Arctic Petals

Hello, this is a piece of mine for a contest where I had to stick to the chord progression vi-IV-I-V and make it around 2:20 or less. Since this is my best work so far, I would like some criticism or advice on anything. Thank you.

Arctic Petals (Score + Audio)

What kind of anime opening is this?

It's great, really, especially the opening. 

I can't bear to hear this chord progression but now I read your description and understood you had no choice.

I love this! I think it's incredibly beautiful. Where'd you submit this? And what's the piece/subtitle about?

I noticed a few things about your notation that I have questions about (and I too use musescore so I understand the struggle it is sometimes lol):

Your rests in the non-playing staff are inconsistent -- for example, in measures 1 through 3, each rest is marked differently. It might be better to be consistent and change every rest to quarter note values.

The main issue I had reading through your score, however, was in passages such as measure 4, where there are constant sixteenth notes exchanged through the hands. A possible solution is to just make the rests invisible to stress that the passage passes throughout the two hands, as Eric Sammut does throughout his 4 Rotations for Marimba (Performance of Rotation II: https://youtu.be/8hAGcUKHFuI?t=18; Sample of score: http://www.lonestarpercussion.com/Sheet-Music-Books/Marimba-Solos/Keyboard-Percussion-Publications-KPP-SAMM-FR2-Four-Rotations-for-Marimba-II.html -- pages 1 and 2 are available in images). (To do this in musescore, select all applicable rests you have and press [v] to make them invisible.)

Also, I think it would be easier to read if, at spots such as 25, the rhythm starting at beat 2 were written "eighth, sixteenth, sixteenth-sixteenth, eighth, sixteenth" (see a similar example in marimba 1 part of Steve Reich: Mallet Quartet).

Other than that, beautiful piece. Subscribed, and I'm gonna go listen to it again.

On 11/2/2019 at 2:55 AM, Rabbival507 said:

What kind of anime opening is this?

It's great, really, especially the opening. 

I can't bear to hear this chord progression but now I read your description and understood you had no choice.

 

 

Hehe, thank you; I'm glad you like this piece.

3 hours ago, alexmacomposer said:

I love this! I think it's incredibly beautiful. Where'd you submit this? And what's the piece/subtitle about?

I noticed a few things about your notation that I have questions about (and I too use musescore so I understand the struggle it is sometimes lol):

Your rests in the non-playing staff are inconsistent -- for example, in measures 1 through 3, each rest is marked differently. It might be better to be consistent and change every rest to quarter note values.

The main issue I had reading through your score, however, was in passages such as measure 4, where there are constant sixteenth notes exchanged through the hands. A possible solution is to just make the rests invisible to stress that the passage passes throughout the two hands, as Eric Sammut does throughout his 4 Rotations for Marimba (Performance of Rotation II: https://youtu.be/8hAGcUKHFuI?t=18; Sample of score: http://www.lonestarpercussion.com/Sheet-Music-Books/Marimba-Solos/Keyboard-Percussion-Publications-KPP-SAMM-FR2-Four-Rotations-for-Marimba-II.html -- pages 1 and 2 are available in images). (To do this in musescore, select all applicable rests you have and press [v] to make them invisible.)

Also, I think it would be easier to read if, at spots such as 25, the rhythm starting at beat 2 were written "eighth, sixteenth, sixteenth-sixteenth, eighth, sixteenth" (see a similar example in marimba 1 part of Steve Reich: Mallet Quartet).

Other than that, beautiful piece. Subscribed, and I'm gonna go listen to it again.

 

Here's the link to the actual score: https://musescore.com/skylighter/arcticpetals

In the Musescore description should be a link to the contest that I submitted my work to.

The piece is a romantic-impressionistic piece, and I imagined this piece feeling as though I were in a blue arctic landscape and surrounded by petals that seems to flutter and flow around. While what people see or experience in this piece will vary, I can feel abstract emotions and landscapes swirling around in the dreamy yet constantly changing atmosphere that I attempt to create at times, hence the title "...and the blue winds swirl exotically..."

I'll do my best to fix up my notation with my future pieces; thanks for the help (especially about the invisible rests)! Anyways, I'm glad you enjoy this piece.