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EDIT: Changed the name of the piece from "Sentimental Minuet" to "Romance" since I received feedback from several people that the piece was indeed too slow and the "minuet" label was misleading. I believe "Romance/Romanza" fits the style of the composition much better. Hello everyone, I upload here the arrangement for String Quartet I made of my "Sentimental Minuet for Piano". It was originally a saxophone quartet but I realized the melody was always played by the top instrument and it felt repetitive. I tried rearranging the saxophone quartet but it became too hard. Since I understand string instruments a little better I turned it into a string quartet to be able to arrange something less repetitive with the melody going through all the different instruments. Any feedback about the arrangement or the composition itself is more than welcome! Thank you and hope you enjoy it! ------- Original Piano Piece -----------

This is my "Three Sententiae for String Quartet, Op. 376". The first sententia is subtitled "A Reflection on Beethoven's Op. 131 String Quartet's Opening Fugue", a piece that I consider the greatest string quartet ever composed, perhaps even the greatest music ever composed. The subtitle comes from the fact that I was wondering about that composition's first movement and thinking that it is a piece that is so great that it deserves musical reflections by other composers being done on it, when this "reflection" occurred to me. This set of sententiae is my 9th set of sententiae composed for string quartet, and my 66th set of sententiae overall (albeit two of those "sets" comprise only one sententia). The third sententia, at over a minute long, is unusually long and stretches the usual boundaries of a sententia. I have provided a description of the sententia, a form I have created, in the title page of the score. I reproduce it below: The 'sententia' is a musical form I originated in 2013. The word 'sententia' (plural: ‎‎'sententiae') is the Latin for the word 'sentence'. The Oxford dictionary defines 'sententia' ‎as "A pithy or memorable saying, a maxim, an aphorism, an epigram; a thought, a ‎reflection."For me a 'sententia' is a musical utterance of a thought that is complete in ‎itself, like a sentence. It is also an utterance that finds no need for any elaboration or ‎development. Hence my sententiae are short pieces that come in sets and are often related ‎to each other in some way. Just like between the movements of a multi-movement piece, ‎I would expect that performers observe a short pause between one sententia and the next. ‎And I would expect that there be no clapping from audiences between sententiae.‎ Here is the link of the previous set of sententiae for string quartet that I have posted on YC (it is the one before my Three Sententiae for String Quartet Op. 346" that isn't posted here): https://www.youngcomposers.com/t36832/two-sententiae-for-string-quartet-op-311/ Edit: I found I had later posted another set of sententiae for string quartet, my Op. 321. Here is the link: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t37957/two-sententiae-for-string-quartet-op-321/

Hi Forum 🙂 Here's, after a long time away from composing, a short study for string quartet in C minor. Hope you'll like it 🙂 Regards

Hi 🙂 I present you here my 7th study for string quartet. There are more obvious theme structure in it, but also, and I hope that @PeterthePapercomPoser won't resent me to much for this, you'll see parallel octaves in it (see other post Study for string quartet #6). It's rather gentle and composed in a happy mood 🙂 Also, you'll see playback marks on the score (for audio) : I hope this won't bother you to much if you read it. Regards, Marc

Hello everyone, I'm back, at least for the moment. I wanted to share one of my in-progress arranging projects and humbly ask for your criticism. I decided to write a string quartet version of a Caroline Polachek song I love (linked at the bottom.) A PDF, Finale file, and audio file are linked below: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ljosc9l0xfy0k6fc6r69d/h?rlkey=aml3pst90rdspugzuyiyjllb2&dl=0 If you use Finale, please open the Finale file. (You should have no issue if you hit download after the "Can't load this file type" prompt.) In my mp3 the violin 1 part is absent; I'm not sure why. This is apparently a glitch with the software. My apologies! I am working on transferring the audio to my DAW, but until then, I hope this audio is still helpful in some way to those who don't have Finale. Backstory and questions In my notation and score prep class at music school, we were given an extra credit challenge to post a composition or arrangement online and make it buyable over the next month -- I am aiming for mid-April 2024. At the moment I'm thinking I will sell my score on ArrangeMe. https://www.arrangeme.com/ My works mostly fall under the classical umbrella, but during my past year at college and especially in this current class I've notated very short excerpts and arrangements of pop and rock songs. This "Butterfly Net" arrangement is more extensive, though, and I'm having some doubts about it in terms of texture, rhythm, and narrative pace. I really want to do this beautiful song at least some justice and I would greatly appreciate your advice. (My class focuses on notation itself and not at all on composition, but I would like whatever I publish online to be compositionally solid.) I know that arrangements fall on a scale of very faithful to more transformative. For example, Josh Cohen's piano arrangement of "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead is closer to the latter, because Cohen created a spacious intro with a completely different mood than the original, and he extends and reworks later sections within the song. I would like to be faithful to Polachek's formal structure and honor her precise harmonies and melodic lines (I simplified some rhythms) -- because I don't have much time. A string quartet obviously has many limits and I have some specific questions: - I have the pizz. cello emulate the guitar in the beginning, and in the chorus the viola plays pizz. to add rhythmic interest where the percussion was. Is this effective, or distracting? - Am I changing textures too quickly throughout the piece so far? I would like to slowly build the energy and drama. - In bar 19 I considered having the viola continue playing a rhythmic part, but I recognize that it's basic practice not to have all four instruments playing together for the entire piece. Without the viola, bar 19 onwards sounds silly and anemic to me. How could I add some lushness that the original has without exhausting my ensemble? Thank you so much for reading and for listening! Please hear the original "Butterfly Net" below, and an audio file of my arrangement:

Probably my best/most expressive work so far. I would love to get a feedback on this!

