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Just a simple piano romance for my girlfriend Julia (for her birthday). Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think! A Romance.mp3 A Romance.pdf

@Colenbacher Hello I understand your question very well. And I also understand that the answers aren't exactly what you're looking for. Although I agree with them as well. I believe that rather than learning harmony from the Romantic period, what matters is learning the compositional techniques that the composers of this period introduced and used (not just in terms of harmony). It’s absolutely true that to understand this, you need to start by knowing what happened in earlier periods, at least from the Baroque through the Style Galant and Classicism. Because many Romantic techniques are reinventions (“recycled”) of all those earlier styles. I don’t think you’ll find specific sections on Romantic harmony in general treatises and books. I’ve had that curiosity, and interest as well. But I studied the Baroque and the Galant period quite extensively, above all. I even started much earlier with the cantus firmus. And that historical and chronological perspective has helped me immensely in understanding even contemporary music. With this, you’ll see that everything is a continuum; even periods that broke quite sharply with what came before (Impressionism, dodecaphonism) are the result of an evolution. So, just as I did with other periods, I sought out the sources myself and compiled a lot of information on this topic on my blog. First, I provided a general overview, which I’ve transcribed here, and then I analyzed techniques such as augmented chords and modulation, secondary subdominants, dominant chains, chromatic thirds, (traditional) linear techniques, irregular resolutions, and so on. Not to mention that Romanticism is a vast genre and that each composer, moreover, has their own peculiarities. Brahms has nothing in common with Chopin. And let’s not even get started on late Romanticism. Some words from my blog: CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD *New forms: symphonic poem, song cycle, music drama, *Study of the folk-heritage in music and imitation of folk-like melodic simplicity, *Predilection for exotic effects through employment of foreign national coloring or the folkloristic heritage (Chopin, Tchaikovsky, the Russians) [Chopin's more than 50 mazurkas represent one of the earliest examples of overt nationalistic sentiments in music], *Break-up of stylistic unity but more individualism, *Higher interest in melody and color rather than harmony and form, longer melodies *Higher dissonances and a freer employment of them, * More use of dynamics and articulations, * Rubato, *A more innovative treatment of chromatic harmony, *Extensive use of diminished seventh chords, *Modulation to distant tonalities, *Use of relations by thirds, *Greater interest in modal techniques (flat seventh [common to many modes], flat second [Phrygian], augmented fourth [Lydian]), *Assimilation of older elements, especially the revival of polyphony and Baroque forms under the influence of JS Bach [Mendelssohn, Brahms], *Thematicism plays a more important role in a sonata movement than tonality, *Thematic metamorphosis: A programmatic approach to composition often associated thematic material with a character or idea. Changing circumstances or emotional states were represented by the transformation of the thematic material (as in Faust Symphony or Symphony Fantastique), *Cell development technique in nationalist music, (music cell = small and melodioc design that can be isolated) *Use of a cyclic device: Material from one movement recurs in another (a technique related to thematic metamorphosis, idee fixe and leitmotive) (Serenade for Strings by Tchaikovsky; Mendelssohn's Eb string quartet; Beethoven's Symphony No.9), *Manipulation of sonata form, including mosaic and additive structures. More organic treatment of the form, *Postludes in the Lieder (especially by Schumann), *Unity on a large scale: merging of separate movements into a single span (Liszt's Sonata in B minor), larger instrumentations, *Finishing a minor mode piece in major (from darkness to light): Egmont overture, Symphony No.5 & 9 , Piano Sonatas Opp.90 & 111, and the second act of Fidelio by Beethoven; Schumann's Fourth Symphony; Franck's Symphony in D minor; Brahms' s First Symphony. *Intense energy and passion, dramatic opera,

Hi! Long time for not posting anything! I'm revising my old Clarinet Quintet and learning orchestration in the process. Here's something I'm working on. Clarinet Quintet in C minor is a work I finished 4 years ago in 2022 which I accidentally began my revision of it in April 2026. It's a work in four movements and in it I want to share my feeling towards despair, dream and hope. The piece is dedicated to my friend Ms. Merina Fung. Speical Thanks to @Thatguy v2.0 for making the audio for me. Here is the youtube video of the movement: Here is the structure of the 1st movement: 00:00 1st subject, Exposition. Introduce the "despair" motive (0134), in some sort of sad waltz in C minor. The passage in 01:26 is directly copied from an old piece of mine named "Boredom" 01:48 Transition. Follow the tonal plan of the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony and modulate to tritone major Gb major (which is the tonic key of my next major work, String Sextet in G flat major). 04:09 2nd subject, Exposition. Introduce the "dream motive" (0247) and subsidary chromatic motive of (0123). Conflicts of the despair and dream motives continue, the dream seems to win at 06:53 with its own climax but easily defeated with a bold C minor half cadence right before the close of the exposition with a forceful perfect cadence in Gb. 08:42 Development, part 1. The dream breaks expectedly I really like the counterpoint in 08:59. Modulates to E minor for the transition theme, then build to a really beautiful climax in E major in 11:10 which I really love. Makes this movement sounds a bit less tragic. 11:36 Development, part 2. Another false serenity after the beautiful climax by a disappointed passage in G# minor in 12:38. The serene texture returns in B major in 13:17 but falls short to a dominant preparation of C minor in 13:50. I really love the retransition as it sounds really passionate to me (Actually I love all parts of the remianing parts in this movement after this point). A review of the keys visited in 14:27 with an octatonic falling scale, ending with two sorrowful monologue of clarinet and cello, just like the beginning. 14:53 Transition. I skip the 1st subject reappearence in the recap as it's completely meaningless to do so, given how the motive is developed in the entire movement. I really love the tragedy here, as I even have this passage reappears in the coda of 4th movement, after 40 minutes or so lol. Another false serenity in tonic major in 15:24, and I really love the nostalgic sounding passage in Ab major in 16:01, still base on the dream motive. The German sixth chord in 16:36 must be stolen from Schubert"s Quartettsatz. A fugato in 16:42 trying to fight despair and reclaim dream once more and "sucessfully" modulates to Gb major once again. 17:31 2nd subject, Recap. But when you want more you hurt more, as despair harms you more when you have hope. This time a hard C minor half cadence comes. The dream theme now becomes a nightmare in 18:07 and continues to sigh. 19:20 Coda. Previous themes keep reappearing as I myself used to ruminate my sadness all the time. Finally it ends with what begins the piece, the realization of despair in its original form. Structurally I am not really satisfied with how I expand the themes in the 2nd subject of exposition (Dream part) and how I treat the materials in development, as I am afraid I overextend too much. However I just retain most of the things originally as I wanna keep true to my old self. It's an absolute low when I composed this piece, as I really questioned myself whether I could really compose something good back then. Luckily I did finish the entire work and gave me some confidence, plus meeting some really good friends here. The whole 4 movement piece is composed with three motives mentioned above, as I wanted to keep the piece coherent. The inspiration of the work comes from Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet as I wanted to write a more tragic piece than his (of course this goal fails), but I am happy with what I’ve done. Strangely only now do I find how Brahmsian this piece is. One interesting thing is that despite the movement is in C minor, in the first 14 minutes (two-thirds) of the movement, only 2 minutes are in the tonic. In this revision I mainly modify spots I find unreasonble, some voicings and slurs, and breathing spots for Clarinet. Hope you listen through the music and read through the description, and my wish that enjoy the work! Feel free criticize the work as I know it's far from perfect. P.S. the old version of this same Quintet is posted before: It's my biggest mistake to post an hour long piece here as my first post. So I will chop up the 4 movements and post it one by one now! Henry Clarinet Quintet in C minor 1st mov V3.mp3 (For YT)Clarinet Quintet in C minor 1st mov final 20260501.pdf

