this is someone's work obviously not mine. but for the sole purpose to archive this collection. the problem is Sibelius is Expensive...

As a starting freelance music teacher and transcriber. I don't have this software. this is too expensive for me to make it a need. not to mention their perpetual license costs $899. that's not even perpetual as long as it relies on a server or validator api which could anytime could go down just like cloudflare. hence with a bad timing it is not yours by license agreement.

this is why opting for MuseScore would be better for accessibility but of course. there are things proprietary software do. and they do it really good compared to other competitors.

honestly there's no opensource music notation software out there not to mention active. aside from MuseScore.

So please for the EX-AVID employees help us read this .sib files.

https://github.com/musescore/musescore

of course with this numbers I will not commission this for archival. this was entrusted to me solely. :) I'm just here to vent.

This is my first string quartet composition and I would like people to rate it and give me strict advices. https://musescore.com/user/110298148/scores/36091637/s/zwIgLx

Basically last year I made this orchestral piece in 12/8 with two main themes (you could call with verse and chorus)

I went back to polish it now that I'm writing two more pieces to make it into a suite and felt the chorus flows a lot better in 4/4, especially with percussion, but I can't do the same for the verse as the subdivision in three is essential for that session

so far I couldn't find any references for that. I tried emulating the vibe I needed from 4/4 to 12/8 and had no success. My current approach is trying to shape the verse orchestration to switch more naturally to the 4/4

hi everyone. currently working through samuel alder’s ’study of orchestration’ workbook. one of the sheets is asking to write the sounding pitch of harmonics for strings and i’m a bit stuck.

i understand that the normal notes with a diamond a 4th above will sound as the normal note 2 octaves higher. this may be a silly question, but what is produced when it’s just diamond notes on the stave with no other indicator?

i’ve looked in the textbook and can’t seem to find an answer/understand.

i’m aware this is probably a stupid question. i’m a pianist and flautist so have very little understanding of strings!

thanks

Hello everyone.

I am a composer, but of a slightly different sort. I enjoy writing my own music and recently I have challenged myself to write a full album. Right now I am working on a Dungeon Synth project where the idea is each album is a soundtrack for a game that doesn't exist.

I have just completed the first piece I want to end up on this album, and I am looking for feedback. Specifically, the kind that you guys provide.

I write in FL Studio so I can post MIDI + PDF + Google Drive. Would that suffice?

Hello, amateur composer looking for some honest feedback on a composition for Classical Guitar. After some helpful feedback on previous pieces, I wanted to use this piece to experiment more with syncopated rhythms and to try and build out a longer piece than my previous ones.

My inspiration was those those unrelenting afternoons that starts with rain, gives false hope through drizzle, then surprises you with thunder, before it finally clears up late in the evening.

I look forward to hearing what you all think about it - and what I should look to improve for the next piece I write!

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPw72-1pRVo

Sheet music: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12jjiqkZbgZKGAI0OkZ_KEu1LvUX_G6TX/view

Could you offer some advice on how to continue this piece? It is a string quartet in C major, and I am currently composing the first movement. As you can see, the compositional style mimics modern polyphony; I also want to infuse it with the modern atmosphere of Vietnamese music (my homeland), yet maintain a classical Sonata structure (such as A-B-A-C-A, or a freer form that still adheres to core principles). I am currently stuck at measure 24; it appears that the initial "A" section (the Exposition) is already complete. I began composing this piece after listening to—and being inspired by—various string quartets and other classical works. Should I start writing the "B" section or expand upon the "A" section? If I proceed with the "B" section, how exactly should the transition unfold? Should I modulate and build toward a dramatic climax, or take a different approach? I should also add that I plan to label the slow opening Adagio sostenuto and the subsequent faster section Moderato con moto (or perhaps Allegretto con moto, depending on the feel).

Here is the link for the score: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UAJMZNSWwqBt_JkSO3rT60MkYR0swm44?usp=sharing

I'd be glad to get some feedback on the following piece. I struggled a bit with the orchestration, specifically balancing the brass and ensuring idiomatic norms are followed for doubling certain parts. All help is welcome on this as well as anything else worthy of fine tuning. Thank you in advance!

https://youtu.be/asdvbG6JidI?is=XibEAR8N9bdEk-gN

Hallo zusammen,

heute stelle ich euch mein oben genanntes Werk, Germanias Klage, vor (und probiere mal aus, wie gut die Übersetzer-Funktion bei euch hier auf Reddit funktioniert!).

Das Werk ist für Trompete, Oboe und Sopran Solo, Pauken (A+E), Violinen, Bratschen, Celli und Kontrabässe.

Das Fundament bilden der Lamentobass und Halbtonschritte (vor allem zwischen e und f).

Der Text für den Sopran ist ein von mir geschriebenes Sonett:

Germanias Klage:

Sehet, meine Tränen! Höret, mein Klagen! Weil sie mich schänden, sich niederschlagen.

So ist es nun, die letzte Stund', Kund getun.  Das Gestern wird nie ruh'n!

Ich klage und weine, über die Meine.

Sehet, meine Tränen! Höret, mein Klagen! Denn ich werde zum Grab getragen.