I wrote an arrangement of "The First Noel" for a string quartet I started working on this piece thinking very SATB, very chordal - but as I worked on it, I tried to think of the harmonies in terms of "lines" instead of just chords and I played around with the ranges of the strings. - I am not the best at writing viola parts, so there are some missing sections - if you have any ideas for harmonies let me know - I have looked at the score too long to notice any part-writing errors, so if you spot any, please point them out - I plan to keep working on this, but I think this is a good length for the piece - not TOO long, but long enough for the music to move and expand

This submission has some history behind it. I got bored about three or four days ago and decided to look through some of my earlier works to see if I could rewrite anything; as it happened, I found a composition for string quartet from two years ago (marked my Op. 1, apparently) that I felt had some good thematic material, so I got to it. That old piece was my first IGCSE composition, from the start of the 9th grade. I've taken the liberty of uploading both pieces (the newer one as Op. 1a, though I hope you'd be able to gauge which one's the newer one 😉) so you can compare the two. I'm pretty grateful to see how far I've gotten with my compositional skills, or even just my ability to write for strings. Let's hope this is a good sign (!). As always, criticism is always welcome. P.S. If you couldn't tell, this was a bit of a rushed piece that I wanted to finish pretty quickly, so there will likely be some voice leading mistakes. Also, Musescore's solo strings playback sucks: I had to do a lot of manual adjustments to keep it from glissing or getting shaky bow (somehow???) or playing loud for no reason, so please bear with the piece if there's a phrasing mistake somewhere.

I am really inspired by @ComposaBoi's Seven Sorrows that I decide to upload an old work composed by little Henry (lol). It's an old work of mine finished in 2014 September, between my ( ) in piano solo and first Piano Sonata. I was way too ambitious then, as I would like to follow the model of Beethoven's String Quartet no. 14 in C sharp minor, op.131, one of my all time favourite piece. It's in the same key as his op. 131; contains seven movements, the same number as Bee's op. 131; and the movements will all be performed in attaca without stopping which also follows Bee's op. 131. At the time of finishing it I though I had completed a masterpiece but of course I am now highly critical of it. But I'm still quite proud of it since it was my first chamber work ever. Detailed are not added there as I didn't have the ability to add those when I composed it. I have some ideas on how to polish it, but I also would like to have you guys' precious opinion on how to polish it since you can always give me new insights and angles to interpret it!! Don't be afraid to criticize or compliment it!! Here is the brief synopsis of the piece: First Movement: Introduction: Adagio mesto e espressivo. C sharp Minor. I was trying to imitate Bee's op. 131, so I used fugue as the opening movement as well, though here it's more the combination of fugue and sonata form. This is my first ever piece in the contrapuntal approach, and I'm quite proud of it despite the errors. The movement introduces three important themes that will appear later on in all the movements: The opening theme (b. 1-11 cello), lamenting theme (b.59-62 1st violin) and a theme I don't know how to call it (b.104-105 2nd violin, appears in tonic b.116-117 1st violin) A quite tragic movement and I love it! Second Movement: Scherzando I: Allegro Vivace. A flat major. Still copying Bee with a scherzando movement follows immediately after a fugal slow movement. Third Movement: Andante. B major. Another fugal movement. I quite like the calmness in it but the fugal technique is not good enough. Fourth Movement: Moderato meastoso. Acts as the bridge to the second part of the Quartet. Fifth Movement: Scherzando II: Allegro Vivace agitato. C sharp minor. Too short and undeveloped to be called a movement. Sixth Movement: Andante molto espressivo. A major. A variation movement as in Bee's fifth movement of op.131 in the same key. The variation skill is not too good though. A transition is used to bridge the final movement. Seventh Movement: Allegro Vivace (No tempo and expression marking??!!). C sharp minor. I LOVE the finale of Bee's op.131: it's so concise and succinct. Here it's a mess. There are some lovely passages but the glue between them fails. Although I keep saying the bad things of this quartet, I am actually grateful for making it. Without it I will never acquire the skills I have to compose subsequent compositions! Here is the full score of the piece: 13-12-2017 String Quartet no 1 Full Score.pdf The score and mp3 of different movements are inserted below. Hope you enjoy it and the day!!! Henry P.S. Thanks to @PeterthePapercomPoser for giving me the suggestion on how to post this!