Well, I am a composer, professionally for films. Used to do games the better part of 20 years ago, now I am currently working on films that will be doing festival tours in North America this year before going to streaming and such. Some of my current projects have actors from TV series like "Billy The Kid", "The Last of Us", and more as well as Emmy-winning special effects teams who have worked on films like "Sonic The Hedgehog" and "Child's Play". The reason I preface with that is to say: I don't have the career of John Williams (yet), but I'm not entirely a nobody either, so I am probably qualified enough to give you some honest advice and feedback. I could write you an entire essay, but I will try to keep this as short as possible: Firstly, if you want to be a professional concert composer, then no matter how good you are, that is extremely rare in today's world and to be honest: It kind of always has been. Historically, most works were commissioned by the church, aristocracy, etc. for some reason or another. So, if you were aspiring to simply write music for live performance or albums of orchestral music and make a living on that...I'm sorry to say the odds are astronomically small. Some will suggest you compose for video games, but speaking from experience only a handful of composers have that entire industry locked down. Getting a job that pays ANYTHING in video games is hard to come, the games take years to develop now, everything is a buyout deal, cancellations of entire projects are normal, and this all translates into relatively low annual income even on "AAA" games. Where the real money is in being a composer today, and for the last 40 or so years, is in television and film. Especially long-tail income in the form of royalties and licensing fees that accumulate over decades. Now, to the meat of your question: My brutally-honest answer based on the piece you have shared is "No". If you wanted to compose for films, especially if you have no DAW or MIDI mockup skills, I'm sorry to say it would not cut the mustard for even lower-level indie shorts. Very few musicians to be honest have what it takes to be a film composer, even a middling one. There is a massive list of skills, that take decades to build up, just regarding music and its production before one could confidently score a film. I can honestly say that even 8 years ago, I don't think I would've made much of a film composer, and I had already been writing music for bands or games for years by that point. Not only must you be able to write memorable themes, which this piece does not demonstrate, but you must have a thorough knowledge of orchestration, mixing, MIDI mockups and recording; advanced composition theory that involves: counterpoint, various unusual scales and harmonic progressions that are not typically found in popular music (or even a lot of older orchestral music for that matter), experience with synthesizers, creating realistic mockups, structure that works with a clear emotional arc, writing effective short pieces, writing effective long-form pieces, etc. And this is before we even get into: You have to understand how all these musical devices can relate to linear story-telling and emotion. You have to understand "film" at least as much as you understand "music". There's "composing music" and then there is "composing music that tells a story". You also must be able to be an effective business man. You have to get out there and make friends with directors, producers and editors. Attend festivals and build genuine working relationships with people and be very easy to work with. 99% of composers stumble big time on this one. And one of the hardest things of all is that you have to be extremely-reliable. On a film, and god knows on a TV show, you do not have time for things like writer's block. You need to know theory, composition, orchestration etc. like the back of your hand to be able to write on average 2 minutes of finished music per day to get the job done on time. Not being on time on a film or TV show would be absolutely catastrophic for that studio and I'm not joking when I say that being late would ruin your entire career and cost people potentially millions of dollars. Now bear in mind, on a film you might have just two or three months to write the score. On a TV show a matter of days or weeks per episode. You must be absolutely certain you could deliver on that. The composer is often the very last major person involved with a film aside from the sound mixer and maybe colorist. It is generally the case that the score has been recorded and finished just weeks before a film hits theaters. It is for all of the aforementioned reasons that age 44 is considered "young" to be working as a professional composer in film and tv. Studios and directors are placing an enormous amount of trust on the composer. So most film composers started composing at very young ages, and spent decades in music, honing their craft, making connections and essentially "proving" themselves before anyone trusts them enough to score a film and pay them good money to do it. John Williams, the most successful and iconic film composer (and probably just composer of the 20th century tbh) was already just about 50 years old when he did Jaws and Star Wars. So unfortunately, in the most profitable avenues that I am aware of for being a composer, I don't think you presently have the skills, musically, yet. That is of course fixable, but what you must ask yourself is if everything else that goes with it is something you can do and your personality is a good fit for. Another thing is, I'm not sure how old you are right now, but age is also a factor. Deciding you want to become a professional composer in your 20s is more practical than starting in your mid 30s, for example. Hope this has been of some help. Good luck.

