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Hello there! A bit of back story... So, I've been really busy with music lately. Sure that's great, but it's been mostly learning a bunch of songs that aren't mine. I've started numerous projects in the past month or so, but put them on hold to be able to write shorter pieces while I'm unable to focus on larger works. I've decided to write a bunch of small piano preludes, one for each note as a tonal center. This first one is for A, and relies heavily on venturing into augmented scales and chords. I hope you enjoy this, I had a lot of fun so far with the intention of writing small and more accessible and easier piano pieces (some measures maybe not so much 😄 ) The whole goal of this new project of mine is to write music that's playable for anyone, not some monumental Liszt type of piece I hear too often. Yes, I play piano, but not as well as I hope to become. These set of 12 pieces coming in the future would be pieces I'd be able to play, and maybe there would be a few others out there that would enjoy them as well. I find it gratifying to rely on a simpler skill set, as the notes and ideas themselves would be my mark on the world rather than then plethora of notes I feel many seem to deem adequate for something to be "good". I recently yet again heard Mozart's Sonata No. 11 in A, and it's a piece that I've heard periodically throughout my life as the most simple yet most impactful music. Sometimes it's not how many notes you play, but how many right ones you play... something like that at least. That's what I'll generally be going for. Hope you enjoy, and ANY criticism, comments, and thoughts are always welcome 🙂 EDIT: I'm replacing the mp3 with Henry's performance. Can't thank you enough buddy!

Welp, the end has come. The season finale is here. Now I can write for guitar again. I used a lot of forms and styles for this set of pieces, and decided to write a love song type of thing to end it. This was inspired by Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" theme, as well as Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Lot's of lovey dovey pentatonics in this. Hope you enjoy, and thanks so much to those who have been following along with the progress! You guys are awesome, and when I make final edits, I'll be sure to take everyone's comments and advice into consideration.

Hey Peter, Haha please just ignore them! Yup I really want to have the piece flowing like how the heavenly morality transcend and flow, as I'm inspired by this philosophical theory. For me the quick tremolo accompaniment is influenced hy Brahms String Quintet no.2. Thx Peter! That's a hard earned compliment I think especially from you haha! Henry

@PeterthePapercomPoser, thank you for sharing! As I've said in an earlier post, I fixed the double stop B and G; I replaced it with a D and G instead. That's an observation I experienced, too: after I gave it a listen in A major, it just didn't sound as grandiose as I wanted it to be at first (that's why I chose the more pianistic Ab major, mainly because Chopin wrote a lot of 'heroic' pieces in said key (like the Heroic Polonaise, for one)). On the other hand, the key change gave the piece a much more homely sound that I've grown to like more than the Ab version. It reminded me of how people might dance in a village festival, so I've gone ahead and called it 'The Village Fete'. The initial name 'Grande Valse' stuck because I felt that the 'virtuosity' (?) of the piece would be better suited to being in a 'grand waltz' as opposed to being in just a regular waltz; besides, Grande Valse just sounds that little bit catchier than 'Waltz #1', don't you think? 😅 As for the name and the lack of tonal centre, I suppose you can blame my influences for that 😉: I listen to a lot of Ravel, and took inspiration from Chopin's waltzes (mainly his first two) for the structure of the piece. I'm not sure if either of those may objectively add or subtract from the piece, but personally I feel it sounds fine as is. I wanted to use a chromatic lead-in of sorts to cue in the next bar, but I can see why it might not work out too well after listening to just the piano part; there are also a lot of questionable harmonies here and there. I'm only around two-ish years into music composition, so I'll try and work things out further down the line once I get to it. That being said, I'm reasonably happy with leaving the piece as it is: I think it's a good stepping stone to see how my harmony writing has gradually gotten better (or at least more complex) ever since my first string quartet (which was super short and only had crotchet rhythm and nothing else). Compared to that, I think I've come very far in two years (not meaning to brag, obviously!); writing this piece with its imperfections will show future me how much I've grown and should be proud of my work as it is, and I think that'll do well for me!

