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87053bd8f2cb48d184ee054407d37bb8.mp3 Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Please note that some of the grace notes are written like they are due to a better playback performance. Any advice on what the genre is? When it was just the first piece it was a Bagatelle, but now I’m not sure

Kia Ora Alex, Nice piece. A few suggestions: Although tabs are quite common for notating guitar parts in pop styles, classical guitar pieces are generally only notated using standard musical notation. While you can still include a staff of tab in your score, it might be more conventional to remove it. If you do choose to include tab, please, PLEASE get an actual guitarist to write it out for you. The tabs generated by notation software are almost always shite and the one that Musescore generated for you is no exception. It has suggested some ridiculous unplayable shite (like in bar two, who the hell has hands large enough to press both the second and seventeenth frets at the same time?!) which render it's inclusion in your score quite pointless. All in all, this is a good start. I'm excited to see where this piece goes next! Ngā mihi, Archie

Hi @Alex Weidmann! I am no expert in guitar writing so I can't tell whether it's playable or not, but I would say the whole music would sound like something written in Chinese instrument Zhongruan (my fav. Chinese instrument due to its cute look lol!). It's also a plucked string instrument like guitar: Thx for sharing! Henry

The two staffs is a neat thought, but try out a single staff. There's a few moments where the higher or lower bits are on the staff that isn't higher/lower (Mostly thinking about measure 25 but it happens a few other times that aren't as easily solvable) and it just feels off. It would also solve a lot of issues of notes that are on both staves, which I would have no idea what to do with if I were to have to play it. As for if it's playable, I am no expert. But I can say that a lot of it looks suspiciously like you just threw in the 6 notes you needed and didn't think too much about fingering. Which, to be fair, is also how I would do a sketch. If you can, you really want to find someone who plays guitar and run it by them. Eveen having them just take a quick look is incredibly helpful (I know from experience). I've linked a pdf or two from when I was assigned to write a guitar piece so that you can also hopefully use them. (They are attached and are very helpful as someone who has never touched a guitar) As a piece itself, I like it! I am frankly not a great critic on pitch collection or form, but overall it sounds nice!

This is my first attempt (excluding some best-forgotten teenage stuff) at writing a concerto. The style is my own blend of Classical and some early Romanticism and perhaps a dash of Baroque, but I wrote for the modern valve trumpet. Admittedly, the tessitura may be a bit high, frequently going up to the 8th and occasionally the 9th harmonic. Any comments or feedback would be most appreciated!

It's good to see how others organise themselves. The idea of working on the sketch in three staves or more, depending on the volume, is great. Perhaps in a future project I will try to do the sketch for solo piano, as the intention is not so much to imagine orchestral colours as to establish the structure, parts, climax, harmony and rhythm.

Parking lot, parking lot, You are what all I've got Please give me a shot And don't act like an AI bot!

skip to 3:30 if you get bored of the vibraphone intro lol

This piece is for a concert later this year. Just started on it tonight, and it's the first time I've written for guitar. So I'm sure it's probably unplayable! N.B. I decided to use two staffs to make it more readable. Think it would look very cluttered on a single staff.

Thank you for organizing this event. It has been wonderful to listen to such a variety of proposals.

Hello hello! I've technically known about this forum for a while, but it's time to finally post! I'm hopefully going to start being more active around here to keep myself accountable and continue working on my composition skills To start this out, I wanted to share a piece I've been working on! It's still a WIP, (Basically the only thing in this file that is actively unfinished is the ending and I want to rework the start), but other than that it's a pretty complete piece. I wrote it for a solo-violin assignment in my composition studio, and because I got really mad at a choral concert I went to because they sang a piece called "Shalom" that had nothing to do with the language of origin or culture of origin. Anyway that's a rant for another bit. Here's the little klezmer!

Hi @jejrekmek! I don't find the intro boring at all; on the other hand I find it very religious which reminds me of Buddhist or Hindu music. Your singing is like chanting which is religious as well, and the chords, like Peter said is other-worldly. After it it's more in the world but the accompaniment reminds me of Gamelan music in the interlocking repetitive structure. Nice use of some microtones as well. The section after 5:30 is so interesting to listen to, it's almost like a musical example in a World music class with those drums and percussions! The rhythm throughout the piece is fascinating, again reminds me of world music! The ending is really calm to listen to like many of the pop Japanese music! I really enjoy this one, thx for sharing! Henry

Until I switched to Dorico from Finale over a year ago, I had never heard of Elaine Gould or her book. I do have a PDF of it and it’s certainly interesting, but as with any manual that purports to provide rules, I’m not going to agree with all of it or even most of it. Notation is a very personal thing, and when you consider the scores notated by folks like Feldman or Shapey and many others, there are many “rules” that get broken all the time, yet the music does manage to get performed, and generally performed very well.