Having read the program notes page, I think you capture the atmosphere of some of the themes (ie. betrayal, turbulence) you mentioned. It would be interesting to hear the rest of the soundtrack to see how the themes/motifs you have here develop. Though, I gotta be honest...film scores lately have a very generic sound to them and this (for me anyways) falls in that category. Some things musical things from the score I noticed: The way these harmonics are notated is confusing. I'm saying that as a string player. Some 2nd violinists might think you want an open E string, which I'm pretty sure you don't want. If these are actual sounding pitches, the 1st violinist would have an easier time understanding these notations (one is a natural harmonic, the other is an artificial....don't really have a preference): The 2nd violin note (if that is the sounding pitch) is impossible to play as a harmonic on a violin. As I said, players would probably play an open E string. The viola one looks alright, it'll be a natural harmonic on the G string. Saw this in the score a couple of times. Wondering if you could move the pp before the barline to avoid those awkward looking measures with rests. Overall, there seems to be over-reliance on doublings between instrument groups. E to the end is the prime example. I think most of the wind/brass instruments can drop out at 47 for a quieter ending. Also that section felt a little...static? Could use some more rhythmic drive (maybe bring back the bass guitar/cello figure from the beginning?) or just some counterpoint.

[INFO DUMP] I am not sure if I would go with the term "a lot" when it comes to the midi-playback discrepancy. It can be wonderous to hear our music realized in the notation engine; and at the same time, two things can be true at once. Hearing it in the computer is not the same as hearing it live. Just because the computer can do it, does not mean it will have the same effect with an orchestra or if it will be played correctly by an ensemble as the computer has shown. (People have done comparison videos showing Musescore Audio engine vs. a real orchestra. You can hear the results and form your opinions.) It's why we inform ourselves on the properties of instruments and why we study instrument pairings so we have the best tools at our disposal for effective writing. _______________ Ironically, to ask "How do I write better?" is a subjective question and the only answer will be what is great/ good to you. In the literal sense, if you feel you are inefficient or that your music is not accomplishing the standards you want, then there in itself is some knowledge dissonance and it may be your writing process that hinders you. There are a few ways to do this, and asking these questions is more than okay (especially here!). Igor Stravinsky was quoted saying the following: "Good composers borrow, Great ones steal" It is a variation of a phrase both Picasso and T.S. Eliot used when describing their work. One way to learn is to look at the greats, or your composer ancestors. Look at their music and copy it by hand, or by mouse. See where they put the notes and see what instruments... then look at the results. Since you have some music theory training, analyze the harmony and see how they voiced a chord, etc! Try re-orchestrating something if you want; or come up with your own exercises. In the collegiate sphere, at an early point, we were given Bach harmonic progressions and had to write a melody on top in my undergrad. That was a few years ago. Speaking of, do understand that you won't become Wagner overnight. This will take time and that is okay. _______________ If you haven't already learned, most big composers did not compose for a large ensemble first. They composed for a reduced score, as in a simple grand staff for a piano, and wrote out the entire piece first BEFORE orchestrating it. Did you know Gustav Holst wrote The Planets for Two Pianos in 1914, FOUR years before the premiere? He wrote it for keyboard first and then orchestrated the famous work we know today. Starting small and being able to see all the pieces over 2-3 staves is a lot easier than trying to control 17+ staves at your first go. Thus, if you haven't, give this a try!

Hello, Little fugue i wrote today in the north german baroque style. First musical output in years. Simple in harmony, joyful and melodic in theme and counterpoint. Scored for four voices, work well enough with organ or strings. Fuga in g.mp3 Fuga in G.pdf

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 4 8 2 10 3 8 2 9 Average Score: 5.75 I'm not one to enjoy being critical, too harshly of anyone's original music, as most of the time, music is subjective and taken in based on individual opinion and preference, but from a professional stand point, this score is quite difficult to follow. I'd also note that the terms of the competition stated; "3 - 5 monophonic or polyphonic instruments/voices." {most of the Instrumentation choices here are neither mono / polyphonic in nature, and there are far too many of them.. lol} While I understand your intent, in your use of braces (which you used grand staff brackets rather than part brackets, but I understand, nonetheless lol), for a section representing 1 performer, it's simply not within the constraints of the rules of the competition. I went ahead and graded it as I would any other score, however, to provide you with some level of feedback on the writing done here. I did not want to neglect it, artistically. As you can see, I highly favor the Originality, the Textures, and your taste within the given score, however, the piece itself is very "through-composed" without much rhyme or reason that's easily discernible... Meaning, I don't hear a motif that catches my attention; a home for me to reference back to again, to keep my ear on-track with the music. For that reason, I felt a 2 was appropriate for the form/development section, as well as the 4 in the Melodies, Themes, and Motives. (Slightly higher because of the intricacies in melodic components with the few polyphonic instruments you do have in use for this score.) Ultimately, I feel that this score should not be considered as a valid entry, simply based on the number of staves you've used here, despite the constraints, but I will always have respect for anything that anyone has taken their time and effort to work on, and this piece, in and of itself, has the potential to be much greater than it is, currently, I think. - Uncle Red

Hello Have you heard of this virtual instrument called CANTAI? Please note: I have no affiliation with these programmes, even though I use them. https://cantai.app/ It’s a virtual instrument for voices and choirs. It works with MuseScore (which is more advanced), Dorico (the official version was released a couple of days ago) and Sibelius. The novelty is that you write the score, add the parts (soprano, alto, tenor, bass, choir) and write the lyrics... And once everything is set up, the result is that it ‘sings’. I use it with Dorico. It still needs improving, because although it interprets dynamics and accents, and there are many voices available, there will be more. At the moment, in Dorico you can write in English and Latin. But Chinese and Spanish are already available in MuseScore (I think). I’ve written this little sample song to see how it works.

