What are some good things to keep in mind or keep an eye out for while studying pieces, to get something from them as a composition student? What are interesting ways to apply them?

Do comment. https://musescore.com/user/127761431/scores/39678833?share=copy_link

A few months ago, I completed this concertino for alto saxophone and symphony orchestra. The process was a rewarding experience, and I was pleased to see it culminate in the piece’s premiere, performed by the orchestra at the university where I study, with one of the saxophone students as the soloist.

I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on the piece.

Unfortunately, I do not have a complete recording of the premiere; I have only a few brief excerpts, each lasting no more than a couple of seconds. I expect to receive the auditorium’s ambient-microphone recording soon. For now, the audio in the video is a mock-up created with NotePerformer 5.

https://youtu.be/KsL3Qo7C3IE?si=qbsbYWwjW_Gfyq9u

Hey there all, prepare for a little story here, if you will, however, just for those who don't have the time, there's a TL;DR at the bottom.

I'm fairly new to the broad global community of musicians in the aspect of orchestral work, and I'm looking for help.

I tend to write symphonic metal a lot and to date, I've only ever really used Spitfire's Abbey Road One to produce the sounds I wanted, and it's... okay, but, obviously, my ever-loving appreciation for musicianship, the whole reason that I love that style of music, is what brings me on this new sort of side adventure/journey here.

I have a new band (I'm newer, the band isn't new lol), one which uses a lot of synth elements for backing sounds and melodies. Now, this band... we've been on an uptick lately; we've toured 6 times in 1 to 3 week intervals this year in the US plus multiple shows here in Canada, where we're from.

I'm trying to propose a SMALL shift in sound and it seems that a couple of the members are open to what I've been showing them ideas for - which would be to have some symphonic elements. Originally, the band leader was a bit of a stick in the mud about it, but I don't know, maybe I composed the right music for him. Seems I may be getting what I'm wishing for. I wrote one new track recently for the first time in 4 years and he liked it. Albeit, it was a little lighter on the symphonic work, akin to something Lorna Shore would write in a song such as Glenwood or Unbreakable, but present nonetheless.

He asked if I could write another song... so I have begun the process.

Turns out, I got bit by the symphony bug a little harder in this second round, I wrote an intro track which is about 2.5 minutes long (the "intro" portion would break off at about 1:45 or so and then the 'real' track starts and continues until its current written point at 2:26).

I haven't shown anyone in the band this piece of music yet... but I was hoping to really sell this idea to them, which finally brings me here.

I'm curious if there would be any musicians out there interested in learning, playing, and recording my current piece in its... rather shorter length... in an attempt to push idea to the band with something that sounds much more lively and professional.

As far as commission goes - I can admit to... asking for free labour (of love). I'm... admittedly broke right now. I won't be surprised if I see any comments that want to strike me down for it, I don't blame you, musicians do deserve their hard-earned pay for their amazing craft. I wish I could offer something right now on anything but credit for doing it, but I just figured I'd shoot my shot because it's what I've got! Let me know in the comments or DM me if there's anyone who has any interest in it.

You can find the link to the work in progress score in my drive here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HBVomchzeqSOaHKOyIueAQBxUiyf68Tf/view?usp=drive_link

It's in midi format right now.

What I would need:

Pianist, Violinist, Cellist. If anyone has access to a Celesta they could record, that would be sick, too!

Again - let me know!

TL;DR - If anyone wants to help me record violin, cello, piano, and a celesta part for a short intro track to a metal song I'm writing, DM me. I'm working on it as a demo to present to my band! :) See link above.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration, you're all amazing people, we all love music together, happy to be here and share in this with all of you.

-J

I just don't want to wrtie the notes and after that change every note do diffrent chanel. I want to do it mid writing.

YouTube Link to Sheet Music

Spent most of the last five days studying over 20 of Chopin’s nocturnes, learning all about typical 8-Bar chord progressions and motifs, studying tonal harmony. And also just practicing playing the piano

Learned a lot and all the comments on my first nocturne helped guide my study a lot to learn more about the music theory behind nocturnes—even though I still have a lot to learn

I think this one sounds kinda robotic and don’t even know if it’s an improvement, but I leaned a lot. So that’s good!

I’m also realizing it’s going to take years to become a good composer and there is so much to learn, but I’m enjoying the journey!

If no why, if yes why… I am a beginner composer.

