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I'm happy it left a good impression 🙂 Before I got to arrangements that big, I did arrangements strictly using Brass Quintet. Starting small, then working your way to bigger and more extravagant pieces is very helpful. Got to walk before you can run. And the confidence boost is pretty great the first time you do a full orchestra arrangement then move on to your own pieces after. Being mostly self taught and slightly educated from 1 year in college, I had to take on a lot of the auto-didact methods for learning the ins and outs. So I know it's not easy but it's definitely doable. Feel free to utilize anything on my Musescore page if it will help you. Even my originals.

I promised I would have a little look at your piece in detail. So here goes... I didn't wish to interfere with your melodic writing so have focused on providing input regarding voice leading principles. Let's look at the opening motif... (The numbers I have entered above the notes below indicate their scale degree and this useful for voice leading analysis). A) In this opening, the bass features scale degrees 1-7-1. This pattern is typically used to accommodated a higher voice ascending from 1-2-3 respectively, while other voices may descend from 3-2-1 or maintain a pedal on scale degree 5. The melodic line in this example (oboe) emphasizes scale degrees 3-2-3, which is a non-standard solution on the basis that this would lead to consecutive with 3-2-1 part as well as a possible ascending (1-2-3) line. It would make more sense to close the melodic line on scale 1 (F natural) to to accommodate the contrary motion that makes this opening gambit effective. Notice that the voice leading for your clarinet line is not smooth as a result of this configuration. In these situations, it is desirable to facilitate stepwise motion between the individual parts opposed to leaping about; if you are leaping around excessively, it suggests the voice leading could be improved. Finally, the bass returning to F in bar 3 doesn't need to drop to the lower octave, and the flute part can remain on scale degree 5 due to the doubling of the third being unnecessary. Here is how the voice leading could be realized, which as you can see consists of oblique, contrary and parallel motion with no consecutive 5ths/8ves B) The other example I want to use is the nice melodic line from bar 11. It is quite beautiful. However, the other parts are a bit muddled. Let's isolate this part with the bass alone to see what's going on... In several places the bass part clashes with the melodic line, especially at the end cadence. There are also consecutive octaves in one or two places. I have realized an alternative bass for you to have a look at and compare. Note that I look for opportunities for contrary motion wherever possible, while retaining the strength of the chord that is being realized (for example, avoiding doubling the outer voices). It is good practice to avoid doubling the bass and main melodic line in the interest of maintaining independence. You can double with inner, supportive parts more freely. I have provided an audio of our respective realizations... Here is my realization If I evaluated all aspects of your piece in this manner I'd spend a whole day doing so! So I will stop here. But I hope you can appreciate the importance of effective voice leading in your work. Always consider the outer voices in first instance to arrive at a coherent skeleton that can then be embellished by filling out the inner or supportive elements. If you have not yet read Robert Gjerdigen's 'Music in the Galant Style', I would recommend doing so for further voice leading instruction and especially if you like the galant style. This wikipedia page can provide an introduction to the analytical system that he advocates using (schema theory): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galant_Schemata Feel free to ask any questions.

Sometimes when I've found myself listening to my favorite compositions written by me, over and over, I start to wonder if my own creativity is leading me to become an artistic narcissist. I guess it might make sense that as a composer succeeds more and more at writing music, it will become better and better and more the kind of music that they really enjoy listening to though. But regardless of how good or sophisticated their music actually is, do you think the tendency is for them to be more attracted to their own music? I've heard interviews with John Williams that surprised me from this perspective though. He commented that when he listens to his own music he can't help but hear all the flaws in it. When I listen to his music on the other hand, I don't hear any flaws - I mostly just hear beauty and good music. Is this him just being modest or does he really not enjoy his music as much as others do? Or maybe he's heard it so much that he's grown sick of it? Then there's also something to be said about writing music with flaws and all included in it. That's what gives music its variety and interest. I don't think writing music should be about perfection or always striving to create the next masterpiece - I think that kind of approach could lead to burnout if anything. So maybe when I listen to my own music over and over, I DO in fact hear all the flaws but I've grown to like them through repeated listenings? What do you think and how do you approach your own music? How much do you listen to it and how much is too much?

This is an aria in the late Baroque style for flute, tenor, and continuo. The text is taken from Goethe's Unbegrenzt (unbounded).

I like it! The only bit that sounds a little funny to my ear is measure 10. No idea what i would do instead though