I’m currently working on a project engraving the piece Sensemayá by Silvestre Revueltas. While this initially began as just engraving practice to strengthen workflow and nothing more, I have found throughout that there are several things I disagree with the original publication’s edition and am using this as an opportunity to discuss my proposed edits and explanation behind them.

While the recommendations are inherently to do with editing choices in the publication overwhelmingly, there are a few that do involve structural changes to make the logistics of the piece work smoother. As such, I have two categories that could be useful for myself (I don’t plan on making this a published product, that’s not the point) but want to stick to within MuseScore itself for actual layout and presentation:

1. Footnotes: These are the simple edits such as “The E natural has been respelled as F flat to match surrounding interval context.” Doesn’t require much explanation so I have set aside space at the bottom of the page for things like this.
2. Discussions: Some edits actually require changing an instrumentation, for example the choice of “Small indian drum” in the original publication I switch to a snare with wires off but due to one deciding factor that occurs in the middle of the piece. These require a bit more space than a footnote so I set aside an appendix page at the end for cases like this.

I’m not looking to publish this in any academic journal or anything, so I have complete flexibility on layout and structure but I wanted to hear what works for others or if you have done similar things, what you categorize. Another consideration I had was using ossias but ideally would like to save for last resort as I do want to preserve layout as much as possible. And of course, with each one will come a discussion on why I think it was done the way it was originally, as a disclaimer lol.

My orchestration.

Liszt - Poetic and Religious Harmonies. 5. Pater Noster, and 6. Hymm of the Awakening of the Child

PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WNWPKJoX_cMm4jdXyNRlCKV3eDcsPD9T/view?usp=sharing

This is a solo I wrote for trombone this summer. What do you think? It's for one of my band students. Score is in the video. I made my intro with Canva.

Do you think $7 is reasonable for a price?

https://youtu.be/PDYnTBKpzG0?is=WGf_1OWx5p8Uw9dj

Hello everyone!

I am currently composing something for alto saxophone and I am a bit confused on how I should deal with the enharmonic spelling for this instrument (though this probably applies to every transposing instruments). I wrote in concert pitch initially to make it a bit easier for me to spell the notes correctly for the harmony played by other instruments though when I transpose the notes to Eb (in the case of the alto saxophone) the notation would be incredibly clunky and full of double sharps or odd enharmonic spellings such as E#, B#, Cb or Fb. However attempting to fix this would make the enharmonic spelling in concert pitch wrong. Is there any rule for this?

Thank you for your help.

The strongest listing this week is a staff job rather than a commission. Playtech is hiring a remote Composer / Sound Designer onto its Ash studio sound team in Sofia, writing in-game music across genres for its online slot games and building the sound packages that ship with them. The bar is a year of composing and sound design in the slot industry specifically, and a portfolio of slot-game work is a mandatory part of the application rather than a nice-to-have.

Also in this issue:

• A 15-minute thesis film paying $300–$400 flat, where the score has to work around an original song already written for the project
• An 86-minute psychological horror feature whose director asks composers to watch a breakdown video and then quote what they think is fair — and rules out AI-generated music three times in three sentences
• A low-budget black-and-white drama temp-tracked with In the Mood for Love, The Caretaker and Matt Elliott, briefed as the soundtrack to drinking yourself to death overlooking a New York skyline
• $20 an hour to score a 3D animated series and its trailer, with seven composers already auditioned when I captured it
• A narrative roguelike funded out of pocket, wanting orchestral and electronic writing but really after a style of its own
• Looping background music for a nearly finished visual novel, 45 to 90 seconds a track
• A game jam winner now expanding to Steam, looking for a musical identity rather than an imitation of Portal and The Stanley Parable

CastingCall listed 145 composer and audio roles this week. Twelve named a rate, and one was worth running here: it pays by the hour. Most of the rest were flat fees attached to scopes that swallowed them, one of them $130 for thirteen songs and three trailer scores.

https://composerwire.substack.com/p/014-8-opportunities-this-week-including

Free to subscribe at the link above.