Dear fellow composers, I’m pleased to present you today my submission to the YCF 2026 Spring Competition! Here is the picture showing a historic city rail (S-Bahn) train and a nightingale capturing the sounds of spring in Berlin. The idea behind the piece is to describe the contrast between the noise of the big city and the tranquility of nature. I know that some of you, especially if you’re from Asia or the U.S. will smile when I refer to a city with not even 4 million inhabitants as a “big city.” And yes, that’s actually the case: Berlin is indeed a “huge village” with a surprising number of green and quiet areas. The piece tells the story of a journey with the city rail from the crowded city center to a suburb where are allotment garden communities are located. Since modern trains are more or less „sterile“ and lack their unique sound, I imagined taking this trip on a historic train, like the ones that ran in Berlin from the 1920s through the 1990s and were known for their characteristic noises, such as the slamming of doors and the typical hissing sound when compressed air escapes. Once you’ve arrived in the suburbs—so the story goes—you leave the station and head to the allotment garden complex. As you stroll along the garden paths, you’re surprised to notice nightingales giving their evening concert. And yes, it’s actually true that throughout Berlin, from April through June, you can hear many nightingales every evening and every night. The nightingales are really loud and have a distinctive song, so I’m very surprised that there are so many people who tell me they’ve never heard a nightingale before. The piece is a string quintet featuring a violin, a viola, and a cello, accompanied by two pianos. I have decided to use two pianos so that they can share the extensive tremolo and trill passages, which improves playability. It has an A–B–A form, with the A sections representing the S-Bahn ride. I’ve chosen the unusual 13/16 time signature—initially as a challenge to myself— but while working on it, I realized that the 13/16 time signature can be considered as a compound meter of 3 + 4 + 6, which evokes the idea of acceleration (of the train), and, when reversed to 6 + 4 + 3, that of deceleration (as the train enters the station). The B-part is in 12/8 time signature with a lovely, lulling siciliano rhythm, thus emphasizing the calm scenario while walking through the gardens. I hope you’ll enjoy the piece as much as I enjoyed working on it (although I somewhat underestimated the effort needed …). The YouTube video is coming soon. Thus, stay tuned! Praeludium-XVII-A-flat-major-quintet-mix.mp3 Praeludium-XVII-A-flat-major-quintet-with-coversheet.pdf

Thank you @Wieland Handke for the compliment. We are here to build each other up. That is why I ensure to continue to review as a member update their works here.

When I was looking at my submission thread today I was excited to see more than expected replies – after the reviews were coming in somewhat slowly in the last few days. The more I was surprised when I realized that a “battle” or a “rodeo” had broken out over my post! So I must first state the following disclaimer: I did not create the user D.V.Vanin to troll my own thread in order to have more replies, but however, thank you @D.V.Vanin for producing that amount of attention to my piece, LoL! 😉 Thanks to @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu and @PeterthePapercomPoser for wielding the sharp sword of forum etiquette to defend me against negative comments. But I must make it clear that I don’t take these personally or seriously. I’ve just seen, that D.V.Vanin has posted some short pieces to compare his compositions with mine. I will – after doing my work reviewing the submissions to the competition – give him feedback with a „counter review“ - in the way as I usually do: seriously, honestly and kindly. And thank you to all the „serious“ reviewers so far, @Kvothe , @Luis Hernández and @chopin for their reviews, I will come back to them later, individually.

This is nice! I really like when the strings enter at m 16, it’s a really nice color. If it were me I would move the Horn 1 part in m19-21 to the 2nd Trumpet. Then maybe bring the 2nd trombone at m22 down a fourth so it doubles the 2nd trumpet at the octave (or maybe even remove it altogether…?) Also, why does Trombone 2 have that part instead of Trombone 1? Overall really nice arrangement, I enjoyed listening!

yes! im still intending on submitting!

Yes I still intend to submit a piece :) I also have a question: will there be a period after submissions are done to allow me and others to review the other pieces?

@MK_Piano , @UncleRed99 , @MrBelegro , @Luis Hernández , @Some Guy That writes Music , @ferrum.wav , @Monarcheon , @mercurypickles , @apple , @ComposaBoi , @HoYin Cheung , @Oak , @Brandon S Could you let us know if you still plan on submitting music to the competition? The competition will close to further submissions on Tuesday!

