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@Henry Ng Tsz Kiu Thank you very much man, I haven't gotten such compliments in a long time wow. 😮 I agree, the tritone leap at the local climax from the start sounds like it comes from a Mahler piece, it has the same type of expressive nature (this choice was intentional). The harmonic exploration I did at the start is something I want to study in detail for future compositions, it feels atonal but grounded in tonal harmonic structures. Thank you! For me the central climax feels like watching a movie scene where a man has lost everything in war, or something similar. The Christ comparison is too much in my opinion haha, but I do try to transform my personal suffering into something people can enjoy. 🙂 @Luis Hernández Thank you! Yes, I used a similar idea, this is achieved by delaying the C# minor resolution for the very last chord of the composition. All the time I avoid a pure C# minor chord like in measures 2, 13 and 20. @Thatguy v2.0 Thank you! I wasn't expecting to express so much in less than two minutes, I guess my body was craving expressing itself after months of creative silence. @PeterthePapercomPoser Thanks. 🙂 Yes, I made some little experiments in this piece and the results seem interesting. I do hope this helps me get the courage to compose a small symphonic poem in the near future.

Hi @Gwendolyn Przyjazna! I love the modal colors of this piece! I would have made a few different harmonic choices myself though. My ear just yearns for a C# major chord instead of the C# minor you have in measure 5 but I don't know how well it would loop back around if you made that change. But if it doesn't loop well with the major chord in bar 5 you could just write out the second repeat of the material with the minor version and there'd be some unexpected variety. I also really like the mood of the piece - it's melancholic and hopeful at the same time, perhaps contemplative of both good and bad memories. I think the rhythms of the right hand in measure 13 - 15 are as clear as they should be. Since you're using a variety of different durations for the 2nd voice of the right hand it makes sense that you'd display the half note in bar 13 as such since you use a quadruplet dotted quarter note in measure 14 followed by a quadruplet 8th note. And a regular quarter in bar 15. Thanks for sharing this reflective piece! It really is a shame you don't post more often but I remember that when I was in school I didn't compose very much either unless it was for an assignment because I just didn't have the time or mental/emotional resources for creative pursuits.

Lately, I've had a brutal case of writer's block. I've had all sorts of ideas floating around, but nothing seems to coalesce. Just fragments. This piece is, essentially, my attempt to break out of my frustrating lack of inspiration. I've never written an "impromptu" before. I didn't go into it knowing what I was writing. It just sort of ... emerged this way. https://app.box.com/s/ohe4i9u2jw7cqw4xyi7pak7plsnucgvs (Impromptu in G Minor -- WAV File) https://app.box.com/s/pc8l32bqrc7kjh428f2cugyg4refcnck (Impromptu in G Minor -- PDF File)

Dang how did I miss this one I know every midi rendition of a piano piece could be enhanced with a live performance, but this especially could. I found myself wanting to hear so much rubato, it would definitely give this piece added life. I forget, do you play? I hear a lot of pain and despair in this, broken up by little rays of sun here and there. I think when you have writer's block, something improvisational is a good move to get out of it, where you kind of forego form and just write. I like the story-arch of this, because it was hard to "expect" anything, and I was just forced to listen. Bar 72 was probably my favorite moment, the high register was a lovely touch in color to your theme. Reminded me of some of Liszt's stuff. 106-108 was really cool too. But I think my favorite thing overall was the fact that nothing really felt forced. If you wanted to be simple, you were. If you wanted to added dynamic depth, you did. Nothing felt like you were trying to break boundaries, you just wrote good music. I took a lesson from a jazz piano player one time, and he asked me how I play my C chord. Not how to play C, but how to play MY C chord. Did I like to add a 6th, or omit the 5th, or whatever. I didn't care for that, because sometimes a plain old C chord is just fine as it is, it just depends on what you're going for. The language in your music is simple yet elegant, and it sounds like you're a wise and mature composer from it. I like Henry's suggestion of small pieces, they are helpful when in a rut. The act of starting something but COMPLETING it too can't be understated for your compositional well-being, and might be an avenue worth pursuing in the future when stuck in your musical ways. Great music as always, it's good to hear something from you again. Excited for more!