Very nice piece, with the cross relations between E and E flat. And very nice performance by Henry, as usual. Well done to both of you!

LoL I am not familiar with idioms at all and thought you guys are talking about Fifty Shades of Grey! Henry

Updated the mp3 with Henry's performance. If anyone's interested, he didn't listen to the mp3 render first 😄 Henry = 🔥

Sad, I'm too old for it!

Fantastic. You took the exercise to the extreme without compromise. Everything is vertical structures. But the sound is very consistent throughout and captures the interest. By the way, that book by Persichetti is wonderful.

Context: composition of an orchestral work or, at least, a chamber piece. Do you first use a sketch for solo piano? What advantages would this have? With the whole range of software and virtual instruments available, the temptation (and reality) of composing directly for the orchestra is very strong. As an amateur composer who makes music purely for intellectual pleasure and for the senses, and also because I am partly self-taught and partly formally trained, I confess that the small pieces I have written have been without a piano sketch. By piano sketch, I do not mean, in this case, a reduction for piano that is idiomatic for the instrument, even virtuosic. I mean a sketch that captures the basics: structure, harmony, melody, rhythms, accents. I consider my training in classical and modern harmony to be very good. In counterpoint, quite good. But lately I have become interested in orchestration and, in turn, trying to structure a work of a certain length (without going overboard for the moment). And in this sense, I think that the piano sketch can be very useful and not a waste of time. In relation to this, I am also doing the opposite: orchestrating fragments or small pieces for solo piano. What do you think?

Hi @Aiwendil! I will review your Concerto a movement a time. This one is for sure very high spirited Classical Concerto reminds me of Mozart and early Beethoven. The energy and motion is very driving throughout the whole movement, motives very coherently used and the opposition between C major and minor is well noted, and the double exposition structure for a classical Concerto is well manage. The modulations within the development add much variety to the harmonic colour, and the interplay between other instruments is lovely. The modulation to F# minor in b.236 is a pleasant surprise to me!, it’s a great way to create crisis before resolving it in the cadenza. Just one question, will you add a concluding trill to signal the end of the cadenza? Thx for sharing! I will review the remaining movements. Henry

I have yet another short piano composition for you prompted by an exercise from Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony". The prompt was "16. Expand this piano passage of eleventh and thirteenth chords preserving the general character." I added lots of dynamics and tempo fluctuations to simulate rubato and bring expression to the music. Let me know how I did! Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any of your comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations.

With the accelerando it sounds like Mario music, but later on it sounds like Prokofiev with those dissonances!

I knew that didn't look right...really, after 38 years, writing an impossible violin chord! I can forgive myself for an unplayable guitar chord once in a while...

Thank you!

The chord would have to be played by splitting and with your inversion, only A5 and D6 with be played as the final chord and leave a barer sound. With F#5 and D6 it definitely sounds fuller!

Why not write with A4, F#5 and D6?

This sounds like an interesting and inventive subversion of a waltz. I'm curious why you describe it as two movements, though. I guess you're considering a new movement to start at m. 106, but it's in the same tempo and style. Also, you probably know this, but the stuff in the right hand at m. 158 and forward would normally be written as tremolos. I assume you wrote out the notes so that the notation software played it back correctly, but in such cases I'll usually prepare separate versions of the score for playback and for display.

I have heard that JW does use 8 staves, too @PeterthePapercomPoser. Writing out a sketch would help me. I am slowly learning orchestration (Adler's Tome is a lot to take in). My recommendation would be: master piano writing! 🙂

I've now moved on to Chapter 4 of Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" which is about quartal chords. The prompt for this one was "10. Extend the following string-quartet opening. Feature pentatonic melodic and quartal harmonic writing." Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations!

Very modern sounding, and I can definitely hear the influence of the pentatonic scale. The harmony makes this scale not sound so sing songy. Nice use of key changing, and after the musical phrase I like how you descend down the scale (such as around 0:36 and 0:39).

Hi @Luis Hernández! I personally use different numbers of staves to sketch things out for orchestra depending on how far I am in refining my material, what my needs are or how big the orchestral forces I'm sketching out are going to be. If I'm sketching out for a string orchestra I usually don't need more than 3 staves (treble clef, alto clef and bass clef). If I'm expanding the string orchestra sketch for a bigger orchestra I use 6 - 8 staves: 3 staves for the strings, 2 for winds, 2 for brass, and 1 for percussion. Finally, if the score is really complex I will write things out for a full orchestra partiture upwards of 16 staves. But I rarely use just a 2 stave piano score for an orchestra - for me it's too small. I've heard that John Williams uses 8 staves when he sketches out his film scores. Great topic!