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9.5 8 10 10 10 8 10 8.5 Avg: 9.25 This piece definitely captures the anxious commuter during rush hour I think. You captured the forward momentum beautifully during the train ride sessions. The score presentation is a perfect 10 because of your annotations, which helps the listener understand your intentions much more clearly. Your usage of dissonant chords to designate the train's departure was excellent, and the trills to portray the nightingale was really creative. And on top of all of this, your theme was extremely coherent / catchy. Overall, between your director's cues (basically, your score) and the music itself, this was a coherent, creative and beautiful piece to listen to. And you weren't afraid to take chances, which I feel, paid off very well.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 8.5 8 9 9.5 9 10 9 Average Score: 8.8 Review: Melodies/Themes/Motives - There are many recognisable motifs, quite a few of which take the form of trills, etc. Harmony/Chords/Textures - The texture feels rich yet dynamic. Form/Development/Structure/Time - Performed as described and for an appropriate duration.. Originality/Creativity - The choice of instruments, particularly the two pianos, is unusual, but having listened to the piece and looked at the score, I believe it is entirely justified. Score Presentation - The score is correct and easy to read. Instrumentation/Orchestration/Playability The score is very effective, but it seems entirely playable. Execution of Given Challenge - I think the author has succeeded in achieving his aim. Taste - I like this piece because of its unique flavor.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 9 9.5 10 10 6 8.5 9 Avg: 8.9 Your Melody, Theme, Motive is wonderful. Right away I could hear what you were doing in the bass. Extremely clear and intentional, and it's a beautiful entry. Also in the intro I like how you seem to interweave the theme while modulating upwards. I can see this representing a sunset in an old western movie perhaps. The biggest criticism here would be playability. Is it playable? Sure, but the way it's written, its for a larger ensemble. This most likely could be formatted for a proper quintent and not lose too much of its texture.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 6.5 9 7 10 10 7.5 7.5 Avg: 8.2 I think your scene is incredibly difficult to portray, but I hear the cultural influence of your piece. It brings me back to perhaps the 1500s. Definitely a solid melody, and fugue-like parts (perhaps more like a hybrid fugue - invention maybe?) Nevertheless, even though your harmony is simple, I do like that you changed keys halfway through.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.5 5 10 8.5 10 10 10 8.5 Avg: 8.8 I think you nailed the challenge with this, the mood in my view really captures the image / scene. I know I marked you down for harmony, and normally for a mood piece like this it wouldn't be a big deal. However perhaps you could have implemented even just 1 transition (from early morning to mid morning), especially on a 5 minute piece. Other than that though, this is a very beautiful musical scene!

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.5 6 9 10 10 10? 9 8 Avg: 8.67 Really good job on portraying the scene, which is the whole point of this challenge. And executed with custom percussion sounds nonetheless! While the score is hard to follow, clearly you needed that setup to execute the musical output. I gave you a 10 anyway because you communicated your intent, and you clearly cared about the musical output, which is important to me as a listener. I have no idea if this is playable, but assuming yes, so you get a 10 with a question mark. This reminded me of a jungle scene which is close enough to your image! And I even hear what sounds like water in your music which I would imagine represents the reservoir. VERY well done!

Hiihiiii!!! This is my submission for the Spring 2026 Landscapes Competition :) For my landscape, I've chosen the mountains of Zhangjiajie, China. The first time that I saw these mountains, I was awestruck by just the sheer scale of them. Massive peaks and towers, overgrown with centuries-old moss, reaching beyond the clouds. Really just gorgeous. I wanted to try to write about them. The piece starts off zoomed outwards, depicting the sparseness of the clouds, until eventually, a melody begins to creep towards the first real theme--which I call the garden theme. The focus is on the garden now, zoomed in, it's a sort of natural oasis along the side of one of the tall mountainous pillar. It's beautiful, lush, full, until the garden begins to die as winter comes. The harmony because sparse and vague again, with large spontaneous gusts of wind... just very dry sounding overall. That is, until months later, the clouds darken, promising a heavy storm. Anticipation builds, until eventually, rain comes pouring down, so densely that it's almost like a wall. It's the first rain of spring!!! After the rain settles down, the garden comes to life again with the re-entry of the garden theme!! The piece ends as the focus zooms back out onto the clouds, and the tension finally resolves again. My goal with the piece was to try to represent the life cycle of the plant life out in the setting of Zhangjiajie. I hope you all like it !!!! AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.mp3 AmidstTheCloudsAndFlowers.pdf

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 8.5 10 10 5 8 9 9 Avg: 8.4 Rough crowd with this one lol. I have a very different take. While I'm not sure this reminds me of rain, this DOES remind me of meditation with an Asian influence perhaps. I'm not sure if you were going for that, but that's how I feel. I love the mood you portray too, even though it's dark sounding, you were able to portray a sense of peace and contemplation in my opinion. Very nice work, and creative!

Hello, I listen to this a few days ago in the car so my memory may not be as fresh, but I didn’t have time to actually review anything. From what I could remember, the composition technique was good and the piece itself was good. It’s just good to keep note that you’re using multiple string instruments per section. At most, this is supposed to be a quintet. You’re calling for multiple violins, violas, and cellos as well with the samples corresponding to such. Anyways, I’m going to be listening to your piece again and I’ll give feedback there. Score presentation is also kind of interesting. A lot of the notation you use isn’t usually found in modern string Orchestra stuff for example like those repetition things that you put into the following measure in a lot of octave lines that’s usually used only for piano stuff. Also, some of the stuff that you may have presented may be difficult for some string players along with some double stops you have presented Your score average is 7.45 Like always keep up the good work MelodiesThemes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.7 9 8.5 7.9 6.5 6.8 5 7.2

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 6.5 8 9 7.5 6.5 8 8 Average Score: 7.6 Review: Melodies/Themes/Motives - The piece is rich in melodies and interwoven motifs. Harmony/Chords/Textures - The polyphonic texture is consistent. I think it would have been better if the three instruments hadn’t been playing all the time. Form/Development/Structure/Time - I think the structure is fine, and the length too; I prefer shorter pieces. Originality/Creativity - Of course, the choice of these chimes—which sound familiar yet are different—is a key point. I also think that oriental sound has been recreated very well. Score Presentation - The score is correct and easy to read. Instrumentation/Orchestration/Playability In this respect, I think the dynamics and accents are missing, which makes it sound a bit flat. It would have been nice to have a brief explanation of what each instrument is. Execution of Given Challenge - I think the author has succeeded in achieving his aim. Taste - Although I think it would sound better with those instructions, I like this piece because of its exotic character.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.5 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 Average Score: 7.8 Review: Melodies/Themes/Motives - The motifs are pleasant, although one in particular dominates the entire piece and could perhaps have been explored or varied a little more. However, in the second movement there seems to be more variation, and the result is effective and satisfying. Harmony/Chords/Textures - The harmony is straightforward and seamless; it comes across as complete even when carried by horizontal melodic lines, which is a real plus. The texture is very clean. Form/Development/Structure/Time - Good. Originality/Creativity - The combination is very well balanced, featuring a bass instrument, a polyphonic instrument and a melodic instrument. All three have a melancholic character. It is a classic combination within a post-Romantic or Impressionist context. Score Presentation - There were a few moments that could have been improved, such as the bassoon’s entry in that very high register, by using the tenor clef. Instrumentation/Orchestration/Playability Here, once again, there are a few moments where I think it’s worth reviewing the characteristics of the instruments. The bassoon’s entry in that very high register will be quite difficult to play at mp (mezzo-piano). The same goes for the flute; in those registers, it either sounds forte…. Execution of Given Challenge - I think the composition captures it very well. Taste - It’s not surprising, but it’s entirely appropriate and pleasant.

