Cantabile in d

Hi, this is my first post.

I found this forum yesterday and thought it was very interesting.

I'm pretty much self taught in composition but I play the piano and I have had formal training in that.

I compose for personal expression and fun!

As such, I don't get listened to very often so tell me what you think.

I've attached a midi file for little piece of music I finished composing a few days ago. Midi doesn't 'perform' it the right way but I hope the general idea comes across. I don't want to bias any comments by explaining too much about the piece 'in words'. When composing, you hear your own music so many times so I'm looking forward to some fresh ears.

Thanks!

Welcome yrogerg

:P

That is a nice piece of music you got there. Simple and beautiful. Music just as I like it - simple, but not simplistic. :)

The only negative feedback is regarding the return to the first theme in the second minute of the piece. It didn't sound very smooth to me. :)

Cheers!

what a shame you cant play the piece on the piano for us! I like the main theme and that F minor section is interesting because it really wanted to take over . . . . I like the way you slip back into D - kind of against all odds! I just made a cup of tea humming your tune! (I only arrived at this forum yesterday too: its a revelation! heaps and heaps of music-making! like a great big festival! Keep composing!

Thanks manossg and stepheny (welcome to you too).

I appreciate your taking the time to listen and respond.

It's interesting that there were two different views of the main theme's return. The intention was for the first theme to steal its way back against expectations. stepheny kind of heard it the way I was thinking when I wrote it. I also felt good about the effect when I played it at the piano. However, once I notated it I noticed that the midi playback really just sails through that section.

Properly, there is supposed to be a ritardando as the C major chord opens out after the bar of dominant harmony. Then the ensuing few bars should be handled very mysteriously with the low A of the A major chord receiving a little extra time so that the chromatic run has to be executed a little more rapidly to catch up. On the first note of the first theme's return, everthing should be in sync.

Unfortunately, I'd be pulling my hair out trying to get the sequencer to render it that way so I settled. :)

Anyway, thanks again for the responses.

Once I get the score cleaned up, I might post it.

I butchered it in certain ways to improve playback.

I'm attaching the score as I said I would.

Doing this taught me that I don't really like Finale Notepad.

Note entry is slow and the playback volume is very low.

I started entering dynamic marks, etc, but I probably won't finish with this program.

The music itself is intended to be a simple piece with somewhat restrained emotion. If a friend were confiding in you, sharing his/her thoughts about a matter of concern, he/she would speak to you in the tone of this piece.

cantabiled.mid

cantabiled.MUS

It was a wonderful chance to listen to this piece of music again. Try and post an mp3 soon.

pleasant piece! very nice job!

Thanks!

I appreciate that.

Welcome to the site. This is a very charming piece. I liked it a lot. IMO, it's a little too long though. But that is just my feeling. But good job nonetheless!

Thanks violinfiddler.

The slower tempo (crotchet=120 in 3/4 time) in the midi renditions above probably makes it seem longer. It's pretty short, being about 150 bars. I sped it up by about 5 ticks below resulting in it being about 30 seconds shorter in runtime. Overall, I preferred the faster tempo because I think it flows better that way. I couldn't make up my mind whether to set 120 or 125 as recommended tempo though. I think I'll go with 125 from now on.

cantabiled_125.mid

What about speeding it up a little bit more? Like perhaps 5 or 10 ticks more?

I think that might be too fast.

The midi has no sustain so it sounds thinner than on a real piano with pedal.