Leaderboard

I thought the same thing. It would be a crap shoot. But if it means getting it performed, then it's worth it. You mentioned taking piano lessons. That would eat up your time, but it would be great. When I was living in New York I approached the Julliard School about studying there. But they wouldn't even take one of my credits. When I asked why she said "We want you to learn the 'Julliard Way.' I'm thinking to myself: Theory is theory. What is this Julliard way? What she is really saying is, "We'd like to extract as much cash from you as possible for as long as possible." So, you're right. Sometimes it's better to declare yourself a practitioner of music and just forge ahead.

Well, this is really nice, all around. About the piano part. It's not particularly idiomatic, is it? I mean mostly it's metronomic, sort of like the dishwasher in the ensemble. Maybe you could give this accompaniment a little more thought in terms of varying the repeated notes into lines with simple leading tones on the weak beats? If you were to orchestrate this, I could hear a slower tempo with a small string ensemble playing sostenuto chords. As timekeepers they would have more expression than a piano, and it would seem appropriate. But I really like the basic chord progression throughout. Maybe you could explain why you chose to leave in the one or two notes that might cause your audience to scratch their heads. Is it really worth it?

The parts are all appropriate to their instruments, I don't think as a player I'd have any complaints. Separate from the video I think it's not bad, although I could use more sense of direction within the piece. Since it's accompanying the film, I think it should tie a little more to the excitement of the scene. It felt too relaxed, not urgent enough. Think driving rhythms (hee hee, look a pun!) and more crash cymbals (oh look, another pun!!) or something to accentuate the intensity of the scene! Good work, keep going. Gustav

Great classical duet! I liked the motivic imitation in allegro. I think the shape of the andante is really good, and to be honest I liked it more than the allegro. Also posting a score is a good idea, because it makes reviewing much easier

Wow that was actually a very good nocturne. Nice ornamentation, ostinato parts and tempo alterations where they should be. It conveys the nocturnal feeling preety accurately, nice one.

Very interesting idea on the main theme. It feels like the ost of some kind of anime. I also like how you go from harmonic chords to melodic arpeggios and then enrich the piece with more notes of the chord played. I would, too, prefer a more complex harmony while the piece develops and i also feel you could use a little the harmonic scale of the aeolian mode you're on, in combination with the natural minor and the melodic minor you have there. I loved the use of the VI after the melodic minor scale melody at 2.56 on the first vid..!

Yes, there are some nice changes in here. In general I find that if things are disjointed I've either gotten ahead of myself or introduced new ideas without first developing the previous one. In short, too many ideas. Also, when you start and stop that sounds disjointed. You might try forcing yourself to use an ostinato or a line that does not stop, as an exercise that may help you think more "continuous." Good luck to you! 24 keys is a big deal, especially if you're having trouble in C. You may have trouble in the others because you're not the kind of composer that likes to be in only one key? Nothing wrong with that, but you may have to rethink your paradigm.

Good luck with this project!! This first piece is interesting, I like the harmonic changes in some places.

It is a nice piece. It has moments of beauty, and the whole things casts a strong emotional shadow. I like your melodies, but I feel your harmonies could be more complex. Overall, it's well composed.

I'd be tempted to respell the A sharps as B flats, especially when they're in the same measure as an A natural. Measure 7 threw me for a loop, the beat felt displaced. I kind of liked it, though! Gustav

I am a flat-out romantic

Thanks, I understand, I like to look for new harmonies. By the way, I bought the new CD with orchestral arrangements by Richard Carpenters himself. I love the Carpenters!!

It is really exciting!

Thanx Emanuel - those are wind chimes. Yes they could be more subtle. I'll try to tweak it down in a remix in a day or two. There are a few spots, where some volume adjustments on individual instruments would benefit.

Beautiful. This music is warm, perhaps dark as ou said, but peaceful.

Nice work.. Melody line sounds a bit loud (and a bit mushy) towards the end. Although I understand the Blues is not about 'clean' sounds. Like the bass part. A technique I've been employing for a while now is that as the song matures, and arrangement, becomes complex. I sometimes 're-voice' an instrument or part'. A slightly drier, darker snare, will let the listener pay attention more to the desired instrument. I might find another patch for the bass to stand out more, or make it more muted, or even switch sounds for different sections. I tend to think of a song, as a 'guided walk thru the musical landscape'.. So when the lead guitar does a solo. the other instruments, might get a bit softer, of with a few less notes. This way you subtly guide the listener what to pay attention to. So in the piece the different instruments ebb and flow in the complexity and tone of the instruments. Once in a while, you might want 2 or more instruments playing more 'frenzied' for an effect.

Hi, I never see any heart icon at the bottom right of topics and replies that would allow me to vote for one's reputation. The only case when it appears is that somebody has already voted, but then I have no possible voting action myself on it. Any idea on this issue ? I sign in with Facebook, for information. Would be glad to be able to thank reviewers as well as congratulate fellow composers when I feel like it 🙂 Thanks, Marc

I'd do the same if able 😂 Thanks, you just made my reputation rise a good 30% 🤣

Impressively dynamic. Couple things: A got a little tired of the rhythmic figure of the piano in the beginning. The harmonies were cool (especially the first modulation), but even a couple bars more of variation would have helped. The use of the more Eastern scale was a little bit jarring to me upon first listen. I don't know why, but the effect it had was more instant, than transformative. Overall, nice work, especially the beginning and the end.

