Peach Scented Whisper (Opus 14, Asian Fantasy no 2)

Hello fellow composers,

I would like to publish and show you my newest composition - Peach Scented Whisper, inspired by classical/folk/traditional Chinese and Japanese music. The short, easy to listen piece is based entirely on minor pentatonic starting on D flat and in a smaller number of bars - the same type of scale starting on B. The given score is written for piano, since my music teacher advised me to write as much as possible using that instrument (I'm a high school student with no much background in music studies). I intended to use Chinese ruan moon guitar and guzheng patches, but since the midi file had a very wide pitch range (which is characteristic for piano), it didn't gave a satysfying sound. In result, the final product uses traditional, European orchestral ensemble harp. Enjoy and thank you for any helpful hints or suggestions!

Hallo. I think the mp3 doesn't work, I can't hear anything....

6 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

Hallo. I think the mp3 doesn't work, I can't hear anything....

Yes, I had some problems with saving my mp3 file here. It all works now!

6 hours ago, Luis Hernández said:

 

This time yes!

Strange. I read your explanation but, in the end, this is a score for piano sounding like an harp. No idea if this is possible in a harp...

Anyway, the music itself is very nice. I like pentatonic scales, as well as any ohter alternative one...

On 12.08.2016 at 0:56 PM, Luis Hernández said:

This time yes!

Strange. I read your explanation but, in the end, this is a score for piano sounding like an harp. No idea if this is possible in a harp...

Anyway, the music itself is very nice. I like pentatonic scales, as well as any ohter alternative one...

 

Thank you! The score will stay this way. I know that harp also uses grand staff, but there are obviously some differences between handling piano scoring and harp scoring. The thing is I just didn't like the current midi patch for piano in my software. When I applied the harp patch the midi file was already done from the piano score.

This is really delicate and eloquent! I really do love the melodies that you've created!!! :) However, personally for me, I think there should be some more extended periods of rhythmic excitement - You've used quite a lot of quavers, but some smaller units - like semi-quavers - when you did use them -- I found my ears wanting to hear more of those too! 

I think from experience Chinese music tends to be a little more excite-able and maybe this is why I am suggesting more semi-quavers and the like....

Overall, this is super calming! Thank you for sharing, Lilac.

I really like this piece! 

I wonder if you would consider using multiple instruments for this piece since it does have a fairly wide tonal range? Perhaps then you could still incorporate the midi patches you originally wanted to use, with the addition of another instrument? Just a thought, I don't know how it would work.

Another thing about this (which I know can be difficult to approach when writing with midi instruments) is that I think it could benefit from more dynamics. It seems to have a pretty decent range of intensity of individual notes - which may come from different samples that the harp patch uses for notes of different frequencies - but it seems that this has the potential to really breathe more overall with very gentle parts leading into soaring sounding sections with more intense velocity. I think that would lend itself nicely to the sort of traditional Chinese music that you were inspired by (based on what I have heard of that style of music) and give the piece a lot more life.

But really this sounds great to me already. 

Is there a certain kind of environment or context that you envision this piece accompanying, rather than a stage?

Wow...that was very pleasant to listen to. I'm playing this for the third time and it actually put my daughter to sleep while I played it hahaha. Once again and as usual the melodies you create are very beautiful and ongoing that fluctuates highs and lows that compliments each other elegantly. Good job!

On 27.10.2016 at 5:21 AM, Sporkflips said:

 

Well, I could certainly employ different instruments - I think Logic has some proper patches for Chinese guzheng zither or ruan moon guitar, but this piece was intentionally made for solo instrument. Yes , I was inspired by Chinese music. I tried multiple time working with dynamics, and the lack of it really bothers me, but I already got comments that the dynamics sound like "spikes"... I'm constantly working on smooth transitions. I didn't really think about applying any of my piece anywhere. The fact that I put it here in public, is already something big for me, since I'm rather reserved in what I do (I know it's not very high in quality that's why). But I don't know, maybe something like Calm Radio? Thank you for nice words, comment and listening, it means a lot to me!

On 27.10.2016 at 0:25 PM, LostSamurai said:

Wow...that was very pleasant to listen to. I'm playing this for the third time and it actually put my daughter to sleep while I played it hahaha. Once again and as usual the melodies you create are very beautiful and ongoing that fluctuates highs and lows that compliments each other elegantly. Good job!

 

Thank you very much! Haha, it's very nice to read that it actually was helpful/pleasant to listen. Once again thank you for listening and nice comment, I appreciate it very much!

I really liked this, and got a very authentic GuZheng feel from it. Reminds me of playing my ErHu in Kensington park in Toronto in the summer, back when I used to go to the UofT music library and read every classical Chinese music document they had. Great job!

Harp rolls over a tenth will be awkward for them to play. Also, when there are key changes, generally you can't immediately smash cut into a new one... pedal movement isn't always the easiest depending on the transposition. In this way you also severely underutilize what a harp can do. 
Weird ties in the beginning, also unnecessary for keeping time in simple meter. Places like m. 73 where both hands play the same note is not as acceptable in harp music as it is piano music. I'm also struggling to see where D-flat comes in. 
That said it sounds decently nice. I believe it could fit in traditional music of those countries. Clear melody that developed on itself (almost fugue-like, impressively), and a clear ending to match. Nice.
 

On 30.10.2016 at 11:29 PM, Nikola Canada said:

I really liked this, and got a very authentic GuZheng feel from it.

Thank you! It's just a standard harp patch, but it's nice to hear that you think it feels authentic.

On 30.10.2016 at 11:53 PM, Monarcheon said:

Harp rolls over a tenth will be awkward for them to play. Also, when there are key changes, generally you can't immediately smash cut into a new one... pedal movement isn't always the easiest depending on the transposition. In this way you also severely underutilize what a harp can do. 
 

 

I'm fine with a proper harp synthesizer. Also, this is just a matter of patch - if the piano sample in Logic would sound better, I'd use one. But since I don't have any, it ended up with harp. I am aware of the pedal mechanism in harps, that's way in a real life performance I would employ piano rather than a harp. Thank you for listening and comment!