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I understand that a Baroque Polonaise will be quite a bit different than one from the Romantic-era varieties (such as Chopin's Polonaises). This one in particular is quite a bit more contrapuntal and sound very on-point stylistically if not orchestrationally, as you mentioned. But even Baroque Polonaises adhere to the following typical Polonaise rhythm that characterizes it: I guess you modify this rhythm somewhat for your own purposes by including a dotted 8th followed by a 16th in the first beat of each measure of your Polonaise. However, in more homophonic settings of Polonaises, this rhythm is quite an expected staple and mandatory feature of the accompaniment that make it sound like a dance and quite "stately" (since I've been in a Polish folk dance ensemble I happen to have danced the Polonaise and know what to listen for). Anyways - that's my critique. Thanks for sharing!

G'day Aaron, Once again, a very lovely piece you've written, I can totally imagine this being performed in the home of a rich 18th Century nobleman. A few comments: You have a great grasp of binary form, though I believe the contrast between the two sections could be much greater. As I have said before, its time to add dynamics to your works. They will make them a whole lot better, a whole looooooooot better. Also allows you to provide contrast within your works. Other than a couple criticisms, good job. Keep composing and improving! Nga Mihi, Arjuna

2023-03-05 22-41-56_MGk horror 4.02 - Version 2.mp3 So as the title says this is based of an older piece of mine where I try to revisit it and improve on it as much as i can. I am inspired by the way the old composers worked constantly revisiting their pieces through the years in order to make the best possible creation so that's sort of what I am trying to do here. Any feedback is much appreciated. Thank you. The original can be listen to here:

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Could you please explain what is wrong with the piece? prelude-for-two-pianos.mp3 Prelude for two pianos.pdf

This is a composition I made trying to create a main theme for a story I thought of. My goal was to made it recall emotions such as happiness or nostalgia for past days. Also, this is my first composition ever with Cakewalk by BandLab so for me it was like an experiment to learn how to use the program. You can listen to it here. I hope you like it!

Sorry about that word funny, it was the translator. I meant catchy and interesting. One thing I like is that the harmony is sometimes like planning.

Hi @Bjarke, For me I like this even more than your old version since it's more succinct here and the style is more uniform. Your sul ponticello tremolo will be great with those extra harmonics if played in real life, and those minor seconds are great. Using the octatonic scale and chords in b.17 is great as it will always create a scary and uncertain effect! B.19 section really reminds me the middle section of Stravinsky's Sacrificial Dance in the Rite, especially with the horn and trumpet announcing the arrival of death. Great descresndo to pp as well with whirling strings. Thx for your update! Henry

Hello, ludeart. Long time 🙂 So as for this Caprice I will give you some feedback in hopes you would improve and become more flexible in this variation form. 1. Thematic material I think you got better overall in that regard, but here it is like you start of from the middle of the theme. Theme is a story in its own, and like every story it has statement, development, answer to the initial statement, culmination, ending. You seem to start from the answer. Why do I feel that? Because you start to introduce sequences right from the start, but sequences is only a form of developing an already established theme or motif. So my opinion is that you should heavily work on that. Because Theme is like a main hero. If your story lacks a good developed main hero, no one will care about the story. You can work with this by looking at 24th Paganini Caprice and studying how he does his theme. 2. Variations Variations are fine, there is not much to it, because of how short the piece is, and you simply don't give yourself time to execute all of the violin techniques which you would place in a caprice. 3. How long the piece is. Well it's very short. I can translate your story as this: "There is an old man, who knows how to do everything. He does smithing, he loves his wife. He lives happily. The end." The whole thing just wants a question: "So what?" And partially that is because you don't give yourself time to develop anything you do in the composition, which is bad for you as a composer, and bad for listener as they doesn't care. So I hope you will follow more Paganini's 24th Caprice in the future, maybe even locking yourself to releasing your composition until you hit 5 minute mark, so you can develop everything in your piece to the maximum. Also do a thematic exercises every day. Try to write a theme (theme is a nicely developed motif, don't forget) and see how it affects you on its own and then when you are capable of writing such bright and interesting themes, you can go on and try to implement them in variations to develop it even further. Looking forward to your progress 🙂

Thank you, Luis. I use Dorico, and I'm sure there is a better way to present the clusters. I have to think about it.

