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Hello On this occasion, and to increase my skills with regard to brass instruments, I have orchestrated a song by Mendelssohn, Op. 19 No. 3 (Hunting Song), originally for solo piano. The ensemble consists of four French horns, two trumpets, two trombones, and one tuba. I had to improvise to resolve some passages where the registers were very high, but it is not a literal copy, rather a version with certain liberties taken. I have respected the original key (A major, which is not bad for brass). But another might have been better, such as B flat major (but some notes were too high for me). Everything is untransposed and in separate systems (I am working on condensing it with the programme, but it's a bit of a nightmare...).

to be frank I actively avoided making this piece too diffrent from the original, as I share the proccess of creating my piece on youtube, and people really want to hear something the recognize instently. I appreciate the kind words a lot though, thank you so much.

totally fair points, I might fix it in the future thank you so much! funny people here follow after my youtube I'm now kind of regretting I didn't bother making that piece playble though

Hi to all! Have been trying to compose a piece for theorbo, and am finding it really hard! Mainly because of the 8 unfretted strings, that can't be tuned to accidentals. That seems to limit me to the 7 modes of C major; or something bitonal or atonal. Anyhow, I've posted two versions below. The first is what I wanted to write, and the second has been bent out of shape to eliminate accidentals on the lower strings. Am thinking I may have to throw the whole thing out, and start again!

Hi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ajinQMxk-QgKfzxODtrkC7839OCZmPYx/view?usp=sharing

Great work. There are brilliant parts and some very original arrangements. However, I think that at times it is too literal with respect to the original song, which isn't bad, it's just a matter of taste. The introduction is very good, distributing the melody between the strings and the winds. I think the first verse forgets this dialogue a little and relies heavily on the strings, which then move to another level but continue to carry the melody. There are some tessituras that I think are unnecessarily out of place, if they are even possible to play effectively (double basses in 29 and 30). There are also several instances where the strings split into several notes and it is unclear whether they are double-triple stops or divisi. I also find it strange to see the piccolo and flute in unison, with the former in a very low register. In conclusion, I see a huge amount of work that sounds good. But orchestrating is not easy, and the orchestra you have chosen is quite large.

A fascinating instrument. Tiorba is how I know it in my language. I don't know anything about how to write for this instrument. I thought, perhaps associated with the Baroque and its use as a continuo, that the lower open strings were for the bass. Although it seems that you use it differently.

A lovely theme and a quite pleasant orchestration. It reminds me of an Italian Movie score from the 60's ... 70's ... Nicely done. Mark

Hello @Gwendolyn Przyjazna! I am always interested in pieces featuring „exotic scales“ and modes and so I was excited to find out how your „progressive rock instrumental“ would sound like. Since you didn’t provide a score I could concentrate on listening: My impression is, that the harmonies sound very smooth together – not as dissonantly as in some of @PeterthePapercomPoser’s Persichetti excercises, for example „Persichetti Exercise 2 - 56 for Clarinet Duo“. Thus, producing a dreamy, melancholic sound where especially the transition section from 01:52 to 02:26 reminded me indeed at Kate Bush! I must admit that I had to lookup what the Lydian Augmented and the Spanish Phrygian scales are all about. And so I found the reason why they are gentler or even more similar each other than I expected in the pair Lydian/Phrygian: The Lydian Augmented scale is more „darker“ than the traditional bright Lydian mode (which sounds paradoxical at first glance), while the Spanish Phrygian scale sounds much more „brighter“ than the original Phrygian one due to its major third. You added the tag „counterpoint“ to the piece so that I was curious how a counterpuntual rock instrumental would sound like. But to be honest, I get the impression that for most of the piece, you only had one voice with a melody, while the other instruments accompanied in chords or long notes, so I have to admit that I didn't really understand what you meant by “counterpoint”. Thank you for sharing, I very enjoyed it!

