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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!

As far as the 3rd part of this poll, If we decide to regulate, I think requiring / encouraging the composer to give some insight about how they composed the piece, and their motivations of the composition should be enough.

As someone involved in education, AI has been a hot topic. I have a pragmatic view that AI, for good or bad, is ubiquitous in our society so it is better to control how it is expressed in the forums where you can set explicit guidelines and consequences for abuse rather than ban it entirely and have it go underground. I would advocate creating a dedicated subforum for AI music and be clear that AI music must be declared as such can only be submitted/discussed there and a clear policy that violating these guidelines can lead to suspension or banning from the site. Also in the end, if someone wants to pass of AI music (or any other creative endeavor as their own), it's really hurting them more so than others. They are not improving their creative process so any praise/feedback is hollow and meaningless. At least it's not stealing someone else's work and passing it off as your own (which has happened to me). I am of the mind that AI generated art in all forms will always be inferior to human efforts so in the end who really cares?. If AI every got to the point there were really think it is on par or superior to human effort, well, then great since a masterpiece is a masterpiece (I am just doubtful that AI will ever be able to achieve this).

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.

I see them. They're the tiny little arrows attached to the accidentals (see image below).

Hi @PaavolaPyry! It does sound improvisatory with all the sudden chord progession but I like it. Nice playing as well! To me it sounds like a Lute Baroque prelude in more modern chords. I am sure @PeterthePapercomPoser would like the piece as well as he wrote a lot of microtonal pieces, and @Thatguy v2.0 wrote many great guitar pieces. I hear some of the microtones but don't see them on the score, will you add them on the score? Thx for sharing! Henry

I've moved on to Chapter 6 of Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony" which is about secundal chords and clusters. The prompt was "1. Harmonize the following melody for string trio using chords by seconds." Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any of your comments!

This would be a very Haydnesque effect! I can never forget how he delibrately asked the strings to mistune their strings while sustaining a chord: (Begins at 23:17) Also the ending of the Farewell leaves me like WTF lol

@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu Thank you so much for your thoughtful reviews of each movement! I'm glad you mentioned the timpani solo - I thought it would be amusing if, when the orchestra sets up the cadenza with its 64 chord, the timpanist suddenly decides that they're the soloist and starts playing a timpani "cadenza" before the trumpet gently nudges them aside and proceeds with the real cadenza. I could even imagine a bit of stagecraft where the trumpeter gives the timpanist a "what the hell?" look and maybe the conductor pretends to try to get their attention and make them stop. Anyway, I'm glad you liked the concerto. It's certainly one of the better pieces I've finished, in my opinion.

Hello everyone, I am new to this website. I am an amateur composer and would like to share a piece with you that I composed last year. Any feedback is appreciated. MK

Coming back from the dead just to vote on this. The core of any artform is the creative process, and the use of genAI to generate music is anti-process. It focuses instead on the result, and advertises itself as a "facilitator", a "helper", or something to remove the "hassle" of the process. It misses the point that when passion is involved, the creative process is a hassle that one ultimately enjoys. There is no art without passion, and all genAI does is vomit results to the passionless. A creative process comes about through the passionate development of a skill, and it fosters further understanding of said skill. The result is one particular target of a process at a given point in time: it comes about as the inevitable conclusion of a process. This decades-long shift of focus to the result is what makes genAI seem legitimate, because it's the endpoint of a logic that defines art as the object instead of the craft. It's made of the same cloth as the commodification of art, and the reduction of everything to "content." It's a corporate point of view, which can't conceive of art in any other way, and only seeks to expedite what it wrongly perceives to be nothing but a very slow assembly line. I am a composer because I know how to make music, and I learned how to make music by making music. A prompt engineer did not learn how to make an illustration, they learned how to tell a particular machine to do so. One could argue that prompt engineering is a craft, because it isn't absent of human involvement. But where it fails is in never being directly responsible for the result. With genAI, nothing about how to directly reproduce the result is learned because there's no process involved, only instructions by proxy given to a glorified blender. What differentiates genAI from art is the absence of a skillful process directly related to the object. Therefore, the point, and what makes one anything from a hobbyist to an artist, is the process. It just so happens that one cannot go through the process without inevitably coming to a result, which informs more process, and so on and so forth. That's how an artist grows.