Hi Henry! I didn't read the really detailed description of the form of the piece, as I find much joy in just listening to it without having to know everything that is happening formally or the keys that you visit on your way to the final destination. I find this piece to be like a breath of fresh air! For me, for some reason, I always associate this type of lively Chinese music as being full of air or wind. Even though this is not a piece for winds, the strings in this piece give this kind of really windy and busy impression to me. I think it's the combination of pentatonic melodies with the quick tremolo ostinato accompaniment that contributes to this. It reminds me of Shen Yun - a New York based Chinese dance company. Their commercials (I have yet to go and actually see their performance) are always full of music of high energy and excitement which your piece reminds me of. I like the whole piece - there isn't a weak spot or least favorite spot for me. I like the contrasts that you introduce with the pizzicato strings and counterpoint. Thanks for sharing!

Hi @Samuel_vangogh, Yeah I think this is a good arrangement of Chopin's prelude for String Orchestra. Will adding some tremolos to the strings make it more intense? Yup Adler's book is a must!! I've yet to read it though. I think I really should buy it. Thanks for sharing! Henry

Hello Henry!!! There isn't much to be said, since most of what I thought about was already mentioned by other composers. They provided detailed feedback, so I'll just share my thoughts real quick 😄. I listened to both versions, the first one and the final product. I loved the A major one, even though I am a E flat and A flat lover hahaha. A grandiose waltz or any grandiose piece, in my opinion, should be done in the key of open strings. This will give much more power to the violin's sound and projection. First, the introduction is very, very well done. The grandiose feeling is perfectly portrayed. Main themes do not need to be extremely complex. It is a waltz, and the simplicity, yet beautiful melody, makes it a perfect main theme. The first version had the violin playing a ton of chords. The violin is primarily a melodic instrument, and should primarily play a single line most of the time. I recommend using chords sparingly and focusing on the violin's melodic capabilities. In the new version, this was fixed pretty nicely, which made me very happy. Make sure to repeat sections, like previously mentioned by others. Not only does it give structure to the piece, but satisfaction to the listener as well, specially in a waltz where many, many sections have repeats. These sections are usually simple in structure, so the listener enjoys both the first and second, possibly even third repeat. About the difficulty and playability. Some specific passages in the piano part are difficult to play due to their fast tempo or close spacing of notes. Consider the playability of certain sections and make adjustments if necessary. Overall, a very, very nice piece. The introduction and the main theme got me engaged in no time, since its what I expect from a waltz, specially a "Grande Valse". Excellent job! 😄

Yet another improv, i worry im boring people with these! I'll stop doing it soon, I.promise! I've started writing down my compositions/improvs again. I have a couple of minuets I'll upload soon, I just get so distracted when I sit at the piano. I've composed, via improv, a piano sonata in C major, I was thinking of the third movement when I improvised this. It reminds me of Haydn, I want the third movement to be light hearted and playful because the second movement I composed is in c minor and I use every trick up my sleeve to pull on the heart strings. I wish I recorded myself playing it, I worry my memory of it could get corrupted because it has more complex counterpoint. The first movement is like a piano concerto and is full of flashy runs in both hands. It has a Mozartian air and I use some of his signature moves but it has enough of me in it so it's not a cringey pastiche. Well I hope not! The improv here is a 'first run' so it's full of hesitation and mistakes but it made me smile when I listened back to it so I thought I'd upload it, I've been quiet for a few days so why not. Cuckoo!

For the past 18 months I've not been active much musically. I'm back now and bursting with ideas. This piece began as a minuet but ended up an improvised fantasy. I composed the minuet ages ago and recently had access to my piano so I hit record and played it. I was playing from memory and had dumb fingers where Ive been away from the piano for so long and I forgot how to play. So it begins hesitantly and annoyingly I forgot how to play the coda of the minuet so began improvising from that point onward. I transitioned to the trio but it sounded nothing like a trio as I improvised but I liked the ideas I was coming up with and carried on. By the time the minuet returns at the end I found my confidence again. Cant believe I earned the 12 year badge, has it really been that long?! Are there many others still here who joined back then?