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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good morning! Nice to see you again. Here is my fourth scarecrow based on a well-known theme (and rehashed hahaà). I indulge in the poncifs of the genre and I hope you will forgive me my retrograde side. But it's very fun as I often said here, on my almost old days, to have a virtual orchestra and a high-flying piano on hand! My teachers, peace to their souls, must certainly turn in their graves, they who swore only by the French avant-garde... By dint of writing these pastiches, they, turning around each time in their tomb, will end up resting on the right side ! The photos were taken during recent walks in the Parisian streets.

more depth on the Garritan CFX. Like honey....

I suggest you listen to the piano part alone, with a comparison between my two best VSTi pianos: Pianoteq 8 Shigeru Kawai vs Garritan CFX Concert Grand

Hey, thanks ! I didn't know this channel. I'm going to take a look. In any case, I advise you to train in these tools. A small miniature master keyboard can be very suitable. It is absolutely not a question of composing on it (I sometimes compose on the piano In a kind of routine, in the evening, but sometimes also simply on the train by noting a piece of stuff on a notebook, or on a block of music paper. But I didn't get used to composing directly on the computer, neither on the DAW nor on a score noter. (my old school)... So the master keyboard is only used to "enter" the partitions in the DAW and access the varieties of controls. And this is the moment that is both very long and exhilarating. The moment when you play your little puppets of musicians on the virtual stage. We activate the metronome and we manage to make them play what we noted, what we had in mind by noting on score. From this point of view, we are finally very close to the real work of developing a musical project. A rehearsal, or better yet a recording session. 4 measures of double bass spiccato, with a progression from P to FF, a crescendo timbale rolling, followed by a bright cymbal to punctuate the climax, tubas lining in staccato, or even trombones. Come on, let's try again. We resume. Each in turn. You see the idea... In any case, if I had been told that this science fiction, to have a symphony orchestra in his office, available, would one day be within my reach, when I was still a student and we spent 2 days trying to generate bell sounds with a Yamaha DX7 on our commodores 64... And yes, I'm not very young anymore... (But there are still many other things that I could not have imagined at the time, much more unpleasant for our world)...

Yes, it's compatible. Unfortunately I don't think the result is satisfactory. Music editing software does not have (to my knowledge) the advanced midi programming functions that DAWs have. For my part, I use Reaper and when I enter an orchestration, I have to play all the parts of my orchestration on the master keyboard then I have to turn the CC midi control faders for each sentence or each pattern in order to record the automation curves. This is the only condition to have a sound that lives, and does not remain in a fixed nuance. It is often necessary to do it several times to get the desired effect. For BBCSO for example, there may be 3 main faders to move: Expression, dynamic, vibrato, and possibly others, plus mixing elements with choices of microphone modifications, reverb or other elements. It is an ultimately much more dynamic approach than a score that remains quite fixed on its indications. For example, a realistic crescendo is not played continuously and linearly. A series of pizzicati must be a little chaotic and not strictly identical. A legato can be slow or abrupt, or even dripping, which is only possible by modulating the pressing force of each note on the midi master keyboard While playing on the expression and vibrato fader or other. I also add that a tempo should not remain the same and what's more, attacks are never strictly together. I also sometimes voluntarily leave false notes. And even "duncks" (you know, the "couac")... What might seem to us to be flaws, in reality participates in the realistic impression. It is therefore true that it is considerable work to enter each passage in the DAW (and to get used to the midi view system that does not look like a score). Sometimes, even more than for an orchestral score, you have to navigate in 200 or 250 tracks. It's pretty strong! But terribly addictive: I almost feel like I'm making a real orchestra work: such a flute solo is not successful the first time, so I do it again. I politely ask the flutist who is under my fingers to better succeed in her staccato, the melodic design of a curve, a swell. She tries to do it (my hand tries to play properly)... but it doesn't work. So I do it again by taking a tempo below, and this time she succeeds. For piano playing, it's easier. The VSTs react more or less like numeric keypads, but with a sound that is often more beautiful than the samples embedded in the clavinovas for example. I have an old clavinova next to my desk. Its touch is correct (much better than my master keyboard Komplete Kontrol). So it's easier for me to play everything on the piano directly on this keyboard. That said, you need a power machine because the samples can cause significant latency. (for example, Garritan CFX weighs 150 GB, BBCSO pro weighs 1 TB on an SSD, and the RAM of my MacBook is occupied at more than 20 GB when I work on orchestration under reaper. So, to summarize, using BBCSO samples will not be a great advantage with a score editor, even if the sounds are better. Those of Muse score are not bad by the way. But it is all the realism of the executions that will be missing, despite the deepest possible precision of notation.