Hello @MK_Piano! Yes, that’s really a good swinging big band piece which immediately reminds at Glenn Miller’s „Chattanooga Choo Choo“. Good old steam trains seem to have inspired many composers and musicians because of their „sound“ which comprises „rhythmic“ elements (the start of the locomotive, increasing and decreasing speed, the rattling noise when driving over the track joints) and melodic elements (the puffing of steam, the whistling of the locomotive, or the squeaking of the wheels when braking) which animate to be imitated musically. Who would write a piece inspired by the noises a nowadays train produces? Another good example of a piece dedicated to a steam locomotive is Arthur Honnegger's “Pacific 231”, which is not a jazz piece, but rather a dramatic symphonic work. I liked it very much and I must say that the repetitive character mentioned by @PeterthePapercomPoser didn’t bother me, especially taken into account the purpose of the piece as soundtrack for a movie where it does not appear in its entirety but is cut into parts to underpin the individual scenes. Or whenever it would be played in a bar as the background music, the most visitors would not even notice it.

Wow this is great! And you're getting a performance? Very happy for you, you should update this with the audio once you get it! I've made edits to my music posts too, and I think it's easiest to add the revised audio to your original post, or just remove the old one and replace with the new. That way when people click on your music they're greeted with the version you want them to hear 🙂 Great stuff, looking forward to hearing more from you

Dude these are hard to keep up with lol... but I guess I've been busy and haven't been on here as much... sorry! Listening... Ok cool! I'm almost finished with a counterpoint in two voice piano type of piece, so this is right up my alley. The language is different, but the upper part kinda looks familiar lol. I really wonder if it would have sounded better having the intervals closer together, but with them far apart it was like an eerie bi-tonal carnival ride to me or something 😄Were you mainly thinking of the consonance of intervals? It was dissonant but smooth. I know it was just an exercise and you had a prompt, but what about texture change? I'd love to hear staccato bass or something, even if just a segue in the middle. Cool piece! Have any of these exercises given you grander ideas for the themes you've used? What do you feel you've gained so far in these compositional studies? Hopefully your next major work has even more craftsmanship from your work. Well done!

Some badges must me earned. Some are given freely, but there is one badge that rules them all. Legend holds that a mysterious "better than thatguy" badge is given only to a chosen few. You must search through the members profiles and sift through their badges to gain further knowledge. I wish you well in your quest.

Hi @MrBelegro! Welcome to the forum! For the Outstanding Orchestrator badge, you may look into pieces below which are awarded the badge for your reference: For the "Better than Thatguy" badge, actually it's named so because one of our moderator's username is @Thatguy v2.0, so you may check out his works to see if you are better than him or not lol! Henry

Hello @Tunndy! You have picked the perhaps most covered or orchestrated rock/pop song ever, the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody, which I consider to be a huge challenge. Everyone who hears the piece knows it and has its own expectations in the sense of „does it sound like the original“. I had the chance two years ago to attend a live performance of an orchestra and choir, and I was impressed how realistic that was performed - very close to Queen’s original sound. But that's also the problem when everyone is sensitized to noticing every little “mistake” or deviation from the original: you're faced with the challenge of bringing your own personal touch or interpretation to it. And that's exactly what you've done very well. The longer I listen to your orchestration, the more I notice some beautiful interpretations that really make it “your” piece. I particularly liked the ending, from bar 103 onwards! However, I could imagine that this personal interpretation could go even further. Therefore, as an inspiration, I have linked a YouTube video of David Bennet who reinterprets Bohemian Rhapsody in different modes or scales, which I find very fascinating. Thank you for sharing, I very enjoyed it!

Mother and Son 12-9-25.pdfHi all, Once again I resurrected an old work which needed a dusting off and a new look. It's called Mother and Son ... I describe the playful and sentimental interactions of a Mother and child as they play/interact in the park. Mark

Hi Tunndy, I notice your glissando lines have gone a bit haywire in Bars 54-55. Also in Bars 23 and 41 Violin II, you should flip the direction of the note stalks to make it clear what's going on there. Same in Bar 61 Violin I. Bar 55: some rests need deleting in the harp and Violin I. Same in Bar 66 Bass Drum, and Bar 69 various instruments. Plus a few more places where you have unnecessary rests. Bar 74: voices need tidying. Other than that good job! Also liked your recent Liszt orchestration of "La Campanella".