There is one other option I forgot to mention, which would be lighter on the business/personality requirements. Library music composition. What that is, is that you compose for a company who licenses music out to television and advertising. So you write an album of music, they get the distribution rights and you get the writer's share for royalties. Some of these companies, like Atom Music Audio, Warner-Chappell etc. provide a lot of music to things like commercials, trailers, TV spots for shows, reality TV, etc. Competition is fierce and there are never any guarantees that your music will get placed in anything, however, a number of composers do make a decent living after years of building up a collection of albums and licensed tracks. How this works depends on whether you're writing for a European company or American one. In America, companies like Warner-Chappell will pay you an upfront amount of money for the album. This is very often 10s of thousands of dollars. HOWEVER, the trade off is that these companies do not offer you any amount of the license fee when some company licenses a track. You do, however get your writer's share of royalties when it airs. So pros: Upfront money can be enough to live on. You still get royalties until the day you die as long as your music is airing somewhere in the world. Cons: Licensing fees, especially if a track is for a big movie trailer or something, can be worth anywhere from tens of thousands to even millions of dollars in the very best cases. You don't get a dime from that. Plus, a few types of placements don't count as a "public performance" and don't have to pay any royalties, such as movie trailers that don't air on TV. European companies offer a different deal and my understanding is this deal is legally-mandated in many countries. Usually, there is no upfront money, but it is the case that you not only get your writer's share from royalties, but also 50% of licensing fees. So if you had a track that they licensed out for a lot of money, half that is yours. This means that you can potentially make more money if you release albums with a European library, BUT as they tend to have little to no financial skin in the game, they don't really have any incentive on their end to aggressively pitch your music. So this could be another option for you if you just want to focus on composing and not have to worry really about networking and deadlines. However, you have to be able to deliver professional quality, broadcast-ready mockups or recordings, and the tradeoff there is that you have little control over your own career; it's a roll of the dice. With enough albums you could make good money or nothing at all, but it is less involved than being a dedicated film composer and doesn't really involve much risk.

Hi @Musicman_3254 ! First, one thing for the scoring: as this competition signifies It would not be appropriate to use divisi for the strings, unless it's for a string orchestra. The soundtrack and the scoring suggests that this piece is for a string orchestra rather than a string quintet, which could have been resulted in disqualification. The octaves sign aren sometimes not realized in the recording, and you should write the notes out instead of using the sign anyways, like those in the beginning section. But put that scoring aside, I quite enjoy your music here! I like how you achieve some varieties with a simple unchanging melody by changing the instrument to play the melody, the register, the thickness/thinness of accompaniment, I especially like the moment when you invite motions of semiquavers in b.50 which really makes the music more exciting. Use of tremolos are great too to enhance the drama. Maybe one suggestion is that you can vary more with keys and mood. The piece is in C minor with the same melody throughout the whole piece which is fine for me, but it will be more interesting if you can somewhat modulate to other keys. For example even with the original melody you could have a Eb major chord supporting it and make the mood change. Thx for sharing! Henry

I see, that helps a lot! In the orchestration example you provide, there is something lacking in terms of the ensemble tessitura. Tessitura is a complex word, but in simple terms describes the characters/ properties of an instruments range. (I.e Flutes sounds airy/ whispery when played low, Tubas sound rich when played high, etc.) In this context, I am worried about where the notes are placed in the instruments and then comparing that to the harmonic series. If you wanted a full sound from the orchestra, you need to fill out the harmonic series so we hear all the resonances. The computer (MuseScore in this case) is deceiving you because you are hearing a lot of instruments, but if this were played live, it would sound loud, but not as rich/ warm as you want it to. FEEDBACK: Brass - The horns doubling the same pitch will not sound "full" but the same brassy sound louder. Ensemble Tutti - There can be different variants of an ensemble tutti. The most basic being every instrument is playing the exact same line in their registers. However, another implication is that every instrument is playing, albeit, different material. This is more reminiscent to your example and I think it fitting if you have the bass instruments (Contrabasses, Contrabassoons) sustain the pedal/ tonic fundamental. If every line is moving, then it is hard to hear the melodic content you want. Pulsing the harmony and grounding the bass while the melodic line moves will be an effective tool to clearly hear the feature. Timpani - BEWARREEEEE the timpani. While written in bass clef, it is NOT a bass instrument. Remind yourself that the timpani has anywhere between 1-5 drums (5 for professional ensembles and 4 for universal standard) It has a hard time moving stepwise and if you can write leaps or intervals bigger than a 3rd, it will be very easy on the player. They can tune the drum heads live and if you are not too sure if it is playable, ask a timpanist for insight. Also, for a point of the score, make sure your language is standard. You mixed english names and italian names for the instruments. Make it easy on the brain and keep it one or the other lol Attached is a sample orchestration of what I have done with these comments. I changed the harmony a little to make it simpler for example purposes only: (I just realized I missed the Divisi for the Celli.. whoops) Orch.Sample_Audio.mp3 Orchestration Sample.pdf

