Grant Weep

Hello, What a wonderful waltz. I listened it to 4-5 times now, and each time at 0:23, or measure 11....the Bnat in your right hand, really clashes with the Bb in the left hand. In that same measure (11) and in measure 15, you do this thing where you have like a power chord going on....G in LH and G-D in right hand. Sort of feels out of keeping with the lovely sophisticated, I'm in a Cafe in Paris feeling smoking a cigarette reading Camus sort of feeling that you got going on otherwise. In measure 11, I personally "feel" a Gminor9 chord sort of voiced in a way where it's clustered together. But I realize that that may or may not work with what you have right after (going into the Cmaj). Perhaps, just nixing the Bnat and keeping it Bb. Anyways, that's how the piece sounds to me...just this one place that seems out of place. Really digging the chord/atmosphere at measure 37. At measure 40, you play a F# I think that's not in the score? Maybe it was an accident/improvisation, but I like it! Perhaps you could expand on the idea since I believe that this general idea has not come up in the music yet.

Hello, If this is something you wrote a year ago, I'd be interested in hearing how your more recent compositions! The intro was pretty cool, the use of effects there was great. I tried to follow on my keyboard, since there was no sheet music. I think I got the main musical ideas. The cool thing about using the D major and occasional D minor chords is that it gives a bit of an epic feel to the piece. As you mentioned, not using the tonic always makes me feel like the music gets this short of push to it. Like, on the move. To me, it gives this sort of subjective quality like a journey. So that's pretty cool! From a structural point of view, I am hearing A/B/A/B/A. Kinda like verse/chorus/verse/chorus/verse. I mean your piece is pretty nice already. The type of structure that you have is great. Sometimes, experimenting with the structure can really make a piece of music sound special. Like any pop song, you could try adding an intro (which you kind of have, but you used effects so I have mentioned it). You could try adding a bridge. You could try adding an outro. Once again, these are all matters of subjective taste. Many great pieces written A/B/A/B/A structure, the length of your piece is also not too long, so it works. But yeah, I like how you are doing this little variations to make things interesting...alternating between the A - E - A -E, and then going E-A-E-A. I think while the overall musicality is fairly simple, you are doing some nice things with it. I find that music can be very dialectical, depending on how you look at it. Like, truly good music is slightly surprising and also comforting. You want to try to be innovative and find your own sound, but also not write something so innovative that nobody can understand. You'll want to take risk and be safe, but perhaps sometimes taking a risk is the safe thing to do, and perhaps keeping it safe is taking a risk? Anyways, just some ramblings from an old guy, welcome and hope to see you around more often.

Here is another banger:

Great thread Lithl. Lots of good stuff here. By the way...how do you pronounce your name? Is it...lith-el? Like "little" but with a lisp? At least that's how I say in my head when I see your name pop up. Please correct me if I am wrong! I will share one guy....this guy is incredible. I drew inspiration from him in writing my own music.

Don't think anyone has posted this yet... Star Fox 64, Sector X. I prefer the quartet version.

Hello, Wow, there was a lot to listen to. I listened to the first two movements, and I realized that the third movement you have already posted. I did not look at your introductions prior to listening the piece. I saw a previous poster mention that the 2nd movement was devastating. That was it. So I went in blind. I can see now the meaning/introduction behind your pieces, which is always interesting to do after listening to something blind. I liked the second movement the most. I would not use the verb devastating. I personally had this really heavy feeling in my chest as I listened to it. There was sort of crushing feeling that I got from the piece. I followed along the sheet music and wrote comments here and there. For measure 62 I wrote nice, it almost sounds a bit Chinese? Being Chinese myself, I can't help but notice parts of music that sound even remotely asian. I really liked measure 78 to 81. I also really liked measure 117 to 120. The first movement is a bit bananas to me. I also followed on the sheet music and wrote notes from beginning to end. The song starts of sort of in a heroic sense, very exciting to me. Measure 36 was a bit of relief in the sense that my ears got some easy to follow musical ideas. Throughout the song I could hear tidbits of what I can assume is the main theme. So, perhaps I am getting better at listening to your style, or it was simply more obvious for this piece. I wondered if measure 110 was actually playable? On measure 342, I wrote "nice". Overall, these three movements seems to have this natural cadence to it in terms of rhythm and overall direction (up/down etc). However, 70% of the time the harmonies are just really confusing. It has this sort of unsettling effect to listen to. It almost feels like someone breaking the rules of music harmony on purpose and just enough to troll around. But once in a while, there is this really nice moment where perhaps the preceding dissonance really sells that moment, and the pay off seems worth it. I personally prefer your slower compositions. I don't know that I would voluntarily listen to movement 1/3 ever again. However, I think I would want to listen to movement 2 more. I really like it. I don't think that I've really listened to a lot of music that has your particular style. Could you cut some stuff out and tighten movement 2? Sure, I am listening to it, the feeling of chest tightness comes back. And as I listen to movement 2 again, there is this sense of sweetness to the piece. How can something be crushing and sweet at the same time? I don't know, but I think you wrote something that captures that feeling.