I don't know why, but it sounds neoclassical to me. I imagine this piece in an 18th-century drawing room. I think it has an intimate, somewhat playful feel to it. Good work on these exercises.

Imperial Rome The Fall of the Roman Empire, I wonder which Country is Next ? Imperial Rome.mp3

Hi all 🙂 As a new born violonist (started the instrument in october 2024), I thought I would give it a chance at composing a concerto for violin and orchestra with my humble technical skills knowledge (far from pushing the instrument to its limits 😉). Here it is. Three movements : allegro moderato / lento / allegro. There are various themes inside, main ones being : Theme 1 : enunciated straight at the opening (bars 1-4), it's developed further by various sections as well as by the soloist under several forms, Theme 2 : appears first bars 219 to 225 at the end of the first movement, then in second and third movements under several forms Theme 3 : bars 31 to 71 in second movement, then reappears in the conclusion of the concerto at the end of the third movement. Other leitmotivs (don't know if it's the appropriate term) emerge throughout the piece. The third movement is an allegro but strongly slows down at the end for a quiet, peacefull, opened ending mainly reusing colors from the second lento movement. In the attached pdf score : Allegro moderato : page 1 Lento : page 69 Allegro : page 102 Here's the video (let me know if it's better that I attach MP3s) : 0:00 : Allegro moderato 8:32 : Lento 15:57 : Allegro (timeline also in the description of the video) Best regards 🙂 Marc

Hello, friends! How are you doing? I am happy to present my latest composition to you. This one is more challenging to listen to, full of contrasts and wildness that are typical for me, even though I try to incorporate a certain system into my music, which may not be obvious at first listen. Thank you to everyone who decides to support me by listening, and I wish you every success in your creative endeavors!

The Death of Conformity What's Acceptable in This Century, was not Acceptable in the Last Century Proving that "The Death of Conformity" , is not a Fantasy but a Reality. The Death of Conformity.mp3

Thankyou Peter, im very happy to see your review of my composition. heterophonic texture !!! wow i had to look that one up. Thankyou once again for making my day a Happy one, There's another Composition waiting , but not in a waltz style I dont know if that one also has a heterophonic texture ? , ill have to analyze that word in depth, Thankyou.

Hi @interlect! Welcome back to the forum! I actually really like this piece! It has a sort of hypnotic/mesmerizing repetition which makes it really dreamy/magical to me. I love how the melody is scored as well; sometimes with solo lines; other times with a more heterophonic texture. Great job and thanks for sharing! I can't get enough of it!

Hello Tristan :3 thank you so much for the compliments. I would say though, I think I wasn't as bad in orchestration as you thought I was back than. I just really did not care about the quality of the pieces that I made in my youtube videos, so I would resort to copy pasting most of the time. with that being said, this is definitely a piece I could not compose last time we've talked have a great day

oh great points I didn't notice most of that and yeah I tend to lean quite a lot to the string section thank you so much for the reply

I very much enjoyed this! I watched the youtube with score. The starting measures actually which gave me goose bumbs! I don't know the Ukrainian national anthem but knew when it came in by the colored lyrics. Would be great if singers could be added. I haven't written a fugue in a long time but listen to Bach all the time (my fav composer as well). This fugue appears true to form even as it's very chromatic. Of course Art of Fugue comes to mind. Congrats on this work! Thanks for comments on my first jazz composition attempt, Night Train Home. I have a long way to go learning jazz, and appreciate mentioning Nikolai Kapustin who I've never heard before. I listened to several of his jazz piano solo works and hope to work to his level of expertise.

