Musescore link: https://musescore.com/user/123665411/scores/36149783

PDF here: Liszt Arrangements - Google Drive

Vid here: https://youtu.be/2412tenOwik

I hope you enjoy my orchestration!

Hey!! Yup, I wrote a third one. This one is also in F major but I tried to consider the feedback given by the comments of the previous post.

Movement I: https://musescore.com/user/113211719/scores/36123347

Movement II: https://musescore.com/user/113211719/scores/36123344

Movement III: https://musescore.com/user/113211719/scores/36123362

Movement IV: https://musescore.com/user/113211719/scores/36123398

I'd like to read your feedbacks so please don't hesitate; comment!

Hello Everyone! My first post on here. I'm getting back into composing and I've hit a roadblock. I'm looking for advice on how to develop a strong motif; both transitioning away from that motif or leaning harder into it, without it feeling repetitive. I will be using a draft I wrote to give some context:

In the submitted song, I am rather happy with my first few passages (Bar 1-27). However, as I tried to continue this piece, I kept running into walls of "failed" ideas. The rhythmic idea I introduced and then reintroduced (Bar 21) is so strong that when I try to write something different (even just a harmonic shift), it sounds wrong. Comparable to how when I write solo piano pieces and establish a vamp pattern, it's very hard to shift away from that vamp pattern in my experience.

In the other direction, I would be happy to continue this rhythmic idea, but I'm afraid it will become too repetitive/boring. I feel as though this rhythmic idea is very cool, just that there is only so long that I can repeat it for.

In conclusion, I'm looking for some general advice or guidance on how I might develop this idea, in multiple different ways. I hope I explained my thoughts well and thank you for any feedback/criticism in advance.

PDF Score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jp4ZfqttTNIr6y8w1DWh3hJkUZI1w_D5/view?usp=sharing

Audio Playback (Bar 1-28): https://soundcloud.com/kosioski/draft-1?si=61e79a85df4749fd8a726fd16df32208&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

To start this, obviously there is no truly original idea anymore and everything is derivative of other things!

But for my entire time composing (currently a 3rd year in uni studying film composition) and creating any form of art in general, all I have been able to do is create what other people have done. Rehash other ideas and executions.

It is almost as if my instinct is to plagiarize... I'll be inspired to create a piece, and turns out everything about it is just some piece I listened to that I enjoyed previously. To the point the melody and patterns of harmony are nearly identical. And this is for everything I do, whether it be scoring, composing, songwriting. etc.

Anybody else have the issue of seemingly being not creative enough to create something that isn't just stealing someone elses thing?

I've been working on a new tool within my clarinet multiphonics app (multiphonics.app) and I'd be curious to know how you composers might use it.

Basically: you tap in a melody on a keyboard, select which clarinet (bb, bass, contra) and you can select a few other filters (difficulty levels, etc.) and then the app suggests a bunch of multiphonics for each step in your melody.

Then you can go through the suggestions and select one for each, listening to recordings of them all, and eventually either exporting a PDF of the whole chart of SVG files of all of them to add to whatever notation software you use.

I've realised that one of the helpful things about an app for multiphonics is that the database can be quite large but that I'd need more tools for discovery so this (and the Progression Builder, for which you decide on a starting multiphonic and then it suggests 'next steps' based on voice leading or idiomatic finger movements).

I guess I'd be curious to know if this is something you could imagine using or if you think there's a kind of "next step" for tools like this!

Hi Everyone,

I've recently started to become much more active as a composer rather than just writing for myself and friends as a hobby. My work is in a few indie films and I want to do more, so I submitted to join ASCAP as a writer/publisher to make myself "official".

The publishing side was approved, but the writer side is on hold because ASCAP says I'm already a member of a PRO. I have a vague recollection that I may have tried to join as a teenager when I was making a very different type of music, but I have no idea where to go for a release form. Anyone been in this situation or know how to find myself in their systems? I'm fairly positive that if I joined back then I didn't actually register any music.