I also really like the pianoteq 8 which is of a completely different nature. We can also get very nice things with it, but it only serves me as a piano test when I want to go fast and not overload the machine (even if Garritan already works well with my Mac without slowing down. It is installed on a Thunderbolt 4 disk and does not cause much latency or cracking. You need a powerful computer, that's for sure. BBCSO pro consumes between 15 and 20 GB of RAM and occupies 1 TB on an SSD.

I agree--the Garritan CFX is really amazing-- I have the "lite" version. Every bit as good as VSL, if not better!

Hello, This is a piano piece I finished recently for Valentines last month. I hope you enjoy! Kaiyun

Hi @PeterthePapercomPoser! Thank you for your feedback! Are there any tricks to help determine which time signature to use? It wasn't obvious to me when I was notating it. I picked 4/4 because of the way the melody seemed to flow when I play it. Thanks in advance Kaiyun

Hi @kaiyunmusic! What a wonderful and bright piece this is! And I am glad you're finishing more of your pieces and finding good titles! One thing that I perceive to be different from your score is that the first phrase seems to be in 3/4 rather than 4/4. Kinda like this: Then the rest of the material is in 4/4 from then on. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the suggestion! I do usually do 4 or 8 bar phrases, but bars 9-14 and the endings I really couldn't find notes to prolong. Maybe the last note of the three bar phrases could be longer.

Thank you for reviewing this. I did this a few years back so yeah also I got heavy influences from the Moldau to including the V-I ending thank you for letting me know. I’ll definitely use your tips later in composition.

Hello @Chemathmusician0510 and welcome to the forum! This a bit wonky or perhaps tipsy arrangement isn't bad! The only thing that bothers me is the unusual phrase lengths between measures 9 - 14. While the first phrase that starts the piece is a traditional 8 measure phrase, measures 9 - 14 are made up of a pair of 3 measure phrases which feel off-kilter. I think if each of those phrases was 4 measures long it would give the melody the space I long to hear but I don't know if that would work in this arrangement. I observe the piece to be made up of a mostly constantly progressing harmonic rhythm on every dotted quarter note - so maybe that is the reason why you kept going between measures 9 - 14 without pause. The same thing happens in measures 23 - 28 for the same reasons. The 2nd ending of the piece and the conclusion also have this quality. And the recording seems to be cut off too which is a shame. Either way, thanks for sharing this jig!

Hey all, trying something new with my videos. Here is a MIDI sequencer playback of "En Route To Atlantis", which is both the first track on the list and the first one I composed for my "Lost Worlds" album. Let me know what you think.

Some background: Chopin had escaped Poland just prior to very turbulent times when the Russian czar crowned himself king of Poland and imposed tyranny and oppression against them, and intended to use the Polish army (the last insult) against France. The Poles were revolting and times got violent. Here's the whole free movie on Youtube, but I have it marked to begin at this one scene which is memorable. Chopin's music teacher (from his youth) had sent a letter to a music publisher in Paris when Chopin was a kid, and the publisher had responded positively to the letter. But they now show up 11 years later and the publisher is not interested at this time, as the kid is no longer a possible prodigy. When they had entered the publisher's business they had left their music folders on a piano in the front. This is a setup for a bit of humor, too. The publisher is adamant and wants them to leave as he is busy as his secretary had told them. But Chopin's teacher is stubborn, and does not want to leave. Then an employee of the publisher comes in to the office where all this talk is going on and announces that Franz Liszt is there! At this time we hear some music coming from piano playing out front. The cool part of what comes next is how Liszt does not want to stop playing and Chopin suggests that he play the melody while Liszt plays the bass, allowing them to shake hands without stopping the music (as only Hollywood can do. lol). As we know now, Liszt loved Chopin and it was with Liszt's help that enabled Chopin to have a successful career, as the movie demonstrates. From the 1945 movie, A Song To Remember. From the 24-minute mark to 30:30:

By all means!