Hello @Alex Weidmann! A piece for theorbo – that is something for me! I really enjoy, that the theorbo is (at least here in Germany) increasingly being used in baroque orchestras alongside the harpsichord and a small organ as a Basso Continuo instrument. I think I first discovered it about five years ago and am always delighted when it is used, for example in Handel's Messiah. It lends such warmth or even a “Mediterranean feeling” to the accompaniment that it surpasses the somewhat “boring” harpsichord and organ, which are unable to play dynamics, while they are needed for rhythmic and percussive accents (the harpsichord) and harmonic filling and foundation (the organ). As I see, you have dealt extensively with the special features of the instrument, especially with regard to playability on the low, diatonically tuned strings. Even if I can’t read the tablature notation, I can imagine that trying to translate the notes into that notation helps to empathize with the player and to avoid playability issues. A two part invention with the voices distributed between the two registers might be challenging to play, but I like that counterpuntual style, together with the arpeggios and flageolet notes! As I used a theorbo too, in a piece I arranged for the 2025 Christmas event – not as a solo instrument but in a continuo, paired with a harpsichord and a small organ, I am no longer sure whether I have taken the ambitus of the theorbo and its special tuning features into account correctly. Therefore, I have linked this piece here, maybe you’ll find a lot of errors ... Greetings, Wieland

Hi there, Tunndy! Long time no see! You have made a wonderful effort into this orchestration, and have an intricacy I am not in the mood of describing, because it is unbelievably intricate. I like the harp solo-ish part very much, and also the section right after that! There are both very smart. By the ending the polyrhythms are also very good. Compared to the previous attempts of orchestration, you have improved a lot. I see you have taken some of the advice from people or, at least beings such as me or @PeterthePapercomPoser.

Hi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1priRSr7zZcLCeQ4INN-oQfIjUj7DOsqy/view?usp=sharing

A very thorough and beautiful piece of work. I find the music very visual, cinematic; you can almost see it in a film from the 50s or 60s. The level of detail in the writing is admirable. What's more, the sounds are fantastic. One thing I really liked is that you use a very “restrained” orchestra, with a romantic feel. In other words, nothing “hypertrophic.” But the amount of colors and sounds you introduce is spectacular.

Bravo. Great work. I really like it. The main theme is beautiful, and so is the development. I find the orchestration very balanced and brought to a climax very effectively. The sounds, which I don't know what they are, are not bad at all, except perhaps the strings, which tend to shorten the final part of their duration on long notes.

Thankyou for your review, im not very good at this AI stuff, your right it is limited, because of preset requests.

Thank you for the suggestion! The score is also on IMSLP and I think it is great to see the orchestration and musical devices they use. One day, I too plan to add my addition to the repertoire on steam engine : D To add, I've updated the score in my OG post as I have now changed a few parts.

Hello @L.S Barros! I think this is a wonderful concerto! I don't think you suck at Baroque music at all! I found the whole thing quite easy listening and unique and enjoyable! Did you write this for the 17-key variety of Kalimba? Seems like a very restricted range to write for, but you seem to have pulled it off! Btw, do you have a score? You would probably get more reviews if you also posted the score. Thanks for sharing!

We staff have decided that it might be a good idea to open the awarding of badges up to the members, not just the staff. The staff aren't perfect and can sometimes miss some good opportunities to award badges to members for some of their excellent or distinctive content. So if you feel like you have been overlooked for an award you deserve - let us know! Tell us which piece you think deserves what kind of award/badge and why and we will consider granting it to you. You can also suggest awards for other fellow composers' works! Refer to the following list of manually awardable badges. If a badge doesn't exist for your particular achievement you can suggest new badges/awards in that thread:

first time I ever composed for an orchastra, would love to hear feedback

Cool bass beats along with a fun motif! Gets a little repetitive, but maybe this can be used for a boss fight. One thing you will notice with AI tunes is that the harmony can get quite stale. Even with the interval key change, this basically is the same harmony for the full 1:40.

I also very much enjoyed your work here with its introspective mood. I do have a question though; measure 28 - can this measure and others be played up to tempo? It appears to require great dexterity. Mark

Huh, those two different scales together remain dissonant, even after listening several times. Interestingly, while you separated the two voices clearly, for me the base clarinet „shadows“ the lydian fourth in the soprano, so that its characteristic is not so clearly perceptible. I was just a bit confused whether the score/recording is transposing or not. I think, the score should be read „as is“ since the scales (B lydian vs. G aeolian) are explicitly mentioned in the exercise. But whenever I listen to the recording, I think the clarinets are playing a whole note lower, thus are transposing ... However, very interesting exercise – while I would prefer a slightly more harmonic approach in my own compositions.