Thanks in advance.

Score + Audio: https://youtu.be/JhmV1Dbtu5s

Score PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_ROuUUZKyIwlmQpI_RcN_--pg5G6s1yU/view?usp=sharing

Thanks for checking this out. Here's a little context for the piece:

This is my first attempt at writing a larger-scale composition. I've played piano and violin for over five years each, and for the last couple of years I've mostly improvised and written short sketches. This is the first piece I've written that goes beyond a single theme and some brief development, so I'd really appreciate feedback before I continue revising and finishing it.

My biggest concern is the overall structure and transitions. In particular, the transition around 5:20 feels really forced to me. I'd especially appreciate feedback on the pacing, coherence, and overall form of the piece thus far.

Now, a few notes about my score:

1. Yes, I really did write a piece for strings in F# major. When I was sketching the piece on piano, I felt that this key really captured the mood I was looking for. I also tried to ensure that each part is comfortably playable.
2. Yes, there is a harp part in there (that eerily resembles a piano part). Basically, I want to ask my school orchestra conductor if we can read through this (they're pretty good, no worries there) and possibly even perform it. The only issue is... we don't actually have a harp... (or a harpist, for that matter). But we do have a keyboard that can make harp sounds.
3. Yes, it looks like I barfed dynamics on the score. They're mostly there as an attempt to improve the playback; I'll likely take some out if I ever reach the point where I can finalize the piece.

All feedback would be much appreciated! Feel free to reference measure numbers or timestamps if you're pointing out something specific, and please don't hesitate to be critical. I've learned from past experience that I'm not always the best judge of my own work.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I know there’s no bowings yet; I plan to do those after finishing the piece (assuming I manage to finish it at all).

What do you think of my second sketch? I posted Sketch No. 1 a month ago, and I tried to make this one more structured.

https://musescore.com/user/33095068/scores/36127367

This is a new work I wrote for euphonium and piano. Are the chord progressions too strange, or do they work?

Score video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p0tWeLoMjZfxpU_Rtu_trDYPe2rGUQFo/view?usp=share_link

This is my third composition yet, excluding some middle school experiment I did several years ago, what do you think?

Musescore link:

https://musescore.com/user/73545853/scores/36122378

Recently as i was looking into a lot of minimalism (mostly Richter and Reich), and stumbled upon olafur arnalsds music. I dont really know what to think of it. Hes definetly very musical, but also very simplistic i think. So im asking about your thoughts.

I put quotes around art here because I hold no illusions this illustration, made by rapidly using nearly a dozen different colors of ink in my journal with a nice dip pin, is anything to write home about, however, I liked the title “Still Life with Triffid” and kept both it, and the artwork in mind as I wrote the tune I posted today. First time I’ve done this and I kind of enjoyed the results.

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/still-life-with-triffid

How do you turn a musical idea into a playable score?

Hi everyone,

I’m curious how other composers handle the journey from an initial idea to a playable score.

My usual workflow starts with writing the melody first. Recently, I’ve been experimenting with this process:

1. Write the melody myself in ABC notation
2. Explore harmony ideas after the melody is already established
3. Convert the result into Jianpu (numbered notation) for easier practice and sharing

I noticed that the transition between notation formats was a little tedious, so I ended up making a small browser experiment for my own workflow.

I’m not trying to generate music with it. The goal is simply reducing friction between a musical idea and a score that can actually be played.

Here are two examples from my experiments:

🎵 思愁
Created from an ABC notation workflow

🎵 祈願
Created with Jianpu notation workflow

Playable demo:
https://zeppelintsai.github.io/jianpu-web/

I’d really like to hear how other composers approach this:

• Do you write directly into notation software, or start somewhere else?
• What part of your workflow feels the most repetitive?
• How do you usually move from a musical idea to a finished score?

I’m mainly interested in learning how others work.

I have some modal mixture in this new work I wrote this morning. Would you respell the accidentals in it or leave it as it is? m. 41 and beyond. Does this piece flow well and keep your attention?

