First Presentation

OK, first off, let me say how wonderful the idea of this board is. I love composing (even though I'm not very good at it). When I do write, it's ussualy for piano or string quartet, and they always tend to have a very hypnotic Phillip Glass-like sound that moves with minimalism. I think it will be apparent in this first piece. I hope you enjoy.

I am always looking for critiques, so any comments would be enjoyed, negative or positive.

UPDATE

So, I posted another .. It's a "simple" challenge that a friend asked me for for summer work. She's crazy, but you'll be able to tell from the music :happy:

Ciao, Jojodi

arpeggio.sib

challenge.sib

arpeggio.mid

Challenge.mid

Wonderful! A new face on the board and a new opportunity to hear new music.

I really like your piece. It most definitely pays tribute to Chopin while not ignoring a whole century (or more!) worth of music that has happened between then and now. Your harmonic progression is beautiful and the writing is idiomatic, albeit difficult. But after all, it is an etude.

There are two tiny, tiny things that I might pick at, and they both have to do with the right-hand running lines. The first is when you have the hand play two notes at once. The first instance happens at the end of bar 2. Aside from making playing it fiendishly difficult, it seems to disrupt the flow of the piece. Maybe I'm missing something from it, but I just can't see such a thing being pulled off with much elegance by a live pianist. Secondly, I heard one instance where the right hand had repeated notes. This was from beat 3 to beat 4 of bar 29. It's the same issue, methinks - it makes it much more difficult and much less flowing. Might you consider a different note there, and anywhere else that occurs that I might have missed?

This is a wonderful short piece. :happy: Good job!

Thank you much for the praise! The repeated notes are designed to influence the flow of the hand (it is an etude for hand shifting afterall :happy:) and the repeated notes that you speak of. The entire measure of 29 goes 5321-2124-3135-45 .. etc. anyways. I seriously wouldn't actually go by my fingerings though lol, but like I said, I haven't been taught the true technique, but I assure you it's possible, I've done it at this tempo.

Thank you so much for the positive input !

I liked it too - it reminded me of composers as diverse as Debussy and Einaudi.

Keep them coming!

I loved the harmonic progressions and the general mood of the piece - so relaxing and serene. There seems to be one thing that's lacking - melody! There isn't a real singing melody that could be so easily incorporated into the left hand.

I agree with Piano, there's no melody, and your left hand is sitting around doing jack. I love the beginning chord of your little motif, the C-F#-A thing, it's very colorful.

I think that's the best word to use when describing this piece--colorful. No?

Melody could improve, but overall it's a nice sounding piece, although I'm sure very difficult to play. :happy:

There isn't a real singing melody that could be so easily incorporated into the left hand.

Does there need to be? The piece is an arpeggio etude, not an etude that worries about bringing out a melody in the left hand. I'll go back to Chopin - the only melody to speak of in Op 10 No 1 is actually the bassline. A "singing melody" is not necessary by any means, especially in a fast etude for piano!

And now I am about to contradict myself. :)

The left hand is too monotonous in Challenge #1. I'm speaking of its rhythm. While the right hand is off doing crazy gymnastics the poor left hand just sits there and chills on half notes most of the time. The times at which the LH does something different are really great, because they break that monotony. If you're still into editing this piece, I would suggest getting something more exciting going on during those dry left-hand spells.

And it doesn't necessarily need to be a singing melody. :happy:

haha im sorry, that smiley was so appropriate :happy:

Does there need to be? The piece is an arpeggio etude, not an etude that worries about bringing out a melody in the left hand. I'll go back to Chopin - the only melody to speak of in Op 10 No 1 is actually the bassline. A "singing melody" is not necessary by any means, especially in a fast etude for piano![/b]

Of course there needs to be! It becomes tiresome after listening to just arpeggios without a melodic sense, and it becomes very easy to dismiss the piece as just being flashy arps. I found Chopin's 10-01 very repetitive, but found his 10-08 much better as 08 has a melody, even though both are arpeggio etudes.

It becomes tiresome after listening to just arpeggios without a melodic sense, and it becomes very easy to dismiss the piece as just being flashy arps.

I guess, then, that the arpeggios have to be well-written. You know of the black-key etude. There are moments when it does have a singing melody in the left hand but most of the time the attention is on the right hand with its crazy black-key gymnastics.

I really liked those. And pleased to meet you.

All my comments (at any time) are from a purely intuitive standpoint (I know almost nothing about harmony/theory/whatever), but anyway...I think I'd rather 'Arpeggio' end at the chord around 1:12 (Finale not working, darn it) than where it does. I understand why you'd want to slow it down, though. And I have this little penchant for fast music, too, so it's probably more my problem than yours.

'Challenge' is nifty too. Does Rob D get any credit for the opening? * grins *

Wow...pretty neat.

Aside from being very difficult in an almost idiomatically prohibitive way (you must have quite a technique if you play these at tempo), my only criticism on first hearing is that, like others, I found myself wanting more out of the left hand. They're obviously "right-hand" etudes, however, so I withdraw the criticism. Form follows function. The repetitive pattern in the left hand in "Challenge" reminds me of a passacaglia or similar form...didn't bother me at all, and you send it somewhere else just in time to avoid monotony.

I agree that these pieces are vaguely reminiscent of Chopin, but the minimalist element is also very present - an interesting mix.

I'm put off by the fourness of it. My favorite parts were where the sixteenth-notes implied something other than four-four. Particularly measure 31 of the challenge, where the four notes instead of two put their foot down. Also at the very beginning of the arpeggio piece, the high A comes at first at the seventh sixteenth, and then at the sixth in the second measure. I was hoping for the fifth sixteenth on measure 3, but acch! My noticing of these things is largely a result of Scorch's rendition, and the resultant accents may have not been your intent at all.