Miniature

When Qc was here, he told me that, when he was younger, he wrote piano miniatures to help expand his harmonic language. I decided to try this idea out.

Though maybe not perfect, the harmonies in this piece are a huge leap for me. I rarely tried to use colourful harmonies for lack of knowing how to use them. Qc told me I should "stop thinking so harmonically," and that "analysis comes at the end of the piece, rather than during it (for the most part)," so I mainly used my ear while writing this rather than looking at it in a technical manner.

As usualy, the mp3 isn't the interpretation I wish it was, especially with regard to the grace notes and the ending crescendo, but I hope with the combined use of the score and the sound file, you'll be able to hear what the piece is intended to sound like.

I'd appreciate any suggestions or comments anyone might have! Thank you!

Score

MP3

This is pretty, although all I could think when listening to it was "this sounds like a less harmonically complex version of Chopin's preludes." :X

I especially enjoyed the "Adagio espressivo" section, although I got the feeling that the transition to this section from the one before it was done hastily and not pulledoff quite well enough to give a sense of coherency. I felt the same when the transition was made back into the music of the first part.

Of course this is all preference, but that's what I got at the first listen.

It's all very chordal (although in the first and third sections the chords are in the form of arpeggios) and the accompaniment compliments the melody nicely.

I love the Adagio section, like I said. The other two, eh.

Thanks for your comment!

What do you think would've made the transitions better, and what would've made it less chordal?

Thanks for your comment!

What do you think would've made the transitions better

Introducing elements of the next section before it becomes obvious to the listener that you've moved on is a good way to slide between contrasting parts of a piece. The adagio seemed like it didn't go on long enough to really carry weight- it struck me as being kind of an afterthought.

My comment about the piece being "chordal" wasn't a criticism, just an observation. But if you want a less block-chord style sound and more independent voices (which, personally, I don't think would fit here), write counterpoint instead of block chord accompaniment.

Introducing elements of the next section before it becomes obvious to the listener that you've moved on is a good way to slide between contrasting parts of a piece.

How would I include parts of the Adagio in the first part? To me it seems too much in contrast with the other two sections. I wrote this as a sort of exercise, so this is the kind of criticism I want to hear!

The adagio seemed like it didn't go on long enough to really carry weight- it struck me as being kind of an afterthought.

I agree, I should have developed this section more! I'll probably elongate this.

I find this piece really beautiful.

I agree it sounds a bit Chopin-ish. The adagio is indeed a bit too short, but for a miniature I think it fits well enough.

I find this piece really beautiful.

I agree it sounds a bit Chopin-ish. The adagio is indeed a bit too short, but for a miniature I think it fits well enough.

Thanks for the comment!

Wow. THIS REALLY reminded me of Chopin, my goodness, I mean I've read the previous comments.. but gosh. Anyway, I liked it, and I actually enjoyed the A section more than the B to be honest. That triplet in the beginning followed by those lines of 16th were especially enjoyable, it gave the piece this fancy lovely little air to it, and while the coda was a bit repetitive, I enjoyed how you wrapped up the piece. I honestly don't understand why you're not happy with this. I think you can make it a little more original to be honest, add something to it that's distinctly yours next time, but the piece seems to be well composed, 'm not theory genius, but I particularly enjoyed this :)

How would I include parts of the Adagio in the first part? To me it seems too much in contrast with the other two sections. I wrote this as a sort of exercise, so this is the kind of criticism I want to hear!

Hrmhrm.

Sort of "slowing down" that accompaniment figure in 16ths towards the slower, more calm 8th note accompaniment in the adagio might help. It's up to you, really.

Wow. THIS REALLY reminded me of Chopin, my goodness, I mean I've read the previous comments.. but gosh. Anyway, I liked it, and I actually enjoyed the A section more than the B to be honest. That triplet in the beginning followed by those lines of 16th were especially enjoyable, it gave the piece this fancy lovely little air to it, and while the coda was a bit repetitive, I enjoyed how you wrapped up the piece. I honestly don't understand why you're not happy with this. I think you can make it a little more original to be honest, add something to it that's distinctly yours next time, but the piece seems to be well composed, 'm not theory genius, but I particularly enjoyed this :)

Wow! Well thanks very much! I'm very surprised you liked it! I agree with you about the conclusion, it was kinda just thrown in there!

