Etude nr 1 in E-flat minor

Hello everyone,

This was one of my early pieces after starting to compose (about 10 years ago). I have reviewed it again, and made a number of changes. There may still be remaining notation errors and I would be grateful if you could inform me about them (and of course also for any other comments). As you will notice, the piece is Chopin-inspired.

Best

A lively piece, very nice! It does what it's supposed to do, which is show a study in technique (I suppose triplets;)). And it certainly is Chopin-inspired, although you make different harmonic changes compared to Chopin. Makes it a bit more your style!

The key of D major in the middle section seems off. I don't know, it doesn't feel right. But this could just be personal taste 🙂

Somehow the fermatas seem a bit long. Maybe this was your goal, but to me it slows down the music where it should not.

Notation:

m. 4/m. 58 : b double flat should be a natural I think

m. 81 : slur is a bit messy

Well done!

a very nice piece. I would be cautious about calling it an etude though. etudes are all focused around a specific technique. maybe if you were to add some polyrhythms to the piece it could work well. 

Overall the piece is very well written. it sounds very pleasant and it a joy to listen to and would be a joy to play.

Well done I ,look forward to hearing more!

On 6/3/2020 at 11:52 AM, DirkH said:

A lively piece, very nice! It does what it's supposed to do, which is show a study in technique (I suppose triplets;)). And it certainly is Chopin-inspired, although you make different harmonic changes compared to Chopin. Makes it a bit more your style!

The key of D major in the middle section seems off. I don't know, it doesn't feel right. But this could just be personal taste 🙂

Somehow the fermatas seem a bit long. Maybe this was your goal, but to me it slows down the music where it should not.

Notation:

m. 4/m. 58 : b double flat should be a natural I think

m. 81 : slur is a bit messy

Well done!

 

Hello DirkH,

Thank you very much for your feedback.

You are right about ms 4 and 58. The b-double flat should be noted as an a-natural.  In my initial outline of the score, the note was a b-flat, but then I wanted to diminish it with a semitone step. Automatically, I noted it then as a b-double flat.

But now I see that this note can also be derived by augmenting an a –flat to an a-natural. And you are right! This is the better (and correct) notation. (If fact, I did it also in ms 5 ).

Yes, there is no logic in having slurs in ms 81. I will remove them. A pedal mark might have been an option, but I won´t put it there. It is up to the performer to use the pedal or not.

Yes, I could agree with you to remove the fermatas. The main reason I placed them here was  to avoid too fast transitions  during the electronic playback.  In a real performance, the pianist will automatically add any short delays, when he/she feels this to be necessary.

The D-major middle section?  It is there to avoid monotony, and I was actually rather content with it. But as you said, it is always a matter of personal taste.

I want to thank you again for your excellent comments! (And I will make the suggested changes in the score).

Best regards

22 hours ago, Bradley Scarff said:

a very nice piece. I would be cautious about calling it an etude though. etudes are all focused around a specific technique. maybe if you were to add some polyrhythms to the piece it could work well. 

Overall the piece is very well written. it sounds very pleasant and it a joy to listen to and would be a joy to play.

Well done I ,look forward to hearing more!

 

Hello Bradley,

Thanks a lot for your feedback, and I am very pleased that you like the piece. I am a bit surprised that you do think that the piece should not be considered as an etude. My aim  was to provide an exercise for  the left hand in picking a continuous variation of  triads, while, at the same time,  the right hand has  to  focus on the correct chromatic movements. I believe that this combination could be a good lesson for the development of hand-independency.  Additionally, the use of the E-flat minor key may be a good sight-reading exercise (at least for piano players at an intermediate level, which this etude is intended for).  But a piano teacher (which I am not), may have a different opinion about my viewpoints.

Thanks again for your comments!

When you put it like that I can see the purpose of it. perhaps if you write more you could include a brief description of the etudes purpose in the title box. I'm not a teacher other than just trying to help my friends when they struggle. so I am not 100% sure either.

Charming as usual, @panta rei. When I put on your music, I just can't stop listening. It flows so very well. Great job!

On 6/5/2020 at 12:32 AM, Tónskáld said:

Charming as usual, @panta rei. When I put on your music, I just can't stop listening. It flows so very well. Great job!

 

Hello Tónskáld,

I was very glad to read your words, Thank you !

(I made some small changes in the score, mainly based on the suggestions  from DirkH)