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I thought I'd start a topic about everyone's repertoire that they're currently playing on any instrument you know how to play. Or you can share what pieces of music you're composing/working on right now. This topic is inspired by a series of messages I recently exchanged in which I realized that basically nobody on this forum knows about all the really corny pop songs I sing and play on the guitar! LoL So this first post will be dedicated to guitar music that I've been playing (although I also have other repertoire that I'm playing on other instruments). In roughly chronological order from oldest to newest: Bach's BWV996 Bourree in E minor - One of the first classical pieces I learned on guitar from my "Bach for Guitar" book. Originally for Lute. Bach's BWV Anh. 132 Menuett in E minor - Another classical piece I've been learning, more difficult than the Bourree. In the same book. "Downtown" by Petula Clark - I found this song in the movie "Panic Room" and have since fallen in love with it completely independently of the horrific movie. Some alternate chord shapes in this song let me play it easier rather than having to barre almost every chord. "Wedding Bell Blues" by Laura Nyro - a really old song that I fell in love with and posed a challenge because of it's chords. I modify the words to "Girl, I love you so..." when I sing it. The only problem I see with this song is finding an occasion where a guy would actually want to sing it to a girl! LoL "Maneater" by Hall & Oates "Wishing" by Electric Light Orchestra - ELO is my mom's favorite childhood band. This particular song has chords that were easy enough for me to learn and a cool whistle solo that starts and ends it. "Magic" by Pilot - the Scottish one-hit-wonder band Pilot's "Magic" is irresistible to me from the lyrics and emotional tone standpoint. And maybe I also relate to this song just from personal experience LoL. I sang this at a talent show two years ago. "Easy Lover" by Philip Bailey, Phil Collins "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths - in my opinion The Smith's best song. It was a challenge to learn because of all the constant barre chords. But I've learned some alternate chord shapes to make it easier on myself. I love the lyrics. "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers - a song I got the hang of with some fussing around with different chord shapes on the guitar. "Faith of the Heart" by Rod Stewart - I found this song because it was the title song for StarTrek: Enterprise. LoL But it's also been used in a famous Robin Williams movie I forgot the name of. "Friends Theme" by the Rembrandts - the theme song from the famous TV show "Friends". This recording includes the 2nd verse which you never get to hear when the show is starting. "Like Humans Do" by David Byrne - I found this song a while back when it was included with Windows 95, 98 or XP (don't remember which). It has really funny words and tells a cool story. Some challenging chord shapes. "I Know You Know" by The Friendly Indians - the theme song to the popular TV show "Psych". The chords are easy and I've heard it so many times I decided I should learn it. "Used to be Young" by Miley Cyrus - I recently sang and played this at a talent show and won 3rd place! "The Heart Wants What It Wants" by Selena Gomez - great meaningful lyrics. "Chained to the Rhythm" by Katy Perry "Streets of New York" by Alicia Keys - I really fell in love with this song for the chorus and how it emphasizes the Subdominant. The lyrics are also full of heart. "Sex, Drugs, etc." by Beach Weather - I fell in love with this song because of its hypnotic chords and cool lyrics (and it's easy to play!) "Hometown" by Twenty-One Pilots - I love the whole album that this song is from but is probably the only Twenty-One Pilots song that I can easily play on guitar. "Hold on Forever" by Rob Thomas - a song I learned for an ex-girlfriend. "All the Stars" by Kendrick Lamar feat. Sza - a very seductive song written for the movie "Black Panther". I wrote a little commentary on the meaning of the lyrics in a creative writing workshop. "Never Enough" by Loren Allred - this song from the movie "The Greatest Showman" is full of emotional intensity and heartfelt lyrics. I still haven't seen the movie though. "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk feat. Pherrel Williams - a really simple but cool song with a dope mood. "Love on the Brain" by Noah Guthrie/Rihanna - this song is a challenge to accurately fingerpick each arpeggio. "Never Wanted Your Love" by She & Him - She & Him is Zooey Deschanel's band. Really heartfelt lyrics. "Ennui" by PeterthePapercomPoser - a song I wrote when I first started learning guitar in 2020 (also around the time I joined YCF! I entered this song in the 2020 summer competition) Some of these songs were picked by me because they had easy chords on guitar. Others because I have a soft spot in my heart for the lyrics. Some are just plain awesome. Some of the songs by female artists I picked because they set a certain emotional tone that I got attached to when listening. In some of the songs by female artists I changed the lyrics to make it more appropriate for a guy to sing the song (LoL). Feel free to share your own songs or pieces that you're currently working on! Or any composition that you're composing as well!