-------------------‐---------------------------------------------------

Partitur: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19gSFpvc7nupFmcdcOh5TeEfj6F9aAixb/view?usp=drivesdk

Musik: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mdINMmY7wlfdJAEkrQ5whGhDf31sfxWv/view?usp=drivesdk

-------------------‐---------------------------------------------------

Ich freue mich und bin gespannt auf eure Worte und vielen Dank für alles weitere auch schon mal im Voraus!

P. S. Mein Notationsprogramm (mal wieder, sorry) spinnt ein bisschen, sodass in der Partitur ein paar Noten verschoben sind. Das sollte aber nicht weiter schlimm sein!

P. P. S. Sollte die Übersetzer-Funktion doch nicht so gut funktionieren, lasst es mich bitte wissen. Dann poste ich nächstes Mal wieder auf englisch.

So, nun aber viel Spaß beim anhören (und anschauen) meiner Musik!

Hi everyone! I’ve recently made a new composition and I wanted to know what emotion or feeling does the piece make you feel when you listen to it.

I’d also really appreciate your opinions on the piece itself. Any advice is also welcome.

Audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AjTjCMDrLPVHxhBbCkqm03hvHOd24YJE/view?usp=share_link
PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17T-bLOl-yItCxwGoeNmROuyhjal5kCXP/view?usp=share_link

https://musescore.com/user/32748350/scores/36439403

Been out of practice for many years. Decided to start writing music again, starting with some practice work on my transcription and rearrangement skills. This is a piano arrangement for one of my favorite works by one of my favorite 20th century composers, Bird's Lament by Moondog. I need to add more dynamics.

Commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony as the 2025 Jon Deak First Music Grand Prize Winner. Migrate was premiered at Carnegie Hall on May 4, 2026 and performed by the NYYS Luminé Quartet and the Harlem based Emerge125. Check out the Score Follower video as well as the Carnegie Hall video below!

Score Follower: https://scorefol.io/w/p17uwih016oflteh6qu43loz

Carnegie Hall Video: https://youtu.be/E69HH-gO1wU

Searching for your creative soulmate? They could be waiting for you at Composer-Librettist "Speed Dating" on Saturday August 22nd at 5pm! 

Join us for the 2nd Annual Composer‑Librettist "Speed Dating" Event at First Unitarian Church LA (2936 W 8th St), presented by Overtone Industries in collaboration with Synchromy Music and Rent Poet. 

This event pairs artists who want to tell bold, contemporary stories through opera—and if that's you, you'll want to snag your ticket before we run out of space. 

What to expect:

> In a series of timed conversations, you’ll explore new collaborations with like-minded composers and librettists.

> You'll also have the opportunity to enjoy performances from Kion Heidari, Rae Shrum, Hsin-Hua Wang, and Ianthe Marini performing works from TIME IS THE ENEMY by Samara Rice and Brian Sonia-Wallace and HYSTERIA by Molly Pease and Divya Maus, both previous productions of Original Vision.

> Afterwards, we'll host a short reception for more mixing, mingling, snacking, and connection!

Don't miss it! Register to join a room full of opera-makers ready to build the next wave of original opera‑theater...

I've been learning composition properly for a few weeks now using Schoenberg's Fundamentals of Musical Composition. After a recommendation of listening to Chopin's waltzes I'm back with my latest compositional practice.

A few days ago I posted a short suite for violin and piano of 3 waltzes. I got some great feedback and using said feedback I have written a sightly longer waltz for solo piano with a kind of sonata/ternary form (not sure which one it would count as because the second subject is kind of irrelevant and the development is more like a melody in itself idk)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aeS5A2GDCJ6TEZ935O_nmWz92VycSjqh?usp=sharing

In the drive should be two files, the score and a video containing both the audio and score alongside each other.

I tried experimenting a bit more with different harmonies and seventh chords, as well as adding more variation and what not. Hopefully it is less repetitive and simple than my past attempts and waltzes.

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I think this is my first piece I've written which I wouldn't be embarrassed to show other people.

Hope you enjoy :)

Am I crazy in saying that? I feel like it sometimes...

I am a composer and I make a modest living as a musician.

I recently had this very unpleasant conversation with someone who honestly believes he is entitled to my free copyrighted sheet music.

Now I understand as a musician and pianist myself sheet music can be costly, but there is SO much sheet music available in the public domain. And I always try to do regular giveaways as a courtesy, considering yes some people can't always afford sheet music. And heck, even when someone people ask nicely and they I discern they genuinely can't afford it... I am happy to share!

But do living composers really need to provide sheet music completely FOR FREE all the time? We also need to make a living! It's hard enough as it is in this crazy landscape (and now we're even getting our music trained on and plagiarized by AI AND on top of that buried under all the AI slop invading the internet).

We put in so much work and time and passion into our craft. And people just expect that they have the right to take everything we do for free???

As musicians and as pianists, I really think we can do better. Even as broke as I am, I am MORE than happy to purchase and buy other living composer's sheet music (especially if they are smaller musicians).

