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@Tónskáldhttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16N9qZAntuYOvr3T25gvllaVN9VqxogKk here's the link!

You look across the chasm as you take your first steps onto the dainty little bridge made of thin planks of wood and held together by feeble sprigs of bamboo. As you step onto the first plank, the bridge lazily absorbs your weight swaying back and forth with the wind. You cannot help but honestly doubt the bridge's structural integrity, but you have no choice. You proceed bravely across while the rest of your party waits behind, not daring to test the bridges' stability by crossing simultaneously. Will you make it across safely? I composed this short piece as my first foray back into composing after the end of the spring semester. I must say - it feels good to get back into music (I missed it). This piece is intended to be inspired by many of my favorite video game music tracks that I've been posting on this forum. The instrumentation is for a small orchestra with the only brass present being Horns in F, as well as Marimba, Glockenspiel, and Acoustic Guitar. I made the score and mp3 with Musescore 3 although I have recently downloaded Reaper and started messing around with it and downloaded some free string orchestra vst's but I don't yet have all the vst's I need for a full orchestra and for all the instruments I use for this piece. Let me know what you think and thanks for listening!

Firstly, it has been awhile. I have to say I've missed the companionship, the camaraderie this site offered, and I've thought of many of you often over the past couple of years. So many times my hand has lingered over the ENTER key after I'd typed in this website's address — only to close my browser with a sad sigh. I can't tell you why because I don't understand it myself. Poignant memories of better days, perhaps? I can say these past 2 years have been difficult for me (and loads of others, I'm sure). The pandemic, the lockdown, the isolation... it took a pretty heavy toll on my mental health. My muse has been utterly silent. Utterly silent. Not a single note written or even hummed. I began to wonder if my days as a composer had ended for good. Thankfully — as you obviously guessed — that turned out not to be the case, and I finally broke my composing fast with this choral piece of a poem by Tolkien. I can slowly feel the music begin to stir inside me once more. Anyway, enough about my sad, sorry life. I hope this piece brightens your day and lifts your spirits. I'm rusty and out of practice, but I cannot tell you how good it feels to stretch these old composing muscles again! The recording is a bit pitchy in places (I had to perform all of the parts myself); hopefully it won't damage your listening experience too much. Thank you all in advance for your time. If you have questions about the harmonies and scales employed here, all you need do is ask. (In fact, I don't even care if you listen. Just a comment from you telling me how life's been over the past 2 years would be simply amazing!) Ah, it feels good to be back, guys! Very good, indeed.

I wrote this for school. Basically we were tasked to make an art piece about water (there’s a bit more to it, but that’s the jist). Sorry the performance is kind of sloppy. This will probably be in a collection of water-inspired pieces (I already have ideas for two others)

I hate you. (Joking, of course. You're obviously a prodigy.) It felt like I was listening to something by a much older composer. Y'know, like Debussy or Ravel. The kind of composers I wish I could emulate. In other words, very effective.

I'm 14 Thank you so much for the advice! I haven't written anything impressionist before this, so this is my first time. I'm glad you're so impressed with this piece. It's definitely the best thing I've ever composed, and will probably be the key to unlocking my style.