In January of last year, four wildlife rescue organizations coordinated to catch a sick half-grown coyote who had been finding refuge under my porch. Coyotes are a protected species in Massachusetts, so before attempting a rescue, they had to get permission from the state. The day that they finally received permission, he disappeared. The temperature dropped to the teens, and we watched the forecast with growing alarm, worried we had missed our chance and he had frozen to death in a hole in the woods somewhere. Finally he reappeared. I saw his feet go by under the porch, and texted the team. Within thirty minutes, six people arrived and made a whispered plan to surround the porch from all sides. Armed with old comforters and sheets of siding we ran in from three directions and blocked off his exits, while other volunteers grappled for him with a catch pole through a basement window. After several tense minutes, with only the sounds of his panicked breathing, the indoor team hauled him through the window and into my cellar, head first. Everyone agreed that if we hadn't gotten him that day, he wouldn't have made it. He was suffering from secondary rodenticide poisoning. At some point in his short life, he had already eaten enough poisoned field mice or rats to be dying of poisoning himself. He was hypothermic, dehydrated, his blood wouldn't clot, and with his immune system nearly non-existent he was almost hairless from an overgrowth in the mites, bacteria, and fungi that are normally a natural and balanced part of the skin biome. He was probably under my porch because there was a little warmth coming through the foundation, ignoring his instinct to avoid humans because he was so desperately cold. After three months of specialist care, he was healthy enough to be released to the wild again. Because coyotes are social animals, and frequently use common trails, it's very probable that members of his family passed by my house in the days after his capture and read the story in the scents on scuffed leaves and churned snow. Thanks to Newhouse Wildlife, Friends of Horn Pond, Cape Ann Wildlife, and Berkshire Wildlife for all their work to advocate for him, to catch him, and to heal him for a return to the woods of New England. Rage forest daughter; Stand and sing. He is everywhere, a scent on snow. He is the unforgiven air. He is the curled leaves. He is everything. He will come back changed. He will come back again. The lost child returns in spring, Traveling over dark water; Stand and mourn forest daughter.

My repertorie now (with links of my favourite recording): My original exam pieces would like to play but get bored by them: Bach Partita no.6 Debussy Feux d'Artifice Beethoven Piano Sonata no.32, op.111 Now I'm practicing these: Beethoven Piano Sonata no.31, op.110 Beethoven 32 Variations in C minor, WoO 80 Beethoven Diabelli Variation, op.120 My Own Piano Sonata no.3 @Chemathmusician0510 wow your repertoire is amazing! Henry

Piano: Hammerklavier sonata, Symphony No. 9 Liszt transcription, (this is too long to print out, so I've been doing this one less) all 24 + 3 Chopin etudes, Erkonig Liszt transcription, Chopin sonata op. 35, Cello: Moses on G by Paganini, for cello on A string Hungarian Rhapsody by David Popper Caprice 24 by Paganini, transcribed by Luigi Silva Shostakovich Cello concerto no 1 Symphony-concerto for cello by Prokofiev (this one I've put aside for the time being)

Hey everyone, While I've been quite busy with university during the past year, I've started uploading some of my compositions to a YouTube channel, which I think better presents my music as a score-audio combo. They're all still computer renditions, but I hope to begin uploading my own performances these next few months (including of other works, mainly Scriabin). Here's a waltz that I originally wrote for one of those community-organised composition challenges on MuseScore, in which it was required that a note be repeated at least once in every bar of a piece. I ended up bestowing upon it the nickname "Waltz of the B(ee)s" for that reason and gave the score to my music teacher as a gift. Among all of my pieces, I think this is the one I'm closest to recording myself, so I'll update this thread when I'm ready!

What keeps you from reviewing more works? This could apply to works reviewed on YCF, YT, discord, Soundcloud or other social media where music is shared. The poll is public. Respond to this topic for me to add more options to the list!

For me the main issue is time and effort. I also have another, the formatting of the sheets and the playback is often suboptimal, especially those using default sound bank. I tend to gravitate towards those with user-friendly sheets and live performances because those are the most effective ways for me to perceive the music works. edit: btw incorrect enhamonic accidentals are such a turn off

I chose "not enough time" and "other", and I meant to say sonething about "other" in this post. Something about how I mostly enjoy listening to music posted here, but I'm never clear as to what to say in a review. I don't want to be negative for stuff I do not like. I would like to be useful suggesting solutions that I think would sound better even in pieces I like. I would like to highlight what is really good so that people could see better why a piece of music is succesful. But in the end I listen to a piece and being constructive and positive is just... difficult. Not time-consuming, but just really difficult to articulate. I don't have the technical ability to be helpful offering advice. But I also don't really know how to explain why I like or dislike a posted piece. Then it dawned on me why that is. So I hit the back button and chose "not good at analyzing music" 🙂

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?

I hope that if you make a pot of mashed potatoes you eat some and think, "gosh, that's a good mashed potato!" I hope if you clean the bathroom, you look around at the end of the task and think, "that's much better," and then enjoy your shower a little more and know that you have contributed to the comfort of your family or guests. I hope that when you have a project for work or school, you get to the end and look at it as a success. And I hope you can listen to your own music and feel proud of it. The heart of the problem is that we put the creative arts on too high a pedestal compared to our other tasks. That can create all sorts of problems that hinder our music-making. If writing a novel is the work of geniuses, then to attempt to write one as a mere human being is an act of narcissism. If painting is the reflection of the best of the human spirit, then as soon as we reach a certain level of self-awareness in childhood, we are no longer allowed to practice painting, because we aren't good yet, and without practice no one will ever get good enough to reach the standard that we hold artists up to. If we think composers are all inspired by some mysterious ineffable force, then we are not allowed to listen to our own work without complicated feelings of guilt if we think it went well, or shame for having the temerity to write and to share our work if we think it went poorly. None of this helps new art and music make their way into the world. On the other hand, we can look at music and other arts as things that all humans do. Our most ancient hominid ancestors made petroglyphs and cave paintings and pottery, toddlers sing little songs to themselves, college friends spontaneously decide what the choreography of dancing at a particular party looks like for their bodies, and you, writing a thank you note, may be pleased with the way that you choose the words to entertain and fully express your gratitude. Enjoy the process of creating and also the final product without getting wrapped up in yourself. Acknowledge that humans make things. All humans. You, and also everyone else you know. Cheer on your dad's photography projects. Eat the mashed potatoes. Play the piano piece you wrote. Know that none of these things mean anything at all about you or anyone else, other than that we are human, and humans are makers.

