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Dancing in the Snow


caters

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Winter is such a beautiful season. I composed a piece inspired by it for a trio. Not your typical trio though. Rather, I composed it for flute, violin, and piano. I think these instruments best fit winter, since the flute provides a mellow quality, the violin provides fullness, and the piano, well it sounds good with just about every existing instrument. My piece represents the joy that winter brings. I might later expand on this piece, but right now, it is a dance piece for a trio inspired by winter. I started thinking about this piece about a week ago when I saw snow falling. Because it represents the joy of winter, I decided to write it in E major, one of the most joyful major keys. There is a short C minor moment in there but very quickly a Picardy Third resolves the tension of the C minor into the relaxation of C major.

There are a few passages for the flute that essentially amount to a measured cadenza(virtuosic like a cadenza, but with specific note values). When the key signature changes to 1 sharp, what proceeds essentially amounts to a development section primarily based on the B section(the section with the pizzicato). Right before it changes back to 4 sharps, I do a sudden modulation from C major to E major. The coda is short but provides finality to the piece that I don't think would have existed had I just straight up ended with the last measure of the A section. There are a few moments where only 1 or 2 instruments are playing, but for the most part, the whole trio is playing.

What do you think of my winter piece?

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This is probably one of the better compositions you've posted here. Congratulations on that! I think you were effectively able to work with a pedal and manage a decent balance between homophony, accompaniment, and counterpoint. 
There are a few things that strike me as odd, like m. 20's lack of a third, the drawn out, naked transition from mm. 58-64 (could have added a violin support, since by itself it sounds a little awkward), and the prominent 4th scale degree on the tonic at m. 56, but overall this is quite nice.
I'd encourage you listen to some of the other Christmas Event pieces if you have a chance! It's nice that we're all giving back to each other. Have a great holiday!

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As other people have posted, this is your best piece. There are very interesting elements and sounds in here!

The only thing I dislike, and it's something that is present in many of your other pieces, is the ostinato in the lower voice. It is very repetitive, especially due to its simplicity, which makes the whole piece sound estatic, althouhg having important shifts concerning harmonic movement, texture, techniques, etc. Perhaps if you make the acompaniment more "pianistic", it will solve the problem.

I would recommend listening to Poulenc's chamber pieces, as he is able to use those small instrumentations in very inventive ways.

Congratulations!

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A good piece, I see someone criticized it for the repetitive ostinato, but that is very common in the waltz form, like in Chopin’s waltzes, or in Strauss’ Blue Danube, Shostakovich’s second waltz,etc. The piece is called “Dancing in the snow” for a reason.

Keep up the good work, I always enjoy nature-inspired music!

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