Joshua Ng

I really like the counterpoint! It appears that your fundamentals are there, I think that you could try something more creative and adventurous though. Also with regard to the rendering, just curious, is this supposed to be with a harpsichord? Because it sounds as such.

Yep I am!

Wow this is really nice! Really like the romantic style and the adventurous modulations! Really sounds like it's out of a film! I think though, what it could develop to perhaps is a nice winds solo!

Interesting work! I would say that the use of harmonies in unconventional intervals is unique! It really did help the harmonies from not becoming too stale! However, I do think there could be more action or creativity displayed. u could for example try experimenting with pizz or gliss pizz to achieve the same effect, or sul tasto on the violin which would help to advance its tone colour (if u wish to, u could refer to Poulenc's Violin Sonata Mvt 2). I think you experiment with more adventurous figurations for both instruments as well

I think it is a pretty nice piece! I do feel that this idea can be developed on much further and can be explored to greater lengths. Perhaps you could try varying the reprisal of the A section to make it more unique.

Hmm, I think this is a piece with a lot of potential! However, I think in terms of how the harmonies are stacked I think there is more room that you could worked with, quartal and quintal harmonies would have been great! I feel that in addition, I know that this is a slow piece which will not be properly rendered on a midi, but I do think more momentum and a drive should be present. It feels a little draggy and something like exploring more interesting rhythms can be executed well. In addition, I think a powerful melodic line that can fit the melancholy of the opening could be iterated, as the A section feels a little underwhelming. Conversational textures I think can be better introduced as well.

Glad to hear you're really into Japanese music as I am really into it too! Perhaps you would want to check Gavin Leeper's videos on contemporary Japanese music progressions, or Adam Neely's video on Jazz and Jpop!

This is really cool! Unfortunately I'm not very experienced in orchestral writing but just from an auditory experience it's really interesting and unique! Was this related to Japan in any way? Sounds remarkably pentatonic and the title of the piece gave me that hunch haha. Thanks for sharing though!

Really nice piece! I like the ebbs and flow and the feel of momentum in the piece!

I really like the style and texture of this piece! It's really keeping to the Baroque minuet style that you're really going for as I can see. I think what you could perhaps try to lengthen this piece and insert a full structure like ternary or sonata form into the piece especially, I think it will give much more depth to the piece. I like the adventurous modulations though that is more a romantic concept rather than baroque haha

Really nice work! Your writing for strings feels very natural and conversational in nature, which is very very good for a string quartet. It is really a good effort for a string quartet. I think what you could try to do is to fragment the motif and really give it room to play around. Perhaps you could have included a few jazz references with the nice polyrhythms to add a little kick, but this is just my opinion as a suggestion. It is really splendid at its current form and I can really feel the Latin influences! You could also try perhaps inserting a tresillo rhythm too!

I think it's quite a good quartet, good melodic material that is easy to remember and latch onto. some pointers: - There is quite a lot of instances where there is a clear clash in registers which makes it very hard to distinguish the foreground from the background. Try to separate the registers more. It's also partly down to the dynamics markings - I think it would be better to make the semiquavers slurred, for the intended effect that I'm guessing you're going for. - Particularly like the idea at bar 19-20! However, the development of the motif can be improved, the second iteration doesn't draw me in nearly as much - Transitions between pizz and arco and back a bit too rushed at this tempo

I think one general rule of thumb is to try to make the left hand pizz descending in nature especially on the same string. It is hard for the same finger pressing down on the fingerboard to be the one plucking the string. Hence, it would be much preferred if the finger that was held down to play the previous note was the finger that plucked the current note. Of course, open string left hand pizzicato is much easier for the performer

It's an interesting piece! Do take note that the pizz-arco changes cannot be instantaneous for fast passages so some time needs to be factored in. I like how you explored the modes and the very interesting modulations. I felt that maybe the theme could be made a little more interesting, but I really do like the second variation, and the way that the momentum is built up throughout the piece and the contrast between the more musically lively and calm sections.

Ah thanks a lot!