Please tell me you're 40-something and a non-traditional student going back to college/university. That way I feel a little better about myself as a composer. Akin to da Vinci apologizing for the half-smile on the Mona Lisa's face. All right, but enough joking. Let's get real here. This is a superb piece of musical impressionism. The rapid, shimmering arpeggios trickle from the rich, harmonious chambers you establish throughout the piece. And such harmonies! It's so refreshing to find a composer who isn't afraid of where his/her chords may take him/her. Artfulness combined with thoughtfulness produces a work that is believable, human, relatable. I believed this piece. It struck a chord (pun not intended) within me and I saw me for who I am. Human. A drop of falling water. Despite my hope that you're a seasoned composer (in age, at least), I strongly suspect you are much younger. That being the case, I will offer a smidgen of advice, if that's okay. What you produced here is very good. In my opinion, it is art. Fine art. However, impressionism relies on subtlety; otherwise, it becomes realism and little more than a direct "transcription" of non-musical sounds into music. (Vivaldi's Four Seasons comes to mind — fantastic work of music, yet the aural imagery is a bit on the nose.) As you bring these impressionist works to life, think about the subtleties, the nuances of the imagery you wish to convey. Yes, water makes a distinct sound when it falls. Sparkling, shimmering — effectively captured in quickly arpeggiated chords. But what other impressions does it make? Impressionism seeks to capture not the literal representation of the sound, but the "impression" of it. The thoughts, the emotions, the unused senses. ("Ah, so that's what falling water smells like!") And that is achieved through subtlety. Blah, blah, blah. Enough rambling. To be clear, this is a beautiful piece of music: beautifully performed and beautifully written. I'm very impressed with your style and look forward to your future works! Thank you for sharing. Best, Jörfi

Let's start with the basics of the string section — and please forgive me if you already know all of this. The modern orchestra divides the strings into 5 sections, arranged from highest to lowest, as follows: 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos, basses. There aren't really any hard and fast rules to govern which section plays what other than what physics dictates... the limitations of the instruments themselves. In general, the 1st violins carry the melody (think sopranos in a choir) and the others provide some sort of harmony or counterpoint. This is a very loose rule of thumb, though, and a quick glance at any given score will prove that the other parts often carry the melody, as well. If you listen to orchestral works that features strings — which is nearly all of them — you'll develop an ear for what you can do with the string section. Or, perhaps more accurately, what you can't do. The strings are probably the most versatile of all the orchestral instruments! Fresh composers typically have the hardest time writing for the viola section, likely for a number of reasons. First, it is difficult to hear the viola section in a piece of music unless it's been given a solo run. So composers may not "hear" the viola part in their head when trying to write. Second, the viola uses the alto clef, one of the only instruments to do so, and it can be very time-consuming to transpose for this clef. It's so tempting to just copy-paste the 2nd violin part or a transposed cello part into the clef and move on. Finally, the viola doesn't get much air time (compare the number of violin and cello concerti, for example, to viola concerti), so it can be somewhat unmotivating to write for the "stepchild" of the string section. Thus, the tendency is to relegate unexciting "filler" chords to the viola section: whole- and half-note harmonies, and the like. The bass (AKA contrabass or double bass) suffers a similar fate: play the cello line an octave lower. (By the by, violins use the treble or G clef, violas use the alto or C clef, cellos use the bass or F clef, and double basses use the same clef as cellos except their notes sound an octave lower than written.) You begin your foray into string writing with a bouncing melody played by the lower violins/violas (hard to tell which). This is textured later by soaring passages by the 1st violins a la Pachelbel's Canon in D. Then some half-note ostinati while the celli and basses pizzicato beneath, soon alternating between violas/celli. This is followed by another pizzicato passage at around 4:00, then the lower violins/violas play the melody above. Personally, I don't have any complaints. My ears aren't bleeding and it kept my attention to the very end! Admittedly it is difficult to evaluate the depth of your string writing without a score (which I understand you won't be able to provide this go-round), but I can say that from what I heard here you seem to be on the right track. I am encouraged that you gave each section counterpoint (for the most part) and not block harmonies. Strings are certainly capable of producing lush chords, don't get me wrong. However, that seems to be all the amateur composer can use the strings for and they forget about the section's extreme versatility. So good job, you! I had no problem with the ending. It is your piece, though, so tweak it until you're satisfied. To me, it evoked the excitement of discovery, of passing through unknown corridors and casting light on some of the world's buried mysteries. But again, that's just me. All in all, a tasteful piece. You clearly have a knack for motivic development and constructing meaningful harmonies. I look forward to hearing more of your stuff!

Since this is my first symphony, I tried to keep it simple and only composed three movements, however, I will be sure to write minuets for my upcoming classical symphonies.

Thanks for all the replies! I will take the feedback into account for my later compositions. I have already completed the other movements of the symphony and will post them soon.

