February 7, 201016 yr Hello Everyone! This is my first upload to the site, and my first ever truly serious, after a few months of self-taught theory. This is also my first piece in sonata form. The piece itself is nothing remarkable, it was written in a month or so for a local contest. I know the score borders on atrocious, but I hope a bit of time and experience with Finale will change that. Enjoy! Fantasia
February 7, 201016 yr Compared to what some of the first pieces I wrote, this is definitely something noteworthy :P It reminds me of two, very, different pieces. The first one is Chopin's Grand Polonaise Brillante Op.22, because it has the same majestic opening and extensive use of "chords", I don't know the other term in english. What I mean with it, is how the left hand often has three or more notes at the same time. The other piece I'm reminded of, because of the melody at mms 11-14, is the theme from the Scumm Bar in Monkey Island 1 (A bit far out I know :P). I'm not sure if you're familiar with this piece, but if not, youtube it, you'll notice the similarity :) I think this piece is good. You have a lot of variation in both rhythm and harmony. Although the piece is a fantasia piece, I still feel it's a bit incoherent. It has a lot of really good parts, but together they don't always feel as one piece. You should definitely be proud of this piece though, from a non-musical perspective, it's good workmanship, plain and simple.
February 7, 201016 yr Author Compared to what some of the first pieces I wrote, this is definitely something noteworthy :P It reminds me of two, very, different pieces. The first one is Chopin's Grand Polonaise Brillante Op.22, because it has the same majestic opening and extensive use of "chords", I don't know the other term in english. What I mean with it, is how the left hand often has three or more notes at the same time. The other piece I'm reminded of, because of the melody at mms 11-14, is the theme from the Scumm Bar in Monkey Island 1 (A bit far out I know :P). I'm not sure if you're familiar with this piece, but if not, youtube it, you'll notice the similarity :) I think this piece is good. You have a lot of variation in both rhythm and harmony. Although the piece is a fantasia piece, I still feel it's a bit incoherent. It has a lot of really good parts, but together they don't always feel as one piece. You should definitely be proud of this piece though, from a non-musical perspective, it's good workmanship, plain and simple. Thanks! Although this isn't the first thing I've written, I just like to consider my first "Opus", as it is. I'm familiar with Chopin's Grande Polonaise Brillante, and I can see the similarities (left-hand chords, like you said, for the most part.) I'd never heard the Scumm Bar theme, though. Odd. As for the incoherence, comment noted. I tried to make my main themes/motives fit together as nicely as they could, but the material is quite different from part to part. P.S. I posted a few times around here towards the start of '09, if anyone was wondering where my registration date came from.
February 7, 201016 yr Thanks! Although this isn't the first thing I've written, I just like to consider my first "Opus", as it is. I'm familiar with Chopin's Grande Polonaise Brillante, and I can see the similarities (left-hand chords, like you said, for the most part.) I'd never heard the Scumm Bar theme, though. Odd. As for the incoherence, comment noted. I tried to make my main themes/motives fit together as nicely as they could, but the material is quite different from part to part. P.S. I posted a few times around here towards the start of '09, if anyone was wondering where my registration date came from. Funny, I was hoping you had played Monkey Island as a kid or something :P As for the incoherence, mm 49 with the "pesante" kinda disconnected me, because of the change in tempo.
February 7, 201016 yr Author Funny, I was hoping you had played Monkey Island as a kid or something :P As for the incoherence, mm 49 with the "pesante" kinda disconnected me, because of the change in tempo. What would you suggest to alleviate that?
February 7, 201016 yr What would you suggest to alleviate that? I'll have to get back to you on that, it's quite late and I've been listening to hard rock for an hour, so I can't really think classical music right now :P
February 7, 201016 yr Author I'll have to get back to you on that, it's quite late and I've been listening to hard rock for an hour, so I can't really think classical music right now :P No problem ;)
February 22, 201016 yr I like the harmonies you used, but in general it seemed to switch around ideas too quickly. To be honest, it seems you have it all there, you just need to re-organize things, such as, delete some phrases, move some phrases around and repeat important phrases. Just my two cents, good work.
February 22, 201016 yr No problem ;) Listening to it again, I think what could alleviate it would be more "interesting", it just becomes a bit too long before anything happens.
February 24, 201016 yr Author I've worked on it a bit, although other projects have been taking up most of my time. Maybe I'll post a better score + MP3 in a while. Thanks for the input!
February 24, 201016 yr I love all your development in this piece, and your various use of the piano to create many different feels through-out the piece. How you switch between the fast, flowing arpeggios and the more cheeky staccatos is very cool. And the grand feel at the beginning is very fit for a Fantastia. Very nice job! :D
February 24, 201016 yr Author I love all your development in this piece, and your various use of the piano to create many different feels through-out the piece. How you switch between the fast, flowing arpeggios and the more cheeky staccatos is very cool. And the grand feel at the beginning is very fit for a Fantastia. Very nice job! :D What exactly do you mean by ''cheeky'' staccatos?
