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Two pieces from song cycle I was assigned to write at summer semester at conservatory. Tam pod Salatinom has lyrics for a woman singer but my friend liked the piano so much that he took the liberty to change the lyrics a little bit so he could sing it at concert in our city. The second one is a short song I liked because it was fresh and funny and I learned a lot there about how not to complicate things. The main thing I am looking for in critique would be notes on form and piano stylization. For example I learned that Tam pod Salatinom has hard changes for hand and making it unnecessarily difficult to sight read it and even a little awkward to play it. This summer I am trying to work on my form and developing an idea so I can create more cohesive works. The three stanzas of Tam pod Salatinom are based on the meaning of text so each stanza has different stylization. Also I tried to avoid unison of piano with voice to some extent at least since I find it hard to be at home while doing harmonic background for voice and hearing it how it sounds together. So gotta challenge myself in that I suppose. Any other suggestions? What do you guys got to say on harmonies and the sound overall? Looking forward to reviews. EDIT: Lyrics for the songs. Tam pod Salatinom (There, below Salatin) /Salatín is a mountain in Low Tatras, Slovakia/ There, below Salatín rustles a little green mountain, my beloved told me, my beloved told me, that she does not love me so I put a new feather, so I put a new feather behind my hat and I wonder away la dee da dee, la dee da dee to far far away (into the world) In Biely Potok (White Stream/sort of a village south from the city of Ružomberok/) at Biely Potok they play a music for dancing and there in Martinček (another village near Ružomberok) and there in Martinček people celebrate (Bursujú - have fun, eat and dance mostly in a folkish tradional way) A white goose flew, a white goose flew onto the water and she (the girl) lost her freedom (she got married). Mother, do not cry, mother do not cry oh it will be soon, for at the celebration, for at the celebration a beloved one I shall find I will take her, I will take her on a white horse and I will love her la dee da dee, la dee da dee to the final days. Počkaj diouča (Wait girl) Wait girl I have something to tell you wait girl I have something to tell you Yesterday night you didn't want to open for me neither the doors nor the gate not even talking with me Wait girl for you will regret.

Nice work.. The human voice is perhaps ...the most complex musical instrument in existence. A really well trained singer, can introduce color in/out at will.. fade vibratos in/out, and control the speed of the vibrato (most singers only have one speed of vibrato.. This level of control, can greatly enhance your composition.. Of course singers of that calibre, are going to want a fair amount of $$$ to sing for you.. Never cared much for vocal libraries, way too static.. but it's what most of us must defer do, because of recording cost, accommodation of several singers. I had one excellent untrained singer,, I often had to rewrite lyrics/melody to get the best performance out of him.. That is an important aspect a composer must take into account.. You obviously want to make the singer sound the best he can be.. Yes, learning all you can about the human voice as an instrument, can only benefit your compositional process. Years ago, I had a singer friend, who was singing in Bernstein's 'Mass".. He was having vocal node problems, and was going to resign, cause he couldn't perform his part the way it was written.. Leonard Bernstein, was gracious enough to rewrite his part, so that he could sing it, and stay in the company.. Now thats the sign of a great composer.. Keep up the good work