Other: I do drop the occasional review, but for the most part, I don't do a lot of reviewing. There are a few ostensibly different reasons, but I feel they're connected by a common thread. That being: I feel that my advice is better spent in discussing music and composition in a more general sense or regarding specific topics like perhaps harmony or melody writing as a concept rather than trying to tell someone how to "fix" or "improve" their piece; I would rather talk about that stuff and feel I'm better at "helping" with that sort of insight that way anyway. To be frank, I also always found those sort of posts more useful than what are often highly subjective grievances with a specific piece, from a specific person. Another is that I don't like to listen to music analytically most of the time. When I listen to users' music, I mostly just listen to enjoy it. If I do, I'll usually drop a like on their YouTube or whatever and if I don't, I usually just move on. I wouldn't enjoy music if I was always in this "critique mode" and as a person who has an obsessive personality, it would be very easy for me to fall into that. Most of the regular posters here, I like their music and there really isn't much for me to say beyond "Yeah, this is great". I hope that maybe some of them also enjoy my stuff. ---------------------------- However, I will say there is a final reason, and I know I risk sounding a like narcissistic @$$ by saying it, but I really don't mean to be or think I'm the very best, but it is just fair and honest: When I started frequenting musicians forums some 20 years ago, I was often frustrated by how the more experienced musicians we all looked up to didn't really give much feedback or help n00bs like myself. However, now that I'm getting to be one of the "old men" with a lot of experience, having made money with it, got into prestigious national programs by the merit of my own work, and now releasing albums with some of the bigger music libraries and did all of this so far coming from a family that couldn't afford to put me in proper music lessons and I was forced to learn most of this stuff on my own over the course of my entire youth and adult life so far...I understand now why many of them weren't so willing to dedicate that kind of time to what essentially amounts to being a free teacher for strangers online. Over the last five or so years, I've had people send me emails or messages asking to help them make some piece they're working on into their grand vision. The problem with most cases is, at a minimum, I would have to make posts or videos much longer than this, with pictures, custom examples, or recomposing aspects of their piece. In the more extreme cases, which are many, I would essentially have to teach this person how to compose from the ground up. I would not just have to teach academic music theory and such, but more importantly, I am pouring in my own perspectives and experience — my life with music — in order to truly help these people grow, and I don't think it is arrogance to feel that that is worth something. The "something" doesn't necessarily have to be money, but in the cases of most, money is all they'd have to offer in exchange.

Haha ! I'll let them turn a little longer, but I'll do allegiance to them one day by trying something much less audible... Thank you for your comment! I really appreciate it. Indeed, I had Liszt in mind, and necessarily, there are some reminiscences (but this relationship is also linked to the number and the choice of theme, as well as the principle of variation). And then, my piano is much easier to play! (At least at a more moderate speed). Initially, I didn't want it to be anything other than a musical beach in support of my slideshow. I got carried away a little and the music here overflows with its role as an accompanying person. To return to the samples used, these are several mixed libraries: The piano is Garritan Yamaha CFX (which alone weighs more than 150 GB, which is considerable, but I must say that since I got this VST instrument, it has really opened up new horizons for the use of the piano in my small jobs, because I find it sublime. The orchestra, globally is the BBCSO pro of Spitfire Audio. It was basically the BBC orchestra that was sampled. This program is now a few years old but remains in my opinion a very good option under the 1000 euro mark for a complete and very well sampled orchestra. Some blame him for having a sound that is too "concert", with a natural reverb of the recording location (their London rehearsal room, I think) but that's what I appreciate precisely because I find it quite convincing and lively. It's a very beautiful starting point that sounds very good. Note that Garritan and BBCSO have their own interface and do not depend on Kontakt, which in my opinion is a big advantage! I also use here a trumpet sample (The Trumpet V2) which is pretty bad at the interface level (it's on Kontakt). So sometimes painful interface to use, some strange conflicts, and a rooting of midi instructions really not clear sometimes causing bugs and conflicts. But in return, the sound of their different trumpets is absolutely splendid. He for the time being remains very neutral and malleable. It is a modeling and therefore it does not have the heaviness of a sample. This also allows extreme virtuosity that is not always possible with samples. On top of these elements, I use studio equipment that helps me give more character to these samples (compressors, EQ...). The fact that all this goes through hardware adds a certain amplitude that is not necessarily present in the sounds at the base. In any case, thank you for listening. (Ah, yes, the score... For the moment nothing is clean at home. Here for example, I only wrote a reduction for 2 pianos, and frankly, it's a draft. One day, in my next life, I may put all this clean, but my goal is always to go fast now and I really don't have time to make efforts on this point...) I often use my manuscripts as visual supports for my Youtube shares, with the idea of leaving the eye wandering, so that the music is not upset by the image. And the modified macro photos of my scores are finally frames that I sometimes want very abstract. But I understand your request. If I can, (on my return because I am traveling) I will post some photos of my music papers... Haha.