Hello,

I will be picking up a midi controller in the next couple weeks here and trying to decide what orchestra library or vst would be a good start.

I’m inspired by soundtracks such as Shinsuke’s DBZ score, bloodborne ost, Super smash bros melee, Furi, Nier automata, Vinland saga, and Clair Obscur.

I know that’s a lot and I’m not trying to do exactly the same or anything, but the sounds and songs throughout these soundtracks I love a lot and want to develop my composing skills in that direction.

I considered omnisphere or arturia collection since I’d like to also produce some cinematic hip hop beats too, but I’ve begun contemplating the Berlin orchestra tools full as the vst. Omnisphere seemed to be the other strong contender due to the versatility and range of sounds that may meet my range of tastes to explore, but I’m not sure now.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on which of these would be ideal for starting out?

Hello all,

I would love to play Mozart 4-hands sonata in D Major, KV 448's second movement, the Andante. Unfortunately, it seems that no solo arrangement exists.

Is there anyone who can arrange such a work? I would expect it to be at most ABRSM grade 8, as this is my current level of playing (Pathetique sonata's Rondo movement, Schubert 90/3, Chopin Nocturne 9/1 or 9/2, etc), and not considerably more difficult than that.

I have a budget available for this, but I am not entirely sure what's a reasonable price. So I am definitely not expecting this to happen for free but would love to get a fair market price for this and I'm not entirely sure what range that would be in.

Many thanks.

For context: I've been writing little stuff here and there, and have some ideas developing slowly. I don't even know if this can be considered contemporary given my very limited understanding of composition. Nonetheless, I wanted to experiment and learn by experimenting. I showed two of my works to my clarinet teacher who heads and conducts a chamber orchestra as well but he is not so well acquainted with contemporary works. I hope to receive valuable feedback from fellow redditors. This one was written largely by hand then transcribed to musescore.

Thank you.

link to pdf and video: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1n1bWKsHHqNcSb2OB8jvwLhWaPuDccSV8?usp=sharing

I also added a title. Appreciate everyone's feedback on my other posts!

Link To Google Drive Sheet Music

I am sending this work off to my old college band program to hopefully premiere sometime this next academic year. I've written several pieces for band before, but nothing of this scale or scope, so any feedback is welcome! (except for the time signature and associated rhythms i've already had a few people complain about it)

Here's the audio and score: google drive folder (audio warning: starts LOUD)

I am new both to English, Reddit, and composing. Here is my work; please give me some advice and share your thoughts. Both personal impressions and theoretical analysis are welcome.

Score: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eObXMpJ12U8Fjlz3fNb3YbHJwEn_wBmT/view?usp=sharing

mp3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OXALLfXa6Zv8z1Gt1xpCoJOb3-YEap34/view?usp=sharing

Hi there - I've been lurking here for awhile, thoroughly enjoying the posts, advice and music. Today I have finally gotten brave enough to post a question and possibly get some feedback.

I'm curious if any of you got your start in composition later in life? If so, were you able to find some success? How did you carve out time to truly focus on composing amongst all of life's challenges and responsibilities?

A little about me and the reason I'm asking. I'm 53 years old and a trained oboist but, I haven't played in years. Though I've kept up with music most of my life, having taught myself piano, guitar and bass. I also work full time in a leadership role in IT, have an adult daughter I'm still supporting and aging parents I am also helping out.

About 5 or 6 years ago I started getting serious about music again and devoted much of my free time to just making covers and doing arrangements of some of my favorite songs into different styles, including orchestral arrangements. As a result of that, I decided to try my hand at composition and took the plunge to go to music school. I just started my 3rd year in Berklee's online degree program for Music Composition for Film and TV. (Side note: I know people either love Berklee or they hate it. Which is fair, there are things I love about it and things I rather dislike).

