# Composing a canon for Piano quintet, immediately I have balance issues.



## caters

So I am writing a second canon, this time for a piano quintet(string quartet + piano). But I immediately run into balance issues. Okay maybe not immediately but this certainly is a problem I am getting early on.

I have variations being introduced on the piano in the right hand and then going to the cello, viola, 2nd violin, and 1st violin, going up by octaves as it does so starting in the great octave with the cello and ending in the second octave with the first violin.

When I introduce the first variation, it is like just perfect sounding. Cello and piano is a great combination. You can have both instruments at the same dynamic and overlapping in terms of octaves and have no problems with balance. In fact I sometimes consider the cello to be like the "piano of the strings" because it is so versatile and has about the same amount of projection a piano does.

When I get to the second variation, the piano starts getting fazed out. I can barely hear the third variation against the cello and viola playing the first variation and original melody respectively. I haven't written the third variation yet but when the cello plays the second variation, the viola plays the first variation, and the second violin plays the original melody, I can't hear the eighth notes in the cello for the most part and I can't hear the alberti bass in the piano all that well either. This gets even worse as it progresses upwards both in pitch and staff to the viola, 2nd and 1st violins.

Clearly I am going to have to quiet down the viola and the violins because it is like forte against mezzo-forte even though dynamically, the whole piece so far is at mezzo-forte. The violins and viola just project so much that they sound at mezzo forte, just as loud as forte or even fortissimo on the piano or cello. This isn't so bad in an orchestra where you expect to hear primarily violins but in something like a piano quintet playing a canon, it is an issue. 

I had a few balance issues in my first canon for woodwind quartet like not hearing the flute or the bassoon over the oboe and clarinet(more so with the flute than the bassoon). I was able to fix that with a few dynamic tweaks including a crescendo. But with a piano quintet this frequency of balance issues gets multiplied.


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## caters

And yes, I am using Musescore to compose it. I haven't changed any soundfont from the default for musescore.


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