After a series of somewhat unexpected and tumultuous events taken place last weekend, my sleep schedule suddenly got inverted again, and the subsequent rush of inspiration has resulted in this fugue being conceived and finished in under three days (or perhaps, rather, sleepless nights, should I say). Now that something productive has come of it once again, I can finally take some time to rest in whatever meager capacity I may. Enjoy! YouTube video link:

I think computerized renderings are the key thought here. Your music would absolutely flourish emotionally in the hands of an accomplished player. I understand that fugues in general can sound mechanical and scripted, perhaps even emotionless. But everyone who's been around here for a while knows how exquisite your craftsmanship is, and it's no knock against your creativity or talent to say that this particular style is soulless (not that anyone said that). There is emotional depth, but I think it's buried underneath a rigorous toolkit designed to "puzzle" the notes into existence. Luis said what I couldn't say any better. This is devastating, I'm so sorry for your loss and grief. But life goes on, not to sound insensitive, and your pursuit forward is a trademark of your perseverance. I love seeing new posts from you, even if I don't comment and offer insight. Mostly it's because the heavy contrapuntal styles are foreign to me, but I always appreciate their beauty. Thank you for sharing.

No one can play Sweet Georgia Brown like me, except the guy that taught it to me ofc

First of all, I'm the dog whisperer. It breaks my heart to read the backstory of your piece, but thankfully he at least has a chance because of all your and the teams' work. All variations of canines have my heart, and the words you gave us resonate loudly within me. You could of just "not cared", but there's too much of that in the world, and it makes me happy that you chose to pursue the path of effort in helping this poor creature return to safety in the wild. Now that my eyes are dry (lol), onto the music. I don't know much about choral writing, but I have some thoughts. For one, I'm a little sad to hear midi... haven't you made videos where you're singing all the parts? Perhaps for a future time 😄 I love all the dissonance created by 2nds. Some where treated as suspensions, but others seemed to be used for color. It seemed very impressionable with the content you wrote about. I also really love the lyrics, especially this: "He is everywhere, a scent on snow. He is the unforgiven air. He is the curled leaves. He is everything". I've lived all over the country, and my dad was the man that taught me about the outdoors. I lived in Alaska, and have had many encounters with wolves. It's always surreal, and there's a great deal of respect I have for them, for how they are one with nature and their environment. As dumb as this sounds, I've learned from them too, and your words reflect a great deal of wisdom and admiration for the wild world around you. Your music is always lovely, thank you for sharing

Since I have shared this on discord, I must also share it here to earn a reputation point: It's funny as a satire and have me laugh as fxxk as always. Kubrick's use of Classical music is always so good!

Hi! I created a realization of handel’s partimento fugue in g dorian, no 1! I would love some feedback on it! thanks

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.

There is a thread from WAAAAY back on this forum - I don't know if it's still here. It sort of discussed the topic here, though in different terms. I think from a DSM understanding (now DSM V) of what Narcissism is, I would catagorically say no, creativity can't and won't lead to narcissism. It's an explorative and iterative process rather than a pathway to anything - especially not narcissism! By the way, if anyone here thinks that they might be narcissistic and are worried about that... then worry not; the chances of you being narcissistic AND questioning yourself about it are incredibly small. A narcissist won't ask that of themselves. Finding balance in reviewing one’s work is essential and therefore there is a requirement: listen to your own work! Don't overindulge though. Keep balanced. (Would you just eat from the shrubbery?) Do listen to your own music. Analyse. Self-review. Be constructive. And then move on. (But re-visiting preiodically is good and healthy.) [Edited for terrible spelling msitkeaklsed.]

Thanks for copying me in to this post. I think the piece has much promise, although there are several areas that need tidying up. For example, the opening bar which is blank need not be there; also, there is a time signature change indicated in bar 92 to 3/4 which is unnecessary as nothing is changing. As for development, the piece is 114 bars long and would benefit from some tonal variety. Consider how you can manipulate our emotions better... However the motivic development is generally sound. I notice you use irregular phrasing at times, notably for the opening theme which is a little usual, particularly considering regular phrasing then follows. One other thing you should consider is increasing the independence of each part. There is very little counterpoint. Overall, it is a good effort considering you spent only a "few minutes" on it; although a little more time could be spent on increasing its sophistication. Please feel free to ask any specific questions 🙂

you know, I've recently changed my view on this I think we write for ourselves, and most of us don't have much of an audience outside of ourselves. I've recently gone back and listened to a whole bunch of stuff I've written, and it's better than I thought when I closed the chapter in my mind. It's inspirational to listen to your stuff, because, well, if you're like me, I'm constantly writing. And sometimes I forget the efforts I've put into past work, even if I think it was amateur at best. You are your own biggest fan, and you should get enjoyment out of the music you write. Although I cringe and hear the mistakes I would have changed, it's cool to hear live recordings (thanks Henry) of me or others who have taken the time to make a moment of music special. Listen to your music, people 🙂