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

i got it into my mind that i want to make better recordings of stuff i’ve already recorded, but still have it be very much my homemade youtube video style. so John Come Kiss Me Now (Byrd)….itll be my 4th recording and I hope the new one will be the best one out there Robin Hood (anonymous) i made a crappy recording of this one three years ago and i think the piece deserves better. most everything i recorded in the past could be a lot better but i don’t want to overload myself, so I’m sticking with those two right now. Also working on a piece by a living composer but I may wait to record it til I get a full chromatic 4 octaves instead of the short octave virginal which would make it a lot easier. Also, one reason I’m wanting to do robin hood and john come kiss me now, now and not later is because they seem like they were written, perhaps not on a short octave keyboard but a split-sharp, so the stretches in a few cadences are actually easier on a short octave. And like I said Ill be switching my current virginal in for an identical one that had the chromatic octave. you get the idea (maybe). also, i expect a new piece to be finished this spring, it’s a galliard/ corant about 5 minutes long. but the writing of the presentation score could take longer. @PeterthePapercomPoser i didn’t know you were such a pop music fiend

I am very sorry for the events you have shared. And please don't take this as a negative review or anything. The work you do is impressive. I love baroque and counterpoint and, when I do anything in that style, I don't get to the level you do nearly as much as you do. Of course, the expressiveness of this style is nothing like later ones, but I do think it has its own resources. For me, the interesting thing is that there are people like you (and many of us) who love music and are constantly learning. I enjoy your compositions very much, in fact I don't usually miss any of them. Greetings... and let's make music.

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum... This is a piece called Noah's Song, referring to the Biblical character of the man who was lost in the great flood. Thanks for listening.

Hey man This final (?) version is really cool. I wanted to share some takeaways that I hope you consider for FUTURE music, not this piece in particular. Your music has a lot of emotional depth and tone color, and your studies and/or admiration of film scoring shows in this work. You do a great job at providing the background to something happening on screen, or as part of the story. Is this correct? Sorry if I'm wrong. If that's the case, what does this go with, or what were you writing this for? I'm always curious of the story that film music chooses to be supplementary to. I only say this because your music completely ignores (imo) melody, which is what the listener of an abstract environment has to grasp onto. There are no lyrics, so I can't grasp the story. There's no melody, so I can't hear what you intend for me to follow. I only have lush orchestration with harmony and tonal colors to hold onto, and although great, it leaves me asking what you are trying to say. Like I said, if there's something specific this is about, or if you wrote in general to be applied to a multitude of different scenic variations, then that's cool. But it was just hard to grasp only harmony and color to what you're portraying. If you're anything like me, I too first was orchestrally inspired by film, but then I soon found the masters and was blown away by the level of musicality within their work. Want to know how to create divine melodies? Start with Mozart and Chopin. Want to better yourself with contrapuntal writing? We all revere Bach. Want to know the secrets of drama and storytelling within an orchestra? Beethoven, Sibelius, Shostakovich, etc. etc. If I were you, I'd take my passion and obvious talent with music further by really grasping what made the greats so great. Incorporate their technique into your writing. Hell, steal if you want. It'll all make you better, and you have a fine start where you are right now. You have a nice grasp of emotional harmonies... now let's take that a step further. If you add a keen sense of melody writing to your music, it'll only make it that much more wonderful. What about rhythm? Even if you're going for a lush cinematic sound, having parts of the orchestra hold a static but flavorful rhythm would do wonders. I'm excited to hear how you continue to improve, as I know your passion for music is unavoidable in getting better. P.S. If you ever come to Nashville, I know nothing about cars and probably get scammed when I need a fix. Help me please lol

