It's a pretty rare chamber group but I love the sound of strings and timpani together so here's a short piece I've written over the week.

https://youtu.be/RQlQ5abN6wA

Recording + Score

Link to score + audio

Just wrote my first orchestral song and I'm not quite sure what I'm doing exactly. I know basic music theory and have written music, but never an orchestra and for this song I just kind of guessed and put stuff I thought would sound cool. Basically just looking for general critiques/tips/advice/stuff you would change from people who actually know what they are doing. Thanks!

(also it was written in fl and I just shoved the midi into musescore so if the score is poorly written let me know and I'll try to fix it)

Hello all, thank you for taking the time to read and answer this.

As some background, I’m a student at UCLA who’s been interested in film for some time now, but recently started to look into the composing side of things. I love music, and I was taking an audio engineering workshop, but it got cancelled. If anyone has any courses at UCLA that I could take, I’m up for that, but at this moment I’m planning on minoring in music industry (my major’s on the pre-med track).

Anyways, I was curious on how to start and what to do. I have no experience in playing the piano (though I will start very soon) & little to none in music theory. I have access to Protools in a mixing lab, but it’s limited. Any ideas on where to go from here?

Audio & Score

I have written this piece recently and wonder mostly about its coherency. There was not a melody or motif I sought to develop, and I am aware that the presentation of many ideas without development can create disjunction. I think my focus was on different blocks of timbre. Strings often have harmonically extended/unstable voicings (+sections alternating between accompanied and unaccompanied strings), the piano is kept in higher registers, the chimes do repeat a descending/ascending figure at the end of sections.

Also, I do not believe the style shifts too widely either, though it might. Either way, that is why I am posting, for the input of others. Comments need not be restricted to structure alone but I would appreciate if they were kept to technical matters.

Thank you very much.

Sometimes I can manage to compose a pretty good verse or bridge, but I can't figure out how to expand it into a whole theme. I make game music and have no vocals. Sometimes I feel like I just have to give up, save, and start from the beginning in a new project. However I know what seemingly everybody says online, which is "get used to finishing songs!, so I also feel that I should just continue until I get something out of it. But this just ends with me sitting with a project for weeks without making any progress. Does anyone have any experience with situations like this?