What a lovely piece! You nailed it with the title - although there were some slightly brighter moments, the piece has an overall lamenting tone. I've heard a LOT of compositions where just because the piece was in minor, the composer expected a "sorrowful" or "somber" tone, yes the overall sonority of minor keys tends to be more somber, I believe, if arranged correctly, even major keys can have a melancholic tone to them - BUT, that's a discussion for another day. One thing I enjoyed about this piece is that it sounds more modern without sounding too modern. I'm not sure if that makes any sense lol. Your phrasing is another one of the things you've done so well with this piece. I don't always hear NT and PT and stepwise, scalar motion being used in such a sophisticated way. I like the leaps, they added brightness, while maintaining the shape of the melody. Your harmony is simple, but I'm a sucker for i-iv-V7-i in minor 😂. Overall this piece is very strong - I don't have much more to add that hasn't already been said. I know you have more material in you, I can hear it 👀 As a pianist-composer myself I understand the struggle to balance composition with practice and such - BUT, I would love to hear this piece orchestrated. Nothing too elaborate - maybe a wind quintet with a flute on the melody, just a thought - a bass clarinet on the "tenor" and bass voices 😮‍💨👌🏾

Hey @General Pokopo! 1) LoL I didn't know that cats could play drums. Usually starting a piece with this much heavy drumming is a big turn off for me because its obvious to me as the listener that it's not a real drummer playing the drum set so unless it's some awesomely humanized drum fill/solo that starts the song off with a bang then I perceive it as kinda like a bummer/let-down. This is another one of those songs that seems to be based almost completely on the drums as the center stage instrument, and if it's not awesome it's going to disappoint the listener who expects the drummer to really kick-ass. If the drums weren't the focus of the song then they wouldn't be as important to be realistic though. 2) This is a different style than the first track - what I perceive as more of a electronica/glitch-fest drum loop type of thing. This is really far from the kind of music I usually listen to so I don't know that there's much constructive criticism that I can give. 3) I like that the drums aren't the focus in this one even though they're still present. This does have more melodic substance than the others. It seems like in your pieces, if the drums aren't the focus of the track, then you don't know what to focus on. Maybe try writing a piece for a solo monophonic instrument and a polyphonic instrument to back it up (like piano, guitar, harp or any keyboard instrument, even celesta or marimba or vibraphone or something). I think if you have only 1 solo instrument and 1 accompanying instrument it might force you to focus. Or maybe you already know how to do that and it's just not obvious in these particular pieces. If that's the case then feel free to ignore. Thanks of sharing!

@JorgeDavid also to touch on arrangement, you don’t have to arrange a piece to be 100% like the original. And you don’t even have to publish it! but I’ll give you another example of something I arranged recently. I’m sure you know about the Halo Game franchise. I took the Halo 3 OST track “Never Forget” and completely overhauled it using the same instrumentation and same intervals of key changes using a different starting pitch, and added in my own styling, as well as combining elements from the Halo 3 version written by Martin O’Donnell and the Halo 4 version written by Kazuma Jinnouchi heres the Musescore Link to that one just to give you an idea about what I mean by arrangement. The possibilities are endless with things like that! You can MAKE it your own! Doesn’t have to be someone else’s from start to finish. One big aspect of music is the theft of ideas. It’s one of the fundamental parts of composition. Composers steal ideas and expand upon them all the time.

This is intended to be the second part of the second movement of my String Sextet in G flat major, after the part of Lamentoso. These two parts are very different from the more fleeing and transcendental first movement as I hope they capture the sadness of the time and what I feel, before leaping back to the world of the pentatonics later, which would make the pentatonics more grounded. Here is the first movement of the piece: Here is the first part of the second movement of the piece, the Lamentoso, which is actually finished after this fugue: Here are the scores, the original version and a version with my own (painful) analysis on it: Final Fugue from String Sextet movement 2.pdf(With Analysis) Final Fugue from String Sextet movement 2.pdf And here is the youtube video: The piece is dedicated to Mr. Johnson Ho. The finishing of the fugue is prompted by hearing his worsening health, so I really want him to stay healthy. The inspiration of the fugue first comes from my friend Mike @chopin and my mentor David (I am very honoured to name him my mentor even though we have never met in real life since his videos form the skeleton of my composing skill. Go watch his analysis videos NOW!) said that the middle fugato section from the first movement is the best part of the movement. I was shocked since I believed it was the worst of the movement! Then my bro Vince @Thatguy v2.0 (who also makes this perfect audio) inspired me to write a dense fugue for the second movement, and so I challenged myself to write a six part fugue, since I feel like it’s not fully realised in the first movement. This is he most difficult I have ever written, but finishing it I now consider it my most beautiful work composed up to date. It’s so emotionally deep, even weirdly I feel zero emotion during the composition process, only calculating the counterpoint haha. I am so satisfied with the result. The fugue comprises of three subjects, all from the 1st movement. The 1st and 2nd subjects are from the 1st movement fugue’s subject, while the 3rd subject is derived from the opening theme of the Sextet’s first movement. Here is the plan of the movement (time according to youtube video): First part (00:03): First subject enters in each instruments, inversion introduced at . All of sudden C minor enters (01:55) and I quote my subject of the C minor Clarinet Quintet 3rd movement fugue here to intensify the sadness. Also kind of replying to the relationship of G flat major and C major in the first movement, but while freedom is shared there, now sadness is shared. Second Part (02:12): Second subject enters and the section features a saturation of stretti. The C minor section (03:56) comes in at and it’s my favourite section of the whole fugue. It’s insanely tragically beautiful here. Third Part: Third subject enters (04:58), first and second subjects combine in the manner of the 1st movement fugato. The intensity is kind of lowered after that insanely tragic C minor section, maybe kind of accepting and reflecting upon it, and it’s less saturated with the subjects. However things starting to get intensified, first the third subject is treated as in Bach’s Chorale Preludes when it is cut up and divided to four phrases alongside the other two subjects (06:29). The only pentatonic entry (07:16) arrives to kind of relate itself to the first movement and hints what will come at the end, but at the meantime it’s defeated by disappointment and the fugue ends in a doubtful manner, which will lead to the chant section. Hopefully I would finish the whole movement as soon as possible! Hope you enjoy the fugue now! Henry

