November 28, 200619 yr I'm new here, so let me introduce myself. My name is Luke Palmer, and I've been composing since I was 11 years old. I've been playing piano approximately that long, too. Over the last year or so I have been "studying" (more like "practicing", perhaps) improvisation, and more generally the art of doing art with my fingers rather than my computer. Anyway, here is a somewhat simple etude I wrote for myself (it took me about 90 minutes to write, and about 90 more minutes to learn to play at the level you hear in the recording... and about 90 minutes to write down after I had recorded it :-). Feedback is (of course) welcome. Etude (MP3) Etude (PDF)
November 29, 200619 yr hi Luke! welcome to YCF! well, this is a very impressive piece. long breath of never failing inspiration, fluent, sensitive, highly melodic, very engaging, great atmospheres, perfectly structured and harmonized. really it is very very well composed, unusally fine indeed, and it is amazing that it was done in just 90 min!!! really an splendid job in every way which goes far beyond the etude level, rather being a real and perfectly accomplished work of art! your performance is also excellent. looking forward to learn more about you and your work! my warm congratulations and have a nice day!
November 29, 200619 yr hi Luke! welcome to YCF!well, this is a very impressive piece. long breath of never failing inspiration, fluent, sensitive, highly melodic, very engaging, great atmospheres, perfectly structured and harmonized. really it is very very well composed, unusally fine indeed, and it is amazing that it was done in just 90 min!!! really an splendid job in every way which goes far beyond the etude level, rather being a real and perfectly accomplished work of art! your performance is also excellent. looking forward to learn more about you and your work! my warm congratulations and have a nice day! What he said. Very well done. :)
January 14, 200719 yr Ack. How come you can compose piano music and I can't? HUH? Ugh. This was awesome. I liked it alot. It reminded me of something Chopin would write.
January 15, 200719 yr I liked it. Very romantic, great melodies and good use of sequence. Though one thing: It's clear that you are learning to compose because you tend to fall in the trap of using a little too many cliches. I don't mean offense, this is completely something I still do as well, but as you come to develop your style, I would suggest pushing outside of your comfort zone. You don't want your music to sound like improvisation (at least in my opinion). Also, i think you could have developed the theme a little more in depth than what you do know (which is repeating it a few times through out the piece) Your piece would have more unison if you worked more with less material. Hope this helps. _MW
January 16, 200719 yr I think it's extremely impressive that you composed such a well-developed piece in only an hour and a half. I enjoyed the melody, especially the first page, with the descending chromatic notes, it gave a nice tentative sound. Overall the piece used a great pianistic mood with high levels of emotion and sympathy. I really do echo what frantz said. There's something missing for me as a listener. You brought in the climax at the right time, it had a great beginning and end, however all I really brought away from it was the melody. It's all I really could take away, or remember. It didn't seem like you really developed the melody, took it apart, or rethought it (perhaps that's simply a byproduct of the 90 minute composing time). The piece merely seems like the same melody presented in a few different situations, with more notes each time. (I also noted how every time you introduced a new version of the melody, you repeated it again an octave higher.) They're really great and beautiful notes, but they don't seem cast a new light on the melody. I hope I'm neither being harsh nor unclear. I really think you have the potential to improve upon these already fantastic ideas by making the melody come alive and grow.
