chopin

Ok very interesting, because I see and hear 2 key signatures played against each other. But the different key signatures themselves are "in key". I suppose this naturally gives us 2 different harmonies without having to manage accidentals. Interesting concept, and at times this sounded a bit like Ravel. Fun rhythms, and for an exercise this sounds like it could be a nice little standalone piece, maybe a prelude, or some type of introduction to a larger work.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.75 10 7 10 10 8.5 7.5 8 Avg: 8.59 Very clear motif throughout, and the whole tone harmony makes this sound more like a fantasy. What's interesting is that I think you mix the harmony with bits of pentatonic. Thus, we have lots of tension and release throughout which helps keep you on your toes. At times I felt like this piece turns into a thriller, and this has a lot to do with your chosen harmony. The piece therefore gives us a mixed bag of emotions. Sometimes I feel like we are in a fantasy world perhaps in a forest. Then there are peaceful sections which could be the summer afternoon setting. The pentatonic sections remind me of beautiful vast fields or feelings of zen. Then we have the viola sections which could be a chase scene. Finally, your harp runs sometimes creates a mood of terror. Nevertheless, this is a very fun and interesting piece, and a good lesson on how harmony can really transform moods from one to another!

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7 8 9 9.5 8 8 7.5 8 Avg: 8.125 This is like a mini Beethoven piano concerto, how cool! If I were to rate just the first half, your harmony would be 4 or 5. I'm unsure if the choice of the French Horn as a solo contributed to this. But after the first half, things start to get much more interesting. The piano sections and your choices of rhythm and harmony absolutely remind me of a Beethoven piano concerto. The harmony is no longer a 4 or 5, and the rhythms and melodies mesh together really well.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 7.5 5.5 9 6 9.5 10 8.75 7.5 Avg: 7.96 Very upbeat piece easily reminds me of a summer afternoon. The intro is a beautiful opening in the classical style, very well done. Clear structure and elegantly formed themes make this a very easy piece to follow. The dynamics or audio balancing need a little work because a lot of your melodies (anything in the treble clef) sound muddled due to the lack of proper balancing. My favorite part aside from the opening, is your key changing at around 2:40. This was a very much needed change because most of your harmony was quite tame. Although the key changing was a fun deviation of your piece, modulations within key can sometimes break the monotony, so don't be afraid to temporarily venture out of key every so often.

Very well done man, incredible work and very creative, this is so much fun to listen to. I was watching your YouTube video because the effects are wild, and I was glued to the screen. This waltz is actually perfect for Halloween I think, just the overall mood. I think the left hand complements the right hand so well, and your key changing, modulations etc, literally keep me on my toes waiting to hear how you progress the next section. The right hand is really fun to listen to with your chromatic runs and trills. And none of these feel like filler to me, they all have purpose. One of my favorite parts is around 45 seconds in, when you get relentless with your runs, it just feels so satisfying. As far as the visuals, yes I am very interested. Music Jotter is very well equipped to work with outside software, especially Lilypond and Verovio. I just have to code it but MJ is 100% data driven.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 9 9.5 9.5 8.5 10 8.5 8.75 8.75 Avg: 9.06 All movements are done well. You have excellent themes, appropriate and interesting harmony and very clear form. Your audio and dynamics are also excellent. And I normally don't compliment engraving of music, but in this case as far as the score goes, it looks really professional. Did you use Dorico for your scoring? Let me comment on harmony so you understand why I marked so high. Even though your harmony may not be as crazy as let's say, experimental or modern music, I feel you used appropriate harmony which complements your themes beautifully. It also helps that your movements are contrasting each other with style and mood according to the poem's stanzas. And one more point about your harmony, in my view, you are using it to portray mood correctly, while not sacrificing the integrity of your music's theme and structure. And as mentioned before, your themes are very fun and catchy. Honestly I couldn't find a dull moment, you knew just the right length before concluding each section.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8 10 7.5 8.5 7.5 8.5 8 10 Avg: 8.5 This is one of those pieces where you have to listen to it a few times to understand it. But once you do, it's very rewarding. The improvised intro is a nice touch, what a dramatic opening! It sounds like your subject is trying to come to form in this section, but it's not quite there yet. Then you form it in the middle sections (the intro to your fugue) and that's when this piece starts to really shine. Anyone who has a hard time with fugues, must learn to train their ear on the main subject, and listen for that subject in the fugue. Once you do that, you realize how awesome and clever this piece is. Also, another strong point is that your harmony is very well done! Does it remind me of summer afternoon / evening? I'm not sure, maybe the end of summer or a rainy summer afternoon since this quite melancholic!