Finally find the vintage color when I first joined YC lol

The first version is definitely my favorite just due to it's clarity. The echo effect also makes this piece sound like it has a swing to it even though I don't think you are swinging playback. The beat is really nice, and consistent, despite the unusual time signatures you are using. At around 40 seconds in, I like how you completely change the mood by breaking up the rhythm here. The arpeggios at this point are haunting, and gives me anxiety. It's starting to sound like the use of microtones are really starting to shape (or warp) how the music as we know sounds. It feels like we are entering a second dimension of music, something not possible to create with the equal temperament tuning system. I think you are starting to get the hang of this type of composition. Congrats for creating a piece that will freak us all out, and it's not even Halloween yet!

Thank you so much for the encouragement, @UncleRed99, I really appreciate it! In my case I always wanted to compose orchestral music and that is still one of the goals in the long term. My problem is always time. Mostly because of my piano skills. Practicing piano takes 70% of my time, which is only a couple hours a day, and I still do not learn as fast as I wanted to. But I invest on it because I feel it will help me compose much faster in the future. I did try orchestrating before. I have several orchestral books but I have no time to study them in an orderly fashion so basically I decided I wanted to orchestrate some of my pieces and read enough of those books for applying it to my pieces. 6 months ago I did my favorite one but it is actually more of a piano concerto than a symphonic orchestra. You can see it here from when I posted it in the forum! My problem is also that I do not compose that often. And I need pieces for trying to orchestrate them but I ran out of pieces hahaha. I pretty much posted here 90% of what I composed so I do not have many stuff and I rarely throw any ideas. Normally if I start something I finish composing something with it and post it. So for being able to orchestrate again I will need to compose some new things 😥. Now I actually have a piece I want to orchestrate, the "Bagatelle No.2" but I really like that piece so I put it aside to do it in the future when I have better skills. I heard nice things about the Spitfire LABS VST before! Do you use them in a DAW or it can be integrated with musescore and you use both sounds (Spitfire and MuseSounds) at the same time? Also, what audio plugins you use in musescore? What I do is using the reverb for all instruments as a group (instead of one reverb for each instrument) and also the ProEQ plugin, basically just setting each instrument to its family (for example, I set all strings instruments to "strings" option in the ProEQ). I feel the ProEQ plugin really make things sound so much more real. Thank you for the advice about labeling the piano grandstaff! I heard that is the best way to practice at first. Just composing at the piano and thinking about the sounds you want to writing it down roughly by main instruments and family, without going straight to notating everything in the orchestral score. Actually, recently I found a transcription of the whole "Lord of the Rings" OST that a fan made, exactly like that, with the piano and the outlines of the instruments and families and I am using it for listening to the score and seeing if I slowly learn something. I will need to try to compose for orchestra in that way myself too!

Here's what I came up with. I've no idea where it will go next! Maybe a return to the opening theme; or perhaps just more development?

Composing my own palliative version of the main themes in one of the very last passages of the Sextet makes me think of the song.... A wonderful piece from a wonderful film from a wonderful and the only one.... Akira Kurosawa...