So, here is the final (?) version of my very first, serious, String Quartet. I'm very excited about this piece -with its newly minted final movement. A bit of detail is in order: I. Andante con moto: The first movement, in an expanded ABA form, is in Episodic Form. This form, patterned after both the Medieval Estampie and Baroque Fugal Forms, consists of alternating exposition and contrapuntal series. I took care here to focus the material to create a sense of ABA form itself -where as the material itself dictated. The chief material for this movement is the nomenclature for my first name: JASON =DbABbDE. This was arrived at adjusting the note to letter key by removing Fb and Cb -as I didn't feel comfortable having either in the score.... it just didn't seem right, lol. II. Moderately: This movement is more through composed in that the material dictated where to go next -with the exception of the end. This movement plays with the theme from the first movement and introduces a, rather stark, GCD motif (I'll let people figure out the meaning of this chord). This chord is not elaborated on or development -just sort of sits in the ethereal of the piece throughout. However, the chord does impact the material that comes after its introduction in a profound way. III. Largo molto Sostenuto: Resignation to fate. I feel this movement is perhaps the strongest of the three -and the most interesting. While I love dense contrapuntal textures, this movement rests its laurels on a delicate suspension that begins with the GCD chordal motif introduced in the second movement. The JASON motif is imposed within the chordal motif using what I call the Shostakovitch crescendo (see his String Quartet no. 15). In a sense, that work deeply inspired this movement. I hope you enjoy! I may rework the second movement to make it less bulky at the ending -maybe fix the transitions? I'm not sure. Technicalities aside: This work is rather personal -obviously since I used my name as the chief material. The hidden programmatic nature of the work is probably easily noticeable to many of us on here. We have all gone through vast struggles in our lives to get to the points we each find ourselves. This work is biographical in that respect. I won't bore you with details.

Hello all, I haven't posted a piece in a little while so thought I'd share one of my favourite recent works. This piece was written for a young composer competition here in the UK. It was shortlisted (!) and as such I was lucky to receive an astonishingly high quality recording by a period string quartet. I then decided to submit it to the Youtube channel TheExarion for the August 2022 Original Compositions video. Did anyone else from this forum enter a piece? It's a fantastic collection of almost 9 hours of new music! Rather than uploading the score and recording for copyright reasons, I have linked TheExarion's score video below. Hopefully the video will start from my piece, but if not, you can skip to 07:36:00. (There is also a programme note and performance note in the score-video, but I can copy it into a post if anyone would prefer.) Hope you enjoy the piece, and any feedback will be much appreciated!

Wienklassicist 10 - Full Score.pdfWienklassicist 10.mp3 Hi fellow composers! I'm pretty satisfied with this piece all in all, but I need help with the transition to the end where the theme comes in again. I can't find a way to make it feel natural, so I made some rubbish two bars that the violin play solo. also the preceding call and response thingy between violin I and the rest of the strings is something I'm a little unsure of. Any other comments are also interesting. Thanks and have a good day! / Olov

This is a sort of waltzy arrangement of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" for a quartet of violin, viola, cello, and double bass. This was originally a school assignment and was completed in late 2020. I was lucky enough to have this performed (albeit not in a quartet setting, as everyone had to record separately). https://youtu.be/GLwdHqTfJaA Hopefully you enjoy!

Hi everyone! After 9 months, extensive editing and reworking, I have finally finished my full quartet! I tend to compose based on motifs and melodies, so I tend to reuse my motifs and musical ideas throughout the piece with the intention of a coherent flow throughout this quartet. The order is as follows: 1. Allegro Con Spirito in 12/8 time (7'45") Form: Conventional Sonata Form Introduction in D Major -> 1st Subject in D Minor -> 2nd Subject in A Minor -> Development and New Material in A Major -> Recapitulation of 1st Subject in D Minor -> Coda using fragments of 2nd Theme in D Minor The opening movement of the piece, the first movement sets the tone of the piece with its flowing nature, seamless transitions and exploration of its two subjects, with motifs used to keep its coherent flow. The piece starts off with a slow introduction further elaborated on in the 4th movement. I decided to use a early Romantic style of composition with 20th century elements. Dialogue was emphasised throughout the movement with a lot of imitation and antiphonal texture between instruments used throughout the piece. In addition, I explored the varying planes of tones throughout the piece, from choral-like segments to more polyphonic areas. Motifs used: 1-quaver-4-semiquaver rhythm, Melodic pizz. motif, offbeat quavers, Chromatism 2. Adagio Molto Rubato in 2/4 time (11'32") Form: Free Form The slow movement of the piece, the second movement sets out by exploring the contrasts between varying emotions and textures and the use of solo instruments in the scoring of a string quartet, where every instrument has their own cadenzas and solos dotted throughout. Each instrument was given its time to shine and play its own solos and melodies, with interspersing those moments with polyphonic instrumentation and texture typically associated with the quartet. Each main melodic phrase starts off with the fast lively piu mosso section before going into more sentimental, slower sections of the piece. The theme of the piece and main melodic material in the movement recurs periodically throughout the piece with variation and changes in instrumentation and tone colour. I also used a relatively contemporary technique where different parts of the melody and countermelody are played by different instruments in the same phrase. Motifs: Tremolo, Dotted-crotchet-2-semiquaver rhythm, Solo cadenzas and melodies, offbeat semiquavers 3. Scherzo, Molto Vivace in 3/4 and 4/4 time (4'59") Form: Rondo Form A Section in D Minor -> B Section in F Major/B-flat Minor -> A Section in D Minor, -> C Section in F Major -> Cello Cadenza in D Minor -> A' Section in D Minor -> Coda in D Minor The Scherzo of the quartet heavily makes use of quartets and further explores the fugue and unconventional choral-like textures for the quartet. With heavy use of the lively and catchy theme, interspersed with the chromatic fugal style of the other sections, it creates sharp contrast and variety in sound. I utilised very lyrical and easy to latch onto melodies to make this rondo much more memorable and enjoyable, with its fiery unison main theme and its fast liveliness especially accentuated by its running notes as countermelodies. Motifs used: Chromatism, quaver-2-semiquaver rhythm, ascending scales 4. Adagio - Allegro Con Fuoco in 4/4 time (8'07") Form: Rondo Form Introduction in F Major-> A Section in D Minor -> B Section in D Minor -> A Section in D Minor-> C Section in D Major -> D Section in A Minor -> Brief Recap to Introduction -> B Section in D Minor -> Combination of C and D Section in A Minor -> A Section in D Minor -> Coda in D Minor Th final movement of the quartet is very virtuosic and technically challenging with its fast running notes and sudden tempo changes, with the emphasis of unpredictability, rage and contrast as I was composing in mind of the COVID pandemic. The theme throughout remains constant to provide a sense of grounding in an otherwise chaotic and unpredictable piece, with the 3 other main melodic ideas varied through variations and instrumentations. It heavily uses cyclic form in its introduction and coda, bringing ideas from the first and third movement into the forays of the final movement. Motifs: Chromatism, Running Note Scales, Quaver-Crotchet-2-semiquaver rhythm, quaver pizz., melodic motif bridging sections, Arppegio running Notes I would greatly appreciate any feedback given towards the composition as it helps me improve my skill in composing. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments. Thank you!