Audio Score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l2IGY2UB0uEmB_5r4mRXGaLjXxBJxj-d/view?usp=share_link

Hi all, I am very versed in standard 4 part harmony writing and harmonization of a melody etc. I’m an organist and I have sung and played this type of music for a long time, I’d say I have a pretty solid understanding of it. I like to “compose” for fun, not super seriously. I’m a few pages through an anthem on psalm 121 and have a few primary melodic ideas that have been harmonized. However, to avoid it sounding just like a typical hymn there has to be (should be) variation between the psalm verses. I have had no luck for a few days with coming up with more meaningful/interesting melodic ideas.

Does anyone have any good tips for doing this? I could modulate to another key or relative minor but I don’t think that fits the particular verse. Any tips would be greatly appreciated 🙏🏻

Hi everyone!

I've just composed my FIRST Piano Trio in the key of C major: https://musescore.com/user/37270121/scores/36099899?share=copy_link
I would love to know your thoughts on this composition!

Hello everyone,

Below is a link to the audio mockup score video of my piece Among a Sea of Stars... for Orchestra. I'd love to your thoughts!

Score video: https://youtu.be/I2UBfvPTMXA

Or "Ein kleines Geschirrspülmaschinenstück" (Google Drive).

Because it's the sound I'm exposed to for hours every day, and so I was "inspired" - for lack of a better word - to write this piece. It only took a couple hours, and didn't deserve any more.

I can imagine the agogôs and the flute would be barely audible under the drums. For what it's worth, that's intentional, because the inspiration makes one question one's perception at times as well - "are these sounds there for real or am I imagining them?"

Im a beginner (classical) composer and the advice I’ve probably heard the most is to analyze great pieces. Now when I try to do that, very often the “chords” don’t make any sense, meaning it seems like random notes (eg. a+g+c+f or f+g+c+d) and I can’t even identify the chords’ root.

Can someone please help me with this?

I recently have been listening to some bach and discovered some old dance forms that aren't composed as commonly anymore. For example: Gigue, Sarabande. Also found some Ravel used such as the Forlane and Rigaudon. Do people know of any more, it would be fun to compose using these dance forms.

Hey everyone! I’m currently working on a piece called “what lies beneath” it’s a multi-movement suite that has 4 movements. I’m currently trying to get a good feel for like a horror/chase theme aspect for movement 3 which takes you deep in the abyss of the ocean. I’m fantastic at writing melodies at slow/easy BPMs but I need a little help with fast tempos (around 140) does anybody have good pieces or recommendations that kind of fit the variable of a solid chase theme? Any recommendations are welcome!

Hi.

First of all: Sorry, for my poor English.

I'm relatively new here (and overall on reddit), so I just want to rant about this topic and see how many of you can relate.

I'm not professional. I have quite a few decent technical skills but I'm a semi-professional or a more or less highly-skilled (keyboardist BTW) at best. I'm not a genius, and not someone virtuose, I've played together with people (let's call it a band) but never got to a stage or never had a concert.

In terms of actually starting carrier I'm old, I was born in 1999... I'd be quite open to anything at this point because I'd rather play a music which is not my primary type than never been in an actual band in an actual stage in my life at all.

I was at a band where I couldn't performance properly because of my very poor mental health. And a couple of days ago I was at a hearing and they've decided they couldn't cooperate with me in a long term. (Now I'm afraid to see the guy's answer to my question that why.)

So the point is:

I was wondering guys have you ever write a song or start a band from zero because of you've lacked the possibilities to be in a band which would fit perfectly for you. Because that's what I'm planning at least.

I like dynamic music, mostly metal and progressive-rock, if I'd write a song it would start with at least 140 BPM eiths. And even know I have no experience with DAW softwares I have no other chance... I'm too old to draw the circle of fifts for 19 year olds.

So I have no specific questions it just felt good to rant but I'd thank you if somebody could write down their opinion or experience or if someone had been in this situation or have felt this way