Here it is, its pretty simple, but I didn't want to try anything too complicated for my first attempt. It started out as an english assignment, but I worked really hard on it.
I think i may start composing for fun now, its interesting. I'll try to improve.

What do you guys think? Give me your honest opinion. :P

<edit> I like my other peice much better... so listen to that one, not this ^^; and i like my other piece (beyond the Mist) better then that one ;; so listen to that one definately Its all the way at the very bottom so scroll down to it <edit>

You&#39;ve got a really good beginning - good use of chords and accenting, though the beginning scale is a bit snoreworthy ;) Maybe spice it up a little bit with some trills or something? It does get a bit clashy towards the middle, but I like the fiddly bit you&#39;ve got going on at 1:05ish - it sounds really dark-castle-like. You&#39;ve tied the different passages together quite well too, and I think you&#39;ve got the makings of a good composer&#33; I look forward to seeing more of your stuff on here in future :)

(Excuse my lack of eloquence - "fiddly bit" "dark-castle-like" - geez, I so lack imagination this late at night =_=)

It sure is simple, way too simple. It isn&#39;t that interesting to listen to after the first 10 seconds or so, and I don&#39;t think the parts of this song match up to eachother. I liked the chord progression in 00:13, and that part could be further developed. I also liked the 01:13 parts.

First composition? That&#39;s a good start :) 6/10

I modified it (very) slightly and edited the new version into the attachement.


I liked the chord progression in 00:13, and that part could be further developed.

I tryed to change that, and extend it a bit, but I couldn&#39;t think of any way to do so. The melodys so simple, it seems like I can&#39;t really make it more then what it is right now.

I modified the progression from the major to minor slightly, added some chords that make it smoother.

Heh, silly me, everybody&#39;s posting here instead of your other thread *slaps himself*

Your trill in the beginning, while unexpected, is still nice. But maybe it&#39;s just me, but it sounded like the trill go interuppted in the middle?

Your modulation from major to minor is smooth, but your modulation from minor back to major wasn&#39;t as smooth, in my opinion.

Try expanding your ending =) Don&#39;t just end on a cadence, try . . I don&#39;t know, perhaps extending a progression where you slow down and make it sound dramatic?

Yeah the trill kinda breaks in the middle ;;; i tied it, but for some reason it only played it for the first part of the trill.

And right now I&#39;m working on a peice that, in my opinion, is at least 10 times better then this one; anyways i like it a whole lot more. So I&#39;m gonna post that, but I dont really want to post it on this thread cause its no longer really my first song... so maybe if there&#39;s any mods viewing this could you please change the name to (FireIsFun&#39;s music) or something?

thx&#33;

You can edit the title yourself because you created this thread. So you can still post your next song here when you&#39;re done.

Alright, I didnt know about that, but now i do.

Heres my peice, the one that i like alot, and most of it is finished. I think i need to make it longer, but im not sure. And I have some trouble with the transition. If anyone has any tips about transitions, then please post them. The 2 measure blank after that big chord around 0:50 is where the transition should be.

Thx&#33;

Edit: scroll down for the finished peice

Ah, this sounds like it&#39;d be fun to play&#33; ^^ Nice stuff, I like the minor-ness (can&#39;t think this early in the morning x.x), and how your hands took turns with the melody. Good strong finish.

As for the transition, um, maybe you could continue those chords in that same manner, but slow down, and gradually modulate? *shrugs* it&#39;s your piece =P

Here&#39;s my peice finished:

Changed name to Chasing Shadows

Heres a Quartet I wrote:

I had the christmas competition in mind when i wrote this, although i know i dont stand a chance. At least i&#39;ll get to see how well i do.

Chasing Shadows:
Ah, much better improvements . . left hand is much stronger this time around. The modulation/transition was okay, but since I was anticipating it, I wasn&#39;t surprised when it came out that way =P . . overall very nice =)

Christmas Morning:
It does indeed sound like Christmas Morning ^^ . . the anticipation and joy of opening presents, eating a good meal, etc. nice stuff . . you make good use of the quartet&#39;s instruments/harmony, capitalizing on the effects. Everybody stands a chance in the competition, so don&#39;t be afraid of submitting&#33;

I&#39;ll save my comments on your Christmas piece, if you&#39;re about to submit it =P

i like &#39;chasing shadow&#39;. it seems like you know how to play piano. well.. i might be wrong but i like listening to this song. perhaps you can extend a little and make the pace little faster. i like the title as well. for some reason i thought of peter pan when i saw the title. :heh:

Thx guys&#33;

Heres my first non-classical song.
Its for violin, piano, and the drum set (the three instruments i play)
Im not quite sure what type of music it is... so listen to it and find out. ^^

Before I wrote this i listened to a lot of music from these forums, so if it bears resemblence to anything please forgive me. I checked and I think its original, but i could always be wrong.