Hello I think it is great. The tension that builds and adds up is tremendous.... Somewhere you will have to relax? When the rhythmic part starts I thought of Stravinsky.

Hello I think the play is funny. Of course, at least those of us who have been here for a while know that this is part of a style to which you are faithful and constant. No wonder it catches the eye, which is a bit naive, in the sense of creating unique lines, almost always, without harmonic complications, and with little dynamic contrast. In this case, for my taste, the pizzicato is superfluous, especially in measure 20, which, at that point, produces more of a jolt than anything else.

Hello I agree. Perhaps one of the things that contributes to the weak contrast between parts is the persistence of the triplet motif.

This is a movement from an orchestral suite I'm working on. It's the only movement I've completed so far, but is not the first movement; it will probably be the fourth or fifth, following an overture and a few other dance movements. Mostly, I'm curious what people think of the style - it's obviously firmly in the Baroque tradition, but I'm not adhering too rigidly to a Baroque style, particularly in terms of the orchestration. Any comments would be quite helpful as I continue to work on the other movements. Thanks!

Hi @Aiwendil, Welcome back with a nice post! Since I've never danced in a Polish Folk dance ensemble like Peter did I would not comment on the nature of the Polonaise!😅😄 For me this is a very lovely orchestral Baroque dance. I love the 3 bar structure in the dance proper, and you are having the energy inside it, with that beautiful cello bassline and woodwind melody. I particularly love b.13 when violin I pair up with oboe and violin II pair up with flute and both pairs square each other off like what happen in a dance ensemble (even though I have never joined one haha). Very picturesque here! For the trio I love the texture! It's interesting that you're still using the Polonaise melody there for the trio, but with contrast of texture. Next you are going for the inversion of it in b.38. Lovely suspension for the flutes as well. Maybe you can change the orchestration there with the violins join the melody as well but your treatment here is also great for a trio to have contrast of timbre with the Polonaise proper. Thx for sharing and looking forward to your remaining movements of your Suite! Henry

Hey Aaron, I indeed enjoy this short work! I really love the clavichord like sound of your work since it really fits with the thin texture! I love in b.3 and 19 you introduce a hemiola there! This for sure add some rhythmic diversity in it. Even though you are still going for dominant A major in the middle section, I think it's more reasonable here since you end the first section in tonic D major rather than dominant A major, thus there will be no redundancy of keys here. I really love that chord in b.15! It really adds surprise here. However that chord should rather be spell C#, F#, A# and C#, since it's the dominant of B minor there! You can also develop on the B minor since it's the relative minor of D major and will provide a good modal contrast to the piece! The chord next to it will be better a ii6 chord (B minor chord with D in bass, instead of the E major chord here) I agree with Arjuna that you should add more dynamic contrast in it! Thx for sharing! Henry

Baroque polonaises did not rigidly adhere to that typical polonaise rhythm. The one I chiefly had in mind in writing this is the polonaise from Bach's B minor orchestral suite, which uses a very similar dotted rhythm to the one I used (and has straight eighths in the accompaniment).

I like it a lot too. The modal touch gives it a little Satie flavor. It's very nice.

Hi @Aled Edwards, First I really enjoy the key. Gb Lydian is so calm, serene and introspective, but that particular C natural adds some brightness to it. The opening melody is in the lower middle range around the middle C, and this makes the music very contemplative even though this is a waltz. Moments like 1:05 does remind me Chopin's waltzes, but yours here is less extravagant than his and I love it. The middle minor section invites more harmonic change with chromatic notes which is a very nice contrast. Nice falling chromatic notes in the bass. When it reapprears, I am really afraid the piece would end in minor. Luckily it ends in Picardy third!!! Though I want the contemplative section to recapitulate once more at the end with some response to the challenge from the middle section! I like this very much. Thx for sharing. Henry