UncleRed99

@JorgeDavid also to touch on arrangement, you don’t have to arrange a piece to be 100% like the original. And you don’t even have to publish it! but I’ll give you another example of something I arranged recently. I’m sure you know about the Halo Game franchise. I took the Halo 3 OST track “Never Forget” and completely overhauled it using the same instrumentation and same intervals of key changes using a different starting pitch, and added in my own styling, as well as combining elements from the Halo 3 version written by Martin O’Donnell and the Halo 4 version written by Kazuma Jinnouchi heres the Musescore Link to that one just to give you an idea about what I mean by arrangement. The possibilities are endless with things like that! You can MAKE it your own! Doesn’t have to be someone else’s from start to finish. One big aspect of music is the theft of ideas. It’s one of the fundamental parts of composition. Composers steal ideas and expand upon them all the time.

It works with or without a subscription. You have to have internet connection to use the playback however. But if you have internet connection before launching the LABS plugin thru the mixer, it will work fine the rest of the time from what I’ve experienced with it so far. also Thank you for taking time to hear my piece. I know the engraving and grammar is a bit weird. That’s only because with a piece that size, my laptop kept freezing while doing anything by after a certain point so I just didn’t even bother going back to add in slurs, clean up staff text markings and other small things. If I were to receive a request to perform the piece, I’d probably go ahead and grit my teeth and get that over with but for now it’s just gonna have to stay that way 😅😅

I can understand the stressful nature of your dilemma with having to practice piano skills on top of doing arrangements and composition. Personally, before I began to orchestrate full compositions, started with using MuseScore user's compositions and arranging ones that I felt were done poorly or could use improvement or that I noticed places where this or that would've been a better choice to happen in a given section. This jump started a lot of lost knowledge from the time I studied music theory and got the ball rolling for me to actually compose something (whch I'd never done before. This was the results of that (My Musescore Profile. See the Spotlights) - Especially the long arctic midnight. It's a bit long but it's the first full symphony orchestral piece I created. 2 movements in 11/8 time, modulating between 6/8, 12/8 and 4/4 as well. Took me 6 months to do that one. And as far as the use of Spitfire, you can use them in MuseScore's mixer. Musescore will automatically detect usable VST plugins on your device. Nothing to do further at all. And via MuseHub, you can install MuseFX which comes with a good range of audio effects plugins that are integral to the program itself. Just don't waste your money on the MuseHub sound packages.. they're mediocre at best in my opinion. MuseSounds out-performs them in terms of their interactions with the sheet music during playback. The sounds themselves are A+. Their ability to react to dynamics and stay in tune however, not even close to an F rating in my opinion... Trumpet sounds are pitchy, and other brass sounds don't follow dynamics like they're supposed to. Strings are also pitchy and cannot perform any sound flags like they're supposed to, the rhythms aren't ever played back correctly etc.... way too many bugs imo. Spitfire, some of their sounds are better than others. Especially if you're using LABS free edition. I pay for LABS+ and I gotta say, it's an improvement. However, some of the MuseSounds are still top tier compared to anything from LABS. So I just use them in tandem for anything I create now. Mostly I use LABS+ for the Piano playback sounds they offer. Much more realistic sounding. Their Choir sounds are awesome as well, and their Intimate Brass is useful for Trombone and French Horn playback which MuseSounds lack quality in those areas. There isn't much in the way of woodwinds, and the ones they do have don't sound nearly as polished as Muse does, so I don't even bother with them. Basically, nowadays and VST3 playback options out there are currently lacking in their ability to interact well with notation software, on the general level. I don't use DAWs so I can't really say much to their quality in that aspect, however, I have seen some works out there using LogicPRO, FLStudio, and other DAWs using these VSTs and they come out absolutely awesome. I'm just not privy to that software. I'm much more accustomed to reading and notating sheet music since it's something I've known from a time before I knew anything about DAWs or even Notation software.

