Leaderboard

Here is a short work for solo piano based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan, a vision". I have always struggled with writing for the piano for some reason. I am an improviser and the process of sitting down to focus on writing for my instrument has for some reason been a challenge. However, this is one of the more recent pieces on which I have worked. The piece begins with a depiction of bells and chimes whilst awake. Gradually, as the speaker becomes more intoxicated on opium, they are lulled to sleep and the dream of Xanadu beings. The music become more florid and spectral. Ultimately, the spectator is awoken and the sounds of the chimes that surround them returns.

That's just plain'ol voice leading tho. There's no "resolution" in the traditional sense since a 2nd inversion chord doesn't necessarily need to go to any other chord unless you're specifically talking about a dominant 2nd inversion that resolves to a tonic, in which case there are a couple of traditional voice leading options. Semantics matter in this stuff, that's why I'm trying to set things clear.

You got my attention there, what do you mean? I don't see a problem with those instances, but I'll elaborate why in a second. First, I want to get this out of the way cuz I think it could lead to some misunderstandings. There are 4 "typical" ways 2nd inversion triads are used: In the context of a Tonic-Dominant cadence with a 4-6 suspension. In this case the cadence is towards C major, the entire measure would be seen as "dominant," yet anatomically the first beat is 2nd inversion C major. It's only "ignored" due to it being a suspension. As a passing note (in this case the middle chord would be 2nd inversion G major.) Note how it's also in a non-accentuated beat. As a consequence of a sequence of inversions within the same chord. Note that as the bass spells out the triad, it will inevitably pass through the 5th. And finally as a result of a pedal note. Now, all that being said, I think that if you're only using two voices, there's a lot more room to change up the voice movement without it implying necessarily an inversion. However, this all really depends on how much you want to adhere to typical conventions. You can try different alternatives to using 2nd inversions, see if they sound better to you. There's no hard fast rule for this since there are plenty of exceptions anyway.