@PeterthePapercomPoser help me with that!! 🥶 You know how bad my notation was and is right!

Thank you so much, Henry! 🙂 I trust your judgement on the notation. I will be making my final draft in a week and will post it here.

https://app.milanote.com/1TII471vkUth6Z?p=DtciXzL9BNN I wasn't able to upload my mp3 or ss so I've added an invitation link into the post. (Let me know if it doesn't work) I'm currently in Year 11, studying a Year 12 subject, AIF. One of the criteria for this assignment is collecting external feedback from experts (Expert just means someone who has experience in the chosen area). I would appreciate anyone giving me some feedback, and helping to guide me potentially.

Hi Pabio @Fugax Contrapunctus! That’s the scariest type of fugue: a gigue one! I’m always afraid to play them myself lol! The syncopation of the subject and the answer entering in 2.5 bars later sound funny! The use of the BACH motive ofc is a good tribute to him. The modulation to tritone C sharp minor is lovely too! B. 62-63 would be unplayable for most pianists with 10ths, even though I can play them. The addition of a 4th voice at the end ofc intensified the music. Happy birthday to Bach and thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Gwendolyn Przyjazna! Long time no see! I like this! I love the harmonies in the 1st section, and the contrasting texture between the two sections. First section is darker, more dissonant and heavier in texture, middle section lighter, consonant and thinner texture. Ending on an augmented chord sounds nice too! I love the polyrhythm in b.13 to 17 as well. For me in b.13 you can just write the lower part of RH with a dotted crotchet. Thx for sharing! Henry

This is Super-Ultra-Hyper-Mega-Meta LoL

Hey @Ivan1791! Wonderful writing! The harmonies are quite neo-romantic and reflect well in the bleak but yet contemplative soundscape that is perfect for the string orchestra. Great job and I am hoping that these short pieces of yours are but warm-ups for longer and more developed works! Thanks for sharing.

Very beautiful Ivan, this has so much emotional depth wrapped up in it for such a short piece. Well done!

Quite an emotional piece. Despite its brevity it sounds “progressive”, a bit in the Wagnerian idea of pulling forward all the time.

Hey Ivan! @Ivan1791 I really really really enjoy this. I love how you travel to different keys and harmonies before confriming the tonic of my fav. C sharp minor. The first chord, even it’s a C sharp minor chord with a D#, doesn’t feel like a tonic at all, and it moves further and further away with beautiful harmonic progression: a beautiful G minor seventh in b.2, D major plus minor seventh in b.3, augmented seventh in b.4, then a half/full diminished C# chord in b.5 in a local climax. After that C sharp minor starts becoming more and more apparent. The voice leading is so smooth, and when it gets unsmooth as in b.5 a tritone it’s so goddamn expressive like the Mahler 10th. If before b.10 the sadness is somewhat prevented by dissonant chords, after b.10 it’s profoundly expressed in the most direct, beautiful and tragic way. You’re so talented to write this out that I somewhat hope you can be less talented so you would be less painful, because for me I hear tremendous pain in it. I wanna congrats on the musical genius in the piece but I wanna cry with you instead Ivan. You act like Christ who crucified himself in order to bless us with this beautiful music. Thank you Ivan. Henry

Yeah I once thought in this way, but thx to our baby Vince @Thatguy v2.0 (esp. with his preludes) I threw away this misconception and start to know that a shorter and simpler piece doesn’t mean it’s a worse piece! For my own personal experience, after I completed the Piano Sonata I felt all my negative thoughts were expressed through the Sonata, so I could leave all those positive thoughts to my Sextet, and finished it ferociously and feverishly! (Tho I’m sorta suffering some relapse now lol) Henry

A great piece. At first it sounded more like an oncturnoe, but the fact that the left hand pattern repeats all the time (except occasionally), eventually turns it into an ostinato or something similar. It does seem to me that the piece is long enough to rest in that ostinato for so long. Although it works very well, except perhaps in more “intense” parts from measure 32 to 41.