1st Movement of Piano Sonata in C Minor

Hey all.

This is a piece I have written for A level music composition and is supposed to be kind of like the first movement of a Beethoven piano sonata (although probably not quite that good! lol).

So, I would greatly appreciate any feedback you are willing to give.

Hopefully i have just uploaded the .sib and .mid files but i haven't done this before, so am hoping it works! Obviously the midi file doesn't quite do it justice, but hopefully i will make a proper recording soon!

Piano Sonata In C minor.sib

Piano Sonata In C minor.mid

Ok i just realised the bit at the end is all the wrong speed!

The thick chords at the end (first heard in the introduction) are supposed to be playing at half that speed and then the arpeggio is supposed to be very fast before the end, but the rest of it is alright i think!

Parallel motion extremely annoying in the beginning. Octave rise too early. etc....

I would have liked to hear more exposition.

Hey, thanks for the comments.

Parallel motion extremely annoying in the beginning. Octave rise too early. etc....

Yeh, i've never been too sure about that but I like it at the end, but if i cut it from the beginning I don't think I could just start it with the exposition, suppose i need to think of a different introduction. Not too sure what you mean by octave rise too early??

Hey I've made a pdf file now I've worked out how to, thanks for any feedback.

Piano Sonata In C minor.pdf

Hi policeman - this is a pretty cool piece with interesting ideas. If you are doing a revision, you might want to apply voice leading. For example, the parallel octaves in the opening theme are very distracting. Two mediants make a diatonic chord sound weak! With the same melody, appropriate voice leading can make the harmonic progression much more convincing.

Hi policeman - this is a pretty cool piece with interesting ideas. If you are doing a revision, you might want to apply voice leading. For example, the parallel octaves in the opening theme are very distracting. Two mediants make a diatonic chord sound weak! With the same melody, appropriate voice leading can make the harmonic progression much more convincing.

Hey, thanks very much for the feedback, it's much appreciated.

I must admit I'm not too familiar with the term 'voice leading', but I'll google it in a bit. Most people seem to not like the beginning, so I'll definitely think of revising that bit as the opening really shouldn't be the worst bit!

Once again, thanks for the comments, anymore from anyone are always welcomed!:)

It's pretty good.

The thematic material is good. The balance between the various sections (intro, exposition, development, recapitulation) is very good. And the length of the entire movement is perfect - not too short as to seem rushed, yet not too long.

All in all, you've succeeded in avoiding most of the errors that plague beginner composers.

BUT your lack of technique shows. The voice leading, as others already pointed out, is downright awful at several points. Some of your modulations aren't 100% convincing, either. It seems that you have the ear and talent to write quality music, but lack the knowledge to get the details right.

I strongly recommend that you learn some music theory. After a year or two of studying, you'll be able to create a professional sonata movement out of the exact same material you've posted here. The same themes. The same transitions and development. But it will sound much better, because you'll get the small details right.

By the way, the style reminded me of Mozart far more then Beethoven.

Cool first movement! Very "late-classical/early-romantic". I hear Beethoven in this and perhaps, maybe, Schubert. My only compliant is that exposition needs work and clear establishment of two themes.-I only heard one theme. Yea, I know I am picky. :p. And for the development section, that needs revisited as well. Overall, A very good first movement for the a sonata. Oh, re work the voice leading of those chords.