Hello every one hope you are doing well. i am working on a composition which are inspired i supposed cinematic soundtracks, late romantism and anime. How well do i have control over the drama? Does the piece collapse under it self at some point? (cohesiveness) What about phrasing or melody? is it clear? Personal critique: it seems to change drama in the second half of the piece which may or may not be for the better. The tempo may be too fast? The climax is very sudden(second half of the piece) There may need a better transition. If the mood changes in the second half it should at least have the same drama. Anyway. Looking forward for your critique and comments ! 🙂 Thanks in advance.

Hi @Bjarke! Is this the piece you messaged me about? I think it is quite melodramatic trying to keep such a high intensity and drama without any relief. I don't personally perceive any "climax" because of the constant high intensity. You could create contrast by varying the tempo/tessitura or the thickness of the chords. Currently the chords are voiced so thick all the time that the thickness comes across as the most salient feature of the music and the sense of melody is lost. Also about the tempo - there are few classical pieces of music that are at this tempo and intensity that still manage to keep a sense of being sublime like classical pieces are usually expected to be. Is there any particular reason you're trying to write this piece at such a high intensity/tempo? It isn't conducive to musicality imo. Because of this the cohesiveness of the melody also seems lost to me - the melody seems arbitrary with random seeming modulations. Most importantly there's no sense of tension and release without any sense of cadence nor harmonic resolution. That's my perception of the piece. Thanks for sharing!

Title: Good Boys Aren’t for Me (Verse 1) Polite smiles, tucked-in shirts, All the right words, but it never works. I tried the safe route, I tried to believe, But my wild heart just wants to break free. (Pre-Chorus) Give me tattoos, give me trouble in his eyes, Lean in close, I can feel the butterflies. The good boys call, but I let it ring, 'Cause I need more fire, I need more sting. (Chorus) Good boys aren’t for me, I want a rebel, a little risky. Give me the thrill, give me the heat, Someone who owns the darkened streets. Good boys aren’t for me, I crave the edge, the mystery. I want a bad boy, want a gangster man, Who gets my heart like no good boy can. (Verse 2) Buttoned up boys with their polished shoes, I can’t keep up with the life I've chosen. I’m drawn to danger, to the wolves who run, To the boys with a past and a loaded gun. (Pre-Chorus) Give me tattoos, give me trouble in his eyes, Lean in close, I can feel the butterflies. The good boys wait, but I just can’t stay, 'Cause I need a lover who can sweep me away. (Chorus) Good boys aren’t for me, I want a rebel, a little risky. Give me the thrill, give me the heat, Someone who owns the darkened streets. Good boys aren’t for me, I crave the edge, the mystery. I want a bad boy, want a gangster man, Who gets my heart like no good boy can. (Bridge) Call me crazy, call me wild, But I love the danger, love the style. He’s the king of the night, I’m his willing thief, With a kiss that tastes like disbelief. (Chorus) Good boys aren’t for me, I want a rebel, a little risky. Give me the thrill, give me the heat, Someone who owns the darkened streets. Good boys aren’t for me, I crave the edge, the mystery. I want a bad boy, want a gangster man, Who gets my heart like no good boy can. (Outro) So let the good boys wave as I walk by, I’ll take my trouble with a glint in his eye. Good boys aren’t for me, now I see, Give me a bad boy, set me free.

Me and the computer "wrote" this using quaternions where a = duration , b = pitch , c = dynamic, d = articulation.

Hi @Uhor! This one looks like works written in Absolute Serialism with the very precise rhythmic division, but they do not sound as random as them actually quite refreshing to listen to! Thx for sharing. Henry

I've written yet another piece prompted by an exercise from Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony"! This one is for 2 Clarinets and 2 Bassoons. The prompt is: "Extend the following passage for two clarinets and two bassoons." I tried to make an actual piece of music out of it instead of just a harmonic exercise, but let me know what you think! Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques or just observations!

I find this one refreshing to listen to and easy to follow due to the sequences!

Hi @Bjarke! I think the drama is quite well managed with the constant modulation which keeps bringing excitement to the piece, and since this one is only 2 minutes long it’s completely fine! I do think the melody is less clear, even though by seeing the score it’s quite clear, but just by listening it’s less clear because of the fast tempo. I do think the tempo is a bit too fast which makes the music really hard to play, esp. the b.43 L.H. figure which I think it’s almost unplayable under this tempo with fingering concerns. I think climax creation is ok. Thx for sharing! Henry

Yeah, like the two places you quoted, b.41 can be modulated to G major with the constant Mixolydian C natural throughout the piece, and D minor in b.126!