Thanks very much! The Hummel concerto (as well as the Haydn) was very much in my mind when I was writing this. It took me a little over a month to compose this; I think I started it in early November and finished mid-December. I have no contacts at all in the music world, so no, I'm afraid there's no way this would ever be performed.

Hello my dear composers. Here my 2nd movement of my latest Sonata. I hope you like it.

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!

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!

Hello Everyone, Thank you for your support in my recent compositions, I really appreciate the great feedback I always get from y'all. Today I have a piece that I really needed to write for myself. I've recently been under a lot of stress, with demands and expectations of other people really weighing me down. The struggle to meet those expectations has hurt my self-esteem. This piece is simply an expression of that feeling, and ends with the hope that I will conquer it all.

Very eerily expressive, and I feel like the ending has not resolved. This could be a good candidate for a psychological horror perhaps. Look up the game "The Dark Eye". I don't remember the music of that game, but I feel like this music would work in that type of game.

I would not be able to tell this was an exercise. You expanded on this nicely and logically. This is difficult harmony to use coherently in my opinion, but you kept the idea and flow focused and logical. Fun beat too btw!

Hey Alex, Thank you so much for such a nice feedback! I will do my best to work on the weak spots in the future. Martin

I've written another composition/song prompted by an exercise from Persichetti's "20th Century Harmony". This time it is for women's choir. The prompt was "Compose an original piece for women's voices (SSA) featuring chords by fourths. Other textures may be included. Use the following text, Psalm 107: 'They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.'" Thanks for listening and I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, critiques, or just observations!

A very fun sound world! You might be letting yourself in for some trouble at bar 13 beat 4, since all parts have big leaps simultaneously. There is a big chance of the tuning suffering in a live performance. That said, since this is a very short exercise, people could just devote a lot of practice time to that one spot. For those playing along at home, some things that might help a choir tune big leaps: 1. Use accompaniment to help singers seize the key again quickly if they miss their jump. 2. Only leap with one part at a time, so that if they don't stick the landing, the other parts will easily provide a steady foundation to help them readjust quickly. 3. Give a part a brief rest so they can prepare their vocal placement to leap more gracefully. Even just a tiny moment of disconnect will help. Here, the way you have set the text to the music gives a natural pause if you just read the line aloud, which means singers could either disconnect the two notes of the leap, (do it non legato), add an eighth rest to take a full breath, or, given the nature of the piece, even take it out of time with a longer pause (rubato) to get as much time as they need to reset vocally and have their next note firmly in mind. If someone sings your exercise, they would probably take some sort of a pause, since the text allows it, so nice job there! Also, I particularly love your first "their soul is melted." The harmony sounds very melty. 🙂

Thanks so much for the feedback. Your critiques regarding the notation and practicality were very useful and honestly not something I had given much thought to until now. I’ll definitely keep this in mind.

Hi @Cafebabe! This symphonic movement is a joy to listen to! It's bursting with an abundance of drive and energy! I really love the many individual touches you put on the piece that aren't characteristic of any other existing classical composer, such as the way you end the movement in the last two bars. The only critiques I can really have are nit-picks about the notation of the score. The piece is fast enough that it should be in cut-time. It would be wholly impractical to conduct in 4/4. Also, there are multiple enharmonic mistakes such as the C#'s in bars 13, 17, 40, 114, 118, and 138 which should be Db's. Also, the Clarinet can reach a low concert Eb in bars 58 - 59 and 61 - 62 so there's no reason why you would have to transpose it up an octave there like you do. I can see why that would be necessary in the recapitulation though when the same material is reiterated in the tonic key. Thanks for sharing this exuberant movement!

