WowBroThatWasReallyEdgy

Thank you! I appreciate that; it means a lot coming from an orchestrator like yourself. I believe you're talking about page 10 in the pdf, right? In truth, I'm not entirely satisfied with the ending either. It feels compositionally hurried. This has me reconsidering writing a different ending with more in common with the rest of the piece. Thanks for the feedback!

Peter, thank you very much for listening and your feedback. I will have to check it out! The vision of this piece was actually created when I rewatched Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire - the scene where Harry and Ron are at the bottom of the stairs and see Hermoine (I think I'm spelling that right) come down the stairs for the dance. My current plan is to make 3-to-5-minute pieces that differ in character, tone, and color while using the same orchestral template. This dance, along with Tyrant, will be the 3rd movement in a 4-movement suite for orchestra. I'm currently working on a piece called Abraxas that is similar to Tyrant in tempo and energy. However, Abraxas will be more diabolic sounding.

It's a dance! Hope you enjoy.

Hey Nicolas, thanks for sharing your work with us. Great job on completing a piece of such a large scale! I like how fluid your embellishments are within parts of the chord. However, it does not look good on paper and I have some other questions and suggestions for you as well: Your instrument list indicates 2 alto flutes, but there's only one part to be played throughout the manuscript. This second alto flute player could be swapped to a Piccolo player because I noticed you have the flutes playing above a high A in some places. While not impossible for an experienced flute player, it is highly unstable and they will not be able to sustain it 9 times out of 10. Especially that high D flat around 4'24" in the first movement. You also note in your description that there are only 2 Horns in F while there are sometimes more than 3 notes in the sheet music. I would highly suggest using 4 horns on two separate staffs as it gives you more depth and force if needed. The manuscript you provided is in concert pitch. It might not bug other people, but it bugs me immensely. There are WAY too many ledger lines in some of these parts. The instruments' ranges that are not tuned in concert pitch tend to line up on the staff very nicely and do not require so many ledger lines. The Horns in F should be in treble clef - the performers should not be reading ledger lines above the bass clef. The manuscript does not indicate a2 or divisi in any part. You desire to expand these instruments' boundaries and capabilities, but some of the things you are asking for are just not possible. If you're going to write for such a large orchestra and plan to write very difficult music, then you need to meet the challenge and study scores of some of the great orchestrators - Ravel, Mahler, Liszt, Bruckner, Scriabin, Holst, and many more. I'm leaving 2 links underneath that are great references to use when questions about notation and instruments arise. These books are massively beneficial to contemporary orchestrators and composers. https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Dictionary-Music-Notation-Pocket/dp/0882847309 https://a.co/d/0dPZYay Thank you again for sharing your music. I hope these comments find you well and that you do not take offense to them as that was not the intention.

Thanks! I was going for "cool." 😎 Not necessarily, Liszt and Holst were the primary influences. However, I intended the music to be programmatic and tell a story. What's funny is that everyone I show this to, whether they have experience with music or not, tells me that it sounds like star wars. I guess that is a good thing lol Thanks again, my next project will be called Predator and I'll provide sneak peeks into that in the incomplete works section. I might also make a short tutorial on how I phrase and shape my music with examples specifically from Tyrant. Thanks for listening and providing feedback 😀

AUDIO: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1alcJUqBHl8WXmeudSlnnNaicmhbC7ikj/view?usp=sharing THIS AUDIO GETS INCREDIBLY LOUD!!! Hello! Today, I bring you a piece that took me about a week of diligent and meticulous work to create - Tyrant. I named it Tyrant because I wanted to create an evil atmosphere and I thought the name sounded cool. It could still use a little work in terms of engraving and notation, but I consider it mostly finished. The playback doesn't necessarily do what I want it to do around the fermata, but that's okay. I primarily use an augmented chord to guide my way around the piece. I use Finale with NotePerformer libraries to produce the audio and score. Hope you enjoy and any constructive criticism or opinions are welcome! PS It's my birthday tomorrow 🎂