@ferrum.wav thank you for your kind feedback and anaylsis! "Fragmented ideas" describe exactly my composing style and process!😄 I am happy you enjoyed the piece and the ideas come through I intentionally left out the musical expressions and markings out of the score (half of it is me being lazy and the other half is that I think music should be freely interpreted by the player) but I do agree I should add the musical markings to be clear. Maybe in the future if I have enough songs to publish a book. That is my dream 🙂

A very beautiful piece that sounds intimate and effective. It sounds like it's being played live, doesn't it?

Hi all, here is a composition I began in 2011. I rediscovered it in my computer files and decided to rework it and give it some new life. Hope you enjoy the work. All comments welcome as usual.

this is a really nice and short piece !! despite how simple it is, i find it fascinating how you manage to use all of the fragmented ideas effectively. for example, how you use the cadence on b15-16 and the subsequent usages of which throughout for the ending and just leave it hanging at the V, it really gives you that floating feeling. add that with the gentle arpeggio, harmonies, and melodies and you've successfully painted a tranquil feeling on the mind if i could give feedback, i'd probably give ones for the score. maybe it could be given more information such as the tempo, slurs, dynamic, and expression markings other than that, it's a great piece. i thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. thanks for sharing !!!!!!

I was thinking about the ice that's formed here on the ocean. How in foggy conditions it looks like it never ends. I'd like to go sit at the beach of my cottage with an omni mic and just stare into the fog and play this... This is also a slight experimentation on both microtonal tunings (aesthetic) and in player's freedom. You'll note that my recording sounds a bit different to this (and was actually played on steel string guitar), but that's the point :D. I often feel that the player is not given enough free reign to interpret what they are playing - not enough free reign to bring themself to the stage. So this is a slight complaint to that I suppose. All thoughts, feelings, colours, landscapes, gibberish, textur 21st of jan.mp3 es that come to mind please tell me.

Continuing with the Scale Materials Chapter in Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" I wrote this Clarinet Quintet. The prompt was "8. Construct a solo clarinet line in the lydian mode supported by phrygian string quartet harmony. Set both the melody and harmony on the tonal center Bb." Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!

You have no idea the wonderful suggestion you have bestowed upon me. I have been searching for various ways to capture a steam locomotive with the western orchestra. That piece is SO COOL!! It's luckily on IMSLP too, so now I have a score I can study. Thank you!! Yeah... The repetition was more for simplicity to be blunt. I felt I did good with the saxophone writing, however, I admit I am not too knowledgeable on ways to utilize the brass in the Big Band style. In the film, it is cut in half with the key change happening after the first shout/ chorus section. So in context, it only repeats the form twice. I copied the first section in this version as a means to extend the work. Thanks for the comments!

Continuing with the polychordal exercises in Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" I wrote this Brass Sextet. The prompt was "2. Harmonize the following first-trumpet melody in six part brass harmony (three trumpets and three trombones). Use a predominantly polychordal texture with occasional unison relief." I chose to use two trumpets, two horns and two trombones instead of the suggested instrumentation. Thanks for listening and I would appreciate any of your comments!

This is my first submission (of two) to the YCF 2025 Christmas Event. We are all awaiting (or at least the children do wait for) Christmas Eve. Since there are still a few days to go, the time should be peaceful and quiet – despite the stress and noise as it is in reality. Thus, the idea behind this piece is to imagine the night before Christmas, the church where crowds of people will gather tomorrow to celebrate Christmas Eve. The church is empty, or seems to be empty, but there are three musicians playing a piece that is reminiscent of either night music or a final rehearsal before the upcoming concert.

Make it more chaotic. You are not Bach. Maybe listen to some of my works that were supposed to be fighting song for a game. I am going to put them on here later.