when Henry uses the F word, it's always brings joy to my heart

I agree with everything you have written on here, AngelCityOutlaw. I have said the same things for a few decades. I have written many posts on Youtube songs as well as other music or musical gear sites. Just because something is complex in no way means it is good. And if something is simple, likewise, does not make it good. The 3-chords of the vast majority of Rock songs does not make them good. There are many that are, but most are not. I've written a few times that the playing proficiency of Jordan Rudess (Keyboardist from Dream Theater) is to be envied. But the guy knows nothing about composition. Or maybe I should write, "His compositions suck". Being able to play a thousand notes fast without error is truly something to be envied. But if the riff or stanza sucks, it sucks and shows nothing of merit for the song. I love a large number of pop songs, but let me take a sentence to define what I mean by "pop". I mean the songs that were hits on the radio. BTW, I stopped listening to radio in 1988 because I gave up on it. Nothing worthy of my listening time was being produced and I was constantly assaulted with trash that the populace embraced. The intelligence of the world listening society began diminishing severely by the end of the 1980's, and while there were still a few good bands and songs that "somehow" made it to the top of the mediums (I'm still not sure how I ever heard of Collective Soul, which came out in 1994 and I own about half of their CD albums), the vast majority (almost 100%) of music being played on the various mediums were dismal. For the record, I believe Beethoven was the Master of composition, but I do not like all Beethoven. His latter works stymie me. But up until that time (probably because he had gone totally deaf) Beethoven combined both Intellect and Good Feeling in all of his compositions. And they were extraordinary. Beyond amazing. Intellect as was given to us by Bach and Good Feeling (the beginning of the Romantic era, most notable in Chopin). When listening to any of Beethoven's music you can recognize brilliant intellectualism, and are amazed at how wonderful they sound (feel good) at the same time. The same cannot be said of the vast majority of the eras' composers that this thread started off naming for all the periods. I also 100% agree with your comments about the past 100 years of corrupt academics. That it could even possibly be imagined that Math Music is something, I hold with such total disgust (head shaking left to right)... Oh, one last comment. I read a news clip from a critic who wrote that he had heard Mozart play and thought that nobody could ever be better until he watched and heard Beethoven play (around the year 1800, if I recall) and he said that hearing Beethoven was like hearing the devil himself.

Hello I would like to give you an honest and loving opinion. First of all, I would like to say that I think it is an incredible and passionate work. But to sum it up, I think it lacks “passion”. You see, I have no doubt about your magnificent skills in counterpoint. But in a work of this type, the most complicated thing, from my point of view, is to develop an emotional “path”. I think that keeping a constant “full throttle” rhythm is difficult, but as a whole it is less expressive than when there are contrasts, “muted” parts, slower parts, moments of climax, etc... Therefore, as an exercise and counterpoint work it seems perfect to me, but I think that, even in this style, we can aspire to that emotional part. And with this I am not saying that it is not, but that I find that aspect a little lacking, especially in a work that seems to be worked in depth.

