Frank Normandy

Hello everyone, Times have gotten... bumpy these past few weeks, which gave me inspiration to create this reflective piece for solo piano. It depicts an image of a person shedding tears of emotional pain, whether because of unrequited love, loneliness, helplessness, overwhelming hardships, etc. Musically, I was somewhat influenced by Chopin (of course), David Orr's Nocturne, other YouTube composers writing in a similar style, among others. Some addenda: For now, I decided to post my more recent compositions mostly on here, while I'm trying to figure out how to make better visuals for my YouTube channel's original composition videos. If any of you have suggestions for creating visuals, do tell me! I really appreciate it. So reflect on yourself to this music! And like always, feedback is welcome! ~Frank

Hello @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu, The modulation felt natural to me when I was improvising this piece, so I included it, and glad you love it:) Also, to be honest, I intentionally made the left hand part like that for most of the piece to complement the recurring dotted half note-quarter note pattern in the right hand, and to try to make the tune more memorable. Thank you so much!(: ~Frank

Hello everyone, I've been working quietly behind the scenes away from Young Composers for the past couple of weeks, working on my compositions and even having occasional practice sessions on my violin and piano. One day, I improvised on my piano and recorded it. I played back the video to myself and found the result so touching that I decided to create a complete composition of it on my Finale software. I'm really happy with this work and dream it will be the next "Song from a Secret Garden," both pieces having origins as solo piano pieces and eventually becoming full-blown orchestral works (in my case, "will" become). Yeah, that's a bit too ambitious, but a guy could always dream, right?! 😄 Your feedback is welcome!(: ~Frank

Hello everyone, I wrote a Christmas piece for violin and piano with a pop-style song structure (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, coda), although there are no lyrics (really bad with writing lyrics, sorry!!^^). This is one of my first times writing music in pop form. Enjoy!!(: https://youtu.be/dG44w4HV6n0?si=9KvIDHHG8VUufK0M ~Frank P.S. My original post of this piece in the ‘24 Christmas music event: https://www.youngcomposers.com/t46593/christmas-music-event-2024/

Ahh, thanks:) Maybe I will post it separately. ~Frank

Hello everyone, I wrote a Christmas piece for violin and piano with a pop-style song structure (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, coda), although there are no lyrics (really bad with writing lyrics, sorry!!^^). This is one of my first times writing music in pop form. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!!🎄 https://youtu.be/dG44w4HV6n0?si=9KvIDHHG8VUufK0M ~Frank

Hello @PeterthePapercomPoser! Glad to hear from you again!(: At the time I composed these 3 pieces, I haven’t heard of Irish or Celtic music yet. The only influence I got was from my middle school music teacher, who often got us to play tunes from the book Fiddlers’ Philharmonic and its sequel Fiddlers’ Philharmonic Encore. They were really cherished moments from my youth. As for a performance with live orchestra, my former violin teacher is a member of a local community orchestra, so maybe I can contact him for a slight chance of that opportunity. Thank you! Your feedback really motivates me to continue pursuing music. Wish you a great Thanksgiving evening!(: ~Frank

Hello everyone, I wanted to celebrate this year's Thanksgiving holiday a bit by making a quick (and admittedly imperfect) violin cover of my 3 early fiddling compositions, woven together as a fun little suite. Feel free to share your thoughts on this; your feedback is always welcome! And lastly!, enjoy today with your family and friends and loved ones, and show your thanks and gratitudes for all the things that made your year! I know I have mine(: https://youtu.be/7JzSdoikcPs ~Frank

Hello everyone, It sure has been a relatively long time since I visited this forum. Things on my end have been stressful lately. I’m also not sure if this is the right section to post this either, but I believe this is the closest I can get to actually “receiving” advice, namely about relearning the violin after a long break. So over the past few days, I watched some videos on YouTube, and came across some really moving material on violin practice and performance. It gave me an epiphany and some motivation to resume my violin journey, to be at least as skilled as I was back in my middle and high school days. https://youtu.be/OqkKJXZOuHo The main reason that I’m posting this here in the first place is because I feel I won’t get prompt, helpful feedback and advice directly on YouTube (you know what the community is mostly like there🙄). And since the community here is, in my opinion and experience, very responsive and thoughtful, I feel I will take a gander and open up here. I hope you have constructive feedback to give me regarding how to become proficient on the violin again after a long time without touching it, based on what you watched and listened, and hope you don’t cringe at the potentially obvious mistakes I played!😆 ~Frank

Glad to hear you’re already trying out Dorico. Do you mind sharing with us the Steinberg account creation process when accessing the free trial? I checked their website, and at the initial signup page, they asked for my email, password, and country, but I believe after that part, they’ll ask for more personal information like full name, address, phone number, birthday, etc.

I’m absolutely saddened to hear this!!! T_T Finale has always been my fond childhood, since the days of using Finale Notepad 2003 from my Essential Elements DVD as a kid. I have a long history with this software. It has always been my reliable go-to tool for composing music, and the built-in Garritan sounds were really breathtaking the very first moment I heard them (great for hearing my music played back without actual musicians). I know there are far better sample libraries in the music industry than Garritan, but they were revolutionary to my naïve ears. As nostalgic and heartfelt this special music notation software has a place in our hearts, we live in an ever-changing world, so it’s sadly expected that Finale will meet its end in musical heaven. I’m debating whether I should continue using my Finale 2012 (worried about security risks), try Dorico Pro 5 free for 60 days, consider buying Dorico or not (while the discount is still available), or stick with a free option like MuseScore Studio 4. If any of you have some advice, do share it! Who knows we’d all benefit from it in the near future. R.I.P. Finale, you deserve the greatest T_T

The “Salamander” in the title refers to the Salamander Grand Piano SFZ file I used for the piano sound in my audio. Yeah, it’s a bit of an awkward move, but that’s how I organize my composition audio collection in my devices. ~Frank

Hello everyone, So by now, you know I love to compose dance music(: This piece is no exception. Yeah, it leans on the simpler side of compositions, and it’s rather short too, but I aimed to focus on melody and emotion this time around. I actually composed this before my Roses piece, but to be honest, I feel more satisfied with this dance than Roses due to the focus on expression. Ok, I’ve nipped your eyes with my description for long enough, so let’s get listening!:D Dance of Desire ~Frank

Ok, I just uploaded the 2nd draft of my composition with the newly modified harp section near the end. Now it plays triplet harmonies instead of the weird glissando runs. Thanks @PeterthePapercomPoser for pointing out my mistake! ~Frank

Hello everyone, I’ve been going through some tough times lately, but recently I overcame some of them, which gave me inspiration to compose a rough draft of this piece for “semi-orchestra” (my personal term for a full/symphony orchestra with some instruments excluded). I’m also happy that this is my first upload on this forum using Muse Sounds (tried it with a few of my other compositions, works really swell!). However, their snare drum sound doesn’t seem to work, so I substituted it with my Garritan version instead. Updates to this piece might come, so stay tuned, plus enjoy!(: ~Frank