no.10_A Fire Within.pdf no.10_A Fire Within.mp3 Hello everyone! It has been a few weeks since my last contribution on the site and I am back to showcase one of my recent works. Over the last calendar year, I have been creating my first short-film called A Fire Within. When the film is complete, you follow the tragedy between two friends and see a main theme of betrayal. This work is the title theme and will both open and end the film. Set into a large binary form, this work is in E-minor and is one of my most emotional pieces. It is very personal to me, as the whole story mirrors a small part of my short life. I would enjoy hearing some comments or feedback, however, please know that I feel this work complete and I wish to share it to those I feel would appreciate this. If you would like to know more about the score, go to the "About" section on page 4! ________________ Program Note: A Fire Within is an original story written by Mason Kistler detailing betrayal between two friends. Featuring an original soundtrack, soundscape, voice cast and more, this story established itself as the first short-film made solely in the video game Railroader, which was released in December, 2023. Join the orchestra as they bring you in towards this cinematic universe and involve yourself in their soundscape. Feel the impact of the strings and the memories cast by the French Horns. Can you hear their emotions? [DO NOT REPLICATE]

Hi @MK_Piano! I think the choice of E minor is really fits for this betrayal/fighting theme. Your music here makes me think of the film music of Kieślowski’s Dobles Lives of Veroniques, the score written by Zbgniew Preisner: Thx for sharing! Henry

I am reviewing Vincent Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" and just finished chapter 3! And so I decided to do the first exercise that looked good to me to try to make an actual piece of music out of (I don't like exercises for their own sake - I think I should always be trying to make living, breathing music). Here is the prompt for the exercise: "12. Harmonize the following melody in four string parts using dominant seventh chords exclusively. Much contrary and oblique motion and several inversions should be used." Like I said, I tried to make an actual piece of music out of it and not be too much of a stickler to the rules. I also tried to approach it not like a chorale exercise - let me know if I've succeeded on that front! Thanks for listening and I would appreciate any suggestions, critiques, comments or just observations!

It sounds really fluid given a dominant seventh’s function is to push the resolving process and continuous dom 7th chords really is like keeping the tension at the very end. I have a thought is that, the theme would be really fit for imitations between the four instruments, one minim apart! But that may defeat the purpose to keep dom 7th chords only haha.

For instrumentation I think it’s already good, maybe I will add a contrabassoon to strengthen the lower octave. Motivically maybe I will add the descending chromatic motive instead of just Ab octave. Henry

I also find it to be a very imaginative piece that maintains a great deal of expressive coherence in terms of motifs and developments.

@PaavolaPyry no one knows how to read a CSound score, so don't feel bad.😁 But, basically what it does is create a series of instructions that the computer interprets into music. You bring up an important point, the use of parallax. So, when you ride in a train and see objects passing in 2 dimensional space, you see the objects closer to you move faster than the objects in the background. Music, can create this sense! The concept is simple to have a melody, or fugue in the case of "Seraphim," move faster than the background ambient music. The music is very discomforting, I'll admit, but CSound is such a new medium that anyone is throwing all they have at it to create a composition. It's come a long way since beeps and boops. The fluid design of the medium, large amounts of oscillation, and sound manipulation are what draw many composers to the medium. Here is my first CSound composition: Notte Splendida Notte | Astronomy 2009 It blends the opera singer with the medium to effect, icy cold with the passion of the voice in creating a composition. It's a little easier to listen to.

"3. If we decide to regulate AI music, how should we detect it?" This could probably be discussed further, there seems to be a myriad of options, and maybe more than one can work

Exactly. Completely agreed. It wouldn't be appropriate to post, say, a Haydn string quartet in the "share your work" forums, because it's not your work. In exactly the same sense, it doesn't make any sense to me for someone to post an AI-composed piece here, because it's not the poster's work. What would be the point? Best case, you fool people into thinking it's your own work. What then? People give you feedback, assuming you wrote the piece, and that feedback is totally useless to you since you didn't, in fact, write the piece. I suppose maybe somebody will say, "Good job," to you, and OK, congratulations, you tricked someone into praising you. (Though, I must say, to date, I still have not heard an AI-composed piece of music that I thought was anything better than mediocre). This is exactly what I can't understand. What would anyone expect in response to a piece of AI-generated music? Sure, I could pretend that a human actually wrote it and write a critique of it based on that fiction, but I can't imagine why I would ever do that, nor can I imagine what use that would be to the person who posted it.

Hi @Churchcantor, Welcome to the forum! I only listen to the first movement and I quite like the modulation you have in the movement. For me maybe you can add more moments when the piano carry the melody and the violin can sometimes play the accompaniment. Also, slurs for the violin would be essential! Dynamic details and phrasings are also crucial in both parts! Thx for joining and sharing. Henry