Seni-G

This music reminds of drinking absinthe in Prague. All feedback is welcome!

@PaperComposer I made some changes to this movement based on your feedback. Thanks again for sharing your ideas. I added in some more material for the violist to sink their teeth into, as a way to break up the drone. I decided not to give the droning part entirely to the cello because "disjointed" would actually be an apt vibe for this particular movement. If having two players play that drone means they periodically blur over each other, or their tempos aren't perfectly aligned, that all fits well with the metaphor that this movement is reaching for. Hopefully the new material for the viola adds a bit more spice to the piece, without changing the original character. Cheers!

Here's the next movement too, with an updated score.

I really like it! String orchestra is a perfect medium for this mood you've created. Reminds me a bit of the slow movement of Mahler's 5th symphony. The Mahler piece however has multiple moments where the music rises and tension, and spikes in emotion before falling back down into a quiet, somber mood. I wonder if you could lead this music to a sweeping climax then bring it back down, or experiment with that? You've set the vibe well, but the mood does not fluctuate much in this music. If you give this music a more pronounced story arc, you will have something really captivating on your hands.

The sliding is very intriguing! It reminds me a bit of a sitar. Have you ever considered incorporating some Eastern harmonies into your music? You could use that slide technique to great effect, and create something that sounds really unique.

I think you've got a real nice touch with counterpoint, at least based on this brief sample. I'd love to see you expand on this and turn it into a fully fleshed out piece. Nice job!

Hi everyone! I'm writing a pastoral-themed partita for solo violin. Here are the first two movements, which portray leaving the city for a long trip into the country, and the first moment of tranquility upon entering open country. Many more movements to follow, each one a short vignette from the trip. My goal for this project is to write music that will appeal to anyone who has ever enjoyed exploring one's own country, and bring out the sense of wonder that comes from getting out into the wide open spaces. I like to picture a violinist actually performing this second movement outside in the high desert, with the wind and the sun and the single violin voice singing a solitary song. All feedback is welcome.

I've been working on something new for solo violin, and I'd love any feedback on it. Thank you!!! (Please note that this computer version does not treat triple/quadruple stops in the arpeggiated fashion that a real performer would).

Thank you for your feedback! That's a tough question. I guess I did it for three reasons: I thought it would be fun. I thought I'd learn something from the experience. I hoped the end result would be art. So if I only accomplished 2 out of 3, that's still something I suppose. I love Bach, and this work is my personal homage to his genius, and my quest to crack his secrets. I learned so much about composition from this project. Stepping into his shoes for a bit, playing with his materials, allowed me to see how he solved certain compositional puzzles (such as how to express so much feeling with a single line of music, a single violin voice). While working on this music (and the two other partitas that are still in the works), I learned more about myself as an artist than I expected to. I know the work isn't perfect, but I really appreciate what it taught me. Speaking of teaching, the name of this partita is called "Teaching" because I wrote most of this music back when I was an economics teacher, while at the same time feeling like such a student in the realm of composition. I was teaching all day for a job, then coming home to my musical hobby where I tried to absorb whatever lessons I could from master teachers like J.S. Bach. My whole life revolved around the act of teaching, whether I was doing the teaching or receiving the lesson. So that's what this music means to me: the challenges of teaching and learning, and what can be gained from actively engaging in both. I still have much to learn. Yes neobaroque for sure. I appreciate your take, because I do not feel that the entire partita slavishly imitates Bach. Though I quote Bach, I am trying to transform his ideas into something original as the partita progresses. The Allemande is the most plagiaristic, so we start the partita firmly rooted in Bach. But by the time the Gigue and Sarabande roll around, the themes are all original. Thanks for listening and commenting!

You write very colorful, expressive music. Every time you post something, I imagine myself listening to a pianist perform it in a smoky lounge. I love this kind of music! So good for chilling out with a good cocktail and just letting the music and the vibe wash over you. I appreciate that you are trying to express the inexpressible. That's what this artform is all about. I hope you are in strong health! Wishing you the best.

I really like the interplay between the piano and the koto. It creates a very evocative color. The scale runs around measure 73 leading to that change in tempo at measure 74 was very effective. It changed up the feeling before the music started to drag. The piano work around measure 93 and the section after it where the koto reenters was very effective. I think measure 118 would be fun to see performed live. This piece gives the performer lots of fun material to sink their teeth into. I really enjoyed it. Great job!

