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I put all of my suggestions, tips, and reasons for them on a score, which means I technically copied and changed your work without your permission, but I think this was the most efficient way to get my points to you, rather than writing tons of paragraphs here. I hope this doesn't bother you. Suggestions like the articulations and dynamics are merely what I thought would work well, but I'd much rather you stick to your vision than copy mine. Other things like voice leading and harmony are not just personal opinions but are important for the classical style and such. Btw, your piece was a blast to study and provide feedback for, since I've been studying clementi sonatinas and as such have gotten a lot of exposure to the theory and aesthetic of this classical style you're trying to emulate. Alot of people here write pieces that are way too dense or long to go nearly as in depth as I have here, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you. Anyway, I hope my feedback is of any help!

DEBUSSY, in the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Let's just focus on the beginning. To begin with, it is a small orchestration, but rare: there are two oboes + an English horn, two harps... The symphonic poem is based on a melody first exposed by the flute, then re-exposed several times in which it is reharmonized. Debussy's great achievement here, or one of them, is how to make a flute alone, in its low register (which is very weak) and also on piano, to be heard and stand out among the rest of the orchestra... Let's hear it, First we hear the flute alone and at the end of the phrase a transition with the harp and winds. At the rehearsal position marked 1, at approximately 1:03.... is the first harmonization and that is what we are going to refer to. How does Debussy make the flute sound so clear, even though the rest of the orchestra is in pp? There are several things that contribute to this: 1. The dynamics in pp. 2. The tremolando of the strings, which weakens the sound. 3. The tremolando in sul tasto (sur la touche), which makes the sound less bright. 4. Assigning for the bass only two double basses. 5. But the most important thing is the non-interference of the space, of the register. This scheme summarizes everything: the lowest note of the flute is a G natural, and the highest note of the rest of the orchestra is an F# (clarinets and tremolo violins). This way, even though the flute is in a low and weak register, it has all its space to sound on its own. Wonderful.

Good day Aaron, First of all, good job with this short simple piece. A few comments/ criticisms: Your understanding and use of Binary form is exceptional, but there is a bit more for you to learn. I'd say your next steps are to study modulations, and how to implement them into Binary form. Nice, I see you've started to phrase your melodies. Your next steps is to expand your phrases from 2-bar phrases, into four bar phrases which are far more common, and also to start using cadences in your phrases. Once again, dynamics should be starting to appear in your music. This will create greater contrast between the sections, and is something that will become immensely more important later on. Nga Mihi Arjuna

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This is a wind quintet I've just finished (my first attempt at writing for wind quintet). It incorporates more "modern" (20th century) harmonic techniques than much of what I write, particularly an emphasis on quartal and quintal harmonies, but it's still firmly tonal and based (loosely) on Classical formal structures. It's in four movements, and the whole thing's about twenty minutes long, but even if you just listen to one movement, I'd really appreciate any comments or feedback. Thanks!

Noooo.... The execution is excellent. It gives life to the work. Maybe I didn't translate well, ...

Hey Aaron, I like you are using the ii/V for the modulation to D major in the first half, and you start introducing different in the beginning of the second section like the relative E minor! Jonathon @ComposaBoi's suggestion is great so I am not gonna add anything here haha! Henry

Hi @malumCompositor, I agree with Luis on the style and harmonic language of the excerpt. I think you are trying to use contemporary style in it but inserting some dissonant and tone clash at the beginning like b.3, but it's more like adding extended notes base on tonal harmony, since the music begins in F minor and modulate to its dominant C minor which is indeed very functional. In contemporary music major and minor chords appear but the functionality, like the Tonic-predominant-dominant-tonic progression, can disappear. I agree with Luis that the fifths for the cello will be difficult to play, even though they are feasible. You are using a motivic approach here to quote the opening 0-1-5 set motive in b.9, for example. You can definitely try using different forms of that set for coherence in a 20th century sense, like making it an inversion C-B-G, retrograde F-Db-C for new themes, which you have already done in b.14 with the retrograde-inversion C-Ab-G. Henry