Excelent feedback, Saad!

It's superb-level wisdom to differentiate feedback between aesthetic oriented feedback and structural feedback. Very interesting to watch this.

God bless you all.

Wow!!!

Heard Sofia's string quartet Insects in one anonymous composition call for scores. Was quite amazed by it and showed it to several of my students since then (as it is available as score-video on inciptify). Had no idea she is still an undergrad - what a tremendous voice!

Great advice on the practicality of execution...it's sometimes hard when you're in that soft brain, imagination phase of writing, to even consider such things...but it's crucial in making a finished presentation...best takeaway from this feedback session="We want to eliminate questions when writing for orchestra!"...time is, unfortunately, money!!!

Great video, super helpful. I'm interested in adding very simple cover art. How are illustrated title pages often looked at in the composing community?

It’s so important for composers to get objective critical feedback. I got a bunch of notes back from a conductor on a commissioned piece and all of the changes were totally on the mark. It also opened my eyes up to find other problem spots (mostly just holes in the orchestration). So often we work so much inside our heads it’s enlightening when an outside authority can look with fresh eyes.

Here is an excerpt of feedback I gave to a composer about her orchestral work.

Here is an excerpt of feedback I gave to a composer about the bass lines and voice leading in her choral work.

Wow,It's so critical but beneficial.

That´s amazing! I had a similar encounter a few weeks ago with a composer I very much admire for about 20 years. It was not in "real life", still online, where I´ve got to know him more or less by accident. And after that he arranged a personal WhatsApp video call with me and helped me with a score I´m working on right now. Completely free! I´m still thrilled about how kind some "famous" people are you would never expect them to put aside some of their time to speak to you.

Here is an excerpt of feedback I gave to a composer about his butterfly-inspired orchestral sketch.

This was a great concerto to study for the viola...I've seen many comments by violists who say it's hard, but super fun to play. Really all of Hindemith's concertos (and sonatas) are worth studying closer, because he learned how to become more than proficient on ALL of those instruments himself!!! In this concerto, I love the forward momentum and the way he just slips something so crazy, modern sounding, in an otherwise tonal discourse...like just before the end of this 1st movement at rehearsal mark 'U' he goes in to this bizarre broken circus toy passage for the whole ensemble and then the viola does this uncanny cadenza passage (where it's marked 'Breiter'=Broadly, etc) for the solo viola-all in down bows (usually played ponticello), before the low strings, clarinets and bassoon join together one last time to cap it off perfectly...then if you really want to hear some glue, check out the third movement, the measure just before rehearsal letter 'D' (@18:45 approx, in the Score video of this work on YT) there is an amazing passage where the solo viola is just all over the place, and suddenly the two clarinets join the soloist for this Carnival like phrase that sounds like a tilt-a-whirl whizzing past your face at 90mph (especially on headphones)...but it's the way they blend that is so powerful. Also, Saad, thanks for the true service you provide to the composing community...I really love the way you are approaching this with a macro/micro emphasis...very important!!!

Another question : How come you're so fluent in English? There's absolutely no arabic accent in your speech. Were you born in the US? Is English your mother tongue?

Hi Saad, I have a dumb question. Can you play any music instruments?

I can't believe you were a grad student when you came across this! Is the paper you linked to outside the scope of undergrad music theory at an average university? I'm asking because I'm not that familiar with how music theory education works. When I was a 1st-2nd year undergrad, I tried to do my elective music class project on this, but "Real Analysis" and "Abstract Algebra" took up so much of my time that I failed that class due to how crap my project was, and decided to take a hiatus from music to focus on math.

Thank you for your candor and openness. This vid is an invaluable resource. Many years ago, at the Henry Mancini Institute here in LA, composer Jack Elliott challenged its first cohort: "Do you want to make music? Or do you want a life in music?"

Nice. Appreciate the contrary motion in the outer voices too. That makes it stronger imo.

Hey Sam question here. Are you able to fluently read a score in your head and hear it in your mind ( be at an orchestral piece or a piano piece) I’ve always wondered how common this skill is among professional composers and how hard it is to achieve. All the best

Great video! Minor comment though: at 6:28, the top clarinet is not actually in unison with the viola since this is a transposing score, and the clarinets sound down a major second from what’s written.

The measure before B - would you consider the shared crescendo glue as well?

I was posed a question about "balance" when it comes to writing a concerto. One of my students is working on a viola concerto and requested that we analyze Hindemith's Viola Concerto "Der Schwanendreher" together with the idea of balance in mind. The reality is that there are actually two kinds of balances we have to contend with when writing a concerto. "Macrobalance" which deals with overall texture and "microbalance" which deals with how the instrumental families interact.

Thank you! 🙏 ❤

@saadhaddadmusic: Yes, it‘s me. I 0:25 always write with my real name on the Internet and on social media.

Thanks so much, i had understood you said, because had CC.

If it serves the richness of the acoustic result (what often is not the case;-), then there is no limit for divisi.

I love these real time animations...perfect for this particular Etude movement, in its slightly understated atmosphere...there are plenty of 'normal' guitar gestures, but the harmony always keeps you guessing what's next and at times, seems ominous...but I love that!!!

Thanks for sharing this session...I personally have a few takeaways from this one; the attention to medieval music/counterpoint-which I too, am guilty of ignoring-then the idea of just going up to a musician or small ensemble and saying "I would like to write something for you"-then hopefully swap contact info, and perhaps get a commission...and finally, the idea of finding that equilibrium of study and composing-I am also guilty of over studying certain composers and their works that I like...almost to the point of stalling when it comes to starting something new of my own...any suggestions of knowing when to make that break??? Because, we are in a field where there is never going to be a case of, "OK, I finally know everything about this craft/art"...I mean even Beethoven was studying Bach's B minor mass and Handel's Messiah when he died, these scores were on his desk...so you can be a BEETHOVEN in your field of work, and still feel that there is more to learn all the way up to your last breath!!!

This is such a great overview of your masterclass course! You are really doing a service here for composers of all levels Saad...thank you! I especially liked the way you broke through to the essence of a composer's idea-via that brain-and stripped away all the unnecessary baggage that can sometimes go along with over analyzing a piece...for example, in the Chopin excerpt, it is far more likely that he simply was using his ear to figure out a musical idea/problem by having the harmony gradually shift in descending motion below a static melody, rather than to look at it as, "oh he's going to the V of IV here in 2nd inversion, etc."...this is a much better way to view it imho...I also commend you for continuing to push for younger composers to ditch the screens in favor of pen and paper-it really does make a difference! One quick question to clarify though, in the Dufay example you pointed out the transposition of the tenor and bass voices, but in your Duetto, you don't mention if the Alto Sax is shown at concert pitch or if it's the normal major 6th above-which, if you follow the first 3 notes seems to make sense if it's a one instrument idea playing in unison, but where the two voices break apart, it is not so clear, given that the key signatures are the same and you go in to microtonal shadings plus overblown flute lines-but that's merely a detail my composers brain got hung up on...I can't wait to keep at these classes, as usual, keep up the good work, Saad!!!

Hope have sub so i translate to Vietnamese.

Hello, need some advice if possible. Is it possible to teach oneself using the Tonal Harmony book, and for that is the accompanying CD and Workbook necessary. In your opinion that is of course. I bought the book and only found out later that the CD is not easily available. Plus there were a lot of negative reviews for the book on forums. So I found another book called The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Piper Clendinning & Elizabeth West Marvin. It is also a college level book. Any views on that particular text. Any advice would be appreciated. Very helpful video btw, thanks.