Weird, the sound comes out better on my left headphone than my right . . *shrugs*

I wanna learn how to do the drums ;_; anyways, nice job, the violin and piano complement each other very well, and the rhythm is perfect&#33; *still jealous*

Sounds original to me, although since I listen to so much music, I tend to forget quickly =&#092;

Ok, I&#39;ve been trying to compose some piano solo music, but i keep running into the same issue.

The melody sounds nice, then when i try to add in the harmony, theres something thats not quite right, it seems like theres too many spots where theres nothing being played, just a chord thats held or something, and when i try to add in a harmony line there, it sounds a little odd...

ok for example, heres a peice that ive worked on a little, it has a nice slow melody, but i dunno it doesnt sound right. At first, i had just block chords, but it had that issue that i said above, so i tried to break them down into groups of 3 notes, but it still sounds wierd. Its attached to this post, can someone listen to it and give me some suggestions? thanks&#33;

(oh yeah in the beginning theres an issue with the pedals, but i&#39;ll figure that out... Its the harmony that i have problems with)

Umm . . . sometimes you have to think of the accompaniment as having its own melody counter to the main one. If you can get into that mindset, you&#39;ll find it&#39;s easier to get it to work. With your 3-note groupings, I foresee lots of possibilities for you . . you could change the rhythm around, you can add more or less notes, as long as you change some things around every now and then to prevent excessive repetition. To me, your piece only sounds strange at the end of phrases, you know, the cadences, so try to balance it out . . think of it in terms of the left hand helping out the right hand instead of just it playing chords (broken or none-broken).

Beyond the Mist is your best piece. I give it a 9.5/10. (By the way, that is the highest I have ever rated). The drum beat makes the piece.

As for your other compositions, they&#39;re all great. You are a superb composer. ^_^

Thanks&#33;

wow... I havent posted here in a *long* time. I&#39;ve been pretty busy with school (classes till 6, then orchestra, debate, programming, ect depending on the day from 6:45-8 :( ) But now its spring vacation, and hopfully before the two weeks is up i&#39;ll have composed something or several somethings. I like new age piano music, but I find it hard to write...

I&#39;ve been trying to polish up my music theory, and I got some books, (Theory of Harmony, by Schoenberg, Harmony, by Piston) Could anyone recommend some good composing books? I mean like books focusing more on composing, rather then just theory.

And my third day into vacation- Heres my fourth ever composition&#33;

Incidentally, I&#39;ve been working on it for three days (only a bit each day though). It&#39;s called Forest clearing, because thats what I was thinking as I composed it, but I don&#39;t know if the title fits the song.

I think this song is the best of the four I&#39;ve composed so far, hopefully I&#39;m improving a bit each time. I used a pretty wierd combo of insturments, a harp, flute, and oboe.

Tell me what you guys think&#33;

Edit: err... fifth ever

Originally posted by FireIsFun888@Mar 14 2005, 09:38 PM
I&#39;ve been trying to polish up my music theory, and I got some books, (Theory of Harmony, by Schoenberg, Harmony, by Piston) Could anyone recommend some good composing books? I mean like books focusing more on composing, rather then just theory.
Check out the one I&#39;ve posted on the Theory thread; it&#39;s a pretty accessible guide which goes over the composing characteristics of western(ie, classical) music. You might also wanna check out an arrangment book, such as Samuel Adlers&#39;s Orchestration.

As for the Forest Clearing piece, it seems harmonically sound, but the instrumentation could be more solid. You have the flute playing outside it&#39;s characteristic range (try to keep it more in the upper treble range), and the harp hardly touching bass notes until near the end of the piece. Also, it&#39;d be nice if you could diversify the counterpoint somemore (especially for the harp; give it a melodic parts here and there instead of just using it&#39;s as accompaniment). In short, try to make it more interesting to listen to; theory can only guide you so far. Experiment some more and develope your own aethestic and style to fit your music.

Forest Clearing:

Quaint ^^ Umm, I don&#39;t know about the instrumentation, but it sounds okay to me *shrugs* Um, when the two soloists, perform a duo, be sure that you can always distinguish what they&#39;re doing, because it can be hard to follow them around.

Alright this is my first attempt at writing orchestral music.

It is finished, however I think that it could use considerable editing, so basically thats why I&#39;m posting it; I want to know what I should work on, what was good, what was bad, ect.
(and it has no name yet so maybe tell me what it reminded you of?)

Thanks&#33;

The opening is captivating . . sense of doom. And then sadness . . hope that helps you with the title? Haha . . I would have liked to hear more of the strings, they&#39;re so warm . . your various duets are impressive. I can&#39;t really find anything wrong to pick at, except for the ending. =P Although it wasn&#39;t abrupt, perhaps a climax would let us know that the piece is finishing up.

You are a very talented composer, i applaude you. All you songs are beautiful, a bit slow moving but still very eloquent. They appear somewhat dark, and forboding, but thats what i personally like in a musical piece. Keep up the good work, and please let me know if you do any other compisitions, i would love to hear them.