Hello guys. Haven't been active in this forum for a long time. So this is my second draft of my first string quartet. So you're advices/critiques will help in my venture in writing the next parts of the piece (yes some parts are not good).Hope you like it. https://flat.io/score/5e6f38d9b35b8f06521c6575-string-quartet-no-1-in-e-minor-2020

Hello! I am totally new to composition, self-taught and doing it as a hobby only. This is also my first post on this forum and I didn't find a section explaining the rules of the forum so apologies if I'm doing something wrong! Anyway, here is my first try for writing a string quartet! Curious to have some feedback on it :) I attached an audio file and a pdf but you can also find it here on musescore: https://musescore.com/user/27118405/scores/6317578

Hi everyone! This is the 3rd movement of my string quartet! In contrast to the meandering 2nd movement which does not have any structure, this movement is mostly following the Rondo form, and I used motifs extensively throughout the piece. This was also the first time where I tried using parallel motion for the theme and climax of the movement to contrast the episodes which are more polyphonic and uses more call-and-response. I also included a quasi cadenza for the cello before the reprisal back to the opening of the piece, with a fiery cadenza to end the piece! Let me know what you guys think and feel free to feedback in the comments! Thank you for taking the time to listen!

This post will be my opinions and takes on the string quartet, that will apply to all genres of the string quartet. For anyone who is interested in writing string quartets, I shall try to give my best unorthodox pointers and tips on how to make a string quartet better, and utilise each instrument to the best of its ability. Personally, I am an amateur string player since young who has both avidly listened to and played numerous string quartets and I tend to take inspiration from the quartets that I listen to while composing my own quartets. Now, let me discuss some of the pointers: 1. Make as much contrast as possible. Be it a major key, minor key, loud, soft, monophony or polyphony, I believe that contrast is the single most important essence to a good quartet. A good quartet needs a lot of contrast, to keep the quartet interesting to the ear and creates variety in sound. No one instrument should overpower the others in the melody and relegate the other instruments to a form of accompaniment for the entire piece. Playing some of the accompaniment parts personally before, it can be rather dull for them and it creates a dull effect where there's not much dialogue or antiphony between the instruments. One often overlooked way to create contrast is through the texture of the quartet. However, I disagree with the notion that counterpoint should be used at all times and to avoid parallel motion or chorale-like melodies at all costs. While counterpoint is very good at creating unique quartets and is key to a good quartet, when used correctly, parallel motion or monophonic themes across all instruments can elevate a quartet to another level (especially in a climax of a piece). It should be used sporadically at key moments during a piece, to highlight a certain motif or theme, or contrast an otherwise fully polyphonic section, one example of this brilliantly done is the opening of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue. There are many ways to create contrast, and after studying many quartets I realised that every composer has a unique way of creating that sense of contrast in their pieces. It's important to find one's preferred method to develop contrasts in their quartet. 2. Make more use of multiple stops. Double stops is a great way to add challenge and a unique texture to a quartet. However, it may be daunting for composers who have never dealt with strings. For this, I would advise that (90%) double stops with intervals 8ve or less in a chord are playable (the occasional 10th is possible but not for prolonged periods), and for triple/quadruple stops, try to stick to 5th or 6th intervals between individual notes to be safe. The exception to these rules is always the open string. As string players do not need to place their left hand fingers down when playing open strings, any interval that can use the open strings tend to be much easier for a string player to manage and allows for greater intervals between notes. 3. (Good) transitioning is much harder than meets the eye. For myself, I started composing more than a year ago. Still, even with my prior experience with string instruments and repertoire, it took me >20 tries across 7-8 different pieces to get transitions to a decent state. (I was working on string orchestra pieces back then, similar to the quartet) Even now, I wouldn't call myself a good composer in transitions and I still frequently struggle with transitions. The main difficulty of transitioning especially in a string quartet is not so much like orchestral or solo pieces, where you can find a pivot chord and modulate quickly without a hitch. Rather, it is because of the string quartet's unique nature where frequent contrasts in the music are required and the counterpoint across different instruments that makes it hard. Trying to bridge a very loud, climatic section with a very soft, intimate section within the span of a few bars is very daunting in string quartet writing. If anyone is interested, I can make an entirely separate post just on transitioning and some methods I have picked up through prior work on string writing. 4. Don't be afraid to cross registers. Some composers who are new to quartet writing often view the string quartet as SATB writing for strings. While this has some merit, this is not entirely true. String quartet writing is very fluid in the fact that there are many styles. In romantic and 20th century string quartets, it is very common for the registers of different instruments to continuously cross over one another to create variety and effect. Any instrument, even the cello at times, can take the highest register out of the 4 instruments at any given point of a quartet. (This is why many quartets let the cello play up to even D7 or two octaves above middle C frequently!) Don't hesitate to try crossing the registers of the different instruments over, and a good place to start would be with the viola and cello alternating registers. 5. Practice makes perfect. This is especially apparent for string quartet. No matter how much analysis of famous quartets, the best way to compose a good quartet is through prior practice. It took me many tries to at least reach a decent level in string writing. Try practicing across a wide range of styles and genres of the string quartet 6. Lastly, string quartet is not a dead medium. This was actually a view held by many late Romantic/Impressionistic composers, who felt that String Quartet was a dead medium where not much new styles or forms can be pioneered and all possible iterations and styles have been exhausted. This is why many of such composers (Debussy or Ravel) composed only one quartet. However, this was clearly proven otherwise when 20th century composers turned the medium on its head and pioneered an entirely new way to compose the string quartet. Some composers now have the same view as the Late Romantic composers. However, string quartet is one of the most flexible and versatile mediums of classical music to date. It differs so greatly, from the classical quartets of Mozart and Haydn, to the Romantic Quartets of Mendelssohn and Dvorak, to the 20th Century Quartets of Shostakovich and Gliere. There is still so much more to discover for the string quartet and there are many examples where one-of-a-kind quartets have been produced. Let me just name an example: Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor was very eye-opening for me. It is a very unique string quartet that focuses on the resonance of the open strings of string instruments and the virtuosity of its players. It is very intricate and heavily utilises double stops throughout its piece, to the point where even the original publisher