@JorgeDavid, Don't sell yourself short! You won't know til' ya try! Practice makes perfect. I wasn't ever really privy to writing symphony orchestral music at all, until recently, having been a lowly trumpeter during my music career. I do it for fun now, and I don't play anything, except the Piano, and albeit not very well, well enough to use for composing. It's all about knowing what instrument does what best. Then taking advantage of it. I'm not a master composer by any stretch of the imagination. I sort of just put lipstick on my pigs with Spitfire LABS VST3 playback and Musesounds playback, with some panning, gain +/-, and audio effects plugins with MuseScore 4. Makes the music sound better than it looks, I suppose 🤣 I'm willing to bet you won't disappoint yourself if you were to take a crack at it. It may be daunting, but I'll tell you what I do to start with a piece; Write an outline using only the piano grand staff. Make labels for the instruments that should voice the notes in your outline. Take advantage of the "Voices" function in MS4 to write more than 1 part in a measure

Man, this has some very flavorful chord voicings. The Major 7ths, Augments, Minor 7ths, and Dominant 7th chords really make this a Lamenting piece. I agree with how others have already explained that this piece would be so much more engaging and powerful if there were a sort of "bridge" section that built up to the outro or the last verse/chorus then to outro with contrasting statements such as maybe arpeggiating the chords for the Left hand (bass clef) rather than the monotonous quarter note chord rhythms used throughout the progression, and worked up to a Forte or Fortissimo dynamic level at the peak of it to really drive the lament home. I've got a Lamentoso piece named "Lamentation" floating around on this forum that you might be interested in viewing as an example of what I mean. You can check it out right here to see what I'm talkin' about :)

I posted this piece probably about 2 months ago or so, looking for feedback during its initial rough drafted phase. And @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, I never did figure out a solid way to modulate in that one section, so if you see this, I hope you'll forgive the short 1-beat triplet used for the transition 😅 I tried my best but my brain wasn't working in the transition department. The original piece (written for solo piano) by Masao Aichi can be found here (includes playback using MuseSounds) I left some advice on his post there, explaining that monotony isn't typically the best approach to writing something that you'd like to have heard by a lot of people, and have them listen to it more than once or even all the way through. Scientifically, it's been shown that after 3 repetitions of the same thing, the human brain begins to tune it out. 2 repetitions engrains an idea, 1 repetition reinforces an idea, and no repetitions create a forgetful idea. So, in the spirit of helping to educate less experienced composers, I took his original piece shown above and created this work which includes a string ensemble accompaniment. He was elated with the result. I hope y'all will be too! Let me know what y'all think. -UncleRed A_Promise_With_You_-_Masao_Aichi__Kyle_Hilton__UncleRed99.pdf A_Promise_With_You_-_Masao_Aichi__Kyle_Hilton__UncleRed99.custom_score.mp3

yes, each genre has it's own difficulties, specific to themselves. Jazz tends to stand out specifically because there's technically no wrong answers. My advice for solo notation in jazz would be to keep your notation, as for right now anyway, pitched within the blues minor scale of the key you're writing in, or, alternatively, pitched in the Pentatonic scale. The notes within those scales for the key being written or played in, you cannot really go wrong with it. And you can move the pentatonic scale key and deviate from the key signature in line with the chord in the measure you're writing solo notation in without it really sounding "wrong". Hopefully that helps you some

@PeterthePapercomPoser, I always appreciate your detailed feedback! I'm glad you pointed it out to me because I thought something was off with the balancing, but for some reason, I was ear-blind to it. However, I noticed the balancing problem right after the bridge when I went back and listened to the playback while reading along again. I notated the triplets in the piano right-hand staff but couldn't hear them ring out as I had expected. I'm pleased that you were able to enjoy it nonetheless. I know that my pieces tend to evoke sadder emotions. I have noticed that most male composers I've met tend to express similar emotions, likely due to societal standards that typically prohibit other forms of emotional expression. I believe my way of expressing it follows the same reasons. It feels gratifying to know that someone else was able to understand all of my intended expressions within a work. Thank you again for your dedication to peer review, both here and in the forum, and for your ability to provide excellent reviews while acknowledging the composer's intentions throughout their work. You are a true gentleman, sir 😉 Sidenote: I've also taken the time to create a separate piano score for this piece, engraved specifically for solo piano. One of my old music directors from high school, of whom I have kept consistent contact with over the years, had recently obtained his Master's degree in Music, and is a director for a local church organization. He's a beast at the bench with Ivory & Ebony. He's offered to practice, play, and record it for me, so whenever he finds that time to do it for me, I will be certain to share it here to showcase the Piece in action, with some realistic human emotional touches added! I'm excited for it. 😅

I was going to say the same thing here, @Symphonic! I can appreciate the artistic ideas that are included throughout this piece. However, not everyone out there is so imaginative as to stick around throughout, what would appear to them as, monotonous in nature, when in reality it's not that at all. It's just that the average Classical music listener won't really pick up on the facts of what work this piece has put into it, unfortunately. Maybe still use the ominous, detached and suspenseful opening section, but keep it brief. Then provide the audience of the score something to nibble on for a little while that, without providing too many clues, will give some anticipation as to what's to follow the introduction section of your music. That way, engagement continues, and you're happy, audience is happy, and everyone has an all around good time, feeling the emotions that you're attempting to portray here! Otherwise, the writing itself is good, the voicings within the chords are used very creatively, and despite what the rest of the world would see, I can see what you're doing here, being your peer in composition. 🙂 Just keep in mind that people have the attention span of a dead leaf, nowadays... Gotta hook em' in to catch em'.

