Wilted Rose

Heeey. This is my first time posting in this section (I already had a few "major pieces", but never got around to putting them up until now). Hope my piece is good enough or whatever. ^_^

Okay. This piece is called "Wilted Rose".

1. Techniques used: I came up with the beginning bass line first and the theme came to me naturally after that (which you hear after the introductory four bars). From then on, I thought of adding a contrasting period and then varying the theme a bit, by putting it against a different harmony (2:53 to 3:31), and putting it in a higher pitch, against the flowing 8th note triplets (which is basically "Section B" of the whole piece). End of Section B (end of flowing 8th note triplets and and intro to loudness and madness of "Section C") makes a escalating, dramatic transition into Section C, increasing in volume and tempo. I change keys about 2/3 into it, then again when it slows down at the end. Other than this, I don't really know how to elaborate on techniques used. = \ I imagined the piece being the musical interpretation of a......rose wilting. =P I imagined that the beginning of the piece began with you seeing the rose at the base and, as the piece went on, the view went higher and higher (or, rather, farther and farther) until, eventually, you see the whole thing. So, I guess Section A is "moping over death of rose", Section B is "reminiscing over life of rose", Section C is "angry over death of rose", and Section D is "accepting death of rose".

2. How long it took to compose the piece: About a week. Maybe a few days more than a week. I made this piece about a year ago.

3. Structure of your piece: Four sections, like I described in "Techniques used". I guess you can call it a sonata, or sonata-like. It's basically A-A'-B-A''.

4. Obstacles when composing: Halfway into Section C, I was intending on switching to F Minor and making a new melody and going off in a different direction. With this, I intended the piece to be a lot longer than it ended up being. But, I was worried about stretching the piece too thin with so much music. (This was about the second or third piece I ever completed: I didn't wanna try writing some 20 minute Beethoven Sonata.) So, I had to decide between trying to go the distance or cutting it down. I decided to cut it down and went to G Minor instead, just varying off the first half of Section C. This was the only obstacle, really.

5. Summary of overall piece: It's pretty sad and depressing. Most of my lengthier, major pieces, like this, are sad. (Most of my happy ones are short. =P) But, just imagine any tragic/sad event and imagine this piece being the soundtrack of it. Remembering it (Section A; A), being depressed about it (Section B; A'), being angry about it (Section C; B), and letting it go/accepting it (Section D; A'').

Enjoy. ^_^

227___Wilted_Rose.mid

This may be eight minutes long, but it probably belongs in the Piano Works section. In any case, here goes...

You've got a great theme that easily stands out, and it's seen enough to be well established. But was there a secondary theme? Apart from the occasional extraneous melody material, it seemed like you just repeated the main melody over and over. Of course, the form seems to be theme and variation, which means that's acceptable. It did seem stretched a little thin at times, though. Just a little, not much.

The simple harmonies and left hand figure worked very well, and I liked it when you hit the high register. If you want to add variety to any section that seems to you a little bland and repetitive, you might try switching the melody to the left hand.

Good work! I quite liked it, you certainly know what you're doing in terms of tension and release.

I really don't have anymore constructive criticism to add but a comment:

Sigh.... This piece is nice at expressing contrasting emotions. This actally sound like a piece that I could play. Do you happen to have a finale file, or PDF that I may read? I could sense emotion that the MIDI couldnot really bring out. May I play it?

If Apollo doesn't, I can format the MIDI file quickly in Finale 2006 for you and you can print it out with Notepad if you don't have the full version. Send me a PM if he doesn't reply in a while.

I think you have a very interesting piece here. It is definitely moody and you maintain that mood well. The only problem I think is that the middle section is too long. I lost interest in the piece after a couple minutes, and did not regain it until around measure 148 when your last variation kicked in. Now that was some good music!

I imagine this being played in a salon setting or on one of those nature mood CDs.

My only recommendation is to trim down some of the repetitive middle section.