rejected it for having too many double stops. However, it was indeed playable and it gave rise to a new form of string quartet, with its lyrical, fast-moving melodies and its sonorous sound, yet filled many sharp contrasts. I would suggest to anyone who is bored of string quartets to listen to this, and possibly gain inspiration. Such a unique thinking of the quartet has not been thoroughly explored yet and I urge others to explore the resonance of open strings in string quartet as sort of a challenge to anyone composing future string quartets haha this is the link to the quartet: This post will be my opinions and takes on the string quartet, that will apply to all genres of the string quartet. For anyone who is interested in writing string quartets, I shall try to give my best unorthodox pointers and tips on how to make a string quartet better, and utilise each instrument to the best of its ability. Personally, I am an amateur string player since young who has both avidly listened to and played numerous string quartets and I tend to take inspiration from the quartets that I listen to while composing my own quartets. Now, let me discuss some of the pointers: 1. Make as much contrast as possible. Be it a major key, minor key, loud, soft, monophony or polyphony, I believe that contrast is the single most important essence to a good quartet. A good quartet needs a lot of contrast, to keep the quartet interesting to the ear and creates variety in sound. No one instrument should overpower the others in the melody and relegate the other instruments to a form of accompaniment for the entire piece. Playing some of the accompaniment parts personally before, it can be rather dull for them and it creates a dull effect where there's not much dialogue or antiphony between the instruments. One often overlooked way to create contrast is through the texture of the quartet. However, I disagree with the notion that counterpoint should be used at all times and to avoid parallel motion or chorale-like melodies at all costs. While counterpoint is very good at creating unique quartets and is key to a good quartet, when used correctly, parallel motion or monophonic themes across all instruments can elevate a quartet to another level (especially in a climax of a piece). It should be used sporadically at key moments during a piece, to highlight a certain motif or theme, or contrast an otherwise fully polyphonic section, one example of this brilliantly done is the opening of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue. There are many ways to create contrast, and after studying many quartets I realised that every composer has a unique way of creating that sense of contrast in their pieces. It's important to find one's preferred method to develop contrasts in their quartet. 2. Make more use of multiple stops. Double stops is a great way to add challenge and a unique texture to a quartet. However, it may be daunting for composers who have never dealt with strings. For this, I would advise that (90%) double stops with intervals 8ve or less in a chord are playable (the occasional 10th is possible but not for prolonged periods), and for triple/quadruple stops, try to stick to 5th or 6th intervals between individual notes to be safe. The exception to these rules is always the open string. As string players do not need to place their left hand fingers down when playing open strings, any interval that can use the open strings tend to be much easier for a string player to manage and allows for greater intervals between notes. 3. (Good) transitioning is much harder than meets the eye. For myself, I started composing more than a year ago. Still, even with my prior experience with string instruments and repertoire, it took me >20 tries across 7-8 different pieces to get transitions to a decent state. (I was working on string orchestra pieces back then, similar to the quartet) Even now, I wouldn't call myself a good composer in transitions and I still frequently struggle with transitions. The main difficulty of transitioning especially in a string quartet is not so much like orchestral or solo pieces, where you can find a pivot chord and modulate quickly without a hitch. Rather, it is because of the string quartet's unique nature where frequent contrasts in the music are required and the counterpoint across different instruments that makes it hard. Trying to bridge a very loud, climatic section with a very soft, intimate section within the span of a few bars is very daunting in string quartet writing. If anyone is interested, I can make an entirely separate post just on transitioning and some methods I have picked up through prior work on string writing. 4. Don't be afraid to cross registers. Some composers who are new to quartet writing often view the string quartet as SATB writing for strings. While this has some merit, this is not entirely true. String quartet writing is very fluid in the fact that there are many styles. In romantic and 20th century string quartets, it is very common for the registers of different instruments to continuously cross over one another to create variety and effect. Any instrument, even the cello at times, can take the highest register out of the 4 instruments at any given point of a quartet. (This is why many quartets let the cello play up to even D7 or two octaves above middle C frequently!) Don't hesitate to try crossing the registers of the different instruments over, and a good place to start would be with the viola and cello alternating registers. 5. Practice makes perfect. This is especially apparent for string quartet. No matter how much analysis of famous quartets, the best way to compose a good quartet is through prior practice. It took me many tries to at least reach a decent level in string writing. Try practicing across a wide range of styles and genres of the string quartet 6. Lastly, string quartet is not a dead medium. This was actually a view held by many late Romantic/Impressionistic composers, who felt that String Quartet was a dead medium where not much new styles or forms can be pioneered and all possible iterations and styles have been exhausted. This is why many of such composers (Debussy or Ravel) composed only one quartet. However, this was clearly proven otherwise when 20th century composers turned the medium on its head and pioneered an entirely new way to compose the string quartet. Some composers now have the same view as the Late Romantic composers. However, string quartet is one of the most flexible and versatile mediums of classical music to date. It differs so greatly, from the classical quartets of Mozart and Haydn, to the Romantic Quartets of Mendelssohn and Dvorak, to the 20th Century Quartets of Shostakovich and Gliere. There is still so much more to discover for the string quartet and there are many examples where one-of-a-kind quartets have been produced. Let me just name an example: Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor was very eye-opening for me. It is a very unique string quartet that focuses on the resonance of the open strings of string instruments and the virtuosity of its players. It is very intricate and heavily utilises double stops throughout its piece, to the point where even the original publisher rejected it for having too many double stops. However, it was indeed playable and it gave rise to a new form of string quartet, with its lyrical, fast-moving melodies and its sonorous sound, yet filled many sharp contrasts. I would suggest to anyone who is bored of string quartets to listen to this, and possibly gain inspiration. Such a unique thinking of the quartet has not been thoroughly explored yet and I urge others to explore the resonance of open strings in string quartet as sort of a challenge to anyone composing future string quartets haha (link to Grieg's string quartet: https://youtu.be/OM9hdCpdcqc ) That concludes my rather lengthy post on the string quartet, let me know if anyone wants me to delve into other parts of the string quartet. Happy composing! Edit: I should have posted this on another forum, I didn't realise this was for incomplete works and writers block, sorry