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.5 5 9.5 8.5 9 9.5 9.5 8 Avg: 8.43 Very nice relaxing theme, which was clear throughout the piece. Your form / structure was easy to follow, and this made the listening experience very enjoyable. I think you nailed the challenge with the mood. Aside from feeling serenity and peace, it reminds me of a night summer afternoon with a cool breeze. Your audio is great, and your usage of dynamics really bring out your music! Overall it's a very beautiful piece, short enough where the harmony isn't too much of an issue, but any longer, we'd need some changes in key in my opinion. This is why I marked you down with harmony. When harmony doesn't really change key, the music risks starting to sound like a hymn.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 10 8 10 7.5 8.5 9 7 8.5 Avg: 8.56 Nice romantic harmony paired with a gorgeous theme makes this a very clear and easy to follow piece. Variations of your themes are also very cool, and your key changing keeps this piece from feeling too repetitive. I definitely hear your Tchaikovsky influence, but around 3:30 I actually think I hear some Mendelssohn influence as well, maybe you didn't even realize it. Be careful though with balancing the piano parts of your melody, they were definitely too weak in velocity especially compared to your strings. But that's just an audio issue. As far as the execution of the challenge, this one is tough for me because it does remind me of romance between a man and a woman (or some type of heartbreak), but the story you are portraying here is so romantic-heavy, I forget about the summer part. But that might just me! Despite that, this is a beautiful and heartfelt piece.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 6 7.5 7.5 10 7 8 8.5 7.5 Avg: 7.75 I think you chose very difficult instrumentation. Your harmony is simple, but yet, tricky. I say this because your instrumentation makes it a bit hard to decipher sometimes (for me), but I do hear your key changing as I listen through. Your piece also appears to get more dense and complex as it moves on. I think your melody and instrumentation are doing a pretty good job in portraying a serene summer afternoon, especially towards the beginning. It almost reminds me of being on an island. I marked you high on creativity because this is an interesting piece in terms of instrumentation, and your overall theme and structure. I also feel like a lot of moods and emotions are going on here which may confuse the listener as to what the goal of the piece may be. If I had to summarize the piece, it goes from serene summer afternoon, and ends with a high energy midnight dance on an island perhaps. With regards to your audio, be careful with tearing. Be sure you normalize your audio output so that your loudest parts do not red-line.

Melodies Themes Motives Harmony Chords Textures Form Development Structure Time Originality Creativity Score Presentation Instrumentation Orchestration Playability Execution of Given Challenge Taste 8.5 4 9 7 7.5 9 10 7.5 Avg: 7.8 You have a very distinct serene melody which reminds me of the poem. Given that this was the challenge, I think you obviously succeeded on that front! The simple harmony however puts more pressure on you as the composer, because then your on the hook for a good, clear theme. In this case, the harmony definitely can get a little repetitive after awhile. However, the piece is short enough where you are almost pushing the limits, but your theme luckily is strong enough to balance this out! If the piece were any longer though, I would have to sit down with you and have a discussion about changing key :-) Even if it meant throwing in a flat here and there. But the melody is fun and your structure is another strong point. In conclusion, this is a very easy to follow piece with a clear structure and a fun theme!

Straight away you get to the point with the very nice intro. It has a distinct theme and haunting harmony. The fugues are very beautiful, and the transitions are quite smooth. But I especially love the intro. The intro has a Tchaikovsky feel to it, very dark, emotional with lots of soul. The fugues are fun and I can tell you paid close attention to orchestration. It seems that your key changing is pretty tame in this movement, at least within sections. Your transition from the 8 minute mark to the 9:20 mark is particularly well done and I like how you split this movement into 2...where the first section is the darker side, and the second section is the happier side. It gives the piece a nice balance. The second section reminds me a little of Bach's inventions, before you remind us of the darkness of the entire piece by shifting focus back to the intro!

This sounds a lot more complex than it really is. The cool thing about this is that the music is quite unique, which is a paradox given how simple the music notation is. This probably has a lot to do with the instrumentation and dynamics. Quite an interesting piece, and unnerving too! Love to hear the vibraphone be used in a completely different context, other than jazz.

This is a massive improvement from your other versions of this theme. Honestly, I can't believe this is the same piece you've been working on, it's the same theme, but an utter transformation. Apparently this also works very well as a string quintet! Your themes are beautiful and memorable, and the harmonization is gorgeous. I can seriously sit down and listen to this a few times in order to learn from your work. This version just goes to show how good structure and a good recording can completely transform the same melody (something I've been trying to tell you for awhile). Your key changing is also really well done. Honestly I feel like you made a massive leap from the previous version(s) to this version. Whatever happened, something must have clicked!

Some interesting key changes throughout the piece with fun and playful motives. My favorite part by far is around the 4:20 section. Beautiful melody here shared between the clarinet and the cello with some nice key changing here as well. The fast pace of the scherzo is fun but not overwhelming, especially since you break up the pace a bit especially at around 5:30. BTW, the part at around 5:30 to 5:40 reminds me of Chopin followed by Tchaikovsky! Oh, and 7:30 is a great part as well! I feel like you intertwine your melodies in this section which is definitely more Beethoven-esque. But this is a fantastic movement, I definitely hear influences of your other works in this piece.