Siciliiene for piano and cello

Constructive criticism is warmly appreciated!

Nice!  It's like a song for cello and piano.  Very lyrical.  Reminds me of Schubert a little bit.  I love the contrast created by the minor key with the sort of upbeat tempo and rhythm of this piece.  I'm just confused why you chose to use the A# minor/ C# major key signature for this?  Bb minor/ Db Major has fewer accidentals and the key change to F major in the middle of the piece would make more sense too.  Thanks for sharing!

41 minutes ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Nice!  It's like a song for cello and piano.  Very lyrical.  Reminds me of Schubert a little bit.  I love the contrast created by the minor key with the sort of upbeat tempo and rhythm of this piece.  I'm just confused why you chose to use the A# minor/ C# major key signature for this?  Bb minor/ Db Major has fewer accidentals and the key change to F major in the middle of the piece would make more sense too.  Thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks for the kind feedback! You're right about the key signature. I guess I just like to make everyone confused lol

Sam - 

Very beautiful, some masterful melodic writing here. The sense of an unbroken line is wonderful and well crafted. That said, there's three things I want to raise - not necessarily criticisms, just points that you might want to consider.

First, I wonder if it's a bit 'samey' all the way through. As I said, the continued line is beautiful, but I wondered if you might want to shake it up a little bit? To me, the modulation is the perfect point to introduce a different texture. If you would want to keep the melody as it is, which I imagine you do, this change could be something as simple as putting the piano part up like 2 octaves for this section - letting the cello hold the bottom of the music with the piano glittering on top. That leads me onto the second thing: be careful with the registers you're using. Most of the time, the piano is sitting in its middle bottom register, coinciding with the cello and that tends to reduce the clarity of both parts. I think in a live setting (because you really should get someone to play this!) the extra resonance from a real piano would completely overshadow the cello. Just something to watch.

Lastly, a very minor thing, I think the trills/mordents /gracenotes could just be just be written out in full, standard notation. To me, they hold melodic value and aren't just 'throwaway' notes. Of course, you might think differently - and of course, it's your piece! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that.

Well done on a beautiful composition! 

That's a nice melancholi piece. I love the swinging siciliano rhythm.

Minor point: Sometimea I find it confusing to have the right hand up an octave while the middle accompaniment does not, for example bar 10-12. That seems a little bit confusing to me.

2 hours ago, aMusicComposer said:

First, I wonder if it's a bit 'samey' all the way through. As I said, the continued line is beautiful, but I wondered if you might want to shake it up a little bit? To me, the modulation is the perfect point to introduce a different texture

I agree with @aMusicComposer and his suggestion. Even though it's a short piece, some contrast can be added, particularly the texture and rhythm. I love your modulation, but sometime it is not enough to provide contrast with mere harmonic/key change.

You are making progress in your composing skills! Nice job and keep on composing!

5 hours ago, aMusicComposer said:

Sam - 

Very beautiful, some masterful melodic writing here. The sense of an unbroken line is wonderful and well crafted. That said, there's three things I want to raise - not necessarily criticisms, just points that you might want to consider.

First, I wonder if it's a bit 'samey' all the way through. As I said, the continued line is beautiful, but I wondered if you might want to shake it up a little bit? To me, the modulation is the perfect point to introduce a different texture. If you would want to keep the melody as it is, which I imagine you do, this change could be something as simple as putting the piano part up like 2 octaves for this section - letting the cello hold the bottom of the music with the piano glittering on top. That leads me onto the second thing: be careful with the registers you're using. Most of the time, the piano is sitting in its middle bottom register, coinciding with the cello and that tends to reduce the clarity of both parts. I think in a live setting (because you really should get someone to play this!) the extra resonance from a real piano would completely overshadow the cello. Just something to watch.

Lastly, a very minor thing, I think the trills/mordents /gracenotes could just be just be written out in full, standard notation. To me, they hold melodic value and aren't just 'throwaway' notes. Of course, you might think differently - and of course, it's your piece! I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that.

Well done on a beautiful composition! 

 

Thank you for such a detailed and thoughtful feedback! You gave me so many great ideas that I can use! Thank you for listening and appreciating 😊

3 hours ago, Henry Ng said:

That's a nice melancholi piece. I love the swinging siciliano rhythm.

Minor point: Sometimea I find it confusing to have the right hand up an octave while the middle accompaniment does not, for example bar 10-12. That seems a little bit confusing to me.

I agree with @aMusicComposer and his suggestion. Even though it's a short piece, some contrast can be added, particularly the texture and rhythm. I love your modulation, but sometime it is not enough to provide contrast with mere harmonic/key change.

You are making progress in your composing skills! Nice job and keep on composing!

 

I agree with him too! Thanks for the appreciating and giving the valuable feedback 😊

Hello! I must say your melodic writing is beautiful. Your modulation to F major was my favorite part; the harmonies are very warm and affecting.

I agree with @aMusicComposer that it would be helpful to include the higher register of the piano. If you do not want to modify the entire part, I would suggest changing it at the B section. You could also possibly take it up another octave again at the second A section to give a feeling of progress. Of course, these are only suggestions, and the emotions the piece conveys are no one's but yours to decide. 🙂 One other idea I had is that the cello could rest in bars 56 through 58 — that may help break up the “sameness” that @aMusicComposer mentioned, and I often hear short piano interludes between sections of pieces in this vein. Adding an instrument again after a rest has the potential to make the arrival at a new section (especially one heard earlier) more impactful.

Again, this is a very good piece and I hope you keep up your beautiful compositional work!
 

29 minutes ago, MissCello said:

Hello! I must say your melodic writing is beautiful. Your modulation to F major was my favorite part; the harmonies are very warm and affecting.

I agree with @aMusicComposer that it would be helpful to include the higher register of the piano. If you do not want to modify the entire part, I would suggest changing it at the B section. You could also possibly take it up another octave again at the second A section to give a feeling of progress. Of course, these are only suggestions, and the emotions the piece conveys are no one's but yours to decide. 🙂 One other idea I had is that the cello could rest in bars 56 through 58 — that may help break up the “sameness” that @aMusicComposer mentioned, and I often hear short piano interludes between sections of pieces in this vein. Adding an instrument again after a rest has the potential to make the arrival at a new section (especially one heard earlier) more impactful.

Again, this is a very good piece and I hope you keep up your beautiful compositional work!
 

 

Thank you for the kind, thoughtful and detailed feedback! I appreciate and agree with your well thought out criticism and I will work further by keeping your comments in mind. Thanks again for taking the time to listen and to comment! 🙂