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its kinda rare for me to wake up and immediately try to respond to a comment first thing in the morning, but here we are i disagree. i'd argue the empty spaces are there to let the music breathe, and i have considered of keeping the "movement" going in one way or the other, either by the piano playing scales, rapid lines, the syncopated triplets, arpeggiando on the strings, timpani rhythms, etc. also, i dont think every empty space has to be filled with motivic movement. does every piece has to have a melody "naked"? and i pretty sure have varied the harmony and texture. the first introduction to the full theme its literally just pizz. string and high register piano playing 6th broken up (which adds movement, by the way), the repeat of which (b.194) just removes the piano entirely, the first entrance of the second theme is played by cello only, with piano and pizz violin to accentuate the syncopated rhythm, the measures before that is another thinning of textures after a loud section, etc etc. i mean, i like it, so...oh well lol yeah, the themes are long and therefore had to be repeated. however, if i cut those repetitions the themes wouldnt be prominent. hell i did in fact cut the first theme in the repetition. most of the systems include 2-4 bars, with the exception of a few bars where there are few notes to play. i do not think crowding is an issue here. response: added references: and probably more. i couldnt find anything outside facebook discussions to be honest. HOWEVER, most of the chamber pieces including a piano that i've score read have the non-piano instruments be in smaller staves. response: also note, i'd rather have a seemingly impossible part and have to revise them after some feedbacks than not using the instruments to its fullest potential. part of why i fell in love with classical music is that you can get SO MUCH out of one singular instrument. the fact that composers have exploited many ways out of an instrument to serve their vision is so fascinating to me. maybe its innocent for me to think that way. of course, you have to consider the performer and the rehearsal, but, im gonna be real, i dont think this piece is ever gonna be performed. AND, if it was, or if i were to compose a piece that WILL be performed, then yes, i'll absolutely not go overboard and stuff, strip down the techniques, and be more lenient with them. this DOES NOT mean i do not think of idiomatic writing (refer to the my quoted response). also 6 bars of left hand open strings pizzicato played near the edge of the fingerboard is impossible? but, as all art are, it comes down to taste. so, fair enough thanks for the comments!!!

Thanks to all 12 participants who submitted music to the competition - the recipients of the "Landscapes - Soundscapes - Participant" Award! Padovana et Gagliarda “Detta la Lombarda” by @L.S Barros Amidst the Clouds & Flowers by @InstrumentalistElle Sacrificed to the Wilderness by @Fruit hunter Morning On Whidbey Island by @BipolarComposer Spring Submission “Rainy Weather” by @therealAJGS Chinese Fugue by @TristanTheTristan Sunset Suite in C minor by @Musicman_3254 City Rail and Nightingale by @Wieland Handke Alishan (for Flute Quintet) by @HoYin Cheung "Warmth" by @UncleRed99 The Voyage of a Lone Ship by @ferrum.wav Lamentare Ciobanului - “The Shepherd’s Lament” by @ComposaBoi The members have voted! --==<< Decisive Fanfare! >>==-- And the winners are: For winning the "Rustic Mood" Award with 9 votes - Padovana et Gagliarda "Detta la Lombarda" by @L.S Barros will receive the following badge: For winning the "Nature's Garden" Award with 10 votes - Amidst the Clouds & Flowers by @InstrumentalistElle will receive the following badge: For winning the "Peace of Nature" Award with 6 votes - Morning On Whidbey Island by @BipolarComposer will receive the following badge: For winning the "Nature and Civilization" Award with 9 votes - City Rail and Nightingale by @Wieland Handke will receive the following badge: For winning the "Forest Echoes" Award with 5 votes - Alishan (for Flute Quintet) by @HoYin Cheung will receive the following badge: For winning the "Home and Hearth" Award with 9 votes - “Warmth” by @UncleRed99 will receive the following badge: For winning the "Pastorale" Award with 8 votes - Lamentare Ciobanului - “The Shepherd’s Lament” by @ComposaBoi will receive the following badge: For winning 3rd Place overall with 8 points - City Rail and Nightingale by @Wieland Handke will receive the following trophy: For winning 2nd Place overall with 9 points - we have a tie! Padovana et Gagliarda "Detta la Lombarda" by @L.S Barros and Amidst the Clouds & Flowers by @InstrumentalistElle will receive the following trophy: For winning 1st Place overall with 16 points - The Voyage of a Lone Ship by @ferrum.wav will receive the following trophy: Congratulations to all the winners! We will now move your pieces to the "Competition Hall of Fame" sub-forum! And thanks to all the following participants who also reviewed all the entries! The contest would not have been as much fun and as instructional as it was without you! The following members will receive the "Heavyweight Reviewer" badge for reviewing 100% of the entries (12) submitted to the competition! @Luis Hernández, @Kvothe, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, @chopin, @Wieland Handke, @ComposaBoi, @ferrum.wav, @PeterthePapercomPoser, and @Tónskáld And the following members will receive the "Welterweight Reviewer" badge for reviewing 66% of the entries (8) submitted to the competition! And the following members will receive the "Featherweight Reviewer" badge for reviewing 33% of the entries (4) submitted to the competition! @TristanTheTristan, @HoYin Cheung, @Fruit hunter, and @UncleRed99 Thank you to all 13 Ardent Reviewers who reviewed the contest entries! This is perhaps the first time that the number of reviewers exceeded the number of contestants! Great turnout people! And thanks for me @PeterthePapercomPoser for organizing and managing all the competition polls, announcements, submission thread, badges, results, satisfaction survey and advertising outreach! I will receive the "Community Organizer" badge! To take the Landscapes - Soundscapes Satisfaction Survey go here: To listen to all the entries go to the submission thread: To check out all the popular voting polls go here: And for the competition announcement go here:

