I love when my music gets reviews like this, because I definitely need it. Of course, it's really great to hear people say "Sean Brown has yet again created a fun and well-written brass work with a distinct character." That's a home run for me. And the criticism helps, too. I love to write original music and want to be good at it, but I know that I'm not perfect. I personally thought that the section in the horn part the reviewer question was fine, as it was a fun and challenging part to play when I wrote and premiered the piece. But alas, perhaps if it was an octave higher that would change create an interesting sound and balance things a little better.
And the notational errors...arg. I try so hard to make my music devoid of any notational errors, but I never seem to get them all. It's definitely not a genuine Sean Brown edition if it didn't have some errors to it. That's the problem with self publishing...you seem to always have errors. One thing that annoys me is that Finale (the notational software I use) doesn't allow for the use of courtesy accidentals. That's something that I used to complain about a lot as a performer. I've considered starting to use Sibelius for all of my composition, but that just means I have to take the time to learn how to use it...and I don't really have that time.
So why don't I send my music out to publishers? I've tried. Oh, I've tried and tried and tried. I spent a period of time several years ago contacting as many band music publishers as possible and sent out my works. The had good comments about my pieces, but they just didn't think them good enough. It was really disheartening. Since then, I have kind of steered clear of writing for band. I should get back to it soon, and try to better myself in that department. The band teachers here in Oak Harbor are good friends of mine, and I'm sure that they'd be willing to read my music if it was good.
Take care and value music.