Prelude

Hey all,

I am back again with my newest piece. I worked this one up for an assignment. It was to use your own individual style to write a short 30 second to 2 minute piece that reflects (in ternary or binary form, hehe) the melody that they gave us. It wasn't really a theme and variation, but more of a listen... and make your own assignment!

I LOVED doing this. I really want people to listen to this and tell me what they think.

I'm a little too tired right now to give a full review, but you really need to bear in mind that normal people only have 5 fingers with which to play chords

I wrote it so that the fingers could cover two notes at once.

Thanks... I will cut this down to five fingers... and repost it. Ok, it should be fixed now.

Why not employ the ''use elbows'' designation? I find it works quite well. :)

You have some interesting moments in this. Mostly, however, I found it thin, overly percussive and lacking direction. (this applies to your transitions between themes especially) Remember, though you had some interesting harmonies, there is a fine line between interesting harmony and percussive harmony.

You had, as I said, some nice moments (like the slightly impressionistic theme B) but it'd be much nicer if you would refine your harmonic work and give the piece a bit more direction- I won't go into too much detail regarding this, because there's nothing of it that won't be fixed with time and more experience on your part. Cheers! :)

Speaking of this... I will performing this LIVE in addition to the song aptly named, "An Evening With Nico Canzano" at my concert next week!

Thanks Nico, I always love your comments. Straight to the point.

YAY!!! I will post Nico's song in about 5 minutes.

Hey Morivou! Nice little piece in a lot of ways. But there is one thing I want to address, and it's something I've seen across several of your works. I think it is your biggest weakness as a composer right now: rhythm. Your rhythms end up being very square. By this I mean every new rhythmic idea tends to fall on the beat, and rhythms change abruptly, seemingly without any purpose behind them other than the intellectualized realization of the need to change a rhythm. I would suggest inundating yourself with the scores of Bach, and then of Chopin, to see how each, in his own time and way, dealt with the problem of rhythm. In Bach, look for the interplay of weak and strong, as well as how the rhythms of the various lines contribute to the overall harmonic structure. At times in some of his fugues there is a note on every sixteenth note, but it never sounds like incessant pelting. How does he achieve this.

Now open a Chopin score and take a look at a melody (the nocturnes or waltzes would be good for this). Look how supple Chopin's rhythms are. They fit into a pulse-skeleton, certainly, but never are they boring. They sound like something the voice might sing were it to sing in the rhythm in which we speak...except in Chopin's music we never find out the words.

Closely related to this is the problem of texture. In one phrase you switch between a two-voice invention structure and block chords several times. This is not good. It detracts from coherence. Pick something, and stick with it for a while, and when it changes, let that change be a result of actual musical development, not random outbursts.

That's probably being a little too harsh. But I'm just trying to give you some perspective on your music that you may not have.

Hey Morivou! Nice little piece in a lot of ways. But there is one thing I want to address, and it's something I've seen across several of your works. I think it is your biggest weakness as a composer right now: rhythm. Your rhythms end up being very square. By this I mean every new rhythmic idea tends to fall on the beat, and rhythms change abruptly, seemingly without any purpose behind them other than the intellectualized realization of the need to change a rhythm. I would suggest inundating yourself with the scores of Bach, and then of Chopin, to see how each, in his own time and way, dealt with the problem of rhythm. In Bach, look for the interplay of weak and strong, as well as how the rhythms of the various lines contribute to the overall harmonic structure. At times in some of his fugues there is a note on every sixteenth note, but it never sounds like incessant pelting. How does he achieve this.

Now open a Chopin score and take a look at a melody (the nocturnes or waltzes would be good for this). Look how supple Chopin's rhythms are. They fit into a pulse-skeleton, certainly, but never are they boring. They sound like something the voice might sing were it to sing in the rhythm in which we speak...except in Chopin's music we never find out the words.

Closely related to this is the problem of texture. In one phrase you switch between a two-voice invention structure and block chords several times. This is not good. It detracts from coherence. Pick something, and stick with it for a while, and when it changes, let that change be a result of actual musical development, not random outbursts.

That's probably being a little too harsh. But I'm just trying to give you some perspective on your music that you may not have.

Thank you SO much for your review. I have always admired your works by the way...

I will do what you have suggested and look up at what I think is a good idea. I think these pieces can be fixable (rhythmically), but I think my main problem is that I don't spend enough time on my pieces and what I want never ends up the way I want it... Music ADD if you will.

And, NEVER be afraid to be harsh with me. I've been told a piece of mine (20 minutes long) sucked and I can take it. So, no worries there!