This is what happens when I listen to too much Bach. He crawled into my brain and infiltrated this music completely. Or perhaps he is an old tree with deep roots, and this music is a funky patch of mushrooms growing off the side. I started with Bach's partita in D minor and warped it. I decided not to be coy with my plagiarism this time around. I gleefully borrowed (stole, pilfered) his thematic material, chopped it up, and dumped into the salad bowl full of my own ideas. The end result is... something new and old. Bach's motifs bob to the surface as the music rushes by, and the ear will catch them easily at times. But sometimes it's tough to tell what is original and what was his; the colors have blended together everywhere. My Allemande is a fun-house version of Bach's. The Courante borrows the exact rhythm from Bach's Courante, but changes all the notes. The Sarabande is more modern, and takes the ear on a bit of a challenging journey. The Gigue is a jaunty romp with some fun rhythmic changes - notice how it continues the consistent use of triplets that permeates the entire partita, except in the Gigue the triplets are created by using different accents on the subdivided beat. I am working on a Chaconne, which will be the final movement of the partita. In the meantime, I'd love to hear any feedback on this music. (Please note that I did not take the time to make the triple stops and quadruple stops sound arpeggiated the way a real violinist would perform them. Please use your imagination with the chords. I am aware that a real violinist would not be able to play all three/four notes at once, but would instead arpeggiate the chord. I intend for the finished music to sound the way a real performer would play those chords.)

I really enjoy everything you've posted so far. Complicated analysis aside, your style of music is just a style I enjoy listening to. I think you have a real gift for using motifs to convey a character. I like how the music is dissonant but still approachable. Cool stuff man.

My favorites have always been Rachmaninov's second, and the Emperor Concerto by Beethoven (happy 250th!).

This is beautiful music, with much thematic consistency. If this was on Spotify, I'd add it to the classical playlist I listen to at work. I like the power of the final movement, and the expressive changes you make to the theme throughout all the movements. Well done! Also, hats off to the performers for pulling together such a tight recording remotely!

I think this is a delight! Your control over jazz harmonies and rhythms is quite impressive. The pianist is really talented. This reminds me in many ways of Liszt (especially around 2:22), if Liszt had had a more expansive jazz vocabulary. It also reminds me of Japanese jazz (especially around 1:42), like it belongs as background music for an anime movie. But this is quite virtuosic at times, and evocative! Great job using harmonic motion to tell a story. Your return to the main theme gives this piece a hint of form, which helps prevent it from feeling like a stream of consciousness improv. Some listeners really need to hear a strong form in order to feel comfortable with a piece of music. You may lose some people that want to hear music with a more cohesive, linear quality and clearly defined form. I am not one of those listeners however; I enjoy pieces that wander and search and quest, and I appreciate the artistic potential of such a set-up. The fact that you are portraying a character, in my opinion, gives you total leeway to follow the concept to its end and invent your own forms to suit the character. My only recommendation would this: don't allow every movement in your planned suite to wander too much without a solid form. Give the listener a couple movements interspersed throughout that are anchors, something more predictable to give their ears a rest in between more frenetic movements like this first one. That way you can strike a balance between chasing your concept and creating a piece of art that is actually enjoyable to listen to all the way through. Too much chaos can wear out the listener after a couple movements of it. Thta's my two cents. (I have always struggled with this very thing as a composer). What you start at 4:52 is delicious. Cheers!

I think the second recording is delightful, and shows a lot of compositional prowess. Writing a captivating slow movement is very challenging, and you pull it off. You tell a lovely story with that progression, and your melody goes on a couple (pleasantly) surprising turns. It all holds together well and creates a delicious little package. A pleasure to listen to! The first piece is a good start, but doesn't have the same artistic quality as the second. My main recommendation would be to practice writing something more interesting for the bass. The Alberti bass can sound cliche in ten seconds if not handled with care. I recommend listening to the first 15 or so Beethoven piano sonatas. Those are an incredible tutorial in how to try different ideas for the bass. Beethoven never lets Alberti bass go for an entire piece, but instead it is one of many tools in his tool box. The key is he uses it when it is artistically pleasing to do so, and moves on to other rhythms for the bass when the moment has passed. Since you are an aspiring pianist, playing through as much of those pieces as you can is a learning experience of enormous quality. Check out the last movement of his second piano sonata for a great example of how he uses Alberti bass selectively. Keep it up! You've got a real talent here. I am surprised to hear you haven't studied much theory. You're very good, and as you study more theory you will only improve.

