What keeps you from reviewing more works?

What keeps you from reviewing more works?  This could apply to works reviewed on YCF, YT, discord, Soundcloud or other social media where music is shared.  The poll is public.  Respond to this topic for me to add more options to the list!

Other:

I do drop the occasional review, but for the most part, I don't do a lot of reviewing.

There are a few ostensibly different reasons, but I feel they're connected by a common thread.

That being: I feel that my advice is better spent in discussing music and composition in a more general sense or regarding specific topics like perhaps harmony or melody writing as a concept rather than trying to tell someone how to "fix" or "improve" their piece; I would rather talk about that stuff and feel I'm better at "helping" with that sort of insight that way anyway. To be frank, I also always found those sort of posts more useful than what are often highly subjective grievances with a specific piece, from a specific person.

Another is that I don't like to listen to music analytically most of the time. When I listen to users' music, I mostly just listen to enjoy it. If I do, I'll usually drop a like on their YouTube or whatever and if I don't, I usually just move on. I wouldn't enjoy music if I was always in this "critique mode" and as a person who has an obsessive personality, it would be very easy for me to fall into that.

Most of the regular posters here, I like their music and there really isn't much for me to say beyond "Yeah, this is great". I hope that maybe some of them also enjoy my stuff.

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However, I will say there is a final reason, and I know I risk sounding a like narcissistic @$$ by saying it, but I really don't mean to be or think I'm the very best, but it is just fair and honest:

When I started frequenting musicians forums some 20 years ago, I was often frustrated by how the more experienced musicians we all looked up to didn't really give much feedback or help n00bs like myself. However, now that I'm getting to be one of the "old men" with a lot of experience, having made money with it, got into prestigious national programs by the merit of my own work, and now releasing albums with some of the bigger music libraries and did all of this so far coming from a family that couldn't afford to put me in proper music lessons and I was forced to learn most of this stuff on my own over the course of my entire youth and adult life so far...I understand now why many of them weren't so willing to dedicate that kind of time to what essentially amounts to being a free teacher for strangers online.

Over the last five or so years, I've had people send me emails or messages asking to help them make some piece they're working on into their grand vision. The problem with most cases is, at a minimum, I would have to make posts or videos much longer than this, with pictures, custom examples, or recomposing aspects of their piece. In the more extreme cases, which are many, I would essentially have to teach this person how to compose from the ground up. 

I would not just have to teach academic music theory and such, but more importantly, I am pouring in my own perspectives and experience — my life with music — in order to truly help these people grow, and I don't think it is arrogance to feel that that is worth something. The "something" doesn't necessarily have to be money, but in the cases of most, money is all they'd have to offer in exchange.

I chose "not enough time" and "other", and I meant to say sonething about "other" in this post. Something about how I mostly enjoy listening to music posted here, but I'm never clear as to what to say in a review. I don't want to be negative for stuff I do not like. I would like to be useful suggesting solutions that I think would sound better even in pieces I like. I would like to highlight what is really good so that people could see better why a piece of music is succesful. But in the end I listen to a piece and being constructive and positive is just... difficult. Not time-consuming, but just really difficult to articulate. I don't have the technical ability to be helpful offering advice. But I also don't really know how to explain why I like or dislike a posted piece. Then it dawned on me why that is. So I hit the back button and chose "not good at analyzing music" 🙂

For me the main issue is time and effort.

I also have another, the formatting of the sheets and the playback is often suboptimal, especially those using default sound bank. I tend to gravitate towards those with user-friendly sheets and live performances because those are the most effective ways for me to perceive the music works.

edit: btw incorrect enhamonic accidentals are such a turn off

6 hours ago, Giacomo925 said:

I chose "not enough time" and "other", and I meant to say sonething about "other" in this post. Something about how I mostly enjoy listening to music posted here, but I'm never clear as to what to say in a review. I don't want to be negative for stuff I do not like. I would like to be useful suggesting solutions that I think would sound better even in pieces I like. I would like to highlight what is really good so that people could see better why a piece of music is succesful. But in the end I listen to a piece and being constructive and positive is just... difficult. Not time-consuming, but just really difficult to articulate. I don't have the technical ability to be helpful offering advice. But I also don't really know how to explain why I like or dislike a posted piece. Then it dawned on me why that is. So I hit the back button and chose "not good at analyzing music" 🙂

You know, sometimes it's just enough to say "I really liked x!" or "Something about meas. y or timestamp z didn't work for me, but I don't know what it is or how to fix it."  I'm sure people will still appreciate the time you put in to saying that!  Thanks for responding .. I've added three new answers to the poll!

5 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

You know, sometimes it's just enough to say "I really liked x!" or "Something about meas. y or timestamp z didn't work for me, but I don't know what it is or how to fix it."  I'm sure people will still appreciate the time you put in to saying that!  Thanks for responding .. I've added three new answers to the poll!

 

Yes!!! one of the main reasons work is posted here, I think it’s safe to say, is for the purpose of feeling accomplished in the work that was done for the compositions. They take a lot of time to do, no matter the skill level or grammatical correctness of it. 
 

it always feels nice to at the bare minimum, be seen / noticed by someone, anyone! 

For me, I chose 

- Not good at analyzing music (because I truly have struggled deeply with this skill since I started with music. I have a hard time even analyzing what it is that I’M writing at times to be clear and honest) 

- Not enough knowledge of existing repertoire…

(Some of you guys can reference music pieces by pulling them from thin air out of your memories lol I’ve listened and attempted to analyze many scores but they always elude me in their name or artist when I need to reference it. I have ADHD so I don’t retain knowledge in terms of specifics unless it’s something I’m actively working on) 

- Afraid to say something that’s wrong

(if it makes any sense, I can *see* what needs to be fixed but have a hard time formulating the correct sentences to *explain* it to someone unless it’s something that I’ve already made a mistake on and corrected, myself.) 

in addition to these, I’m also a sole proprietor business owner. I run a mobile auto repair service and my phone rings off the hook constantly. (I’m sitting in the Walmart parking lot with my phone on DND since it’s outside of my business hours and, for once, I’m not working over time today.. lol so when I get a lull I do try to participate where possible)