The beginning gives me such a, "Cowboy walks into the old town saloon" vibe lol When the cellos joined the Bassoon in stating the tortoise's theme, did you see what pizzicato cellos would have sounds like with the bassoon? I'm just trying to imagine it. Maybe it wasn't the timbre you were looking for? Just a thought experiment. The violin melody in the D section "Enter Fox" is very free-flowing and I like that a lot. The time signature swap caught me by surprise and it took me a second to feel the downbeat again. Great job blending the themes and their "adjusted" themes together in the E section. It's hard to explain, but you use different ranges of a given chord so that each instrument doesn't interfere with another's timbre. I am a HUGE believer in that. Also, there's a lot of contrary motion here that is very satisfying to the ear. Great attention to detail and this was my favorite section. There's a very long hairpin decrescendo on the bassoon that could be replaced with a decrescendo in the F section. There are also a few notation errors in the I section that are basically all the same mistake: the mezzo piano shouldn't be indicated under a rest. Maybe it's your notation software? Overall, this was a joy to listen to and analyze. I was impressed with how you crafted each section with its distinct character and seamlessly blended themes together. While there are some refinements to be made in terms of engraving, I believe you demonstrated a high level and capability of storytelling, creativity, and understanding of musical theory.

bro i was been lurking 💀 Liszt is my big inspiration for this piece in particular, but I love Berlioz and Mahler as well. Here is an update for the second section: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ujRtZfOT3HOC2y7XrF7w0pS8EWUHACIG/view?usp=sharing

Hey @PeterthePapercomPoser, I've been working so much on my symphony. Revising the first movement and working on the 4th movement - the 4th movement is nearly 20 minutes long now and I promise it will not disappoint. It's just that I'm almost done with a 40-minute symphony and want the ending to be magnificent, so I've been helping others with their compositions while studying scores in the mean time. Thanks for your feed back! I always appreciate your comments. Thank you and yes, this is the beginning of the first "true" theme. I'm not entirely sure where to go with it, but I know I want to contrast the introduction's maniacal nature. It was intended to be a sneak peak, but I will always accept advice and criticism so long as you have as much interest in my work as I do. I figured I should let you guys know I haven't forgot about you all and that I'm still alive and working lol I want to evoke the characteristic evil of an anti-hero in this piece which means I'm going guns blazing through the introduction because I also want the piece to sound cool. Also, The attention span of people as a whole is pretty small, so I'm going for music that is more marketable and relatable for things like Instagram reels and YouTube shorts. The objective of the piece is to rarely lose the attention of someone who doesn't know a thing about music appreciation, theory, or musicianship. I can 100% guarantee that there will be clear themes after this introduction. Thanks again for your time and response!

AUDIO : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bqxe3epHQIU1eZn5WMtwrQ3nvq3wkY2s/view?usp=drive_link Hey everyone, just wanted to show what my next project will be after I'm done with my symphony. Criticism welcome so long as it's constructive!

I'm about to graduate from college, so I've been really focused on schoolwork. I've been working on the 4th movement of my symphony. In regards to completing compositions, I don't like spitting stuff out. I'd rather take time crafting something I can be proud of. I'm about 5 minutes into it and plan on it being roughly 15-20. The Symphony might not be completed until the end of the year, possibly sooner.

Absolute banger - Has funky written all over it. I really like the fact that you stuck with a 7/4 time signature throughout the piece. It's already a hard time signature to initially feel. However, since you kept it throughout the piece, I was able to catch on without needing to look at the music. Sounds almost like a twelve-bar blues without the twelve bars. I like the tri-tone sub you add for the ending of some of the phrases. I also really like the spacing you give to the dissonances and intervals - This shows me that you have careful and concise intentions when writing. Small critiques: M. 15 - Any chance you could put this right hand in bass clef for simpler reading? Use M. 13 for example, an experienced pianist has seen octaves a lot and is familiar with what they look like. The low C# in the right hand of M. 13 is doubled with an octave above, so it's easy to read. The M. 15 doesn't have doubled octaves in the right hand. One will eventually figure out that both hands are playing the exact same thing, but I believe putting the right hand in bass clef here would make it simpler. M. 18-27 - I only wish there was a clear downbeat here. I've listened to this about 6 times now and always find myself mixing up the downbeat during this section. Maybe I'm a bad counter I don't know. Overall, good stuff here. Very motoric, rhythmic, and modern. Kinda makes me wonder what Prokofiev would've done with Jazz music.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to finish in time for the competition. School's been kicking my butt. Good luck to all the other participants!

12:56 into the 16 minute section is SO SO SO SO good. Love the C-G-D motif reappearing in different places/keys as well. The bass motif in the earlier section (approx. 3:14) is super juicy. Congrats on finishing the large work!

Thank you! I might make the adagio ending into the beginning of the 4th movement. I too want the energetic ending. Thanks for your feedback!