'm even more pleased with the way this one turned out than its predecessor. Harmonies are a bit richer here, and chord progressions more bold and surprising; each of the four themes presented is distinct from the others in character and content; and I was able to get a bit more creative with the accompaniment, giving the left hand a bit more to do this time than just generic stride bass throughout. I think I can safely say I have the hang of ragtime now, and I believe I'll be able to put this obsession to bed at last and turn my mind to other things. I hope you find it enjoyable, and I welcome your comments as always. I'm attaching an MP3 sound file as well as a PDF score for your perusal. Should you decide you'd prefer to experience the piece via a scrolling score video, here's a YouTube link to it:

Hello & thanks for visiting! This is my latest piano waltz called "Paris". It's my second piece in my series of waltzes dedicated to famous cities. This time I tried to utilize more chromatic and dissonant elements in my composition and to vary the chord patterns more than in the previous waltz Op.4 No.1 "Vienna". It is a rather simple and short piece that has the following form: A - B - B' - C1 - C2 - A' - B - B' A: A quiet introduction theme in c minor B: Main theme in c minor B': A more dramatic and vivid variation of B C1: First intermediate theme in c minor C2: Second intermediate theme in C major that leads over to A' A': A more dramatic and vivid variation of the introduction theme A This piece was originally composed in a piano roll. Since I'm not a trained musician and it's my second attempt in writing sheet music I want to apologize for any mistakes in the score. Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment!

Good taste and originality. Yes, the left hand may be notated better, but I appreciate you change the pattern a lot.

Hi, pretty nice. It has development and rhythm.

Thank you! Song is in key of E-minor and guitar track is real and was played by me 😄

Here is "The Inevitable". I haven't worked out the score completely. I know there is some where delays in the timing and some weird tonal issues with one part of it. I will look into what is causing. Just curious what your thoughts are so far.

I like it! Sounds appropriately evil. 🙂 Cool with e-guitars! What key is it in?

I think it's important to distinguish between two very different things: orchestral music as an art form orchestral music as an industry As an art form, I think it is very important for people to always be experimenting with new ideas, and I always encourage them to do so, even if the end result is something I don't personally like (e.g. Schoenberg, et al.) Who knows, maybe the experimentation may eventually lead to something exciting, or may encourage someone else to discover something interesting. As long as someone considers their art form an expression of something meaningful to them, I can't fault them as an artist. (Even if I don't like what they make). As an industry, however, is another matter completely. Lately it seems like I keep seeing articles pop up about the "classical music world" that come in two varieties: "Oh no, orchestras are going bankrupt, concert attendance continues to decline, why is this, what do we do???" "Oh no, the public doesn't 'understand' contemporary classical music, why not, how do we educate them???" My immediate thought is that the former is a direct result of the latter. It's not that they don't understand it, it's that they don't like it. And since they don't like it, they don't show up to concerts. You shouldn't have to educate someone on why your product is good, it should be apparent. Furthermore, I don't think the "public" isn't interested in orchestral music. Concerts by Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and even those less-"household" names like Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Mahler are regularly well attended, at least where I am. And I'll go even further and say the "public" is even interested in hearing orchestral music by living composers. My local orchestra regularly puts on concerts of John Williams scores (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.), and those concerts SELL OUT. (I'm sure we could debate John Williams music ad nauseum, but that is a topic for another thread. My point is that people are willing to buy tickets to see orchestral music by a living composer, which defeats the belief that the public is not interested in contemporary orchestral music.) To answer OP's question: I think the lack of financial success of contemporary classical music is due to a failure to give the people what they want and are willing to pay for. This doesn't necessarily make it bad art per se, but it isn't something you should expect to build an industry on. It seems like for whatever reason academia has aligned itself with training composers to write a certain kind of music, and the orchestras have aligned themselves with championing this certain kind of music, but most people don't seem to have any interest in paying to hear this certain kind of music. Thus, we are in the predicament that we are in... I will offer a glimmer of hope: I think in the year 2020 it is easier than it has ever been to write and produce orchestral music (or chamber, vocal, etc.) and it will only get easier. Through most of history, most composers that rose to prominence did so through some kind of "connections", either through knowing someone in the industry, or through getting into an elite conservatory that connected them with big names in the industry, or simply by being born into a prominent musical family, etc. Now more than ever, it is easier for your average Joe to get their hands on notation software, DAWs, sample libraries, etc. Any information about theory, harmony, counterpoint, orchestration, etc. is easily available online. Websites like this one exist for composers to meet, collaborate, and share ideas. And there are many accessible platforms like YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. for getting music out to an audience. Maybe all this will lead to a new avenue, separate from the traditional conservatory route, for composers to get their music heard. I at least hope it does.

If you would like to take part of the 8 bit challenge, read on. The 8 bit challenge is a chance for you to show off your orchestration skills. The idea is to take music from an older system, such as atari, nintendo or sega, and fully orchestrate an old tune. We will really accept all music from any system, but to keep it interesting, the systems should be older, pre 2000. Super Nintendo, and even Nintendo 64 music will count in this challenge. Please stray away from Game Cube, Xbox, and systems that use CD quality music, even if the system is an oldie (eg: Sega Genesis CD). Please only submit music when challenges are submitted in this forum. Once a challenge is submitted, it will never close, and anyone can join the challenge at any time. Challenges may be posted by members, however the member must embed a YouTube video (using the [ youtube ]youtube url here[ /youtube ] tags) of the video game theme being presented. The winner of these competitions will be awarded online radio air time to be broadcast for a virtual concert. YC will submit announcements to the entire YC community about who are winners are, and when they should tune in! Here are some examples of orchestrated Nintendo music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yrjepmeYZk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R0J_a8jlKA

By the way my grandfather died last night.