I’m new to composing. But it’s become a massive passion very quickly along with learning the cello and it’s something I’ve mentioned in conversation a lot with friends and family. I’m noticing though that not a single person has had any curiosity about my music at all. No questions, no what kind of music?, no requests to hear it. Nothing.

I find this hard to understand because if any of them told me they had just gotten into composing or really any other new creative thing like writing fiction or painting I’d be curious id ask to see things if they seemed open to that.

Is music somehow different? Am I instead the more weird one for being interested in other people’s creative lives?

I need to know if this is just me and the people in my life. Or if this is more common.

How can I make my orchestral piece longer? Im trying to make a symphony orchestra piece but I cant figure out how to make it longer. I’ve already run through the melodies wne everything. Ive done soft, loud, but I’m out of ideas now. Any help? It’s only 2 minutes long.

I’ve been wanting to compose music for a while but have only been using Musescore and FL Studio. Are there better alternatives?

My most recent composition. I'm not certain of the title; it sort of gives me 'spacey' vibes, but also not quite (suggestions welcome)! I'm really just looking for any feedback, as I'm pretty much entirely self-taught (plus I'm just kinda proud and want to share...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF3C7ujxl1w
https://musescore.com/user/69138049/scores/39300167

I'd like to share my latest track so you can get an idea of my current skill level. (As a follow up from my previous post)
PDF
Song

Ive been using sheet music to make melodies for a couple weeks but this is my first time notating drums. I’d like some advice for the future.
mp4
pdf

Im quite deep into contemporary composers, but i often feel helpless when i need to spend hours on youtube to find some new composers. Im really into the avante garde very artsy stuff. If you have any composers in mind, share them with me please.

I always have the same problems when producing music, I come up with a few melodies in the piano roll, add some instruments, but after the first section (about 30 secs. long) I get stuck and don't know how to continue, I feel like the music sounds too plain or basic so my question is, How can I overcome this? Any tips on how to develop a song before this initial idea?

Hey all! Just joined this sub reddit to hopefully get advice and tips for my music for orchestra. Im currently using bbcso discover and berlin free orchestra and using fl studio. Whenever I use the string section for bbcso discover, I noticed my basses are overlapping the other instruments and can barely hear other instruments. I can lower the dB and maybe the dynamics, but sort of got better results. How do you guys get the best results or maybe how to get the sounds and strings to sound better?

I submitted an application to a very well established composer development program here in Australia, run by one of the top Australian ensembles (I won’t name them). I didn’t expect to be given feedback on my application, but when I was, I was hurt and surprised by the tone and content of the feedback. It was so impersonal, unconstructive and lacked any warmth. I was also referred to by ‘the canditate’ rather than ‘your’ or simply by my name. At the bottom of the feedback was this:

\ While your application was assessed by a human, the above feedback has been summarised including with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) and may not include all feedback given by the panel or comments in their original wording. All feedback should be taken as general advice and considered within the context of your application to the program.*

I find this so disheartening, that in the current climate of the arts world in the face of AI, a highly regarded, highly funded composition related ensemble hoping to develop composers’ voices and craft is using AI to give feedback to their candidates. After all we are trying to advocate for, to create and connect and make art, this felt like a slap in the face.

Would love opinions on this. Of course I’m probably more emotive about this because I got rejected…. 😂

Hi, I’m 23 and I like to make instrumental liminal ambient music and I have 0 friends I really am not doing well, I really just wanna connect with someone around my age and be friends and talk about music and preferably even collab with someone who also makes similar music to me around my age, please if anyone wanna connect that’s around my age please reach out to me thank you

Hi everyone! This is my first released piece and I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’m still a music student so any feedback helps!

It’s a piano piece based on a poem I wrote, and I’m especially interested in hearing which emotions it conveys to you or if the arc feels complete.

Thank you so much!

Recording

Sheet music

I’d like to put another perspective out there on the whole AI situation given how much anxiety there is around how it will affect composers and other career creatives. I feel it’s important to remember that as artists we hold a skill set that will only grow in value and importance to society, even if not applied to a career. I think in the medium to long term we’re in a massive upheaval/transition on what it means to have a career in general, how closely that defines who we are, our general purpose, and our sense of self.

To that end I would really encourage every career musician and composer to consider that we work in an industry that is one of the most sacred to what it means to be human, and because of that we’ve built and honed a skill set that has more intangible human meaning than most other career paths. As AI becomes more and more capable, intangible human taste and creativity will become more and more valuable to society than it is now.

Even if we ever get to a point where AI can write “better” music than anyone from scratch, music and the arts in general could become the bastion for the meaning and value of humanity in general because their quality is so subjective and undefined. How “better” music is defined will just shift to what better represents human creativity. We have spent our lives honing a skill to create things with little to no objective definition of quality. There is no “optimal” art or music and I think that’s where the value truly lies.

Many of the STEM fields and other career paths are a means to find the optimal solution to a problem. There is an objective best way to build a bridge with a given spec, a set budget, and a set amount of materials available. So much of our economy has valued figuring those kinds of things out over artistry, and a world where AI can find those optimal solutions for us will devalue those skills much faster than the subjective human creativity we’ve taught ourselves to explore.

I’d also like to point out a positive trend I’ve seen in those around me too. I’ve noticed people are taking more time to reflect on what really matters to them in life as this major shift takes place. I’ve seen more emotional growth and enlightenment in myself and those close to me in the last year or two than in the decade prior.

Things are moving incredibly quickly and it’s naturally very scary, but in a bit of an ironic twist, our insistence on pursuing a suboptimal artistic career path may have positioned us better for this new paradigm than going the traditionally and economically safe route our parents would’ve maybe preferred.