What do you mean by "add something to it that's distinctly your's?"

ya this is a really nice piece!

Hrmhrm.

Sort of "slowing down" that accompaniment figure in 16ths towards the slower, more calm 8th note accompaniment in the adagio might help. It's up to you, really.

Thanks for that! I'll give that a go sometime! Either if I touch up this piece or in a future work!

ya this is a really nice piece!

Thanks very much!

Wow! Well thanks very much! I'm very surprised you liked it! I agree with you about the conclusion, it was kinda just thrown in there!

What do you mean by "add something to it that's distinctly your's?"

Oh, simple. Try to make the piece your own, give it a Ian Sewell edge to it...like your own voice. Make any sense?

Oh, simple. Try to make the piece your own, give it a Ian Sewell edge to it...like your own voice. Make any sense?

None that I can make out! Like a special idiom or something?

Hello :)

This piece bears no overall striking resemblance to Chopin. That doesn't devalue it in any way, however. You say that you wrote this to expand your tonal harmonic language, yes? The attempt is obvious, but as with most things, you didn't succeed a 100% the first time. This should be nothing to be down about, though. From this point onward, you will take what you've learned and will certainly improve.

My main complaint is the fact that the piece is so tonal that when you disregard certain voice leading rules, it just simply sounds wrong. For example, the second beat of measure 8 going to measure 9, you have a D natural as the base of the chord. This is coming from a Db, which is the tonic. This chromatic motion implies the D natural to be a leading tone towards Eb. However, you went towards a C as the bass. Again, this only sounds wrong because of the strong tonal fabric that you've set up. I really appreciate the effort put into the harmonies, though.

As for your piano writing, having block chords moving as one melody is pretty unusual and may end up outbalancing your left hand music. The melody was very nice, though. Very pretty! Try keeping that same melody and varying the underlying harmony with proper voice leading... voices should have as little movement as possible.

The B section, though, was marvelous in your textures. I think that you fell on the dominant a little too much, though. For harmonization of a melody, remember to look for leaps first and then organize your phrase structure to have dominant sections last in the phrase.

Overall, a very good practice of harmony! You'll learn from this and improve in the future. Good luck! :)

EDIT: Oh yeah, the transition to the B section was well done. Dont' listen to Voce :P

Thanks very much for the review Mael!

nyah.

What don't you like about it Voce?

Lolol. I was just responding to "don't listen to Voce" =p.

I know, what I meant was what don't you like about the transition?

I think this piece has the potential to become a much larger piece than a miniature one. I mean even for a miniature, this is large already.

The first section is all pretty and stuff. But the interesting bit comes at the beginning of the 2nd page. Agreed with Mael's comment on the Db - D - C instead of Eb.

About Voce's disagreement with the transition, before going to the Adagio section, maybe you could have some sort of building up, you know, where things get more and more culminated and stuff. Then that might be a smoother transition to the B section. I dunno, that's what I think, but when I heard it at first, I didn't have any problem with it.

B section is great. Reminds be a bit of Chopin's E minor Prelude. But yes, if you were to expand this section, I think it would be great. Also, the recap back to A section at the end sounds waaay too short...

I still like it overall though =D

ST

This sounds really good to me.

-can't give any other comment than that due to limited music knowledge.-

I liked your composition, though there is a part of which I don't understand. For example, in the first measure, you double flatted the B, but the previous notes you had an A, why didn't you just make them the same? I think you did that in some other parts as well. But your piece is good none the less, keep up the good work.

I liked your composition, though there is a part of which I don't understand. For example, in the first measure, you double flatted the B, but the previous notes you had an A, why didn't you just make them the same? I think you did that in some other parts as well. But your piece is good none the less, keep up the good work.

One is A-flat, and the other is B-double flat!