@JorgeDavid, Don't sell yourself short! You won't know til' ya try! Practice makes perfect. I wasn't ever really privy to writing symphony orchestral music at all, until recently, having been a lowly trumpeter during my music career. I do it for fun now, and I don't play anything, except the Piano, and albeit not very well, well enough to use for composing. It's all about knowing what instrument does what best. Then taking advantage of it. I'm not a master composer by any stretch of the imagination. I sort of just put lipstick on my pigs with Spitfire LABS VST3 playback and Musesounds playback, with some panning, gain +/-, and audio effects plugins with MuseScore 4. Makes the music sound better than it looks, I suppose 🤣 I'm willing to bet you won't disappoint yourself if you were to take a crack at it. It may be daunting, but I'll tell you what I do to start with a piece; Write an outline using only the piano grand staff. Make labels for the instruments that should voice the notes in your outline. Take advantage of the "Voices" function in MS4 to write more than 1 part in a measure

Thanks for listening and commenting @UncleRed99! Yes, since the piece happened to stay exclusively in the tonic key at least I tried to add some varied voicings to add some spice 😆 After all of you commented about the piece I listened to it carefully and that last section really made the piece drag a lot and made it feel even longer than it was. So I deleted that last section, made a new coda, and modified a few things here and there to try to make the piece a little bit less "bass heavy". It still drags.... but less haha. I still would like to add the initial section at the end but, for now, I deleted it and added a coda (I still do not like the last cadence of section B so I might have to modify that too to make the ending before the coda more conclusive). I might still consider adding a bridge in the future if I find some solution! I listened to the piece and it was really god! You are so good with the orchestral instruments too! It would still be quite hard for me to compose something like that but I guess everything times makes perfect! Thanks for sharing! Thank you!

Thanks for commenting @PeterthePapercomPoser! I did not know the prelude by Chopin. I think it is famous as somehow I think I heard it before, but I was not aware of its existence (really nice prelude, though!). The model was a really really simple Czerny beginner piano piece, a waltz, really simple. I used it as a model for the harmony and chords inversions of the first section, and that is the end of the commonalities. I guess my mistake was using as model for a slow piece a fast piece, since slow pieces need to be treated much different to a fast one. After composing it a similar piece came to my mind: Bach Adagio for Piano BW974. It is actually a Alessandro Marcello that Bach transcribed for the piano. Incredibly beautiful. The whole piece, with the exception of the coda and a single bar, has a constant accompaniment. However, there the accompaniment is less heavy since most chords are quite high (on the contrary to my piece or Chopin's prelude). For now, I deleted the repetition of the A section after B section since I felt that was the weakest part of the piece and also created a new Coda for relaxing the ear after such a constant stream of chordal accompaniment. I also tried to fix volume issues (with this accompaniment, making the volume correct between melody and accompaniment is so important) and modified the B part so it gets less "bass heavy" at times. No substantial change but I am happy it improved a little bit at least. Thank you so much for listening and commenting!!

Hello Peter. Thanks a lot for your reply. I was not sure about the upper range of the trumpet,( I know very little of this instrument) and I am glad to learn that the high C is not a problem. I am sorry for not mentioning my software notation program (it is Sibelius). But finally I managed to convert to quadruplets. It escaped my attention that there is a special plug-in file, which allowed me to make the changes. Thanks anyway for your help! (I have now uploaded the revised version of the score). My way of writing changes periodically. The last two pieces were in the way you described, but I have some other things which are quite different in form. And again, thanks a lot for your feedback and your help.

Lovely "Schmaltz"! Mark

Man, this has some very flavorful chord voicings. The Major 7ths, Augments, Minor 7ths, and Dominant 7th chords really make this a Lamenting piece. I agree with how others have already explained that this piece would be so much more engaging and powerful if there were a sort of "bridge" section that built up to the outro or the last verse/chorus then to outro with contrasting statements such as maybe arpeggiating the chords for the Left hand (bass clef) rather than the monotonous quarter note chord rhythms used throughout the progression, and worked up to a Forte or Fortissimo dynamic level at the peak of it to really drive the lament home. I've got a Lamentoso piece named "Lamentation" floating around on this forum that you might be interested in viewing as an example of what I mean. You can check it out right here to see what I'm talkin' about :)

Thank you Jorge! I think I'm still trying to find my compositional style (which is a lifelong pursuit), but I think I've settled on what I'd consider a palatable mixture of Late Romantic/neoclassical/jazz (?) influences. The piano soundfont is the free Spitfire Labs Autograph Grand. I occasionally find that the Autograph Grand is a bit too bass-heavy and rather quiet in the upper registers, but it does an okay job; one that performs better higher up is the Labs Soft Piano, which I also sometimes use.

Hey @JorgeDavid! I like the mood of the piece but I agree with Luis that a contrasting section with a different accompaniment or a modulation to another key would be very welcome. It seems like you are kinda using Chopin's famous Prelude in E minor as the model for this piece, no? I think the reason why the same accompaniment pattern works in that case for such a long time is the liberal use of chromaticism and a slow constant modulation. Thanks for sharing!

It is a very nice and well done work. I have one comment or suggestion: I think, given, the length of the piece, it seems to me that it would benefit from a contrasting part in terms of left hand rhythm or pattern. The same for the harmony. At some point it's nice to have a less expected chord, a broken cadence, or whatever.

This is an exquisitely beautiful work with lush harmonies, rhythms, and haunting melodic lines. The interplay between the flute and bassoon is lovely and fun! The piano accompaniment fits like a glove and carries the work forward with sensitivity and energy. This work needs to be performed. The rendering is superb what music library did you use? Mark

This was so amazing to listen to! I listened to some of your other videos from YouTube too and I love so much your style of composing. So amazing that you composed this as a challenge! The piano also sounds really great, is it one of the pianos from MusesScore? Which one is it? Thank you so much for sharing!

