Challenge: 10-Bars Piano Miniature

Something else to look at for piano miniatures is Janáček's Intimate Sketches. Ćekam Te!* in particular summarises his relationship with Kamila Stösslová perfectly >.>

Looking at the miniatures people have been posting i have to say that a lot of these pieces seem to lack direction. Just because a piece is only 10 bars long doesn't mean it has to just sit there. It should, at very least, be highly expressive. dostoprimo's is the only one that really seems to go anywhere

* this is kind of fast i prefer Thomas Adès's performance fwiw

I did a little something tonight. Just a little sketch miniature. I will record it and post it sometime soon. It's actually pretty tricky (cause I'm not a pianist haha). So, I gotta practice. but, I can't stand the lack of expressiveness of the midi.

Here's my attempt! http://www.youngcomposers.com/music/3386/aphorism-i/

Looking at the miniatures people have been posting i have to say that a lot of these pieces seem to lack direction. Just because a piece is only 10 bars long doesn't mean it has to just sit there. It should, at very least, be highly expressive. dostoprimo's is the only one that really seems to go anywhere

I'd beg you for further comment. I'd like to know exactly what do you see as "wrong" with the other pieces - dostoprimo's being the sole exception despite looking like it could have gone well beyond 10 measures.

https://www.box.com/s/gt1h3lkc0evzlba1xzlc

Here is the score to the piece I wrote. Feel free to play through it yourself. But, I don't trust any midi rendering of it, and I can't quite play the 4th measure well enough to justify a recording. I find it's much easier to let the tenor line go, but I also like the density of having it. :)

Something else to look at for piano miniatures is Janáček's Intimate Sketches. Ćekam Te!* in particular summarises his relationship with Kamila Stösslová perfectly >.>

Thanks for the link! It's great music!

Looking at the miniatures people have been posting i have to say that a lot of these pieces seem to lack direction. Just because a piece is only 10 bars long doesn't mean it has to just sit there. It should, at very least, be highly expressive. dostoprimo's is the only one that really seems to go anywhere

But you have to keep in mind that this is a challenge to compose a miniature of 10 bars we are participating in, and not a spontaneously-born 10-bar piano miniature. That limitation is bound to affect the nature of the inspiration found in the pieces. And the "only one" that you refer to unfortunately happens to have actually broken that limitation!

https://www.box.com/...lkc0evzlba1xzlc

Here is the score to the piece I wrote. Feel free to play through it yourself. But, I don't trust any midi rendering of it, and I can't quite play the 4th measure well enough to justify a recording. I find it's much easier to let the tenor line go, but I also like the density of having it. :)

Have I misinterpreted the rules here? Can we submit pieces of shorter than 10 bars? Morivou's contribution comprises only 8 bars!

O_O I didn't even realize it was only 8 bars. I HAVE TWO EXTRA MEASURES??? *stomps off to edit*

I'd beg you for further comment. I'd like to know exactly what do you see as "wrong" with the other pieces - dostoprimo's being the sole exception despite looking like it could have gone well beyond 10 measures.

But you have to keep in mind that this is a challenge to compose a miniature of 10 bars we are participating in, and not a spontaneously-born 10-bar piano miniature. That limitation is bound to affect the nature of the inspiration found in the pieces. And the "only one" that you refer to unfortunately happens to have actually broken that limitation!

Well, that's exactly it. Instead of focusing on filling 10 bars of music you have to just write a piece (and just have it somehow wind up being 10 bars long). Don't think about the length, think about the content, and how best to express it in a small space.

i can't really give more specific advice for anyone looking to compose a miniature for this contest (although i can comment on specific things in each piece).

Here's my 2nd contribution to this most interesting of challenges!

http://www.youngcomposers.com/music/3388/10-bar-piano-miniature-no-2/

O_O I didn't even realize it was only 8 bars. I HAVE TWO EXTRA MEASURES??? *stomps off to edit*

HUAHAUAHUAHAUAHAUA, I really laughed out loud here!!!!!

See in my orchestra, we have a project to compose a piece with all these rules, and it is quite similar to this, but not exactly the same. I would start a challenge with those rules, but the director has the project/rules under copyright.

I'm enjoying this challenge as an onlooker. I tried out Morivou's piece. I liked it, despite some harmonic choices that did not sound very good on my piano (which is quite out of tune). A slight reservation concerning bar 3, first beat. It felt like the eight notes figuration should have not been broken, perhaps splitting the left hand chord as G followed by (EA), or changing the simultaneous (F#B) to consecutive F#B eight notes, or some such solution. My substandard playing might be to blame, though. Other than that and some harmonic choices (especially bar 5), the piece is satisfying and very expressive, and feels complete despite being two measures too short ;-) I had no major problems playing the fourth bar (it took me a couple of repetitions).

Oh, Thanks Sarastro. I will look at that eighth note passage and see if I cannot improve it.

See in my orchestra, we have a project to compose a piece with all these rules, and it is quite similar to this, but not exactly the same. I would start a challenge with those rules, but the director has the project/rules under copyright.

I would have loved to undertake that. One of my ballet numbers would have fitted in easily.

I would have loved to undertake that. One of my ballet numbers would have fitted in easily.

It may not have fit as easily as you think. In my opinion, the rules were too restrictive. I am not naming them all.

Ok, in my free evening I put a little ditty together. I added it to a set of little pieces I am working on, still quite skechy. But nr 4, the Aphorism is done now. See: http://www.youngcomposers.com/music/3026/sneak-preview-new-set-piano-works/

I thought I wouldn't log back in until I edited my previous submission, but this challenge was too non-time-consuming to pass up. :)

Your audience is graciously requested: http://www.youngcomposers.com/music/3392/miniature-in-b-minor-october-2012-challenge/

I liked this so much. I too, made a 2nd entry. Check out, the no's 4 and 5 of an older set: http://www.youngcomposers.com/music/3026/sneak-preview-new-set-piano-works/

I added it into the incomplete section, because the set as a whole, I am still working on. The no's 4 and 5 though are finished, and these are my entries.

Here's my 3rd submission before the looming deadline tomorrow!

http://www.youngcomposers.com/music/3399/10-bar-piano-miniature-no-3/

When are results?

I'm sorry, but as this is not a competition, but a Challenge, there are no obligation for judgements and winners. I asked Morivou about this on the main topic about Challanges. There, he said that I can decide it by myself. I didn't really want to name winners and have scoring, rankings and so... I'm pretty glad with the good results, and YC's komposers said it themselves. As the creator of this first challenge, I've given myself the only "obligation" of commenting on every miniature posted for this challenge. In the instructions, I didn't even mentioned judges, winners and so... As the principal aim of the challenge is the instigation to create within a specific "rule", grow as a komposer and share this experience with people. Sincerely talking, I don't like judgements very much, as I believe that any kind of art has it's own characteristic, defined by it's komposer (or painter, dancer, actor, player...), so we cannot have precise criteria to tell what's better than what!!!! That will depend solely on judges "likes and dislikes", about their studies and personal life. With different judges, any result could be the oposite!!!! So, as far as I can host a challenge here, I'm not planning to do it as a competition, but as an experience to (as the title says) challenge each one, so that each komposer can know better about his/her skills, eases and difficulties.

:) That's the right attitude CP.

Challenges are not about winning. They are about challenging the self.

But, you did confuse people. Why set a deadline if there is no reason to set one. ;)

oh............................