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Actually had some time at school to listen and look. It seems fine to me, even the low quick staccato. A normal bassoonist should be able to play it. Should...

Ironically I am switching gears after this piece (I am kind of sick of writing variations now LoL) and hopefully writing something for a larger ensemble. You're totally right. The dynamics I did indicate are mostly there for the sake of balance and letting the players know the most important line in any given variation. The one exception is VIII but for some reason the crescendos and decrescendos didn't get recorded in the mp3. I don't know why but sometimes, MuseScore is finnicky about actually performing those. I didn't think of that. I was going to retort that under usual circumstances triple tonguing would do the trick but I didn't consider the register. Where is @Leonardo C. Núñez when you need him? LoL Or anyone else who plays bassoon? Yes - this bothered me too when I listened on headphones but then listening on speakers it didn't, so I decided to keep it as is. I didn't spend much time thinking about how I might have solved that though. I wouldn't usually allow those kinds of 2nd's in this style of music except in passing. I am not sure I like this idea. I think I'd rather not err on the side of carnival music or a Russian tropak which these kinds of upbeats would inevitably remind me of LoL /-: Thanks! I do have another Variations piece brewing for solo Piano, but I don't know if I feel like working on it right now LoL. I feel like doing something completely different and unformulaic/unstructured, possibly for orchestra, possibly with a program. Well see what I come up with. Thanks for your review!

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Hello all! Here I go with a second minuet. There is no trio section for this one (yet?). I really try to focus on writing simpler and shorter so that I don't get lost in over ambitious ideas This one has a bit more of a contrapuntal texture. The part A is supposed to be in Bach style (but part B not so much, I just built it upon a melody I was humming). Again, feel free to share with me all criticism that comes to mind! Thanks in advance 🙂 minuet_#2.mp3

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

@Leonardo C. Núñez Thanks for clearing that up! 👍

Hello! I rarely comment because I'm just a newbie and always feel like I should keep it shut till I grow up, but since you asked me to have a look, I'll give my (very very) humble opinion 🙂 Disclaimer: orchestral music is way too complicated for me (I learned that after writing a terrible orchestral attempt :p) so I'll only be able to give very vague feedbacks about how I felt about the piece without getting technical). Also, the score is too small for me to read, so I'll really remain super vague 😞 I feel like the similar motion of the parts in the beginning is kinda killing their independancy (duh). What I mean is that it is striking to me because I usually like the effect of parts coming in one after another as I see on your score, but I couldn't hear this effect at all here because they are not distinct. The melody in this opening is quite surprising. Overall, it just feels like an ever-descending motion. Not unpleasant tho, It depends if it's what you're going for. I found the ending of the first part super abrupt. The final chord in forte with the brass came in a bit abruptly, and doesn't sound conclusive to me, but sounds like there should be something following it (unfortunately I can't read the score so it's just what I feel from hearing it, might be partly due to the crescendo effect), and then... an awkward silence comes in. This part sounded very weird to me, I felt it didn't flow well. Then, in the second part, I had the feeling that the different instruments were quite dissonant with each other? and the rythmic placement made the tempo confusing to me. Well, it gives a lot of tension, but also doesn't sound quite right cause it goes on for long. then it comes back to a very thick homophonic texture where all the intruments play the same part (or so I hear), as in the beginning. Some violent changes of dynamics as well. I liked the next part with strings and glockenspiel (I think it's a glockenspiel?) even though I heard some chord changes that felt too abrupt All in all, I hear some ideas that I like, definitely. But I mostly feel like you still lack the proficiency to deal with a full orchestra (don't hear what I say as condescending; again, I'm much greener than you in music composition so no offense). I really think it would be better to get a solid grasp of much smaller ensembles first, because I do feel like you're getting lost in the possibilites that an orchestra has to offer so far. Again, take everything I said with a grain of salt. More like a big bag of salt. I mostly have no idea what I'm saying, just giving my uneducated feeling here 😄

Really nice piece! You're able to achieve a wide variety of interesting textures and variations with only the three instruments. I'm always intimidated by writing chamber music since there's no way to hide behind orchestration like you can with a larger ensemble. I though the biggest thing this piece needs is dynamics. The dynamics you indicate are fairly sparse, and for the last several pages are almost completely absent. I think actual players would naturally come up with their own dynamics, but the MIDI sounds mostly the same dynamic throughout (though this is likely a software limitation to some extent) On the breathing, I think live players could solve a lot of the problems on their own. With the MIDI, a lot of the variations that end on long notes run immediately into the next variation, where live players would naturally stop to take a breath, which would give the piece the figurative "breath" it needs before moving on. I think some dynamic contrast would also help give the piece room to "breathe". A couple other things I noticed: M.104 - I'm not 100% sure, but I think the fast repeated staccato notes in the bassoon might be quite difficult in that register. I think the notes that low have a hard time speaking on the instrument. It might be worthwhile to consult a bassoonist. In m.190 the flute and bassoon have a minor 9th on the upbeat of 2 that resolves to a major 9th, which I don't think is "strict" counterpoint. It happens pretty quick so I don't think it's that big a deal, but I thought I would mention it in case you overlooked it. There's a similar case in m.198, and in m.214 the bassoon and flute are in seconds when the flute enters. The March (IV) - I think it's good the way it is, the only suggestion I might have would be to have the bassoon play upbeats along with the downbeats. I think this might give this section a more "march-like" feel (since you don't have a percussion section lol). For example, maybe give the bassoons upbeats on F3 (in addition to the existing downbeats) in the first few measures and adjust as appropriate? Just an idea, feel free to ignore. Overall, really good job! I look forward to hearing more.

That is the point of a variarion form. Some of them are closer to the original, some are not. That is good.