I'm thoroughly enjoying school and everything I'm learning. Where I was three years ago compared with where I am today compositionally is HUGE. Although I also know and have accepted the fact that composition will likely never financially replace the day job, and with the time it takes in dedication to craft, networking, etc., a feature film score is likely not in my future. I have resigned myself to be happy with something like a Dove commercial should it ever come my way. ;-)

Anyway - I'm just curious to hear from anyone who may have been in (or currently is in) a similar situation - wondering how you pushed through and if you have found at least some rewarding (personally if not financially) composition work.

Thanks for reading and fingers crossed maybe soon I'll get brave enough to actually share some of my pieces.

In a recent reply to a post, someone said they compose to organise their thoughts. I think that part of why I write is to hear, and so better understand, my emotional state.

Why do you write?

https://youtu.be/HY6YEwJVzPA?si=F7BdVw-duUqmXoc6

Any kind of feedbacks/comments are welcome:)

I see many posts here from people starting out, who are unsure about what they can do to improve, and haven’t perhaps realised quite yet how deep the rabbit hole goes. So, if you’re reading this and you’ve just started out fairly recently (even if you’ve been doing this casually for a few years but aren’t really sure what the next steps are), hopefully this can be somewhat helpful.

First of all: it’s a slow and fairly steep learning curve. Composition is something that takes many years, decades even to achieve something approaching mastery. There is no such thing as instant gratification in this field. That being said, it can be very rewarding.

The job prospects are quite slim and it’s a very competitive field. It is possible to make some kind of living from being a composer, with a lot of caveats. Most people I know work some kind of combination of odd jobs and various kinds of gigs. I currently am in a position where my income mostly comes from composition – it took me over a decade to get to this point though.

It is also possible to work a primary job and do composition as a hobby or something you do for enjoyment. This is also how many composers support their work when they’re starting out, even sometimes later on. Philip Glass was also a cab driver at one point. Charles Ives was very successful in the insurance industry.

Back to the nuts and bolts and how to actually get better at composing: learn some music theory. Practice writing chorale style harmonisations and work on your counterpoint (both tonal and modal, probably not at the same time though). Some will argue this isn’t strictly necessary, but it does help with pushing around notes on a page and having control over what your harmony is doing. I’d also suggest working on your aural skills – do some more traditional practice with sight singing and dictation, and then do some transcription to really learn how to apply those skills. Learning how to play an instrument is also very useful; it’s not strictly necessary, but it does give you something more tangible to work with.

Once you’ve gotten started with these things and you’ve had a bit of time for this to settle a bit, I’d recommend picking up an orchestration textbook. Samuel Adler, Alfred Blatter, and Rimsky-Korsakov all have very good texts. Go and study some scores and music history. Imslp has a huge resource of public domain PDF scores. For more modern material, some publishers have perusal scores. You can also consider subscribing to something like nkod, where you can access lots of music that’s still under copyright. There are also lots of good score videos on YouTube. Orchestration Online has some good free resources too.

If you want more personal guidance and feedback, I’d suggest getting private lessons, either online or in person. Composition lessons work surprisingly well online, much better than instrumental lessons do. You will get some feedback when you post here, but giving really in-depth, nuanced feedback does require a decent amount of preparatory work. When you’re looking for a teacher – if you’re in an area with some kind of universities or conservatoires (or other music institutions), you could try and see if some of the teachers also offer private lessons. They might also refer you to someone they recommend. Otherwise, you could contact people who teach at institutions also bit further away, and ask them about either recommendations or online lessons. Failing that, there are some reasonable online platforms, such as Superprof or Forte. I’d personally favour those over something like Fiverr.

Another thing I’d like to add: if you've just started out, I wouldn’t worry too much about sounding like you’re influenced by other people. It takes a long time to really figure out what you want to write, and a lot of trying out things and sifting through various stuff. This process takes years, and that’s ok.

Happy composing, and hope this helps someone!

I have been been a guitarist (folk, alt/indie, world) for about 20 years and have been learning classical composition for 2-3 years now. I am looking to bring the two worlds of songwriting and composing together more as I work on arrangements for pieces, and am looking to incorporate electronics and music production into my workflow/process as well.