Hey guys... Im bad about prematurely sharing things. Sure, it was mostly finished before, but I felt it was missing something. The key is now written in D Minor (my favorite key tbh), and I added a bridge section to it as well. It felt too repetitive to me, honestly without something to break the pattern... Let me know what y'all think? 🙂

🙂 I uploaded this too early, before... its been finished (i think) since, however, I do feel a draw upon myself to write a bridge section to this, of some sort...

Masterful. I got nothin' to add...

Without context, I'm unsure of what it is that you're aiming to express with this piece. If I had to be honest, I can't say that this is particularly enjoyable to the ear 😅 Just reading over the first page of your score, I notice that the voicings "clash". Skimming through, this seems to be a common theme. You have your key signature set as Atonal (or, open, no set mode), and while your rhythms are unique, and would work well with the ensemble as a whole, I find it hard to "hear" the direction the piece is going, and I'm unable to conjure any imagery in my mind for what this work's message is portraying. Not that all music has to have any real meaning to it. Music can just be fun for the sake of it being fun as well. However, again, I don't pick up on any sort of intent in this project, and I so desperately would like to!!! But to touch on your notation, we can review measure 1 as an example, as this same issue is present throughout the piece, and would give you an idea on what I'm referring to, for you to possibly utilize for edits as you progress in writing this. Beat 1, Piano, plays a C natural, doubled by the octave. Moving up, the Cello has an A natural. Which is ok, as it's a 3rd interval from C. However, the first thing heard is the C in the piano, which would typically establish the 1st tone of whatever mode the piece is in. (can be multiple, based on just the note C alone.) Moving up the next staff, to Viola, we have a G Natural. So far, that's (C/A/G...) Already, we face a dilemma. A and G Natural are 1 whole tone apart. and at the octave range that these are notated, imagine just those two notes played on a piano, simultaneously. That would be 2 white keys right next to one another, which is very dissonant, and can sound harsh, if used without context. Lets move up again to V. II: We have a B Natural. Then up to the top staff, V. I: We have another C Natural. So the first chord we hear is built upon; (C/C, A, G, B, C) Which would sound like this (see attached audio below)>> I hope that, given the example, you may see where I'm coming from, in terms of being unable to pinpoint an intent with the sound of the notation! I want to emphasize, in no way am I trying to say your work is bad. It's apparent to me that you're still new to this stuff, and mistakes are okay! I just hope to guide you toward doing great things. Its difficult to follow music without a tonal central point, as you can hear from the attached audio. If you have a question, I'd love to talk about it. edit: what I *think* you were trying to use was A minor? I plugged the notes into my Musescore 4 program as just whole notes on the same instrumentation. I can hear a vague sound of an A minor chord. Which would be written like: Recording 2025-01-22 041459.mp3

you've mentioned this, and my ADHD brain always forgets to revisit 😐 🤣 I promise I will review some of your work, soon!

Oh, man, it seems great minds must think alike! Im 2-for-2 with similarities on your pieces! I haven't seen much of your work, so that's pretty cool that it ended up that way. But Henry, you speak like a poet, sir. I appreciate your imaginative mind and description of my pieces of music, when warranted. My intentions are always to create imagery for listeners, and it seems I've been doing a fairly good job of that so far. And you hit the nail on the head, pointing out the simplistic nature of the piece. That was the intent, while still featuring moments of complexity from time to time to keep it interesting, and to instill the emotions I went for. Also, thank you for noticing the use of the Picardy 3rd. I haven't put that into practice before, and was excited to do so 😅 I'm glad it also was able to fit within the verse chord progressions, as well as having it's traditional use as the last chord of the piece. I wanted to detach the ending, using the slow tempo, solo piano, with the 1-note melody and harmony to keep it extra simple and distant, leaving room for interpretation and processing of the "story" being shared throughout the whole piece. More of a "breather" if you will for the listener. I'm glad I could bring excitement to your passion today!