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an interesting shower thought piece that i came up with while sick with covid last june. this is the only piece i've done in this style, and it's definitely very different than anything else i've done before.

Small piece i composed for a competition in wich i didn't get selected. I'm self taught so i'm looking for as much feedback as i can so i can improve. here is the score : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hvymRFoiykn59-FECQW4TVWuHsVBdDx2/view?usp=share_link and the audio : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iW5m5wE1OH5l_gEcGfnQKHvgdY0mjXRV/view?usp=share_link Thanks for listening.

Let me introduce my Ballad No. 3 (E flat major) for solo piano. When I wrote this music, I wanted to make the composition as melodically expressive as possible. I also tried to make as clean chords as possible without harsh dissonances. I hope this Ballad will not look too old-fashioned. I just wrote the music I wanted to listen to. If someone liked it, I will be very happy.

There's nothing failed about your composition so I hope you're back in a frame of mind to know that if it's what you want it to be, it's perfectly successful. Always a problem turning an art into a competitive sport. Not winning can be so discouraging. The composer who won just happened to press the right buttons on the judge. It has nothing to do with whether something's been well-composed, level of craft demonstrated etc. Even a voting competition, it's down to the most "popular" - which is often because it's the simplest to understand or absorb. Live performance is so rare these days that we all have to be ready for rejection.... but that doesn't mean our works are failures. I had a look at the score - well enough engraved though I might have done some things differently. Composerboi has mentioned a few so to add mine: Fl 2 in bar 6: the staccatissimo bottom C. It could probably manage an mf to balance with the ensemble but it's very weak there. Same in bar 6 & 7 with Ob 1. The previous dynamic on the oboes was pp. There's no way you'll get a realistic pp on the oboe's low B, staccato or not. These things can work in a DAW but not real life. I'm not sure what the Viola harmonic in bar 16 (starts on a B) means. Is that meant to be the pitch of the harmonic or the fundamental note you want the harmonic on (i.e. would sound two octaves above)?. If it's the harmonic sounding at concert pitch I can't see how it's playable. Just putting "harmonique" above it doesn't say enough. You need to show what you expect on the note itself, a little circle above the note for a natural harmonic, a "diamond" shaped lozenge note at the place where you want to violist to touch the string for an artificial harmonic...........I haven't looked at any of the other harmonics. Anyway, I'll leave you with that. There are plenty of good things to say about your orchestration. It's original and interesting. And an evocative piece.

Thank you for your comments @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu @Omicronrg9 I understand what Daniel means with the lack of expresivity but my intention was more like what Henry said. For me, in this style, is more up to the interpretative process than the arranging, so I wrote only a very few expression indications stated by Stanley. About the harpsichord... Actually, my intention was to leave a basso/continuo line and indicate when to play only cello solo and tutti, and not to introduce the harpsichord. I like the sonority it adds but, as Daniel said, now I also think that indicating it but for only doubling bassi is a waste (but now I'm not really interested in writing down all the part and I will leave it for the interpreter). Probably I will leave only one part as basso as I stated before. Talking about the tempi, "Andante Largo" is supposed to be the original, this is why I wrote it, and I understand about the feeling of insufficient contrast. As an arranger I mostly tend to be more close to the original than to interpretate the score and give it a more personal outcome, but maybe it's something to work on. Also, I will add the original versions of the works now in the original post.

I've done a lot of market research in this area, and as of now, Noteflight is your best bet for online music notation. However, you may be interested in what I am doing over at Music Jotter. What I am building is Finale level quality, but cloud based. Thus, it won't be free, but if you or your friend want to become early adopters to help me fix problems, I will be opening a Patreon soon. I also encourage you both to follow my Youtube channel if you are into music notation. The more support I receive, the faster I can get Music Jotter pushed out into the world. I know its not the answer you were hoping to hear, but there's not much out there with regards to music notation right now. It's a very difficult type of software to create.

I think you have reached high level of composition mastery. Your fugue is very interesting and expressive. You have made every voice bright and natural in melodic aspect. And excuse me please, but I didn't understand the sense of the title. Maybe owing to my poor English I don't know what is the link between this military picture and your fugue. However it is not matter. Important is that you have written good music. Thank you for sharing! 😃