Leaderboard

Hi Everyone, I just recently finished my first "exact" composition for solo piano . Prior to this, I have been improvising and composing various themes for many years but this is the first time I went about trying to put together a coherent piece and notating it. I would love to hear what people think about it. Here's a link to my own performance ( with score) on youtube: Also, here's a link to the score (also attached as pdf) : https://musescore.com/user/25828516/scores/5759589/s/0aktCw I realize that some of the more difficult sections aren't a 100% clean in my performance. So those interested, could listen to a "100% accurate" but somewhat stiff/mechanical software (musescore) playback to evaluate those sections. ( I did my best to put hidden instructions in the software so it sounds less robotic ). I'm completely self-taught in music theory/composition and am trying to evaluate where I stand currently as far as my compositional skills are concerned. So, any kind of feedback would be highly appreciated. Also, here's a short description of the piece: The title of this piece alludes to the tendancy of this piece to drift from one style to another, from music of one period to another, from one mood to another. The music also tends to "drift" from a standard waltz form to music which has little resemblance to a waltz ( but may still maintain a slight waltz pulse) . Thank you very much !!

Hello everyone! Recently this piece of mine premiered in Florence, Italy. Despite the tiny amount of rehearsal time (45 minutes only) I am quite happy with the result. The piece is dedicated to my grandma. The four movements describe the different stages of the Alzheimer’s desease. The themes in the first movement evolve and destroy themselves during the piece, as my grandma’s mind was losing all her memories. Any feedback is appreciated!

Thanks! I'm very glad you liked it. This is a huge compliment as Ravel is at the top of my favorite composers list.

Hello everybody! I've just posted my first string quartet, called "Impetuous". Here's the link for it! I was very much inspired by Villa Lobos' 6th string quartet, and wrote the first movement with it in mind. It's called "Impetuous" because I was trying to convey the sense of progress and continuity through rhythmic impetuosity, instead of using harmony or any other technique to do so. Therefore, the staccato sound and counterpoint/imitation was of great use. Also, I'm currently working on the third and last movement of a Sonata for Oboe and Piano, so if you're interested in listening to it, please subscribe to my Youtube channel. I genuinely hope you enjoy the piece, and would love to get feedback on it! Thanks for your attention! Best wishes, Jean.

I love this! It reminds me of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" soundtrack, which is a masterpiece, and one of my favourite pieces ever. (I meant that as a huge compliment) Every thing feels in place, and I would definately listen to more of it! Good job! Best wishes, Jean.

I really like that moment at the end of measure 8. I also like the atonality in the second movement, although I think harmonically it could be explored a bit further (although I don't know if that would change what your vision for this piece was). Really like what you did at measure 98 for some reason haha that dissonance is cool. The last movement was really interesting, I don't really know how to play with dissonance so brazenly like that yet so that was cool to hear.

And these happen to be my favorite influences, as well. No wonder I liked your waltz so much!

First of all, a big Thanks for such an inspiring feedback. I really appreciate you taking the time to give me detailed comments. Chopin was definitely an influence throughout. My other main influences in this piece would be Ravel, Debussy and to an extent Prokofiev, and even a bit of Gershwin. The part starting at M.118 was one of the most exciting ideas I had while composing this, so I'm especially thrilled that other people are appreciating it too 🙂 . Indeed, I spent a significant amount of time trying to make sure I was as clear as possible in all my details ( also with things like enharmonic spellings ... ) . It's hard work !! and lastly .. The harder parts of this piece were a bit beyond me to begin with, and took a LOT of disciplined effort for me to get to this point ( I was inspired by remembering how Ravel practiced so hard to be able to premier his concerto , even though he couldn't in the end) . So its especially encouraging to hear such comments as yours. Thanks again for your encouragement, and I'll get started on the next piece right away !

Hey! I quite like this. However, I think the rhythms could be worked a bit. I feel like the tenuto you're using will sound better if you have a slower tempo. Personally, I believe that if you want to keep this tempo, you should connect the chords a little bit better, maybe adding a long pedal note, adding a bit more rhythmic diferenciation between the voices, etc. That will better showcase the harmonic material you have going on, which I feel is weakened by the current arrangement. This piece has potential, but it needs some more work. I hope my opinion was of any help! Best wishes, Jean.

Call it as you like. It's just a name. And without calling it something very odd to the name, why not? I think forms are important issues to know about, but taking them in strict sense only enforces to the pieces of the classics. We are in 21st century, no longer in 18th..., so you can do whatever you want. (In fact, I think we should). Regarding the music I think it's a balanced piece and very catchy. I like the variation in the parts, and also the modulations are very soft.

Thank you very much ! and my apologies as I didn't post a description of the piece before ( I've updated that in the original post now) but here it is anyway: The title of this piece alludes to the tendancy of this piece to drift from one style to another, from music of one period to another, from one mood to another. The music also tends to "drift" from a standard waltz form to music which has little resemblance to a waltz ( but may still maintain a slight waltz pulse) . So, the somewhat capricious nature of the piece is intentional. It was my hope that there would be some structural unity provided by the fact that , aside from the section towards the end, a good part of the composition involves variation of quite a few themes. For example, the part from around 1:25 -1:35 and then 2:15-2:25 employ identical or very similar sequence of notes but in entirely different contexts, hence sounding quite different. I apologize If I'm being too detailed here ! On second thoughts, I suppose by definition this could be thought of as a medley of sorts , but it wasn't intended as such ! 🙂

Hi there, I postet this piece almost exactly five years ago in a very early version (it was actually more of a MIDI mockup) and now in the last few weeks I've been working on it again very intensively. The whole thing was recorded with new and – hopefully – more realistic orchestral samples and re-arranged here and there. I would be happy to get some feedback, especially on the mix or the sound in general and what could be improved. Synthetically realizing an entire orchestra on a PC is really a science in itself (at least for me) and I must honestly admit that it took me at least two to three times as long for recording and mixing in the sequencer that for the actual composition in the notation program. https://www.soundclick.com/artist/default.cfm?bandID=674265 As a video with excerpts from both score and sequencer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1qQsuz7TPg Thanks for your feedback :) Dustin