Hey there. Here is my score of your entry. Entry: Padovana et Gagliarda Form: Here, I feel, the composition has created a strophic chorale structure. Each section of the piece of the composition is well peace and clearly marked. Even without a proper formal development, this baroque chorale (in 4 parts) stands on its own feet's. Score Presentation: L.S Barros' score did not show any engraving errors. It was presented in professional manner. The parts were labeled. Playability: This chorale is certainly playable for any level. The only technical issue that may happen school concerts. Young musicians are not familar with 3/2 meter. But that is not even something to worry about. Creativity: I appreciate the fresh take on chorale Harmony: The homophonic texture was well executed throughout this entry. I appreciate the modal mixture and other forms chromaticism that you used throughout and how you resolved them! Execution: this entry met the correct theming of challenge and was within given time limit. Taste: It was refreshing to hear brass chorale with this competition. Chorales are usually associated with voices. Here, we get to hear one with a brass quartet. Quartets provide a more emotional musical experience to the audience, imo. I felt I was actually listening to 4 brass players and not brass section. Thus, I enjoyed this a lot. Themes: Each section has a different unique theme that repeats. (noted: this is the nature of chorale) Average Score: 9.8 Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 10 10 9.5 10 9.5 10 10

Time for the actually score of you entry! Entry: Morning on Windby Island Review: My above comments remain! I took those in affect when I scored this! However, I will add something about the harp. The rolled chord in the left hand are too small for the harp. Usually rolled chords are played by both hands. Nothing major. That is why is only .5 off in the score and playability sections. other than...Kudos Total: 9.75 Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 10 9 10 9.5 9.5 10 10

Hi! Actually I just completed my piano toccata piece inspired from living near the motor city (Detroit, MI) in my childhood... I decided to make this toccata piece since I thought the mechanistic characteristics of the genre match well with general images of the motor city... In this piece I tried to express free style of lots of jazz and popular music heard when I was growing up near Detroit, while keeping this piece modern classical music... Hope you enjoy this piece, and please feel free to leave any comments and suggestions :) Motorcity Toccata.mp3 Motorcity Toccata.pdf

I see! Feel free, yeah. Trying to maintain a certain balance between number of posts & number of replies is a wise choice. In my experience, uploading too much and replying too little leads to being ignored because others fairly see you as someone that only wants a bit of attention and that doesn't really care about anything else. It's a valid stance, but it leads to rejection. That said, I encourage you to keep posting & interacting here. I'll make sure to check your No. 8 whenever I find a bit of free time! Regarding this: do you use a software to make these pieces that doesn't provide a solid PDF output overall? Regards!

Sometimes it's not about your skills, it's more about whether the judges' taste is similar with yours and your work's skill level can still be very high even if they think it's not good enough to advance to the next round. I think of winning any prizes more like a chance event, just like having job interviews haha. Keep going and you will for sure pursue what you want! Henry

Lithl - Swarm of Sound I would appreciate any kind of feedback, whether it’s a critique or just your overall impressions of the work. Thank you.

Hi Sera, welcome to the forums! Just as an advice, many of us like to read the sheet music in case there's any. Maybe it's not the case here? Did you use a DAW to make this directly in MIDI + VSTs? Hmmm. Still in the first mp3 you attached. I guess I should read these criticisms more in depth in order to see how much I would agree or disagree with them. Often, the definitions of what X or Y are depend widely on the person using them. I would be inclined to think that when somebody told you that there's "no melody" they tried to convey something a bit deeper than "there's absence of a melodic line". Maybe they themselves don't even know how any better way to tell you their thoughts, but again I am not sure since I did not read these comments myself. There's obviously a melody in the sense there's an horizontal line in the piano (and later, on the strings) that's intentionally put on top of the rest of the sound mix, and there is some motive repeating here and there but it is shadowed by the —I would say, evident— vertical design of the piece in one hand, and also by the repetitive nature of the piece itself, a repetition that does not rely on the melody but that is commanded by that vertical design. The block-ish simple 4-chord progression/wheel harmony (Em G Bm D, with ocassional variations G-> Am, Bm-> Eb), to me and in this very case, competes against the melody here, and successfully (to some of your critics disgrace) robs a good chunk of its prominence. Adding variations and ostinatos on top of or next to said melodic line does not help. On top of that, the dynamics that are not built by layering instruments/voices are in my opinion either very subtle or inexistent. All in all, I can get people saying: "there's no melody" as an oversimplification of "this piece lacks a strong melodic line leading it". In fact, the harmony itself leads (or restricts) the melody. As much as there's rhytmic movement in the upper voice in the piano, it always stays inside of each bar. The piece barely moves from that so what the brain ultimately gets is "| Things | Things | Things | Things |". The melody is not on top of that, but constrained to that rigid sub-structure. Your alternative three "melodies" suffer from that. You build vertically, vertical sub-structure commands over horizontal movements, and thus the melody you build doesn't escape and get the prominence it needs to be righteously called a "melody". This does not mean that any piece with these characteristics will have no distinguishable melody, but that this happens in this particular case. Let's stop a bit at the "it's just tinkling", I would not say that but I kind of get where this may come from too. Keeping in mind what I discussed in last paragraph, if you combine "melodic line not leading", "ostinatos & small variations" and we consider that the piano resorts to it's high register in order to make that melodic line more prominent, we get something that we could indeed call "piano tinkle". I would say it can be cantabile, but it can also feel easily forgettable because it again gets diluted by the things I have been pointing out in this message. But wait a minute: do you intend this piece to have a prominent melodic line to begin with? After 3-4 listenings, it strikes me as a piece with (strong?) influence of the style of L. Einaudi (and the likes) . I'm not a fan, but it's yet another way to build music and it doesn't neccesarily rely on a melodic line to move things forward. For certain purposes, you don't even want things to "move forward". You may want to create an "atmosphere", or simply something whose main source of movement &/or development is not concentrated in the melody. You do you. Finally: it doesn't strike me as a Ballade but I'm not sure if there's a clear defintion of that so no big deal. Did you yourself think: "I want to make a piece with a clear, distinguishable melody."? Just curious. Best regards, Daniel–Ø.