Thank you for your feedback. The comparison to Ives really makes my day. I love the tone colors he uses, especially when he isn't fully embracing atonality. I really appreciate your feedback. This piece is definitely decadent and self-indulgent. It goes on and on and takes very long breaths. At the time when I was writing it, that all fit in with my concept of healing, how that's a long process with many false endings. At the time it made sense to write music that reflected the arduous nature of rebuilding something that had been destroyed, of searching for something that isn't there (looking for a summer bird in the dead of winter). However now that the piece is complete, and I've had many months to reflect on it (and lose some of my emotional attachment to the music), I don't know how successful it is as a piece of art. I may have leaned too heavily on the concept and created something that drags out in a boring or confusing fashion. I'm still working on that balance between concept and enjoyability for the listener. At least I can now check off the list "write the longest piano song on earth" and go write something shorter. This music is based on a poem by Robert Frost: Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter The west was getting out of gold, The breath of air had died of cold, When shoeing home across the white, I thought I saw a bird alight. In summer when I passed the place I had to stop and lift my face; A bird with an angelic gift Was singing in it sweet and swift. No bird was singing in it now. A single leaf was on a bough, And that was all there was to see In going twice around the tree. From my advantage on a hill I judged that such a crystal chill Was only adding frost to snow As gilt to gold that wouldn't show. A brush had left a crooked stroke Of what was either cloud or smoke From north to south across the blue; A piercing little star was through. When I first wrote this music, I intended to set those lyrics to song. Therefore all the main melodies in the piece are song-like. Eventually I dropped the words, exploded the music, and let it wander and quest for 20 minutes. The poem (and the song) are about searching for something that used to be there, but isn't there any more. The metaphor is the "bird with an angelic gift" that sings so beautifully in the summer, but when you return to that same place in the dead of winter the bird is nowhere to be found. Searching for that bird in winter is what this entire song is about. Cheers!

I've posted the computerized version of this one previously, but here is a recording by a real life human pianist (Edward Cohen). This is music about healing. Healing is not pleasant when it’s actually happening. Sure it feels great once it’s done, but the process itself is slow. It requires intense patience, and often comes with pain. So this music isn’t about being healed already, but about healing.

Hi there! I think this music is pleasant, however it feels incomplete to me. What I'm hearing for the first minute and a half is essentially a four chord progression that repeats on loop. This progression sounds like a part of a song, but not a complete song. I recommend trying to push your compositional envelope a bit more. Expand your initial progression so that it feels more like a complete piece. No matter how many ornaments or percussion samples you add, the progression gets old when it's just playing the same chords on loop for over a minute. Try some new directions so that the progression starts to have different parts (for example: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge). Around 1:40 the music starts to get more interesting as you explore new chords. This was by far my favorite part. This felt like you were freeing yourself up a bit to explore, which is where the music starts to feel more like "art". I also like the note you end the piece on. You've got good instincts! Go explore more. Try to write a piece that is fundamentally interesting on a harmonic and melodic level before you start adding in percussions loops and other wing-dings. Simply adding a second progression early on in the piece will do a lot to making this music more interesting.

You've created a very pleasing mixture here: it is jazz but also the Spanish influence pops in and out in subtle ways. At times the accompaniment feels as if it's about to head to a more strict Latin style rhythm, but then it changes before it fully commits in that direction. I like that type of fusion because it keeps a piece from being a predictable character piece, and shows your flexibility as a composer. I especially like the piano part starting around measure 61. I agree with Paper Composer that giving the trombone more meat to chomp on would only improve the music. This type of music belongs in a smoky bar (I love music like that). If a trombonist with improvisation skills had this music to play around with, this could be a strong foundation for some really wonderful jazz. Cheers!

Thank you both for your feedback! Paper Composer you're so right about the run-on sentence quality of some of this music. That is something I've always wrestled with. I write a lot of different ideas, then fall in love with all of them and I can't let them go.... I need to work on installing a filter. And yes, "wildly illogical" is an excellent way to describe parts of that second movement. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to this beast of a piece. Luis, thank you for listening! Milena is one of my favorite things I've ever written, so it makes me very happy to hear that you enjoyed it. I also get tired of purely classical forms and harmonies, though I never fully unhinge myself from those classical styles. I've really enjoyed everything I've heard of your music as well. I like writing harmonies that bend the ear a bit, and I've detected that quality in you as well. Cheers mate! Jonathan

I think this is just lovely! I love the interplay between the two voices, and the rhythmic variation you use throughout. The voices sound alive, like they are dancing around eachother. Very harmonious. I think this would be lovely performed for an intimate gathering or house concert. Movements 1 and 3 especially speak to me. They sound very free and expressive. I like how you use the canon, but it isn't necessarily obvious in every moment. You use the form as a platform on which you create art. Your harmony in movement 3 is lot of fun! It's got a mysterious quality to it, minor but not too dark. Great vibe. Bravo. Movement 2 the canon is more obvious, which can actually be a bit of a distraction. I love pieces where the form is there throughout, but it has many other elements baked in so that the form itself isn't a distraction, but instead a foundation. Movement 1 and 3 accomplish that feat well.

This music is about Franz Kafka. (If you want to read more about the meaning behind the music, you can do so here) All feedback is welcome!

Thank you for the feedback! You've hit the nail on the head with this one. Great advice!