Leaderboard

While I work on the slur in Music Jotter, it got myself asking the question, what even is a slur? Is it to create legato notes? If so, why not just use legato markings? Is it to help organize music or melody lines? So this got me thinking, let's have a YouTube challenge going over the various "use cases" for slurs. If you want to enter this challenge, just reply here with the piece you wish to be entered. The score is critical. If you don't have a score, you can't enter. Either submit an existing work (or compose a short example) to help demonstrate an aspect of the musical slur. Keep in mind, the slur has different meanings depending on instrumentation. For example, in strings vs piano, there are slightly different meanings due to how the instruments are played. But as you know with music, music is an art, and I'm sure there are other use cases for the slur. What are they? Upon your submission, point out which phrase you want me to demonstrate by giving me a bar number. Then give me a sentence or two as to "why" you used the musical slur in that section of your music. I will compile these results, and put them into a YouTube video.

The main instrument is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crwth I found it in this library: https://www.bestservice.com/en/dark_era.html It has a very interesting sound. Yes, except for the beginning, the entire track is on the same level/intensity. There are two or three shorter "quieter" parts in the middle of the track. Maybe it's really not enough variety... Thanks for your comment!

Hi @olivercomposer, I always like your movie music track! But the procedure of the music is more or less similiar to many film music, like the modulation in 1:37 when you move to hextonically related D minor, or the intensity which Peter mentioned. It's nonetheless very enjoyable, thx for sharing! Henry

Hi @Guardian25, I like the driving rhythm of the gigue! Will you go for a dominant entry for the second entry in your left hand manual part instead of tonic A major?

I see. That makes sense then. I guess I got caught off by the cadences that are full-on preparing you for the next part already. Nice!

Hi @Aw Ke Shen, I don't think it will be too long for a nocturne! I do think the tempo can be faster! I like the decent effort you have paid! I like the overall sad mood. Definitely see the influence from Chopin's famous C sharp minor nocturne. Start from b.56 the tempo marking can be weird for human players, but of course that's necessary for a computer "player" haha! I think you can definitely put more contrast, particularly in the middle section. In there you start to introduce a new theme which is good, but I think you can change even the mood and key! Like many Chopin's nocturnes the middle section is very different from the initial section. Also for the repeated sections you can also vary them more like introducing coloraturas and other rhythmic patterns! Decorative notes will make the melody more beautiful too! It's not ridiculous, I have done a 1 hour piece before LoL!! Thx for sharing! Henry

Thanks! Personally, I also think it's too long - though I don't quite know how to present the two diff endings without repeating everything else, as I can't quite prioritize.

Expertly done

I think this fits better under the name of etude: First of all, it has the same or very similar techniques throughout the whole piece, which makes it a piece suitable for learning and practicing certain techniques such as the jumps in the left hand or the emphasis on the beat notes on the right hand as @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said. Also, the themes are very similar for it to be considered a rhapsody and if it were a rhapsody I would say it lacks of a lyrical content (textural changes and modulations would make a bigger contrast and possibly make a piece more rhapsodical) Finally, I think the piece has a really appropriate duration for an etude, but it is too short to be a rhapsody (even though there are always exceptions like eleven minutes of etude in “la ricordanza” or 3 minutes of rhapsody in the 17th and 18th Hungarian rhapsodies) Do you know how to play this piece? thank you for sharing this piece

I don't think that there's anything offensive about the question of what kind of ethnicity this piece might emulate. I personally think it fits with the folk dances of the slavic regions of Hungary/Bulgaria. There's also some Polish folk dances (I would know about that since I am Polish and danced in a Polish Folk Dance Ensemble) that also use this kind of repeated open 5th drone that you have here. I think the piece is too long though. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum! Peter

Hi again Oliver! I visited your YT page and gave you a thumbs up! But I didn't find what I was looking for - the name of the main instrument you use for the melody in this piece! It sounds like some kind of ethnic bowed string instrument - is it supposed to be just a fiddle? And of course you have the section where the folk screaming female vocal takes over! LoL Besides that, my critique of the piece is that the intensity of the music stays the same throughout the whole track. I think more dynamic contrast would also remedy that - like for example, you could have had the introduction at a very reduced loudness .. then do some kind of big crescendo to the main theme. It seems like throughout the piece you just subtract or add instruments without changing the dynamic at which they're playing. I like the modulation at ~1:37. But the intensity still stays the same there. It makes the track seem like it doesn't have any contrasts that way imo. Thanks for sharing! Peter

Whole explanation here: https://komptools.blogspot.com/2023/10/acordes-ascendidos-ii-modulacion.html

Grow up.

I'm not being rude, I'm just telling it like it is. It's a stupid idea.

Sir, it is not appropiate, helpful or credible for a moderater to judge ideas with a derogatory tone. You can easily express your opinions in a polite manner. Please try harder to moderate your comments.

That's stupid. If the cue is for a melody then write the melody, not some abstraction of it. Percussionists read pitches regularly and deliberately dumbing the cues down to remove them is insulting to the player. Besides, it would be harder to read.