Much has already been said. An energetic piece and all I have to say is it didn't quite fit the atmosphere as you described - which doesn't mean it wouldn't in a game. (I recall an assault course where the ground fell away sharply - not a chasm but a drop of about 20 feet. I had to walk along a telegraph pole from the bank to where it rested in the fork of a tree (The next bit was a rope swing to another part of the embankment). I was apprehensive to say the least, trying to remember the thing about "don't look down". (Put the sh--s up me to be honest.) But then that coloured my expectations. What you describe I wouldn't like to do! I loved the ending however, a musical question mark if ever. Was that the point at which the person stepped on the bridge or about what they might find, having done a successful crossing?

A great return after a bit of a pause! This looks a bit intimidating on the page with so many accidentals and crunchy chords, but because so much of it moves by step or skip, it's really very approachable, and the piano part does a good job of supporting and setting up changes in harmony. You have a nice mix of textures here, from lovely melody, as in the sopranos' measure 5, to impactful chords, as at measure 17, and polyphonic play between the voices that still preserves the listener's ability to understand the text. The harmonic language is wonderfully appropriate to the poetry and to Tolkien's mood in the whole trilogy. Well done! Since you've taken so much care with this piece, it might be worth the time to add a few more dynamics or expressive markings to the piano part, if you can manage it without things being too squished. (And if you aren't just dying to start working on your next piece, now that your creativity is flowing again). 🙂.

Same, there's nothing wrong with bar 4. As to joining bars 9 to 12, bar 9 needs a couple more deep chords then in bar 10 I felt some kind of repeat of bars 6-9 with a variation of some kind. Put the tune in the treble. an octave higher? and quiet, no more than mf but ending on a chord firstly in the treble then another on the bass with some lead in (do they call this a pick-up beat) leading to the tune that you start in bar 12 which looks like its in a different key/modality so the bar at the end of whatever you do to join needs some kind of modulation, can be an "official" modulation or just implied, the E chord with a 7th leading in to A minor. It also looks like your bar 12 tune should be more elaborate with 16th notes. On the 3rd beat you could hold the A (treble) and do something imitative in the left hand. Maybe you could double speed these bars (12, 13, 14). Just some thoughts.

Thank you for your ind words! Being Oboist - I play in numerous orchestras - so my ear is always tuned into the tonal fabric - I am an active listener - aware of various instrumental combinations. As far as my approach ... I usually go through many many revisions along the way. After a while a momentum comes into play which leads me on. For me, orchestration is also akin to being an architect - when I see a score I also envision a structure - sometimes a visual analysis helps to understand what is needed along with a tonal review. I am very fortunate that melodic/thematic material comes readily to me. The hard part is the development of those ideas - to ensure sufficient harmonic movement and variation of the thematic material. Being an amateur composer - with limited academic training - hinders me though (just one year of counterpoint); especially with complex harmonic movement. On the other hand - I approach the compositions with no preconditions. I am posting the version with suggested changes .... One more thing - I always have a visual picture of a scene or a context when I compose. Sometimes it's a story line and sometimes it might be a reference to a specific composer or a particular composition.

I did try, in this piece, to write a melody that wasn't obviously a "tonic" melody and to finish the piece on a non-tonic chord that would nonetheless sound finished and like it was a good, happy ending regarding the short story presented in the description. Although I do use a lot of doubling between the various woodwinds octaves apart in the section where the woodwinds take the melody the 2nd time through the main theme, I thought I used lots of imitation between the strings and woodwinds especially where if the strings have the melody, the woodwinds answer with a countermelody and vice versa. You're probably right there. I don't think the timpani the way I used it really has a place in this piece given it's description. But I've been told that this piece sounds very "RPG-ish" which was definitely intended. This piece was inspired by many recent additions to the "Favorite video game music tracks?" thread which I started: If you have time check it out and thanks for your review!

