Coxi

It sounds very nice! The contrast between the minuet and the trio is maybe a bit much. I enjoyed the minuet more, it seems you have a good technical grasp on the style. The trio sounds good too tho, and has enough elements that are reminescent of the minuet to not sound "detached" from it. Very nicely written piece anyway. And your playing sound good to me if it makes you feel better 🙂

You should upload a sound file. It's hard to judge music without listening to it. You also didn't mention which style you are trying to write in, so that makes any technical feedback very hypothetical too. But in general, canonic imitation normally involves counterpoint. From a distant look at the score, we can see several hints that your piece goes against the most general principles of good counterpoint: not much rythmic contrast, a lot of parallel motion; not much voices independance. Visually, it doesn't look like counterpoint which is puzzling for a canon. When the violoncello enters, it plays the same melody as the violin, on the same beats; this is not canonic imitation (you need to shift it by a time interval). Here you are simply doubling the voice, which is quite redundant, especially in a small ensemble. For the rest, I didn't go into details, because it also depends on the style you want to emulate, but there appears to be some errors. Melodically, you have some problems (A2nds, the line doesn't imply clear harmonic motions, repeated notes, and I'm not sure about your use of leaps but I would need to hear how it sounds). As the other commentors have mentionned, your intervals are not properly treated as well (as said previously, parallel 5ths and 8ves, dissonances not resolved in the "right" way). I think you need to study counterpoint before trying to write canons. Or start with 2 voices rather than 4. It seems you could benefit from a more gradual approach

Hi and thanks a lot for your input! I totally understand the "too much repetition" part. When I compose, I become so desensitized to the originality of the work that ANY repeat feels like to much repeat to me, so balancing repetition/thematic content with new stuff is really one of my biggest struggles so far. The piece already modulates in major in the intermediary sections but I tried your suggestion of having the main melody playing in major. I didn't really like the effect it produces though. I intended this repeat as kind of a melancholic "chorus", and as one might expect, having it in major does take this mood away. I tried a compromise where the melody starts out in major and "falls" in minor halfway through with a diminished 7th chord. I kinda like this melodic part in itself, but I find that it weakens other parts of the piece to get to it (the half cadence at the end of the intermediary section, mm.33-34, which originally was in g minor sounds much less interesting to me in G major, and is not really in line with my intentions). So although I do like this "half major" version of the repeated melody in itself, I would probably need to find a way to "introduce it" that fits my idea better, and I don't really see one at the moment. I post here the modified version (modified part is from 1:10 to). I have also added a few variations in the repeated melody of the oboe. Nothing great, but this I will probably keep, just to try and reduce the monotony. I could also do only one repeat in the introduction section to make it lighter (i.e. not invert it). EDIT: I have actually decided for another compromise whch is to modulate in d minor for the second repeat, to still change it up a little but keep the minor feel. The oboe melody is also varied a bit. I know it is not completely satisfying (and there's probably a whole lot of toher problems too), but I'll coinsider it the final version since I shouldn't spend so much time on a sinlge piece as a practicing beginner. I've edited the main post with that final version 🙂

Hello, I have written a new version of my previous attempt. I am not sure how the posting policy of this forum goes about this, but since it has changed a lot since last time, I thought of starting a topic anew, to make a clear distinction. I don't mind deleting the older one if need be. Basically, only the first bit with the "almost naked" melody has remained unchanged. The rest has gone through changes, mostly by using fuller textures (as suggested here by MJFOBOE), changes in harmony, or slight melodic adjustments. Some sections have been added, making the work longer. Maybe a bit too long for my level, but I felt like it was still holding together quite alright? Well, you'll be the judges of that of course 😛 As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, technical or not, on the thing! EDIT: the piece has been slightly edited (again) after the post of guardian

Mordante, cette petite bise. Quite a bit of dissonances here, which catch the attention of the ear, while the texture does its job at reminding a chill breeze on an october morning. I am not so familiar with this kind of work, but I did find it interesting, tho I envision it more as an ambiance music (for a movie scene maybe), than a piece that I would sit down and listen to per se. Nicely done!

you are not posting in the right section. And I'm not sure I could think of one section where this post would be fitting.