To commemorate the date designated as Bach's actual birthday under the Gregorian calendar, this time I have decided to upload the definitive revised version of another one of my previous fugues, originally in the key of E minor though still for the same ensemble. I would also like to dedicate this fugue as a birthday present to my dear friend Julia as well, whose family has been going through exceedingly difficult times for more than one year now. Since the loss of a very special loved one has taken a severe toll on us all, my sincerest hope now is that she and her family can start anew and rebuild their lives from the ashes of their grief, even when all hope for a better future seems gone forever and endless mourning seems to be the only thing left to live for. Bach himself was no stranger to painful, heart-wrenching losses. Even as he lost both parents at age 10, his first wife at 35, and in line with the astronomical infant mortality rates of his era, more than half of his 20 children during childhood, he was likely reassured that his dedication to God alone through his music would be worthy of a place in Heaven for all those he loved and whose safety he prayed for daily. This key of F-sharp minor in our currently standardized A = 440 tuning always evoked in me a far greater sense of mourning in the wake of tragedy than any other. Perhaps because of this reason I felt naturally drawn to it when thinking of those precious loved ones we may have lost along the way, the precious, cherished moments that will never again come to pass, and the longing memories broken by the sudden wound their departure left forever imprinted in our hearts. Scrolling video link (YouTube) Fugue in F-sharp minor for String Quartet.mp3 Fugue in F-sharp minor for String Quartet.pdf

A very beautiful piece; I like the way it has such a restrained use of colour. And the piano part is very characteristic of the style. Well done.

Hi, Kyle. Please see my evaluation of your submission below. Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste Overall 9 7 9 7 8 9 9 9 8.4 Melodies/Themes/Motives: Your sense of melody and themes is exquisite! I found this to be simple and unobtrusive in all the best ways. I especially enjoyed how you used the mere addition of instruments to build on the sound, gradually and to great effect, as your themes wove around each other. Simply beautiful. Harmony/Chords/Textures: Similarly, the harmony was simple but effective. There was enough counterpoint and differing harmonic motion to keep it interesting - and to tell the "story" you were trying to convey. The single issue I took was at m. 57 when we enter what appeared to be an authentic cadence (an A) only to be jerked into a C major, which did not hit my ears the right way (no matter how many times I listened to it). Form/Development/Structure/Time: The piece had a wonderful flow to it, easily ebbing into sweeping thematic passages where the melody/theme was passed from instrument to instrument. The themes were repeated throughout, but with enough variation that it was (to me) the perfect blend of recognizable and unrecognizable. And the pacing... spot on! Originality/Creativity: This wasn't the most original thing I've ever heard, but it was adequately different that I could likely distinguish it from other ambient soundtracks. Score Presentation: The score was above average, I'd say. I think there was overuse of some articulations - particularly the marcato - when the instrument's natural sound would likely suffice. I also felt the score was too crowded in many places. Instrumentation/Orchestration/Playability: There were no issues with playability noted. The writing seemed mostly idiomatic, with some attention given to each instrument. Execution of Given Challenge: This was very programmatic music and the identified landscape was, to me, easily felt in the music. Taste: The music was well-constructed and flowed beautifully. It was, perhaps, too homophonic for my usual tastes, but it was good music, nonetheless. Very nice job! Thanks for submitting, and happy composing! Jordan