Hello, This is the 2nd and 3rd installment of my Kids Songs series, which follow "Kids Perfect". These songs were written with more conventional harmonic ideas, though I tried to add some variation and spice here and there to make things interesting. Once again, these are recorded on a nice grand piano at home. Feel free to crank the volume and enjoy :) Kids Born (Arthur) was written prior to the birth of my first born child. I had no idea what he was going to be like. I wrote the piece in anticipation while my wife was still pregnant. I am particularly satisfied with that chord transition at 1:16 to Bb major. If someone knows more about music theory, perhaps they can show me why it works? Or perhaps other pieces of music that might have a similar idea? In all honestly, I probably might have made a mistake while playing/composing and it just sounded good, there was not necessarily much conscious thought that went into that particular chord. Maybe it's not even that special! Kids Born Encore (Marlon) was written some 3 years after my youngest was born...at this point I had a sense of my second child's personality. So the writing process was very different. Anyone who has ever raised 2 young kids will tell you that the kids want to have the same of everything - same toys, same food, same everything. So, naturally it was important to me to try to keep some sense of sameness but also retaining some individuality. So I chose F major, a key that feels same enough to G major and with a goal of overall similar compositional style to the first one. But alas, I was not the same person. 5 years have passed in between writing Kids Born and Kids Born Encore. One cool fact about this song is the irregular key signature, which I had no idea even existed until I transcribed it onto sheet music! Anyways, here it is. Hope you all enjoy it and let me know any feedback/critiques/suggestions.

Hello, I didn't know much about music theory when I started composing around age 12/13. I am in my late 30's now, and still writing. Never took a lesson in music theory, but I am more interested in music theory these days. If you write music long enough, you will notice the patterns yourself and if you pay close enough attention to what you are doing, or willing to take risks you will eventually pick a few things up on music theory. One obviously does not need to know music theory to compose music. As people have pointed out...it does depend on what kind of music you intend to write. You have gotten extreme good advice I think. I will give you some advice from my perspective. I think that if you intend to pursue music as a hobby, it might be fun to simply use music theory as an adjunct to your purposes. Here's what I mean by this: In my opinion, so much of western tonal music (there is so much out there that is not conventional western music like traditional folk music, instruments that use microtuning etc) is sort of "figured out". To me, music theory is simply a map that intrepid and pioneering composers have drawn out and analyzed/labeled after their own efforts in exploring the music landscape. To embark on your personal journey, you probably don't need the whole map, but it might to help to have some starting spots. Your starting spot will likely come from the type of music you find personally compelling. Of course, if you are thinking about being a professional musician/composer I think that music theory may not be technically necessary (especially if you are a genius!) but extremely useful. Once again, if you are just here for the fun...I think that it's nice to explore the musical landscape yourself through composition. There have been many times that I found something that I thought was mine while composing only to realize that the "greats" of music have already explored these concecpts and often time explored them more carefully than I had done so. As I go older, this feeling of finding something new started to become more and more rare, and so I started to try to actively learn more about it. The older I get, the more I appreciate all the musical worlds and maps that have been discovered before me. But that's part of getting old I think. It's very normal to be young and want to conquer the world. I think most of have been there to some extent :) Hope you keep writing and learning and sharing! EDIT - some spelling errors, whoops.

OCD is actually a tricky thing. It can mean a different things to lay people and has specific meaning to mental health professionals. So, I have no idea your background and hence cannot deduce what you mean by OCD spectrum or OCD. From my perspective as a professional, OCD is much more about "doubt" than perfectionism. And the doubt is very specific and pathological and carries with it a unique meaning, with some overlap between the lay person's idea of doubt. One theme in OCD would be symmetry. I could perhaps see someone with OCD (if the music is a severe manifestation of their psychopathology), writing music that is very mathematically rooted. Maybe sort of like some of Bach's music which seems to be almost symmetrical? Anyways, I have no idea...just hypothesizing since you brought up OCD. Of note, perfectionism is moreso seen as a OCPD trait/disorder. And I 100% can see that many composers would have OCPD traits or disorder. Heck, most professionals (lawyers/doctors/dentists etc...) will have OCPD features. I've always wondered if ADHD help with improvisation and therefore acts a bridge to better composing. Just a theory....a composition theory! This is great stuff. I really enjoyed the caretaker piece. I am really hoping to write something like this, but for solo piano. Your musical taste is very broad Lithl!