This post will be my opinions and takes on the string quartet, that will apply to all genres of the string quartet. For anyone who is interested in writing string quartets, I shall try to give my best unorthodox pointers and tips on how to make a string quartet better, and utilise each instrument to the best of its ability. Personally, I am an amateur string player since young who has both avidly listened to and played numerous string quartets and I tend to take inspiration from the quartets that I listen to while composing my own quartets. Now, let me discuss some of the pointers: 1. Make as much contrast as possible. Be it a major key, minor key, loud, soft, monophony or polyphony, I believe that contrast is the single most important essence to a good quartet. A good quartet needs a lot of contrast, to keep the quartet interesting to the ear and creates variety in sound. No one instrument should overpower the others in the melody and relegate the other instruments to a form of accompaniment for the entire piece. Playing some of the accompaniment parts personally before, it can be rather dull for them and it creates a dull effect where there's not much dialogue or antiphony between the instruments. One often overlooked way to create contrast is through the texture of the quartet. However, I disagree with the notion that counterpoint should be used at all times and to avoid parallel motion or chorale-like melodies at all costs. While counterpoint is very good at creating unique quartets and is key to a good quartet, when used correctly, parallel motion or monophonic themes across all instruments can elevate a quartet to another level (especially in a climax of a piece). It should be used sporadically at key moments during a piece, to highlight a certain motif or theme, or contrast an otherwise fully polyphonic section, one example of this brilliantly done is the opening of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue. There are many ways to create contrast, and after studying many quartets I realised that every composer has a unique way of creating that sense of contrast in their pieces. It's important to find one's preferred method to develop contrasts in their quartet. 2. Make more use of multiple stops. Double stops is a great way to add challenge and a unique texture to a quartet. However, it may be daunting for composers who have never dealt with strings. For this, I would advise that (90%) double stops with intervals 8ve or less in a chord are playable (the occasional 10th is possible but not for prolonged periods), and for triple/quadruple stops, try to stick to 5th or 6th intervals between individual notes to be safe. The exception to these rules is always the open string. As string players do not need to place their left hand fingers down when playing open strings, any interval that can use the open strings tend to be much easier for a string player to manage and allows for greater intervals between notes. 3. (Good) transitioning is much harder than meets the eye. For myself, I started composing more than a year ago. Still, even with my prior experience with string instruments and repertoire, it took me >20 tries across 7-8 different pieces to get transitions to a decent state. (I was working on string orchestra pieces back then, similar to the quartet) Even now, I wouldn't call myself a good composer in transitions and I still frequently struggle with transitions. The main difficulty of transitioning especially in a string quartet is not so much like orchestral or solo pieces, where you can find a pivot chord and modulate quickly without a hitch. Rather, it is because of the string quartet's unique nature where frequent contrasts in the music are required and the counterpoint across different instruments that makes it hard. Trying to bridge a very loud, climatic section with a very soft, intimate section within the span of a few bars is very daunting in string quartet writing. If anyone is interested, I can make an entirely separate post just on transitioning and some methods I have picked up through prior work on string writing. 4. Don't be afraid to cross registers. Some composers who are new to quartet writing often view the string quartet as SATB writing for strings. While this has some merit, this is not entirely true. String quartet writing is very fluid in the fact that there are many styles. In romantic and 20th century string quartets, it is very common for the registers of different instruments to continuously cross over one another to create variety and effect. Any instrument, even the cello at times, can take the highest register out of the 4 instruments at any given point of a quartet. (This is why many quartets let the cello play up to even D7 or two octaves above middle C frequently!) Don't hesitate to try crossing the registers of the different instruments over, and a good place to start would be with the viola and cello alternating registers. 5. Practice makes perfect. This is especially apparent for string quartet. No matter how much analysis of famous quartets, the best way to compose a good quartet is through prior practice. It took me many tries to at least reach a decent level in string writing. Try practicing across a wide range of styles and genres of the string quartet 6. Lastly, string quartet is not a dead medium. This was actually a view held by many late Romantic/Impressionistic composers, who felt that String Quartet was a dead medium where not much new styles or forms can be pioneered and all possible iterations and styles have been exhausted. This is why many of such composers (Debussy or Ravel) composed only one quartet. However, this was clearly proven otherwise when 20th century composers turned the medium on its head and pioneered an entirely new way to compose the string quartet. Some composers now have the same view as the Late Romantic composers. However, string quartet is one of the most flexible and versatile mediums of classical music to date. It differs so greatly, from the classical quartets of Mozart and Haydn, to the Romantic Quartets of Mendelssohn and Dvorak, to the 20th Century Quartets of Shostakovich and Gliere. There is still so much more to discover for the string quartet and there are many examples where one-of-a-kind quartets have been produced. Let me just name an example: Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor was very eye-opening for me. It is a very unique string quartet that focuses on the resonance of the open strings of string instruments and the virtuosity of its players. It is very intricate and heavily utilises double stops throughout its piece, to the point where even the original publisher rejected it for having too many double stops. However, it was indeed playable and it gave rise to a new form of string quartet, with its lyrical, fast-moving melodies and its sonorous sound, yet filled many sharp contrasts. I would suggest to anyone who is bored of string quartets to listen to this, and possibly gain inspiration. Such a unique thinking of the quartet has not been thoroughly explored yet and I urge others to explore the resonance of open strings in string quartet as sort of a challenge to anyone composing future string quartets haha this is the link to the quartet: This post will be my opinions and takes on the string quartet, that will apply to all genres of