February 25, 201016 yr What exactly do you mean by ''cheeky'' staccatos? Just that the staccatos sound sort of whimsical in the piece.
March 1, 201016 yr Lovely piece mate - I really like the opening :P I like the harmonies you've used and the vast majority of the themes but in general, you switch very quickly and almost too suddenly between themes - not a horribly bad thing but then not the best thing.
March 1, 201016 yr Author Lovely piece mate - I really like the opening :P I like the harmonies you've used and the vast majority of the themes but in general, you switch very quickly and almost too suddenly between themes - not a horribly bad thing but then not the best thing. Yeah, I updated the score a few nights ago, but I haven't created an mp3. I expanded the development, so it doesn't sound as rushed. I don't know if it changes the piece all too much, but at least it doesn't last 10 measures like the last time.
April 8, 201015 yr Your transitions from phrase to phrase are really good! I disagree with your comment about your piece. it IS something remarkable, And you taught yourself music theory to write this. That is incrediblly remarkable in my eye. Just out of curiousity, how far did you make it into the competition you wrote this piece for?
April 8, 201015 yr Author Your transitions from phrase to phrase are really good! I disagree with your comment about your piece. it IS something remarkable, And you taught yourself music theory to write this. That is incrediblly remarkable in my eye. Just out of curiousity, how far did you make it into the competition you wrote this piece for? Still waiting for the results. It's a music festival, so compositions are submitted first, then there are a slew of performers, vocalists, etc.
April 24, 201015 yr I liked this a lot. It seemed rather unnecessary to repeat the piece halfway, although I definitely liked the restatement of the first E-major 'maestoso' part. If you had just restated that part (but ended on maybe a major seventh) then it could possibly segue into the second half of the piece. The C-Sharp major part going into the second E-major part was a bit weak. You know that tremolo part (between the E5 and E6)? The second time around I feel like it's just being repeated for the sake of being repeated; if you had added maybe the dominant (B5) in as well and done an Alberti bass-like thing it would be more contrasted. The segue the second time around into the "Piu presto 134 BPM' was really sudden. The arpeggio idea at the end was a blast; I wish you'd have continued it a bit longer (maybe you could've arpeggiated the theme at the beginning that got restated?)
April 24, 201015 yr Wow. Very good. Thank you for uploading this, I enjoyed it from start to finish. Some of the transitions were a little abrupt, such as 0:36, but the themes were great and you developed them wonderfully. I felt you overused the broken chords a bit, particularly near the end which I didn't love as much as the rest of the piece. Overall though, it's pretty amazing... In particular I liked your main theme, especially the part at 0:08. I also loved the little snippets of minor sequences like at 0:55 that not only contrast well with the major chords but also draw from the same feel as 0:08. I wish I was as good as you :) ... by the way, good luck with the competition ;)
May 25, 201114 yr Wow! I'm blown away by this! It's light-years ahead in terms of both technique and beauty from what I can compose... Hehe - oh well... a boy can dream. In a sense, I feel it is not my place to say this but I agree with the comment that the second tremolo part feels a bit empty. (Not in terms of number of notes but of forward direction and its function in helping the theme.. well, 'grow'. Maybe (for the second recap), you could try a sort of written-out tremolo effect with modulation? So instead of repeating the same note it could bring forth harmony change/development? Hmm... I don't really know how to describe what I mean. A small section from a Beethoven sonata comes to mind - let me see if I can hunt down the reference for you. All in all - wonderful piece! I just wanted to let you know that I've really enjoyed it. And good luck with the contest!
May 25, 201114 yr Author Wow! I'm blown away by this! It's light-years ahead in terms of both technique and beauty from what I can compose... Hehe - oh well... a boy can dream. <img src="http://network.youngcomposers.com/elgg/ipb/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif" alt=";)" /> In a sense, I feel it is not my place to say this but I agree with the comment that the second tremolo part feels a bit empty. (Not in terms of number of notes but of forward direction and its function in helping the theme.. well, 'grow'. Maybe (for the second recap), you could try a sort of written-out tremolo effect with modulation? So instead of repeating the same note it could bring forth harmony change/development? Hmm... I don't really know how to describe what I mean. A small section from a Beethoven sonata comes to mind - let me see if I can hunt down the reference for you. <img src="http://network.youngcomposers.com/elgg/ipb/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" alt=":)" /> All in all - wonderful piece! I just wanted to let you know that I've really enjoyed it. And good luck with the contest! Thank you, but I uploaded this well over a year ago :P . I have since written more music, if you want to check it out :toothygrin: The contest went well, but considering we were 3 participants I wouldn't consider it a major event in my life :santa:.
May 26, 201114 yr Thank you, but I uploaded this well over a year ago :P . I have since written more music, if you want to check it out :toothygrin: The contest went well, but considering we were 3 participants I wouldn't consider it a major event in my life :santa:. Well then. I guess I fall into your third category of people when it comes to dates :P
May 29, 201114 yr -- Emptied response due to construction reasons -- ;) (It's still fabulous.) Edited August 13, 20169 yr by phython
