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Hello! I'm pretty new to the forum and just posted here for the first time yesterday (in the large ensemble section). I thought I might post another piece that I composed last year for the piano: Ballade in F-minor. With most of my pieces, I tend to improvise themes or notate melodies in my head and develop them at the piano. This piece took that method a step further; nearly all of the musical material and the sequence in which it appears came from a single improvisation (obviously, I heavily edited it during and after transcription to paper though). As such, Ballade has a very quasi improvisando feel throughout. This piece, because of how it was composed, was an opportunity for me to sharpen my editing skills. I suppose you all will be the judges of how well I did at that editing. Constructive feedback would be very much appreciated. There are a few different areas I'd enjoy feedback on, so choose your favorite (or favorites). What was your favorite part of the piece? What made it enjoyable? What did you dislike most about the piece? In a similar vein, which were your favorite and least favorite themes? Why? How did you feel about the different styles and moods present in each of the themes? How was the engraving? I'm sure that if you followed along with the score you noticed that it got very dense in several places. Were there any unclear markings (e.g., the floating ties at the Adagio tranquillo)? Are there any places where expanding to three staves would make the score more readable? Don’t be afraid to be specific here. Did anything in the piece feel out of place? How well did the consonance and dissonance throughout the piece balance? Did you feel that the Adagio tranquillo at the end was too big of a transition or a bad ending? Do you have any comments about my compositional technique (things like harmony, transitions, melodic writing, etc.)? How well did I execute the ballade form (use Chopin as a frame of reference)? What did this piece remind you of (could be a composer, piece, image, scene, or something else)? Any overall suggestions for improvement (in this piece and in general throughout my compositions and style)? I haven't tried to get this performed (yet), so for a recording, I just sightread the score this morning, worked on it for a bit, and then recorded it with my phone. The recording isn't super great, but it will definitely give you a better picture of the piece than Finale MIDI, even if it sounds like this. I'm also attaching the score below, so feel free to follow along. Thanks for listening to Ballade! I hope that you enjoy it. 10 November 2022: I've attached an edited score along with a recording. I'll leave the previous score (not the recording; it's not letting me have two mp3s), but be aware that "Ballade in F minor Score.pdf" is the edited score version. Also, my preemptive apologies for the poor performance of the coda. Ballade in F minor.mp3 Ballade in F minor.mp3

For the title of this piece I literally just used google translate and translated "Eternal Battle" into Latin. Although it probably does not sound intense enough to be battle music in an RPG, the melody when I first conceived it sounded to me like that kind of melody. In this piece I tried to use the forces judiciously using space in choice places to give contrast, although I am a little dissatisfied with some of the colors I achieve owing to the poor Musescore rendering. I wrote this for Orchestra with a 5-string Electric Bass instead of Contrabasses and Distorted, Overdrive, and Acoustic Guitar included, as well as Harp. Also included are Glockenspiel and Vibraphone although Horns are the only brass that make an appearance. Let me know what you think and thanks for listening!

I love it. I always find challenging to make this kind of arrangement. There are some moments I like most (00:28)... but the ending is standard, isn't it?

Awesome piece! I love your style man, I really enjoy the modern take on orchestra by adding in guitars, subbing bass guitar, and the drum set. I think you definitely have a future in game music if you really go for it. The thing holding you back is your sound samples, which you stated, but once you get a sequencer you can import all of your midi pieces into it for a huge head start in bringing these more to life. I really like how you have more difference in texture with this one, like the string and wind interplay section (you could have done that with guitars too :P). It was a great change for the listener from the tutti passages. I also really like that you worked out the drum parts. I know those can be really tedious and a pain to notate out (although maybe bar 28 is impossible with 3 toms? Dunno, hard to hear). Love the section with just open and closed hi hats. Cool drum change. You always have a way of ending your pieces with such a cool chord, stuff I never think of doing but I really dig it. I need to tear that page out of your playbook 😄 One thing I would keep focused on is that overall texture. It's way better then some other pieces I've heard from you, but keep exploring different combinations with the instruments! There were plenty of times you could have removed some of the instruments in the tutti sections to really let the other instruments be heard. For instance, I wouldn't have even known there was an acoustic guitar without looking at the score. And speaking of, I'm a guitarist so I'll comment on the guitars a bit. 1. Maybe have the bass guitar with the other guitars in your score? I think it would be easier to follow with it being in it's instrument "family" 2. I noticed at the end you gave the strings vibrato for the last chord. Why not the guitars? We can vibrato too bruh. In fact, Your main melody was begging for it. I'm not a fan of long sustained notes with no vibrato. Even if it's just subtle, which is what I do most of the time anyway, it can really make those notes soar and sing. And EVEN if your notation software doesn't play it back, it would be good to indicate it. Then again, it could be up to the performer to do it liberally. 3. Are the overdriven guitar power chords supposed to be palm muted for the staccato markings? I would write p.m. with a dashed line over the indicated parts if they are. It'd sound better imo anyway. 4. Watch for playability in the acoustic guitar at bar 49, those notes are high up there and depending on if the guitar has a cutaway may be impossible. It might be better to drop that down an octave or give it to an electric. 5. I know you're writing for musescore playback, but keep in mind the electric guitars can switch from distortion to clean to wah sounds to alien languages with their pedals. You could have one electric guitar part go back and forth between clean arpeggios then to the main melody or whatever. Again, I know you're writing for playback, but if you ever were in the position to have performances of these pieces, something to consider. 6. This is my biggest point. I want you to imagine the lead guitar part being played at the piano. Would you write for it differently? What I'm saying is take advantage of the guitar being a polyphonic instrument. Yeah I know you give it chords sometimes, but what if you played the main melody, and did a repeat with thirds? Or even octaves to really cut through the orchestra? You have a lot of potential with the instrument, and I think you could open up a lot more possibilities with your already-great-writing by exploring the instrument more. I know you're going for a certain sound with your music, and like I said, I really dig the orchestra plus rock band. But when I was in school, we constantly had to write for small ensembles, forcing ourselves to squeeze every last timbre out of the instruments, and really getting acquainted with what they were capable of. You've got loads of talent, and possibly more importantly, and consistent and ever evolving dedication to your craft. Keep learning, keep studying, keep writing for instruments you're unfamiliar with, because, well, that's like the whole purpose of posting here imo. I'm excited to hear what's coming next from you; I'll always look out for new pieces from you. Nice work here, I love how your music continues to improve!