the string quartet. For anyone who is interested in writing string quartets, I shall try to give my best unorthodox pointers and tips on how to make a string quartet better, and utilise each instrument to the best of its ability. Personally, I am an amateur string player since young who has both avidly listened to and played numerous string quartets and I tend to take inspiration from the quartets that I listen to while composing my own quartets. Now, let me discuss some of the pointers: 1. Make as much contrast as possible. Be it a major key, minor key, loud, soft, monophony or polyphony, I believe that contrast is the single most important essence to a good quartet. A good quartet needs a lot of contrast, to keep the quartet interesting to the ear and creates variety in sound. No one instrument should overpower the others in the melody and relegate the other instruments to a form of accompaniment for the entire piece. Playing some of the accompaniment parts personally before, it can be rather dull for them and it creates a dull effect where there's not much dialogue or antiphony between the instruments. One often overlooked way to create contrast is through the texture of the quartet. However, I disagree with the notion that counterpoint should be used at all times and to avoid parallel motion or chorale-like melodies at all costs. While counterpoint is very good at creating unique quartets and is key to a good quartet, when used correctly, parallel motion or monophonic themes across all instruments can elevate a quartet to another level (especially in a climax of a piece). It should be used sporadically at key moments during a piece, to highlight a certain motif or theme, or contrast an otherwise fully polyphonic section, one example of this brilliantly done is the opening of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue. There are many ways to create contrast, and after studying many quartets I realised that every composer has a unique way of creating that sense of contrast in their pieces. It's important to find one's preferred method to develop contrasts in their quartet. 2. Make more use of multiple stops. Double stops is a great way to add challenge and a unique texture to a quartet. However, it may be daunting for composers who have never dealt with strings. For this, I would advise that (90%) double stops with intervals 8ve or less in a chord are playable (the occasional 10th is possible but not for prolonged periods), and for triple/quadruple stops, try to stick to 5th or 6th intervals between individual notes to be safe. The exception to these rules is always the open string. As string players do not need to place their left hand fingers down when playing open strings, any interval that can use the open strings tend to be much easier for a string player to manage and allows for greater intervals between notes. 3. (Good) transitioning is much harder than meets the eye. For myself, I started composing more than a year ago. Still, even with my prior experience with string instruments and repertoire, it took me >20 tries across 7-8 different pieces to get transitions to a decent state. (I was working on string orchestra pieces back then, similar to the quartet) Even now, I wouldn't call myself a good composer in transitions and I still frequently struggle with transitions. The main difficulty of transitioning especially in a string quartet is not so much like orchestral or solo pieces, where you can find a pivot chord and modulate quickly without a hitch. Rather, it is because of the string quartet's unique nature where frequent contrasts in the music are required and the counterpoint across different instruments that makes it hard. Trying to bridge a very loud, climatic section with a very soft, intimate section within the span of a few bars is very daunting in string quartet writing. If anyone is interested, I can make an entirely separate post just on transitioning and some methods I have picked up through prior work on string writing. 4. Don't be afraid to cross registers. Some composers who are new to quartet writing often view the string quartet as SATB writing for strings. While this has some merit, this is not entirely true. String quartet writing is very fluid in the fact that there are many styles. In romantic and 20th century string quartets, it is very common for the registers of different instruments to continuously cross over one another to create variety and effect. Any instrument, even the cello at times, can take the highest register out of the 4 instruments at any given point of a quartet. (This is why many quartets let the cello play up to even D7 or two octaves above middle C frequently!) Don't hesitate to try crossing the registers of the different instruments over, and a good place to start would be with the viola and cello alternating registers. 5. Practice makes perfect. This is especially apparent for string quartet. No matter how much analysis of famous quartets, the best way to compose a good quartet is through prior practice. It took me many tries to at least reach a decent level in string writing. Try practicing across a wide range of styles and genres of the string quartet 6. Lastly, string quartet is not a dead medium. This was actually a view held by many late Romantic/Impressionistic composers, who felt that String Quartet was a dead medium where not much new styles or forms can be pioneered and all possible iterations and styles have been exhausted. This is why many of such composers (Debussy or Ravel) composed only one quartet. However, this was clearly proven otherwise when 20th century composers turned the medium on its head and pioneered an entirely new way to compose the string quartet. Some composers now have the same view as the Late Romantic composers. However, string quartet is one of the most flexible and versatile mediums of classical music to date. It differs so greatly, from the classical quartets of Mozart and Haydn, to the Romantic Quartets of Mendelssohn and Dvorak, to the 20th Century Quartets of Shostakovich and Gliere. There is still so much more to discover for the string quartet and there are many examples where one-of-a-kind quartets have been produced. Let me just name an example: Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor was very eye-opening for me. It is a very unique string quartet that focuses on the resonance of the open strings of string instruments and the virtuosity of its players. It is very intricate and heavily utilises double stops throughout its piece, to the point where even the original publisher rejected it for having too many double stops. However, it was indeed playable and it gave rise to a new form of string quartet, with its lyrical, fast-moving melodies and its sonorous sound, yet filled many sharp contrasts. I would suggest to anyone who is bored of string quartets to listen to this, and possibly gain inspiration. Such a unique thinking of the quartet has not been thoroughly explored yet and I urge others to explore the resonance of open strings in string quartet as sort of a challenge to anyone composing future string quartets haha (link to Grieg's string quartet: https://youtu.be/OM9hdCpdcqc ) That concludes my rather lengthy post on the string quartet, let me know if anyone wants me to delve into other parts of the string quartet. Happy composing!