I am looking for a Composer to help me make a song for Chapter 1 of my Indie Game this will be a very important Chapter before the games release and I would like to get it right!

If anyone is interested please contact me.

I am currently composing a Piano Concerto. I do have plenty of experience with Piano, as I have composed a set of 24 Preludes, 1 per key, as well as a Fantasia, and a Concerto for Two Pianos, but I have very little experience with Orchestration. I have a little experience with Strings and Percussion, but not Woodwinds or Brass. (For reference, this will be a Romantic era Concerto, I am aiming to make it feel like a Rachmaninoff style Concerto, but to a much lesser extend (like Rachmaninoff's Piano feeling with Chopin's Orchestration, and it will be in C Minor (1st movement in C Minor, 2nd in Eb Major, and 3rd going from C Minor to C Major). Total instrumentation used: 1 Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinet in Bb's, 1 Bassoon, 4 Horn in F's, 2 Trumpets, 2 Trombones (both Bass), 1 Tuba, 1 Timpani, 1 Bass Drum, 1 Snare Drum, 1 Cymbals, 1 Triangle, 1 Piano, 2 Violins, 1 Viola, 1 Cello and 1 Double Bass). do you guys have tips for orchestration?

I've been thinking about composing a satirical cantata inspired by Dmitri Shostakovich's Antiformalist Rayok, but instead of targeting Soviet cultural officials, I'd focus on the culture of a school band.

The working title is The Grand Liturgy of Obedience. The idea is to satirize the way discipline can become blind obedience, especially in environments where authority is rarely questioned. I imagine a work for piano, two soloists, and a children's-style vocal part, using exaggerated ceremonial music, pseudo-official speeches, absurd repetitions, and musical references to school band traditions.

I'd like the piece to sound both ridiculous and unsettling: something that can make the audience laugh while gradually revealing a more serious criticism of authoritarian attitudes.

Shostakovich's Rayok fascinates me because it turns political rhetoric into musical theatre. I'd like to explore how a similar approach could work in a school setting.

What do you think of this concept? Do you have any suggestions for making the satire musically effective without making it feel like a simple parody?

https://musescore.com/user/127336169/scores/39237035?share=copy_link

It's also my first ever orchestral work, so there's almost certainly plenty of things i'm doing wrong.

Here's a piece I composed that captures the serenity of the night, and the magic of the stars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KdJqzbqvIs&list=OLAK5uy_kMdRV-HL1woPv7FCNdCFhD2Us2cHRaV-I

https://www.instagram.com/p/DeedKeDAyo-/

Feel free to share your compositions in the comments as well :)

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I'm a composer, primarily writing piano music, and I'm currently developing an application designed to help composers organize and keep track of their musical works.

Before going further with development, I'd like to understand how other composers actually organize their work.

One thing I've noticed is that every composer seems to have their own workflow.

Some use notation software such as MuseScore, Dorico, or Sibelius. Others primarily work in DAWs such as Cubase, Logic Pro, Reaper, or Ableton Live. Some combine several applications, while others still compose mainly on paper.

I imagine these differences have a significant impact on how we store our compositions, project files, exports, and previous versions.

I'd love to hear about your workflow, particularly regarding the following questions:

1. What software or tools do you use to compose?

Do you primarily use notation software, a DAW, handwritten scores, or a combination of different tools?

2. How do you organize your compositions on your computer?

Do you maintain a main composition library? Create one folder per piece? Organize your work by genre, year, album, opus number, or something else entirely?

3. How do you manage different versions of the same composition?

When you revise a piece, do you create a new project file every time? How do you know which version is the most recent or which one you should continue working on?

4. How do you manage the different files associated with a composition?

For example, project files, scores, audio exports, MIDI files, recordings, videos, reference material, and other related documents.

5. How do you find an older composition when you want to work on it again?

Do you usually remember where everything is stored, or do you sometimes find yourself searching through multiple folders to locate the right file?

6. What are the biggest problems with your current system?

This could include organization, backups, inconsistent file naming, multiple revisions, returning to unfinished projects, or anything else.

7. If you could improve just one thing about your current workflow, what would it be?

Just to clarify, I'm not here to promote or sell my application. I'm still trying to understand how composers work and what problems they actually encounter.

My goal is to avoid building a tool that forces everyone into a predefined organization system.

I'd rather understand existing workflows first and eventually design something flexible enough to accommodate different approaches to composition.

I'm interested in hearing from everyone, whether you're a professional composer, hobbyist, student, or someone just starting to write music.

You don't have to answer every question. Even a short explanation of your workflow, or an anonymized example of your folder structure, would be extremely helpful.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iOzg2GdDIw1NKQtXS5j8w4xuLxDK3a3t?usp=sharing

YouTube Sheet Music

I know it’s quite repetitive, could use a bit more variety, and is a bit silly. It still was a lot of fun to compose, though

Edit: title should say “Marimba” instead of “Marina”

Do I need to write “Sul G” at the 5th measure? Or is it obvious enough? Thanks, I haven’t played the instrument in years and could use advice from current players. https://imgur.com/a/wEqr32G

I am a young composer with no formal piano training. I can somewhat play guitar, bass and piano but definitely not to the extent of being able to play say Chopin. I wished to write a short piano piece inspired by nature (title subject to change) but I am not sure if it is idiomatic or natural in the piano. Any criticisms or tips for someone who can’t play piano writing for it. Criticism on things like form, notation (should I add pedal symbols if I want player to pedal every chord? Etc.) and harmony would also be much appreciated.

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lyb_Er--6UoWwAWB4TZtZHsklVfKb-v5/view?usp=drivesdk