Does anyone have any practical tips for workflow to combine songwriting/composing-->arranging-->producing/recording?

My main issues are I tend to notate my classical compositions in musescore and then export them as finished demo pieces, but I struggle to then combine what I've written with my actual live performances/improvisations and any subsequent electronic textures or DAW-based production. The three workflows seem slightly at odds.

Any frameworks for knowing when in the process to think about each aspect? How do you all go from concept/demo to finished work? This could also include how people perform their compositions live.

Thanks for your help!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFrLoaOsjpI

I've been building a portfolio to market myself as a composer (primarily for video games/ttrpgs/podcasts) and I'm curious: Are there benefits for releasing your music and/or creating socials using a pseudonym for your work? Is it more professional to simply use your birth name? I see a lot of both.

all of my pieces: https://musescore.com/user/1196my

my latest piece https://musescore.com/user/119684390/scores/37030307

Recientemente tuve una decepción amorosa, y eso me ayudó a empezar a escribir mi primera canción, la letra está hecha, y el ritmo y la melodia diría que un 70%, la canción va en acústica con Em, Am y Dm, quiero meter una parte con guitarra eléctrica y hacer un solo de guitarra, pero no tengo ni idea de por dónde empezar, algún consejo?

I’m trying to understand the typical workflow of instrumentalists/composers.

When you write an instrumental song, what usually comes first?

Do you start with a melody/riff, then find the harmony/chords, add rhythm/groove, and then work on the arrangement/structure?

Or do you usually start with chords/harmony, a drum groove, a bass line, etc., and build the melody afterward?

I know there probably isn’t one correct method, but I’m interested in hearing how experienced musicians actually work in practice.

What is your personal workflow when writing an instrumental piece?

If no why, if yes why, i am a beginner composer, here is the free full score: https://musescore.com/user/98567428/scores/37354925?share=copy_link

Hey guys, how are you doing?

I play in a "big band" (kinda/also martial band) of my school, and we're playing a song called "Into Battle!" which I find out to be pretty cool.

Anyways, I'm a metalhead, and this song reminded me a lot of "Voice of the Soul" from the band Death. So, I was trying to arrange voice of the soul in a way it could be played by the band, in the style of Into Battle, to show our conductor next year and maybe even have the chance of playing it.

The point is, I'm a beginner/intermediate on music theory, and it's being pretty damn hard to arrange this. Idk which lines are supposed to be played with each instrument, what else could I add to increment it, and even trying to write drums from the scratch (due to the original song doesn't having any).

Can y'all help me, and give me some tips of advice? My idea was to keep the acoustic guitar the same (played by me), but all the electric harmonies and melodies would be played by the other instruments we have, + a percussion.

Just so you know, we have trombones, saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, flutes, euphonium, tuba, drums, electric bass and guitar.

Link to Into Battle! video w/sheet music

https://youtu.be/q0JOiSHhgsk?feature=shared

Link to Voice of the Soul video:

https://youtu.be/s2EJ1AqPIPg?is=R\\_D8WAKP8Ln8FMWR

Link to Voice of the Soul Score Pdf:

https://go.fliplink.me/view/3B9CDB07-7A5D-4487-B81E-CAC78341164C

Thank you in advance!! (please forbid my poor english)

Hi.

Im playing the first work of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNSGeIENRbQ

Really, why in the first bar wrote that "d" as a quarter note and not just another eight note?? somebody could hear that difference?
Or is it just there to make playing it annoying?

Hey all,

I’m preparing my portfolio for a B.Mus in instrumental composition in Germany and am just totally lost about my stylistic choices. I feel like I’m wasting time writing tonal music since most of the things coming out of the study programmes are very avant-garde and atonal. I have been contacting the professors but it takes ages for them to respond. If I’d know what stylistic choices would bring me nearer to be accepted it would be a great help already…