Yes, this is very helpful. I've actually looked into historical records of Schuman and his mental illness. Some think it was a neurological condition, others not so much. I think politics gets involved too. I've ventured my own educated guess on the matter. For me, it's also a matter of professional interest in some ways. I've heard the stories of Rach and the failure of his first symphony and his come back piano concerto No2. I've heard about the stories of tragedy of Mahler's life, I think his children was killed tragically? I guess maybe I wasn't as specific...I am not really looking at composers who have mental illness. Music can be written by all sorts of people, I don't know that a mental illness is drastically going to alter the music with the possible exception of claiming that music is more authentic (if writing a song about, a mental illness that a composer actually has experienced. I am looking at deliberate depictions of mental illness in music. So, a song specifically written about a diagnosis, like Bipolar Disorder. It could be written by a person who has bipolar disorder, or a person who does not have bipolar disorder...if that makes sense. Thanks for sharing some tidbits on the other composers that I was not aware of. It may interest you that people have looked into the link between mental illness and creativity and there is some strong correlation with mood disorders (depression/bipolar disorder) and increased creativity. My ultimate goal isn't to romanticize or pathology these illnesses...I am trying to write a song to humanize these illnesses and perhaps to get people to understand mental illnesses better, reduce the stigma, maybe talk about it a bit more. So hopefully in this sense, this post is not overly controversial. I am not suggesting that people who compose music are more or less mentally ill than the general population.

Hello, I'm not really sure what to say about an improvisation...which sort of exists as this beautiful in between with live performance/virtuosity and composition. Though both takes sound similar. So is it more of an improvisation on something you have already written? But yeah, very jazzy. It gets intense at times. You got some nice "licks" that you revert to at times. Comes across as a very experienced musician. Once again, not sure what else to say. I like that you don't always keep the pedal down. It sounds very smooth, not really like an improvisation, but also sounds pretty free flowing. You play the notes with confidence, even the "wrong" ones. But you probably already know that. I like the 0:32 minute thing that you play on take 2 most. The little glissando thing around 1:40/1:50 is nice too, on the take 2. I enjoyed listening to both takes, thanks for sharing.

Hello, I've listened to this one twice as I type this. It's starts off very fast paced and it feels like there is so much thrown at the listener. It does sound good initially to my ears, but sort of becomes a barrage of notes at some point (which I want to be clear, sounds good...just feels a bit discombobulating). I think that a real life recording could potentially add clarity to what the piece is trying to accomplish. I guess I'm sort of the opposite of you...I could never write music only via musical notation. Whereas I guess you wrote it all by pen! That's pretty darn awesome if you ask me. I mean, I guess what I am saying is that listening to your music sort of feels like watching a Zack Snider movie. There are these really nice moments that happen in the music, but I struggle to hear the bigger picture if that makes sense. The moments are nice though and it's an overall pleasant experience. (I like Zack Snider movies). Once again...it's possible that having a life performer could bring out some of the ideas in your piece. Also, the middle section is reaaaally weird (in the context of the overall piece). And you obviously are aware of this based on your intro for the piece. There are some really nice tender moments in the middle section of the piece too. As I finish typing this...I've listened to it 3 times. It gets better with each listen...I think I can hear the ideas a bit better as I listen to it more! And after 3 times, I am starting to see the little variations when the main theme returns each time. So there ya go. It seems entirely possible that your music requires a few listens to really get into it. And from my point of view, your music is intriguing enough that I wanted to listen to it more than once :)

@Lithl Thank you so much for your feedback. To be compared to Bill Evans is an extraordinary honor. I'm so happy that it evoked some emotions/mental images for you :). It is certainly a very nostalgic piece for me as well. Family is going well, kids are healthy. Hope the same for you, my friend. @Seni-G I never thought about it that way before. I composed music before I had kids and I always saw my good compositions as "creations" with perhaps a life of their own. I am so thrilled that you could listen to something I have written and felt something that I did not personally feel or consider. To me, it is ultimate goal of music to be able to achieve this sense that the music is alive and has it's own meaning to different people. I thank you for listening :)

Hello, It's been a blast listening to all your pieces for the past few weeks. I joined this forum many years ago when I was a "young composer". Writing music has always been a hobby of mine, though I am no longer a "young composer". I have a career, I have a family and I have kids. So, this is a song about my two boys. I wrote a set of 14 piano pieces for my kids meant to be played as a set last year. I've been working on getting the sheets engraved nicely and making some nice recordings at home on a grand piano. This one is called Kid's Perfect. It's a bit of a play on words I guess. The idea behind this piece is that I'm just messing around with perfect fifths. The twist is that I challenged myself to only play 6 sequential perfect fifth notes in any bar/phrase. So, it all starts with FCGDAE, or the first 6 notes of the C major scale rearranged, or a D minor 11 chord. I guess it's all the same thing in some ways. But I try to make it a bit more interesting later on. Thanks for listening, and let me know what you guys think. If you crank the volume up, you get to hear the rich harmonics that resonate in the piano sound board. https://youtu.be/U4IetXzY2Us

Hello, As you mentioned, the E major one sounds very chopin-ey, can hear direct quotes from the waterfall etude...but it's in E major! The C# Etude sounds absolutely wicked, in a good way. Of course it's very impressionistic. However! I accidentally opened two of your youtube links, so I had two versions of you playing, slightly out of sync and it sounded really cool. Obviously, you posted this with the general idea around classical music. But I wonder if some music producer could remix your works somehow, add a bit of delay or something. Maybe what you weren't thinking about...try it and let me know what you think? Both etudes in very different styles...Bravo!