Waltz No.2 in Bb Major for Piano

Hi everyone!

I composed this short waltz for piano today. I'm still practicing it, so for now I've used the sounds from MuseScore 4.

It was inspired by Tchaikovsky's Album for the Young, Op. 39. The opening melodic motif is quite similar to that of No. 8, "Waltz," and I also used some harmonic progressions that I learned from No. 14, "Polka."

While studying and practicing pieces from that album, I started wanting to compose several short piano pieces and create my own "Album for the Young."
This is my first attempt. It is a waltz in B-flat major, although the tonal center shifts around quite a bit.

The form is ABA', with A being the main waltz theme and B a slower lyrical brief section in Cmaj.

As always, every feedback, comment or suggestion is more than welcome and hope you enjoy it! Thank you!

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by JorgeDavid

Hi @JorgeDavid,

Below is my review of your waltz:

Form:

There are two district different sections that have their own character with the composition. The tonal centers and relations between is not common. I feel this would fit with in middle romantic period. I am not sure about the dramatic pause at the end of melodic phrase. It is rather sudden and jarring. It disrupts the natural flow of piece.

Harmony and texture:

There is a high sense of chromatism with in waltz. I wonder about how those harmonies are prepared and resolved correctly. The bass line fits with in the standard waltz type pattern in first section and breaks away in the middle section.

Thematic material:

A couple things to note: the ending of each melodic phrase with chromatic note seems unsettling. G-F#-A. While there is a sense of melodic sequence with each phrase, it is hard to detect the general structure (sentence, period, or hybrid).

This was original piece and was truly creative. With in my musical taste, I like to hear more music like this.

I.e. find a way to create a natural flow with each phrase. think about what I said about structure and form and how the works with the underlaying the harmony. Otherwise, you good start.

Kvothe.

Hello @Kvothe , thank you so much for all the feedback and glad you enjoyed the piece!

17 hours ago, Kvothe said:

I am not sure about the dramatic pause at the end of melodic phrase. It is rather sudden and jarring. It disrupts the natural flow of piece.

You are right, I had not realized until you pointed it out. I decided to change those measures so I modified m.14 and similar measures so now the transition to the contrasting section of A is done without stopping the waltz rhythmic flow.

17 hours ago, Kvothe said:

There is a high sense of chromatism with in waltz. I wonder about how those harmonies are prepared and resolved correctly. The bass line fits with in the standard waltz type pattern in first section and breaks away in the middle section.

I experimented a little bit with the harmony. In general I am happy with most progressions except for m.7~9 where I do the following harmonic progression: Db7 --> Bbaug/D --> Ebmin. It was a solution I came across for moving from Db7 to Ebmin while having an enharmonic common tone (F#-Gb) in the melody.

17 hours ago, Kvothe said:

Thematic material:

A couple things to note: the ending of each melodic phrase with chromatic note seems unsettling. G-F#-A. While there is a sense of melodic sequence with each phrase, it is hard to detect the general structure (sentence, period, or hybrid).

Yes, I agree. Since I composed it as a short piece I tried to have fun with the main melody (not trying to write sentence, period or hybrid, which I did in the B section instead) but it came out too Jazzy. I do like it but I think it gets too chromatic too early (so I like it the main theme much more during the reprise than at the beginning, once the ear got used to it). I think it is okay for a short piece like this but I am trying to learn ways to "smooth" the way to chromatism in themes like this one.

Thank you so much for all the feedback!