Fantasy No. 1

Fantasy No. 1 in B Flat Minor. Technically it is my second, but I don't like my first, so I stripped it of its number and put this one in its place.

It's free-form and goes through about seven different keys. The ending is somewhat abrupt, but I like it. It is about five and a half minutes in length.

If anyone has any questions about it, feel free to ask.

MP3 Download.

Score Download.

Ill start with the positive: You know how to write for piano. I can see this well. You didnt have cliche 'alberti bass' or 'pop arpeggios' in the left hand. The harmonies were adventurous. The melody, well I guess because its freeform, I didnt really find it catchy because there was always something new. But, a performer would be able to take your piece and find reoccuring parts in it to make it stand out.

Now, not negative as such, but critical points I want to make.

Firstly: How is this a fantasy? Im not saying its not, so haha, please dont read it in a 'im insulting you' tone coz its not meant to be like that. Im just asking for you to explain to me why you gave it the catergorical title of fantasy, thats all :)

Secondly: I need earplugs. If i were to leave the comment at that, it would be a rather horrible thing to do because it is open to much interpretation. What I mean is, the constant Fortissimo of the piece makes it boring...and well, ridiculously loud. There is nothing wrong with a fortissimo piece, but you need to work out your dynamics better, because its very boring having a constant dynamic all the time.

Thirdly: I said one of the good things in this piece was your ability to write for the piano. However, there is a lot of room to grow. It needs to be varied more. Something Im learning myself is that a piece of music does not have to have the left hand strictly below middle C playing bass notes and the right hand vice versa. I look at pieces by chopin, mozart, rachmaninoff...and see how they take both hands and put them in the upper register, not even playing together. Chords and harmonies dont always need to be stacks of notes played on the beat all the time. They need to be spaced out, and removed sometimes. This is where counterpoint really helps because studying counterpoint shows you how the left hand, or the 'accompaniment' can do something a bit more exciting than alberti bass, thick chords and ragtime.

Fourthly: I also said that the harmony was adventurous. This is a good thing, but make sure it doesnt go all Indiana Jones on you. I found a lack of direction in regards to harmony in this piece, and it just made me kind of clueless to what you were trying to portray.

Ok, thats enough criticism. I think its a very good piece and im rather impressed, but yea...for your next piano piece...take these things into consideration. Above All: This is just my opinion and you are free to write your music anyway you want :P So please, dont be offended. Just wanted to give you a little advice :)

Thanks for writing this peice and showcasing it :)

Thanks for reviewing!

I gave it the title I did because it's free-form. I think that's what a fantasy is (in music), though for all I know I could be wrong. The fact that it is free-form is why the harmony is so inconsistent and lacking a definite direction.

Your third line of advice is very helpful though—accompaniment has always been a weak point for me. Part of it is the fact I can't actually play piano (except for the right hand a little bit), and so I'm more than a little unsure sometimes of what to do as accompaniment.

Thanks for all of the advice; I'm sure it'll be a great help.