Hello – This is a minor-key piano sonata in the Classical Style (but with some modern flair). It is about ten minutes long in three movements. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks for listening! Piano Sonata in Am.mid

lmao fast repeated notes on the piano baseline... I'm sure it's no problem for Henry with some practice but I can't do it. the Alberti-like base in all movements is something I don't like but perhaps its a bit personal

This is my "Three Sententiae for Glissotar, Op. 386", a piece I composed last year. The glissotar is a newly invented instrument that is a version of the Hungarian woodwind instrument "tarogato" but with the distinction that the notes are not determined by holes as in most woodwind instruments but, as in string instruments, by pressing the fingers anywhere in the range; and glissandos are possible. I had to create a new soundfont for it in order to be able to make this mp3 version. I have provided a description of 'sententia' as well as of 'glissotar' on the title page of the score.

Hi @luderart! I am really interested in the newly invented instrument with its ability to play glissandos on a wind instrument! Hope your no.2 would be played in real life with the instrument so we know how it sounds! Thx for sharing! Henry

This one is a joy to listen to. The fourths are used with great effect esp. in b.5 and b.14 where the sudden modulation to flats chords are great. I also love the imitations between the voice-clearly you build on the exercise to real music with reference to the tradition of motets with the imitations. Thx for sharing! Henry

This really sounds like something Mozart would make! This is such a catchy song!

SONATAS GALORE (pieces catalogue update) while digging some of my old poems, i've managed to find snippets or even full blown movements of some of my old sonatas through old discord dms and an email. it felt nostalgic in a way because i used to share these with my old friends. unfortunately, they've been inactive for a long time. anways..enjoy them!!!

I was trying to make a symphony a bit like what Gustav Mahler would make, that's why the orchestra is so large

I looked at the score. My advice regarding symphonies would be first master traitional symphonies ideally with traditional orchestra (a whole lot smaller orchestra) in the cannon style of classical or late romantic style before even attempting experimental or innovativ music. How can you invovate without a good foundation of the tradition? Brahms spend 21 years on his first symphony and beethoven so i heard spend from sketching to full orchestra 30 years on his symphony no 9. A symphony is not something you should be doing lightly. I don't say this to be rude but just to give some perspective on the symphony. If you comfortablely can craft a symphony that stand along side Beethoven for example or at least immitate the form style and orchestration then and only then I would say you should try something like this. Also how are you going to get this performed in the future with a orchestra so large? Compose for the musicians not the computer. I would also recomend sketching on a single staff or piano sketch. This is to make something more idiomatic and playable. Only after the whole piano sketch is complete then orchestrate.

I can see why you struggled though, the motif is not the easiest. But this is one of your best exercises so far in my opinion, because it encouraged out of the box thinking for this one.

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!

This is quite nice. I like Persichetti's book but I've never done the exercises in it; you're making me kind of want to give them a try, though!

Oh I must have overlooked them! I am getting old now......

A really nice fanfare! You certainly preserve the general character till the end without sounding artificial at all. You maintain the 027 set and quartal chords very well and the trumpet makes the more hollow sounding chords full. I myself might write for 3 flutes here. Thx for sharing! Henry

What an enjoyable concerto for trumpet. The theme of the opening movement reminded me of Hummel's trumpet concerto's opening movement's theme. Bravo. I wonder how much time it took you to compose it. Also, are you trying to have it performed?

Thanks to @Churchcantor, @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, and @bkho for listening! I'm quite gratified by your comments, because I really am quite happy with the piece.

Get musescore studio. I use that.

Glitter and sprinkles, you want me for the feast, Tempting in your face, but you’re just a beast. Strawberry cakes, she ate ten tons of them, But I prefer my toast, just full of jam. Glitter and sprinkles, you want me to get plump, But I’m not your Barbie, I’ll sweep you to dump.

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.

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!

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!