Here is the Free Full Score: https://musescore.com/user/98567428/scores/39608771?share=copy_link

This is the first piano piece where i tried to not put random ideas/motifs into a score (see some of my previous works), but instead to structure everything like a story, to use music theory and to shape the music in interesting ways… I hope I composed something decent!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLED8fIu5y9jw

Five movements totaling approximately 1 hour and 12 minutes (if you have the time). I have decided to put out the entire symphony to reddit instead of my usual practice of a few movements at a time. This is my most "integrated" symphony with themes appearing in more than one movement. Our busy lives make it difficult to find the time to enjoy entire symphonies, but, of all my symphonies, this is the one where I feel a special exception is in order. Although each movement can be enjoyed alone, the progression from the darkness of the first movement to the joy of the fifth has been my goal here.

Upvote1Downvote0Go to comments1RepostShare

HI pooo! I'm working on an indie animation project and I just wanted to know how much would the music per episode (10 mins) would cost?

context hehe: Specifically, I'm looking for pieces to be specific to what is currently happening in each individual scenes. So most probably I will send a draft animatic to be the basis for the scenes. I also want each character to have a specific assigned instrument.

Music references I have that i want the final products to sound like (but its not limited to theseee):

- Giselle ballet

- any ballet by tchaikovsky

- very heavy on tchaikovsky hihi

general vibes: ethereal, whimsical, youthful, summer; and for the second half: creepy, depressing, scary, tension, betrayal

Please note that my project is still very early in its development so i wont be hiring anyone yet anytime soon :'DD. I just want to canvas my budget for the music per episode so i can budget it properly esp w our economy rn lol.

Thank you so much in advance ^^

lots of love to all musicians!!

Hello fellow composers! I am writing a chamber musical for three instruments and four singers.

One act!

Genre is pretty normal musical stuff, think Disney pop, folk-ish.

So my question is: which third instrument would you recommend and why?

I was thinking double bass but a friend told me cello is much better in the small setting. On the other hand i have a close friend who plays the flute so i need some input!

All best

https://musescore.com/user/99475183/scores/39651053?share=copy_link

So I am not an Expert, neither a beginner at making musics, not so long ago, i finished this piece. I will do a follow up, but if you can rate it out of a 10, that would be great!

I have composed music for 12 years, starting at 16. So far, I have uploaded a small number of pieces on my YouTube channel. But my latest and most ambitious project is writing a piano concerto! I am not a pianist myself, so any feedback from pianists and/or other musicians on this piece so far would be incredibly valuable. I would love to see this performed by an orchestra in the future. But so far, that is just a pipe dream haha! 

Even if you don’t want to give feedback, it would mean a lot if you gave it a listen! :) 

This is the version I have uploaded on YouTube! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVFW3158Jcg&list=RDVVFW3158Jcg&start_radio=1

However, the more up-to-date version of this is on my Noteflight account: I have written a bit more and am still adding to the orchestration! IT IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS: 

https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/1f3f8863495d8ae4028ffcc472901e30518f6cf2

In diesem Semester in meinem Studium besuche ich ein Seminar Namens "Historische Satzlehre".

Als erste Hausaufgabe haben wir aufbekommen, eine zwei- oder dreistimmige Kyrie (Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie) im kontrapunktischen Stil (mit Falten, haha) zu schreiben. Das hier ist mein Ergebnis und ich finde es ist mir sehr gut gelungen. Ich habe mich für die dreistimmige Version (SAT) entschieden.

Mal schauen ob ich auch noch die nächsten Aufgaben hier poste. Auf jeden Fall kommt das aber auch noch auf r/counterpoint!

Viel Spaß!

Musik: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17l_qIJT2jWmcrHlo78_xYiB5Yc706Pai/view?usp=drivesdk

Partitur: https://drive.google.com/file/d/173ix-6Z_dtjJhpUm1L-M4XtbeEgSuv53/view?usp=drivesdk

Hello composers!

I’m putting together my first short film, and there’s a great opportunity for an original song to be played near the end.

The entire film takes place in a bar, and the female lead mentions she’s a Broadway girl at heart. Towards the end, a karaoke machine / jukebox is turned on, and it could be fun to have a dive-bar-rock version of a song from “Phantom” playing in the background. Not a cover, we don’t need any copyright issues, but more of a rock song taking influence from it. No vocals needed, just instrumental.

The karaoke machine / jukebox gets damaged partway through, so the song would ideally transition halfway through from sounding normal to more of a “distorted” or off-key sound.

No generative AI used on this film, which would include any music.

If this sounds up your alley, please shoot me a DM and let me know your thoughts and a rate quote for this type of project! We’re definitely low budget, but I went into this film dedicated to making sure people get paid for the work they put in, even if it’s not a lot. You’d also obviously have a credit in the film and on IMDB. Thanks!