I agree, and also I am used to composing melodies that are so different to the ones used it Jazz that I feel I need to practice Jazz piano and soloing a lot until I can actually come up with those types of melodies in my mind. However, it is so much fun to learn it. Thanks for the advice! For now I am trying to focus on the blues scale only adding some approach notes here and there. Still long way to go since my piano skills are also not so good yet 😅 Thank you!!

I like it! I have a soft spot for pieces like this, that are easy to just sit down and play. You mention insecurity with ms. 40, but I heard nothing that seemed "un-smooth" about it. If you find yourself unconvinced by a phrase in your composition, try experimenting with it. Take the phrase, and try looking at it from different harmonic angles. You may or may not be satisfied with the results, and it might be frustrating. But, you're likely to learn something valuable from the experience! I think my biggest criticism of the piece is when you just stop the block chords at the end of each part, at mss. 24 & 56. Don't get me wrong, you definitely have the right idea for the music to come to a rest, but this way of doing it isn't working for me. I think it's because the piece isn't meaty enough for that *long* of a pause. Instead, perhaps a fermata or two at moments you consider "key" would work better, (for example, the 3rd beat of ms. 40?) providing space, without sounding clunky or detached. I really enjoyed listening to this! Thank you for sharing 🙂

Here is a short piece, which I wrote recently. It is in a Chopin-like style. I have not made any pedal indications, because most musicians would probably want to decide on this themselves. But I could add them of course. I would be very interested to learn what you think of the piece.

yes, each genre has it's own difficulties, specific to themselves. Jazz tends to stand out specifically because there's technically no wrong answers. My advice for solo notation in jazz would be to keep your notation, as for right now anyway, pitched within the blues minor scale of the key you're writing in, or, alternatively, pitched in the Pentatonic scale. The notes within those scales for the key being written or played in, you cannot really go wrong with it. And you can move the pentatonic scale key and deviate from the key signature in line with the chord in the measure you're writing solo notation in without it really sounding "wrong". Hopefully that helps you some

These microtones do contribute to the music. But let me go through my thoughts, so you can get a better sense of why. I like how at 10 seconds in, you demonstrate the microtone by gradually increasing its pitch. 14 seconds in, you really are showing how microtones can affect harmony, at least to my ears. Also, I feel like most of the time I wasn't sure if we were in minor or major. Like I could tell, but there were times where the major portions sounded really ominous 😵‍💫. At 1:13 to to 1:20 you have a series of cadences. I think the first 2 cadences resolve to minor, and the final one resolves to major. But again, it's not that easy to tell. The entire piece reminds me of a dream sequence, and this could be in part due to the echo effect. I feel like I am perhaps in a haunted carnival, with evil clowns chasing me. There are some instances of reprieve, but the entire piece is incredibly haunting. This is more than the thought it just sounds out of tune. I think you are starting to learn how to make use of microtones to contribute to mood. When you suggest they don't seem necessary, I think perhaps this type of composition is starting to become second nature to you. But to the listener, I can assure you, the microtones are seriously warping the mood of this piece, in ways that may not be possible with normal music. I really like this piece as a whole, and maybe my ear training is starting to get used to microtonal music since you started posting these exercises 😅.

Revisited this piece, after a few weeks off of messing with it. That always seems to give me a fresh perspective on things I've written, and helps me to identify areas where improvement could be made. I feel confident in saying that if I were to forget this piece, and return to it again, that I'd be happy with how it is in it's current state. As always, if there are any areas where someone with more expertise than I have is able to identify an issue or mistake, I'm all ears for the feedback! 🙂 Thanks, and I hope you all enjoy my little heartfelt piece of music Lamentation_-_Kyle_Hilton_UPDATED_with_Spitfire_Labs_VST3_Audio (4).pdf Lamentation_-_Kyle_Hilton_UPDATED_with_Spitfire_Labs_VST3_Audio.custom_score (1).mp3

Thank you! I'm glad you liked the piece. Yes, I think I did that, but I can't control how fast the arpeggios are played I think. So maybe that's why it doesn't sound as natural or realistis. But I hope I can get the piece performed. With themes you mean melodies that are recognizeable? Yes, this piece lacks a memorable melody. I wanted to give texture and micro motifs a bigger role and build the whole piece with that alone. That's one of the reasons why it sounds quite different from my previous compositions. I will probably write a few more pieces like this one and create a small set. Of violin and piano miniatures.

Thank you very much! Yes, it is a nice way to start this new account. I feel the same way! The noise tone of the harmonics gives it a chill windy feeling. I agree, I will extend that dark section a bit so the return to A' feels more luminous. Thank you for the feedback man! I'll try to be more active next month and hopefully help revive this community. Yes, that piece by debussy inspired some of the sonorities of this piece. 🙂 The double glissandos with harmonics should be possible, although the bowing might be very challenging. However the glissando in direct motion that leads to a perfect 5th should be impossible and the violinist should try to simply fake it as better as they can. It's a very difficult piece for the violin anyways, so I don't know if it will be performed anytime soon. Also the piano part is very weird and many pianists would find it annoying I believe.