I'm impressed both by your light touch playing this, and the lack of scratching out on your handwritten copy. If I wrote that way, it would be all chaotic scribbled out former ideas. The interplay between your first and second sections works very well! A very satisfying piece to listen to!

Not normally, no. They are standard in our industry. The only time it would be broken is when you have a larger ensemble or other instrument combinations that are not standard. In this case, it’s not about orchestral order, it’s about highest-> lowest instrument for the layout.

Hello! It is time. As you asked, I have delivered. Attached on this comment are my annotations on the arrangement thus far. Directly under, I have attached a sample PDF and sample Audio file to pair with my notes. The notes are found at the end of the current score and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask! Kvothe - Reger Humoresque (ANNOTATED).pdf Attached Files: Kvothe_Example.pdf Kvothe_ExampleAudio.mp3

Hi all, it's been a really long time, I decided I wanted to come back and check out what's going on! I also wanted to share two successes of mine in the past several months: Slipping, which was written in early-2025, written for Symphonic Orchestra, was performed by the California Youth Symphony in November 2025. I have attached the score and two recordings of it, one MIDI and one of the performance. The Dunning-Kruger Effect, written in mid-2025, written for String Orchestra, was performed by my school orchestra, which I conducted. I have attached the score and here's the video: https://youtu.be/CQBDUVbKEpQ?si=psCVro_MLM3NfmEV . Looking forward to seeing what's going on in this forum after so long! Slipping.mp3 Slipping FINAL MIDI.mp3 Slipping-score.pdf the dunning-kruger effect score.pdf

Thanks for listening luderart, glad you enjoyed it :) Hey Kvothe, thanks for listening! Regarding your point #1, yeah you're correct, it was more for playback. @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu was kind enough to record it, I could just write con pedale or something now 🙂

Thank you for your kind comments! You are not the first one who recall Bartok while listening my works - I guess it is because of the crude dissonance. I mainly write on computer as it gives me immediate playback which makes my writing more convenient. It is important the method of writing follows the speed my idea comes! haha. It also make the engraving easier. Here is the full set of my Symphony No.1: Symphony No.1 - First Movement - Orchestral and Large Ensemble - Young Composers Music Forum Symphony No.1 - Second Movement - Orchestral and Large Ensemble - Young Composers Music Forum Symphony No.1 - Finale - Orchestral and Large Ensemble - Young Composers Music Forum

Hi to all, Here's my first attempt to orchestrate this nocturne. I actually started this last year, and never really finished it properly. I know there's a load of things wrong with it! Not least all the missing slurs and clumsy handovers, etc... The cadenza-like figure on Pages 8 and 9 is particularly awkward to orchestrate: so any suggestions would be very welcome! Maybe I should divide up the runs into shorter figures, and spread them out across different instruments? Perhaps dovetailing these together with overlapping notes, or single handover notes? That way the cadenza could work its way around the orchestra to give a nice 3D effect? Anyway, just thinking outloud! Hope you enjoy. (N.B. Revised versions will be posted lower down the thread.) Nocturne No.1 in Eb minor (Faure orchestration) #41.mp3 Nocturne No.1 in Eb minor (Faure orchestration) #41.pdf

Hello YC gang, Below I have attached the first ten measures of arrangement of Meger second Humorquse. The cast is woods in pairs and two horns. Here is what needs to you check for me: Score this as if this this was entry for YC contest. My goals; I want to successfully score for orchestra->check balance, texture, and timbre. Check for engraving errors I have missed. check for instrumation errors Harmony errors etc Reger Humor no. 2 untitled.mp3 Meger.pdf

I don’t know why it’s called ‘Cantai’. But I don’t think it has anything to do with artificial intelligence; rather, it means ‘to sing’ or one of its verb forms in various Latin-based languages. What’s more, it uses recordings of real professional singers (soloists and choirs). I’m familiar with that software you mention. And I used to have it, but depending on what you want to do or what your needs are, it’s better or worse for different people. What I like about Cantai is that you write the notes and the text in the same editing programme (MuseScore, Sibelius, Dorico). And that’s it. It uses expression maps for dynamics and so on. You don’t have to work outside the editing programme (in a DAW, or in XML, etc.). Which is fine, if that’s what you want to do

I'm really enjoying this movement and shall have to check out the rest! One thing your orchestral style reminds me of is the style of parts of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, where folksy tunes and whimsical syncopation disguise rather dissonant harmony! Just wondering; do you write directly into the computer, or on paper? Honestly, I can't tell, which is a good thing...I will write directly into the computer for a piano piece, but wouldn't do so for a symphony, if I ever wanted to write another. Heck, it kinda reminds me of the Shostakovich First, teenage masterpiece, in its playful quirkiness. I'll be looking into more of your stuff.

Hi Bioplar, The choice of instrument for this composition, certainty, was correct. Harp, Bassoon, and Oboe do create the tonal colors for a pastoral piece. You could have choose any wood wind instrument, for they soft, warm colors. When I hear the harp, I envision mermaid playing on rock. (that is just me) The woods, I think, create dreamy aura in this piece. I enjoy interplay oboe and bassoon with the harp. Overall...nice job

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9.5 9 9.5 8.5 10 9.5 8 8 Average Score: 9

This piece of music did it’s a really good job, capturing the quietness and beauty of the given landscape. It’s not really my cup of tea, but it’s relaxing and it gives the atmospheric feeling that you’re actually there. Melodic material. 7.5 Chords and texture 6.7 Structure 7.4 Originality 8.2 Engraving 9.7 Orchestration and playability 7 Execution 9.86 taste 5.2 Total 7.69