Hi all! This is the second movement of my Piano Sonata in C-sharp minor. It is set in the relative major E major to act as an (apparent) counterpart of the furious first movement. Pentatonics and Locrian scale are added in the movement, but the motive of fourth from the first movement is important here as well. Here is the Youtube video link: Here is the pdf and audio of the score: Final Draft Piano Sonata no.3 in C sharp Minor 2nd Mov.pdf Piano Sonata no.3 2nd Mov.mp3 The movement is set in a rondo form ABACA. Here is the structre of the movement: 0:00 Introduction & 1st Refrain: The Locrian scale is used capriciously at the beginning by a confused Henry right at thr start of composing the movement when he didn't know why he used it but still retained it to see what would happen. The main theme (00:23) begins in a quite beautiful pentatonic E major. I love the German Sixth used in 00:53 and I absolutely love the C-sharp minor contrasting theme, as it's beautiful but at the same time coherent by using the falling fourth motive from the beginning of the 1st movement! (Btw it is quoted in parody in my joking fugue) It then unoriginally modulates to dominant B major. 01:32 repeats the whole process apart from some embellishments. 2:34 1st Episode: The beautiful (I think) 1st episode is actually composed the second last one, only before the last refrain. It's Chopinistic here, but I think it's quite beautiful! The theme is roughly the inversion of the 1st theme. I had the inspiration of this beautiful theme when waiting in a queue in my ex-company's canteen LoL! I love the counterpoint in 03:43 as well, again using the falling fourth motive. The C-sharp minor is never solved and merely forced back to E major with a quite beautiful G sharp major transition to the 2nd Refrain. 4:29 2nd Refrain: The first theme is turned to a bell texture which I must have taken inspiration from Brahms's op.117 and Prokofiev's Sonata no.6. The serenity proves short-lived as the mood starts to become agitated and the falling fourth motive starts to attack. 5:12 2nd Episode: The Locrian scale starts to disturb and the keys start to moving all around, again in 05:30 the agitation proves itself it is not going to be covered at all, and with octatonic modulation it ends on G minor which sounds like the beginning of Chopin's 1st Ballade in 05:41. The first theme enters in 05:53 but is only a false recap as the stirring continues once again in a semitone higher in a Schubertian fashion. The first theme re-enters in 07:07, this time in C-sharp major, the global tonic major but with undercurrent underneath. F minor disturbs once again as in earlier as well as the development of the 1st movement, and the Locrian mode is finally forcefully purified to a pentatonic. I think the retransition here is slightly abrupt and forceful. 8:16 Last Refrain: First theme appears with the purified locrian scale turn to pentatonic crystal in the upper register of the piano. The contrasting theme is set in F-sharp minor this time for the E major confirmation. The C-sharp minor is not answered at all again in 09:17, and only forcefully shut up, and the piece ends in E pentatonic. At least a momentary serenity can be achieved before facing the disasterous 3rd movement. This movement starts in 2023 June right after the completion of the 1st movement, but was abandoned since I had to focus on composing the 2nd movement of my Sring Sextet. Then after a personal crisis in 2024 I had no energy at all to compose, and I hoped to use this movement to pick up my creative energy. It succeeded and the movement is quite beautiful in my opinion. I expanded the movement from a ternary one to a rondo with the addition of the 1st episode and completion of the last refrain. The movement may sound too Chopinistic and less original, but I definitely pour my heart here. I just maintain the “write-what-I-want approach” in the whole Sonata without much thinking, planning, or trying to be original. I just don’t want my emotion disturbed by the chasing of originality when expressing my feeling is my ultimate concern in the whole Sonata. The recording is played by myself. I buy a new microphone I hope the recording quality will be better and not to be roasted by @chopin anymore! Feel free to comment or critize this piece below! I will be more than happy to hear any opinion whether it's positive or negative! Hope you enjoy it! P.S. Here is the link for the YC post of the 1st movement from the same Sonata: Henry

It feels almost shameful of me not to have reviewed this absolute masterpiece before, but now that I have listened to it three times in a row I won't let this mistake go on in vain, even if my rather modest review barely adequately captures but a millionth of the emotion and awe this movement has so profoundly stirred within me. Unfortunately my Mandarin probably wouldn't be accurate nor fluent enough to convey but a fraction of my thoughts properly, so as much as it pains me, for the sake of avoiding messy syntax and cumbersome grammar mistakes I shall stick to English instead. It feels almost unreal how seamlessly you have managed to blend such a relatively obscure and challenging mode as is the Locrian with all manner of bright, tempered Chinese melodies worthy of the very Heavens, all coupled in with such balanced, smooth transitions between the different sonata sections, the precious, flowing cascades of Chopin-esque embilleshments, and all the crunchy, adventurous disonnances peppered in add so much color an flavour throughout in their various uses, at times delicate and brittle, by the end of the middle sections powerful and assertive as the materials' complexity wells... With this mountain of motivic and harmonic winks and references to feast on, this moderately eclectic style you have crafted is so distinctly and unambiguously yours: so refined, formally impeccable and still never failing to draw great interest and engagement at every turn, in every single bar. It is bewilderingly mesmerizing indeed. It almost strikes me as admirable how strong and powerful the parallel fifths sound 3:50, a perfect example of strategic "rule-breaking" to the benefit of dramatic tension, as well as the prolific usage of Phrygian cadential formulae throughout which so intimately remind me of my own country's music. I find such confidence commendable in more ways than one, in large part because of how starkly contrasting yet effective and mighty it sounds. And still what I admire most from this is the motivic and thematic development, striking a nigh unbeatable balance between repetition, variation, dynamism and novelty potentially rivaling that of the most renowned classical composers in its own unique essence and flavor. A more thorough analysis of this movement would most likely reveal jaw-dropping levels of integrity with the slight yet fully justifiable deviations that only amount to greater complexity and mastery of this titanic work. Even if obvious and perhaps even redundant at this point, for me it is worth saying once more: you may as well be the Master of our time. The heights reached by your music hardly know even the furthest bounds of quality, so much so that I find it hard to even dissect the piece and hear its sections separately because of how well they all connect and blend together, it makes me want to fully listen to it in its entirety every time. 我衷心感謝你天才譜寫這麼又優雅又秀麗的音樂。