Hi everyone! This is the second movement of my string quartet, with this being the slow contrasting movement! I have decided to go in a different direction from the 1st movement by making this movement feel much more meandering and winding, sort of like a foray into the unknown, with a distinct 'home' theme. My intention is to delve and explore a diverse range of emotions and textures throughout the piece, with a sense of wonder and in a contemplative mood. I used a large range of contrast in terms of the orchestration and instrumentation, from the solo, quasi-cadenza passages present in all 4 instruments, to lyrical polyphony with many countermelodies. Your feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

It's a tonal work though slightly unconventional yet consistent. I like what the title suggests. https://soundcloud.com/richannes-wrahms/unfolding

Hi everyone! This is my first attempt at a string quartet. It is the first movement of a larger string quartet that I intend to make in D Minor. It would be nice if you could review it and leave some feedback. Thank you! (really sorry I only have the midi mockup, haven't got it performed yet) link: https://youtu.be/yVSecRZSyCg

Hello! This is a suite of seven miniatures for string quartet inspired by the illustrations of the Major Arcana of the Rider-Waite tarot card deck, first published in 1910. I don't personally believe in fortune-telling (though there's no judgment from me if you do), but the illustrations in this deck of cards are simply gorgeous. There are 22 Major Arcana in all, from Number 0 (The Fool) to Number 21 (The World), so I decided to split up the work into three volumes. The Fool (No. 0) will make an appearance as the introduction for each volume, since this card typically is used to represent the person receiving a tarot card reading. This first volume is roughly 10 minutes long, in 7 movements of various lengths. Form and harmony are in a looser style than I'm normally accustomed to writing in. I tried to write in a style that could be considered 'timeless', if that makes sense. This is a first draft; there may be errors in the score. Any and all feedback is welcome. The MP3 and score were produced with MuseScore 3. Thanks for listening!

Comments welcome. The work explores the possibilities of a 4 note motif -that is transformed throughout the entire work.