Maybe tone the percussion a little bit, especially the snare drum. Because the bass line is constant (and you already did some of this), I would make some more internal chord changes stemming from the mid-range notes (i.e. creating a G6/A chord using the float-synth, over bass).

It's pretty good. I take a little bit of issue with the ending if not just for the bit of anti-climax I experienced. It goes a lot of places tonally, but not necessarily harmonically, except for modulation, which I think you could have had a little more fun with– the cross relation in the beginning got me excited. Either way, nice work.

I did this "piece per day" thing for about 250 days a couple years ago. Extraordinarily difficult, so props to you. I'm going to briefly discuss 5, and the differences between interpretations of runs. When you arpeggiate, specifically the diminished one around the piece, it will be analyzed as only a couple notes actually mattering to the melody line. This is particularly true because the diminished 7th chord is precisely the number of 16th notes in a quarter note, so it just sounds like a duplication. Thus, the piece kind of just stops in time for a bar or two. The opening run is a bit more effective in keeping its melodic momentum because of smaller, less consistent intervals. This is neither saying it's good nor bad; it's just a matter of auditory interpretation.

Made a challenge of composing a piece per day a while ago. Unfortunately most sounded a bit crap. These are ones I think have ideas that might be worth doing more on. Do any of them have ideas that could be used? Also, which ones should just be forgotten about? If you do have a listen, thanks for taking the time.

Thisis "trepidante" (fast-paced) and coherent about the orchestration. Very nice.

Hi, nice fussion blues and whatever you use here. I love your conception of sounds...

I really enjoyed this piece. Nice work.

P.S. Yes, this would be a totally doable piece for many church choirs, in which case an organ is generally available. It's really common to have a general "keyboard" part and make the decision Sunday morning whether to use piano or organ based on the style of the piece, balance issues because of the number of singers who actually show up that morning, or even things as mundane as the organist needing to immediately launch into the Doxology at the end of the piece and having no time to walk from one instrument to the other. That means the organist is looking at a piano part and making their own editorial decisions about stops to use and where to put a bass line in the organ pedals, or the reverse, they are looking at an organ part, ignoring the stop settings and deciding how to add piano pedaling. Also lots of last minute changes to help the choir get their notes or to support the balance if, say, only one bass shows up to sing. Being a church organist is a specialized calling.

Thanks! That's helpful! I really don't play, so I really do need specifics like those. Much appreciated! At some point I'll find the time and money for a piano teacher, but at the moment I've got too many other irons on the fire so I'm delighted to have people on this site I can lean on for advice.

By idiomatic I mean using more of the piano's capabilities, like pedaling. Or by using open chords instead of block triads. Or just letting the notes sustain. I realize there is no expression in these types of renderings so I can use my imagination and hear someone who can breathe life into the part. But still, there are things you can do regardless, like playing a bass note, holding it with the pedal and playing less repetitive lines in the right hand. Then you don't have to keep re- striking the note, unless of course you really want to. Basically the part just needs more variety. Open chords are not strictly idiomatic to the piano, as you know. I would use them for strings or brass or anything else.You might also put more melodic material in where the piano is solo. If you do nothing else, just opening up the chords would make a big difference, and your pianist will thank you. I would think it would blend in better with the choir too. Btw, how often are organs available? This would sound nice with an organ.

Nice thoughts on it, @punintentional. One small nitpick. Sometimes your suspensions fall on weak beats, which used to be straight up wrong in the Renaissance era, but now, while it is fine, still carries some weird tonal qualities when prolonging the dominant or the tonic (i.e. 73).

For the most part, I thought it was a good composition. They were a few small moments where I thought the harmony felt a bit off. For example, in bar 44 the C# sounded like a wrong note; C# against D is a very strong dissonance - especially when compared to the harmony in the rest of the piece. I also think it would be nice to vary the crochet rhythm in the accompaniment as after a while I think it gets a little tiring. Even just changing it to minim, crochet, crochet like you have in bar 61.

Hi @edfgi234 wonderful melodies, Relaxing & melodic backround! Yes i think backround musics for short movie/clip or any other movie 🙂 Continue you good work!

SSC -- Thanks! Yes, writing the music seems to be the main thing I need practice with, so that seems like a good way to try. I do have a piano at home...so I can play chords on that. Do you write songs as well? pateceramics -- That's true....and I will try! Thanks for your input 🙂

I will revise this piece later so I will probably add this in. I thought so! 😃 Hopefully I can get it played by a good professional orchestra! I will post the second movement in the future. I will keep it on this thread.

I would exactly call this a rondo (strikes me as a type of variation with a consistent harmonic progression repeating, like a passacaglia sort-of); though one thing I love doing with my works is printing them out and annotating it, marking important figures and motifs, the structure, the major sections, etc. Give that a try! The piece is very calm and absolutely has an intuitive, improvisational quality; you build nice drama, though I could see some areas where you could go even further, perhaps by changing register or reducing the texture or something like that. Good job!