I quite liked it - almost a chorale opening. Yes, there's room for improvement - dynamics, variation of legato against portato. You need to vary the note durations too. It's as if you're using minims - 1/2 notes or 1/4 notes throughout. However, it does have a bit of a deep ocean feel about it, the sonorities. The instrumental balance (mixing) is good. You're well on your way so I reckon you're looking for refinement rather than re-structuring anything. Perhaps it could be a tad shorter but...well, it's your work and you are the arbiter. If you like it as it is, that's fine/ The organ at around 4'15" worked very well - gave the piece some real substance. I'd hoped to hear more of that. So...great. Ha! You and me both. I've used Reaper since 2012 and there's still much I have yet to learn. I like Reaper as I can have one midi editor/sequencer per project, just selecting an instrument as I go along, for editing. The ability to splice in extra bars over the entire score then eventually glue the bits is a boon! I know very little about channels and ports, except what I learned from why channels existed when midi was used to control multiple real instruments and that. You've given yourself a right lot of work. At least you've started with the ilok version. I'm a fan of the VI series. I did the eLicenser to ilok conversion recently - took about 18 hours to redownload all the sample content. The Vienna Assistant looks quite good. But it's taken time to get something like good out of VSL - I mean, I'm the limiting factor. VSL is excellent. However, not all went well with the conversion to ilok and I'm now stalled awaiting support. I always use Vienna Ensemble as an FX plug-in in Reaper so I can copy a composition draft into the midi editor, set the keyswitches, do the pan spread and fine adjustment to a patch's volume - and on and on. It really is a powerful player. All good luck with it .

I guess the main theme you have kind of works for being an oceanic-themed piece. As a mild criticism though it usually is not a good idea to write a melody that's a continuous onslaught of quarter-notes. Just in terms of creating rhythmic interest it's usually good to mix it up a bit. But you do somehow manage to make it work and there is an occasional relief from the quarter notes with a pause or a pair of 8th notes here and there - so overall it works. The theme that comes in (in the trombones?) at 3:10 which I guess is your 2nd theme, has a slight resemblance to Beethoven's 5th Symphony played slowly. It doesn't really strike me as a copy though and you do manage to distinguish it from that piece. The orchestration throughout is pretty appropriate for an oceanic piece. Your rendition is pretty good. What programs/libraries do you use to create these pieces? The different parts of the piece fit pretty well together with your chosen theme so I don't think it's a Frankenstein of a piece either. Great job and thanks for sharing!

Listening to it right now, so: – From 0:00 to 0:22 it doesn't convince me at all. – From 0:22 to 0:48 it does sound nice in my opinion. – From 0:49 to 1:02, hmm not gonna say I don't like the kind of clarinet you introduced. Probably it's good but the sound chosen displeases my brain or something, it's like it sometimes hits the notes while sometimes caresses them without any sense or logic behind why or when that's done. By the way? Do you have a pdf? – From 1:03 to 2:01, nice, very nice, the only thing I think it lacks is the passage itself to be more legato, however this is probably because of the own software limitations. Or is it your choice? – From 2:01 to 3:08, yeah nothing more to remark I th...Gong, lol. Ah, that's the B theme I suppose. – From 3:09 to 4:04, what about some more rhythm here using Timpani? I believe it would be sick! – From 4:05 to 4:26, now an organ, and it does sound good. – From 4:26 to 4:53, do you have a good reason in your mind to suddenly drop the organ playing? I suppose you did for the later question-answer structure but it does not last long... – From 4:54 to 5:31, yeah that's it. I didn't like that part too much but seems you're building up something. – From 5:31 to 6:13 oh it ended with another gong. I missed the organ though in that passage. – From 6:14 to the end. I like the chorus and all, but I have mixed feelings with the end. Well, I think it's good but you have room for improvement. I haven't listened to your other piece but this one does have variety and I would not say it's a Frankenstein of a piece, more like something between a solid, well-structured piece, and the Frankenstein you mentioned. In my opinion, it would be nice if you played with it for some more time, but anyway I'm just another mere mortal giving you my subjective feedback :B. In any case, keep composing and sharing your work, It was a pleasure to go through it! Sorry if I've been too dense by the way. Kind regards.