Hello Everyone, My name is Izaak Thoms, and I'm a singer. I've been a "professional" (as is in occasionally make money singing) for years at this point, and I am also right now an undergraduate singer in a collegiate program. I've sung with Grammy-nominated ensembles, and other accredited performers. I obviously wouldn't call myself an expert or master at my artform, but I would like to say I have a strong understanding of men's voices especially, but also all voices in general. I've been thinking about this for a while, and would like to just offer my years of work and experience to you wonderful composers. Hopefully those of you who are interested in using me as a resource, can ask me questions about the voice in solo and choral work. And hopefully give you all opportunities to be more successful. Here are three piece that I have performed recently, hopefully this gives you a chance to hear my voice: https://youtu.be/CsCuZRIvmWg https://youtu.be/bK-JrJFqgeA https://youtu.be/XBcOsTt4hyE Things off the top of my head that I know I'll be good at answering: formatting questions, range and tessitura questions, performance questions (concert and staged works), behind the scenes of preparation and performance. And if this thread gets popular enough, I'll likely edit this original post to function as a sort of as a tips and tricks so you might not need to scroll the whole way through.

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

it would be really appreciated if someone gave feedback or even analysis on my newest work for string Orchestra. Audio from YouTube with score Conductor and performance notes if you need them Based off of MesoAmerican folklore and ancient dances and rituals will add flavor to any orchestra with many themes that are discovered having a soft slow section and ramping it up to a crazy end.

I enjoyed this piece. Has some nice changes of pace, and good use of percussive effects. (Especially liked the seed shaker.) The melodic lines sounded quite Oriental at times, due to the pentatonicism. The cello tremolo between two natural harmonics seems like it would be very difficult to achieve. I'm not a cellist, but wonder whether this is actually playable? In Bar 3 and Bar 20, it looks like you're doing two different types of pitch bending simultaneously on the cello. Wondered how this is supposed to work? Don't think I've ever seen those two symbols together before. Thanks for posting, Alex

The title was misleading, to me. I kept waiting for a Hammond B3 to be heard in the arrangement, but alas... lol

It is a very beautiful work, well written and with a dreamy and romantic character. What I find is that its parts, although they develop in some variations, are similar, except for the bridge of the G part. It's neither good nor bad, it's a style. But I like better not to rest so much on the basic harmony and go out a little bit. There are some very nice nuanced moments. For example, it sounds very good in measure 17 or 65 when A# and D are played at the same time.

Very impressive, @Aiwendil. This is an accomplished work.

I listened to the whole thing. It is always impressive to see other composers undertaking the task of writing in baroque revival - and you even use figured bass! I generally enjoyed your work, although building on @muchen_'s comment about variety I agree this is needed. I would also suggest using better sound sets to aid the listening experience. The latest musescore offers excellent sounds for free so there shouldn't be an excuse to not make use of that software package. I look forward to hearing more of your work.

Hello, Have there been an updates to this piece? Would love to hear them if so. I quite love this and actually think it fits the themes of the film itself quite well. I am not a composer myself but logged on here because of research on the film. Thank you. /vz