I’m a big Prokofiev fan, the harmonies in his music are very satisfying to me. I just can’t seem to understand how it make sense from a theory perspective. I know in a way, it doesn’t. But then how do people determine it’s “good”? Or how do you even manage to write something like his 3rd Piano Concerto?

Hi everyone, I’m working on taking my piano composition of about 80 bars (Beethoven inspired) and orchestrating it for a full ensemble (woodwinds + strings) on a tight 20-day deadline with focused daily work I want to make sure the final result sounds like Classical repertoire, specifically of Beethoven influence because my original film piano composition is inspired by Beethoven and his style of using sfz/short phrases to long development. I don't have a deep classical composition background, but I have experience (attempting to) arrange for big band, so I'm familiar with managing ranges, transpositions, and multi-part harmonies (fairly ig)

Given this: What is the most efficient way to map out and input 80+ bars without getting drained? What are the most crucial Beethoven-style orchestration habits (doublings, textures, dynamics etc) to focus on first? Lastly, and importantly for me, what resources can I use to self learn in these 20 days?

Hello! I'm currently working on slowly becoming a composer and one situation keeps popping into my head: does location determine how successful you'll be in composing and getting gigs?

I currently live in Austin, TX but am considering moving back to the Milwaukee or Chicago area. Before I make any rash decisions, I figured I'd ask actual composers here. I hear Austin is slowly bringing in more TV/Film companies and Chicago is already established in that, but I figure Milwaukee would make it more difficult to establish oneself.

Would you say living close to writers, directors, etc is important? How often do you meet up with writers, directors?

Thanks in advance!

The Softgames listing on Hitmarker is the one I would look at first this week: a named studio wanting one freelancer for both the music and the sound effects of a new casual game. The company behind Bubble Shooter Pro is making an unannounced game set in a bright, relaxing island world, and the first package is a main theme, seamless gameplay loops and short stingers plus a core sound effects library, quoted as a fixed fee. It is a full buyout and the music must be free of collecting-society claims, which matters if you are a member of one.

Also in this issue:

• €50–€200 a track for easy-looping house and EDM on a non-exclusive licence where you keep ownership; human-made music only
• $100 for a car game's 2–3 minute lobby theme, under an exclusive, worldwide and perpetual buyout
• $80 for about 50 seconds of electronic metal for a game trailer, from a developer who used AI to make a prototype and now wants something in the same genre made by a human
• At least three tracks of aggressive, fast techno for a sci-fi game about recycling space debris, with a playable build on itch.io; the post also wants a sound effects artist, paid separately, and gives one budget of around $500 without saying how it splits
• A paid, full-time contract charting a rhythm game, asking for strong musical skills, MIDI and a DAW
• One unpaid brief: a student film's dream sequence that turns uncanny

https://composerwire.substack.com/p/021-7-opportunities-this-week-including

Free to subscribe at the link above.

I wanted to share a recent piece of mine that was just performed. I'd love to hear any thoughts!

Score

Recording

I'm a 16 year old wannabe composer. I haven't taken many theory classes and write off instinct, most of what I know is from making mental notes of professional scores. Any guidance is welcome.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qs49qcUPp90VSu-IjpLxsuVy8Q_QIfpD/view?usp=drivesdk

In A major. https://musescore.com/user/127761431/scores/39595154/s/h9l2U0?share=copy_link

Hey everyone, I am very new to composing and music theory but seemingly managed to brute force my way into creating something that sounds beautiful (in my opinion at least) and honestly have no idea what is going on and why it sounds so good. Any input would be much appreciated!

This is the specific bit that tickles my brain: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xKeRwiUpZBJz5-Hx5vPiZ1q75U8rsZtE/view?usp=sharing

And this is the whole section that it is part of: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hN7WwxBWpdPbWHyfBT8MC5vCxhN6GAaQ/view?usp=sharing

like.. I guess my doubt is coming from not having all the tools and systems that people who compose and produce have. you know, I don't have Logic or FL Studio, or that other one that kinda looks cool - I just have BandLab.

don't get me wrong, BandLab has REALLYYY improved in time, and definitely tries to be its own version of these other creative inputs. but genuinely, I think me working with it doesn't gimme the title of saying I'm a composer. a big part of that declaration comes from me not using or writing any notation/song sheets, you know? like, I just use samples and loops, one-shots and etc. so to hear and see and listen to everyone that makes GENUINELY CREATIVE pieces from reddit and other sources, it just makes me question if I'm putting on a title that doesn't match how I work.

and yeah... sorry. this sounds more like a vent session than an actual discussion 😭🥲 and I'm seeing the comments too... like yoooo 🥲 thanks to everyone actually giving me a different viewpoint of this topic ❤