# 2nd piece I did, all criticisms, comments, opinions very much needed.



## tonystanton (Mar 18, 2013)

Would greatly appreciate some tips on improving my compositional skills.


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## ricardo_jvc6 (Dec 8, 2010)

Well, It wasn't bad. The Harmony is a bit wierd in this song let me tell you... I didn't understand the progression at all. You should learn more about harmony, counterpoint. Also get rid of the synth pads in that song. It is really corny in this song, makes it look ridiculous. You should try your luck being a songwriter towards rock or pop. You need to learn more stuff about orchestration (doublings, writing and transposing). It is quite helpful that way let me tell you. I hope to hear more songs from you.

Cheers,
Ricardo Castro


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## tonystanton (Mar 18, 2013)

Well I have no formal training so as yet my understanding of composing is based on years of being a songwriter but while going back to college this year and then to university to study composition I hope to become a composer of Classical, so this and other pieces I'm writing at the moment are just my first branching out into actual composition, so I don't really know what I'm doing, for instance I realise the importance of counterpoint but have no idea what it is lol
But I'm not sure how music can LOOK anything, let alone ridiculous. What do you mean by the synth pad? 
Cheers for listening and cheers for the comment Ricardo.


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## hannahmartin (Apr 26, 2013)

hi tony,

i have listend to your piece and I have got some feedback  firstly, i can see what your thought process is and I think that the piece could be really good. I have some tips for you:

firstly, with classical compositions there are lots of rules that you need to abide too. I think instead of becoming a classical composer, you should go into new age music. With new age music theres a lot more freedom and not much 'right' and 'wrong'. However I do agree with Ricardo's post that some of the chord progressions seem to lead to nowhere, make sure you go back to tonic by using the VI-I chord progression as it helps to bring the listener back to base.

You don't need formal training to be a composer, that's a load of collywobbles, you just need an understanding of chords, scales and harmonies, which is something you can easily explore yourself! look it up on google, watch some youtube tutorials, buy a book about it etc.

I think what ricardo means about the synth pad (the synthetic instruments) is that you don't need to add all those extra instruments to the piano, it would sound fine if you just played in on the piano. The synthetic instruments do ruin it a bit for me and the piano theme is beautiful, you don't need the extras!

When your first starting out composing, the simpler the better, trust me!

Here is the first piece that I ever composed: 





I'm not saying that it's even remotely good, but I just recorded it on the piano and used fairly simple chord progressions. It is also an example of new age music which you might find interesting.

Anyway, I will leave you with my comments,

I'm looking forward to listening to what you are writing next, let me know when you've got something else recorded and i will have a listen to it!

Happy composing,

Hannah x


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

Very nice. I'm not sure if I'd personally be able to consider it as being classical music though, as it doesn't really develop enough to fit into the genre. However, as background music for something like a film, TV show or game, it's exceptional, especially for an early effort.

I especially like the little staccato-ish variation you have going on around 4:34, it's a nice change from the general flow of the piece.

The use of synth brass does sound a little corny/outdated to me, so if you're aiming to write music for film/TV/games, I'd leave that out.



ricardo_jvc6 said:


> The Harmony is a bit wierd in this song let me tell you... I didn't understand the progression at all. You should learn more about harmony, counterpoint.


Sorry, but I can't agree with this feedback. The use of harmony sounds excellent to me, especially if this is only his second piece. I wouldn't change a thing.


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## ricardo_jvc6 (Dec 8, 2010)

StevenOBrien said:


> Very nice. I'm not sure if I'd personally be able to consider it as being classical music though, as it doesn't really develop enough to fit into the genre. However, as background music for something like a film, TV show or game, it's exceptional, especially for an early effort.
> 
> I especially like the little staccato-ish variation you have going on around 4:34, it's a nice change from the general flow of the piece.
> 
> ...


It really depends on tastes and not opinions, for example I didn't like the harmony so much in this one but I think this song has potential.


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