Oh, this is the first time I hear a pitched speech synthetizer. Damn, will it be a great news for people who can't sing when they come up with a more realistic-sounding version 😛 I have to say I didn't really enjoy listening, but this has nothing to do with your wrting. I was simply put off by this robotic voice. Otherwise, I do admire the simplicity of your melodies, and of your wrting in general (I remember listening to another work that was also strikingly simple, yet sounded really pleasant and "efficient"). Simplifying my stuff is something I am myself trying to work on, so hopefully I'll getinspiration from you 🙂

Yup yup, it was my intention to leave this one simple with a texture that mostly leaves the melody "naked". It gives me a lonely feel on that 2-part section. Same reason why I kept the writing on 2 voices on the piano+oboe section, though this one sounds less satisfying to me too, I agree. Maybe I'll fill out the piano part a little more. I do intend to keep the first part as is tho. Simplicity was one of my main goals when writing it, and I feel like it still carries the point. Your comments do suggest that I should write some additional development part.I will try when I have some time, probably with piano+oboe, to give the oboe a bit more reasons to be there. Thanks for your feedback!

Here is a simple piece for piano and oboe. I tried to convey the feelings of a weary man sitting down to look back at what he's been through. The first (and last) section mm. 1-21 is written to be invertible. I was wondering if I should write one more section, with variation on the melody for the oboe, to kind of "justify" the presence of the oboe, who is merely an "echo" of what the pinao has already said so far. That was my original plan, but I felt as I was writing it that this actually sounded like a good place to stop. Made the journey a bit shorter, but maybe that's better, I'm curious about your opinions. Also, do you think it needs an intro/prelude section before introducing the main melody? Would love to hear your comments about it 🙂

I did really enjoy the tune in its simplicty, although I felt a little bit like it was going circle around the halfway point, maybe? I'd say I couldn't really feel a strong "drive" to make the tune keep flowing. As far as I can hear, the piano mostly has a role of harmonic support or follows the main tune. It could have been interesting to give it more melodic independance at some point of the song maybe? I'm not sure what you mean by dark. It sure sounded melancholic to me, so if that's what you wanted, it is achieved! You could also upload the pdf of your score. It would help you get more technical advices. Overall, it was a very pleasant tune to listen to for me 🙂

Hi everyone, Had a little time this weekend, so I modified the piece a little bit. I changed section B, mostly to try and make it sound more closely related to the first part, in my ongoing struggle to find a good balance betwen unity and contrast. So here is the updated version (section A is the same so you don't have to listen t it again if you already had). Again, I don't really insist on making it particularly minuet-like, I'm mostly borrowing the repeated structure. My goal is to compose a simple piece that feels light, coherent and not unpleasant 😛

thanks guys, just wanted to check that it was an alright thing to do cause I had a doubt 🙂

Hi everyone, I have a quick basic question that I can't really find a proper answer to. Basically, can I write the bass line in the image below? (it's not a real thing, just written to illustrate my point. I actually realize it has other problems cause I wrote it mindlessly, but I just wanna discuss the specific question below 😅) I am in f minor, and want to make a scalar progression from D to F starting on beat 3. I use the ascending melodic minor to avoid the augmented 2nd D-E#. But the "problem" is that I already used an unaltered D in the same measure, in both voices. It seems to me like it's akin to a false relation (even though both voices are not on D and D# at the same time). Is that a "mistake" in the classical style, or is it no problem? I also find it a bit strange to have both the D and D# in the same measure and same voice Incidentally, it is not the focus of my question but it's also making a diminished 5th with the voice above... Is that accepted in this context? I am quite struggling with the practical details of melodic minor scales and I don't have a specific reference about it.

The objective is to learn to compose a simple piece. I'm keeping it short and simple and trying to include different elements that I need to practice (like a more contrapunctal texture on the section B). I hear you for the lack of a clear theme. Although, I would say there is quite a clear theme/motif to the section A? Basically there is the motif int the mm. 1-2, and the one i m.3, that are being sequenced/varied. I was kinda ok with that first part. The section B though, I agree that it lacks coherence with the rest, since I am quite poor at writing a constrasting section that still relates to the orginal material. Any recommandations? How to keep the unity between a section supposedly contrasting and the main "theme"?

I feel like there is a lot of repetition and this makes it hard for me to enjoy going through the piece. We get like 9 measures of exactly the same melody (mm 5-8x2) which is essentially a tonic triad, feeling extremely static and stall, and the bass line is not providing another melody for the ear to follow either, being a purely harmonic support. The piece leaves me feelin like I just heard a long arpeggiation of various chords. When the music transitions to something different, it feels extremeley abrupt, like we just switched the radio to another channel (the piece modulates and changes rythm very suddenly without preparing it at m.29, and does it again a few measures later). All in all, it felt to me a little bit like a "copy-paste" of different ideas that may not be unpleasant in themselves but that are either very much overused, or put together in an awkward way. This is just the opinion of a beginner, so don't mind it too much 🙂 EDIT: I hadn't listened till the end, but actually there's no end? I think you're missing a part of your score