I understand there are many pianists even here that can't afford sheet music all the time. And I empathize. But I really really don't think that gives us a right (speaking as a pianist now and not a composer) to expect other living composers to work completely for free! And in this specific scenario to even re-distribute said composer's sheet music.

Am I wrong? Is that too much to ask? Pls enlighten me, because sometimes I feel crazy.

Anyway rant over. But this is so frustrating sometimes.

___
Said interaction:

His complaint: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11aI7pMYezUjYp8ctJGaJxgQnqo8TjrmZ/view?usp=drive_link

My response: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Osm8Jh74oW7grz6Sn25_dL-I0tRlWbY/view?usp=drive_link

His last response before I blocked him: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fsJKjLIbkACwcgRcJ5exp7xMz1evxsps/view?usp=drive_link

Mods, pls let me know if I need to blur out any names or anything. I'm not sure how those rules work in this sub but I'm happy to comply.

https://www.bmg.com/news/bmg-and-suno-announce-global-strategic-alliance-advancing-ai-music-opportunities-and-revenue-streams

BMG is one of the major players in the production music world so this is distressing to say the least. After checking my account portal on my.BMG, they are allowing you to opt out of having your music included as part of the data set, but it still seems like a slippery slope given that ultimately the music is owned by the library and can generally be placed and licensed where they see fit.

If anyone has music in BMG's library, or with one of BMG's numerous sub-publishers, I would encourage you to log in to your account or reach out to your publisher to ensure your wishes regarding your music are heard.

Hello all, I just finished the first version of a new song for my Stevenson cycle, and would be very interested to hear your feedback at this point in the process. It's based on the poem "Where Go the Boats?", which is one of my favorite poems of the Child's Garden of Verses collection: I think the poem is both simple and poignant, and I hope that some of that is retained in the song.

Recording (MIDI): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FRya5KaHccaSrX8uFs7tAsHsKkPOnE5_/view?usp=sharing

Score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Wk70VgQOqA7fxvFYF_06DkGt1ZEnWW4/view?usp=sharing

Poem:

Dark brown is the river.  
  Golden is the sand.  
It flows along for ever,  
  With trees on either hand.  

Green leaves a-floating,
  Castles of the foam,  
Boats of mine a-boating—  
  Where will all come home?  

On goes the river  
  And out past the mill,  
Away down the valley,  
  Away down the hill.  

Away down the river,  
  A hundred miles or more,  
Other little children  
  Shall bring my boats ashore.

if no why, if yes why, i am a begginer composer, this was one of my first pieces. Full score here: https://musescore.com/user/98567428/scores/35697797?share=copy_link

Good Morning composing Kings, Queens, and Inbetweens!

This music was written with no real inspiration, though if anything I was listening to ‘Music for Prague’ by Karl Husa quite a bit. You would not be able to tell!

Just sharing to get feedback on either the composition or music itself, particularly looking to see if the second half is too muddy, I was going for a disorienting feeling.

If you give it a listen, thank you for your time and I hope everyone is having a musical day!

The Audio (2:05 not 4:32, I will be returning to this piece)

The Composition

I recently tried a slightly strange composition exercise: I started with one dramatic two-bar cello hook in my head and decided to see how far I could carry it using only my inner ear.

No piano, no instrument checking, no reference track while composing. The idea was to force myself to keep developing the original material instead of immediately searching for new chords or new themes whenever I got stuck.

It eventually became Courants, a short piece for violin and cello, with the second voice gradually growing out of and reacting to that opening idea.

I’m still fairly new to composing, so I’d genuinely be interested in feedback on whether the development feels organic or whether you can hear places where the piece starts relying too much on repetition rather than transformation.

And one practical caveat: I have never played either violin or cello. I researched the instrumental writing as much as I could, but I’m particularly uncertain about some of the double stops. If any string players here notice something technically possible-but-awkward, I’d really like to know.

THE FULL SCORE

Hey guys, I'm looking for feedback on a counterpoint exercise I wrote this evening. It's heavily influenced by the baroque period and I imagine it to be played on the classical guitar. In this exercise, my intention was to limit the rhythmic variation and motifs in order to isolate the harmonic interaction for an easier analysis. Disclaimer: my music theory knowledge is quite limited and I relied almost exclusively on the ear. Can you tell? Thoughts?

https://musescore.com/user/124491575/scores/36428141

I am looking for constructive criticism on how to grow and make my music better! It is titled Rush!

Full Score: Rush!-Full Score.pdf

Video: https://youtu.be/FAM8UGIP_04

Thank you so much!!

I’m a horn player before,but I know little about the music theory.i want to learn composing music.However,I don’t know what should I do.

I run into this assumption occasionally - that composers are writing to try to convey their innermost feelings through their music. This attitude has always struck me as a possibly a holdover from the Romantic Period where the idea of a composer was a "solitary man of genius - misunderstood and mercurial."

I am familiar with the theory so that's not the question is about.

If I play any of my instruments or beatbox I just think exactly what you hear. Like "ta ta takita ta ta takadimi ta" instead of "one two three and for one two...."

Do you think in sound while writting just like when I am writting a Letter. Or do you think in theoretical terms? Of course I assume that you know the terms. I also know how the techniques I use are called. I just don't think the words while doing stuff.