Entry: “Warmth” by @UncleRed99 Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 6 9 7.75 8.5 10 10 8 8.5 Average Score: 8.47 Review: A very affecting and heartfelt piece of music! Although the piece has a certain pop music vibe, very often repeating 4-bar, 4-chord structures over and over with variation and some modulations which bring a momentary sense of brightening, it does adequately portray the sense of “Home and Hearth” which is the badge/award that I created for this piece! I can imagine this kind of music used in one of those hidden object mobile games. The player is presented with a room from inside a cozy home with a fireplace burning and has to find objects strewn around and hidden in plain sight. Great job although my chief complaint is that the piece lacks melodic substance. But it’s a very good, easy listening, feel good, cozy piece perfect for the purpose you intended it for. Thanks for your participation and good luck in the popular voting polls!

There's many different ways to analyze pieces, so really, that's entirely up to you. For example, find a piece of music that you absolutely love. One of your favorites. Listen along with a score of the music. You could ask yourself any of the following questions: "What is it about this piece I love so much? Why did the composer/song writer choose this chord, or voice the chord this way? Why did the composer develop their material this way? The composer changed direction here -- why, and to what effect? What kind of thing(s) is the composer trying to express?" My word here, "analyze," sounds like dissecting a frog in a lab to understand its biological function. And you can literally analyze a piece, and assign all the chords and progressions, "this is the tonic, the dominant, subdominant, here's a lydian scale, etc." But simply mindful listening and meditating on what you're hearing, along with experimentation to see what works and what doesn't, goes a long way.

@UncleRed99 My pleasure as always. :)

ALL Perfectionists think that way................so its not a Bad Thing I recognized your style with my eyes shut...................so consequently, your compositions have there own unique Identity. i wish you luck in the competition.

Hi Kyle @UncleRed99 ! This one is a completely contrast with @HoYin Cheung "s piece I have just heard, as this one is sparse in spacing for the whole piece and in a more homophonic style. Maybe you think this isn't your best work, but indeed this one falls into your general style, with sparseness, homophonic texture and sentimental melody just like Jonathon @ComposaBoi said. I like the simplicity of the piece like Mike @chopin does, but I would want some excitement in the middle climax of the piece. This piece has a clear structure and direction when both the beginning and the ending are serene, and between the climax is placed in the middle in b.40 and b.64 with a slight dip between, thus having the climax graph looking like a Bactrian Camel. I think in the climax you could have added more counterpoint to make the texture sounds more full to provide an even notable contrast with the general mood of the piece. Although, I would say for a 4 minute piece it would be perfectly fine to just stay calm and serene with a little bit excitement between which is the piece you present now. One scoring concern is the tremolo with a staccatissimo, e.g. in b.32, what does that mean? I think it would be clearer to just write out the two repeated notes with staccatissimo on both of them. I enjoy this piece, thx for sharing! Henry

I wrote my first string quartet. I liked it while I was writing it, but now listening back I'm not so sure it would keep the attention of listeners. Maybe I regret opening with a slow movement. I think 2nd movement is best. I like the section in 3rd mvt. from 15:25 to 17:08, because of those chords and the counterpoint. And maybe I should have used more modern harmony in places to spice it up. 00:00 Movement I. 07:27 Movement II. 13:22 Movement III. Od. G. - String Quartet No. 1.mp3 Od. G. - String Quartet No. 1 [2026-05-29_06-41-34] .pdf