A short chromatic piece

I first composed this very short piece as an exercise, but it has evolved since then. I am trying to develop a chromatic style with buildup and release. Also, I wanted a piece that a child of 12 or so could play.

I'm open to criticism at all levels. Insofar as I am self-taught, I could be missing something basic. Thanks in advance.

Exercise.mid

Exercise.pdf

It's a successed exercice ! However I'm a not a fan of "2 part voices pieces" and not a good guy in such exercice, its sounds good. Then, I won't say : here there is a fault in harmony... the goal is too make music above all ! =)

But you can make more modulations, Ok I stop => [] ;D

As a piano teacher, I really like how you have a goal in mind as to the level of difficulty you would like this piece to be.

However, placing an "age" isn't the best approach. I have had 12 year old students that threatended my own abilities and other 17 year olds that couldn't plunk out Mary Had a Little Lamb after 10 years of playing. As far as the "average" 12 year old... it's getting worse. Your piece as it is would be playable by a very adventurous 12 year old. :)

i would add more interesting patterns and rhythms instead of all solid chords, but that might increase the difficulty a bit, and since you want it to be for a 12 yrs old to play, maybe thats not a good idea.

I appreciate the comments on playability from sonatinainfsharp. It was the feedback I needed. This is probably the closest I have come to something playable in more than 2 voices. Most of the stuff they give kids is really boring and it would be nice to see that change.

chodelkovzart makes an astute comment. After I wrote this, and knowing that rhythm is one of the weakest parts of my composing, I decided to make a study of rhythms used by master composers in the last 300 years and how they have changed. Guess what! Everything else has changed a lot, but rhythms are still largely the same. There was a shift from rigid repitition to elaboration when the Classical era arrived, but that's it. Actually, the modern era has tended to go back to rigid repitition because the harmonies are too complicated to support the raw rhythms. There are excpetions like computer music, but they have tended to die out. Maybe that says that John Adams and Philip Glass are just passing fads? So now I need to work these thoughts into my music. Anyway, thanks!

And to Raphael, I promise I will try something longer and with more instruments. I also don't know much about orchestration at this point. I know there is classic by Rimsky-Korsakoff. Anything else you all would recommend? I am a scholar at heart so I don't mind hard.

I realize you wanted to keep it "simple", but a little more melodic fluidity would have helped. Also, if this was intended to be a children's piece, it could use a bit more harmonic "charm" ala Debussy's Children's Corner. :)

Still, as an exercise, this is certainly effective and provides a myriad of techniques.

Regarding orchestration, here are some very useful sites:

User's Manual: Introduction

Principles of Orchestration On-line - northernsounds.com

Common Problems in Orchestration - northernsounds.com

- Matt

http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/fantasy-etude-16546.html

Regarding orchestration, here are some very useful sites.

QUOTE]

Matt--These are great sites. And I will also study the Debussy. Thanks a whole bunch.