Minuet in D

This is my 5th minuet and trio from a series of 6. I tried to make each of these minuets unique and not in the style of Mozart or Haydn which is difficult. I set myself the restraint of only one note per hand so that it's suitable for beginners. 

My playing is a little hurried because I get nervous as soon as I press record and then I make mistakes. I can't get back those wasted 2 minutes! The pressure is intense!

The trio is contrasting to the minuet in style and texture which maybe too much variety to be considered balanced. This problem infected my 6th minuet and trio too. 

For my next set of 6 I will endeavour to compose closer to the style of the late 18th century with greater unity and the use of more common phrase structures of the period.

Thank you for listening.

Really nice playing! Any personal performances get bonus points, regardless of the difficulty level of the composition. I actually didn't notice any "hurried-ness" in your performance. 
 

Something that's really neat about pieces like this is the way you can interpret and play with all the repeated sections. For example, I was thinking about the first section: it would be really neat for a performer to play the first 8 bars the exact you first played them, and then on the repeat, exaggerate the dynamics just a bit (without overdoing, of course, given the style). Like, play those first four introductory notes just a little louder than before, and then on the very next phrases on bars 3-4, not only soften the passage, but also exaggerate the R.H.'s volume and lower the L.H.'s volume, so it almost comes across as a "response" to the "call" of the introductory phrase. Those kind of subtle dynamics can add a surprising amount of "spice" to a piece.

I really enjoyed this! Thanks for sharing 🙂

Hi, Serge

Thank you for your kind words and feedback. In the 18th century it was the custom to vary repeats. I found a really old book from the period that teaches how to vary repeats and it did occur to me to dispense with repeat bars lines and just write out a variation for the performer. That would be cool. I think you're right, changing the dynamics would spice things up a bit.

Darren

Hey Darren!

For me this Minuet is simple and very charming. It reminds me more of the Baroque minuet, and the texture is more roccoco tham classical for me! That Unison beginning indeed reminds me of Mozart's minuets. I love that little imitation in b.11!

The trio is contrasting but not too much variety as you say! I find the passage somewhat Schubertian with that F natural-F# play and the B-C-D-G-D in b.40.

Changing the dynamic as @SergeOfArniVillage said will be great, but not changing it is also great for me. It's not mandatory though for the minuet reprise to change the dynamics when it comes to a Classical minuet.

Thanks for sharing!

Henry

Hi Papageno,

What a charming little piano piece! Despite its simplicity, this minuet is delightful to hear. It reminds me of Bach's Minuets from Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. I especially adore the interaction between the melodies in bars 12-16: that is some brilliant contrapuntal writing! Great playing too, and thanks for sharing this work!

Carl Koh Wei Hao

Hi, Henry

Thank you for listening to my minuet and for your feed back.

I composed the minuet about a year ago and my style has change a bit since then. I've had a chance to play minuets from Mozart and Haydn since then too, and they seem to use material from the minuet in their trios to create more unity. From a listening perspective my trio is not too bad although dancers might complain about the quicker pace.

I never thought about that, it is a bit Schubertian in the trio, for me that's a compliment. He wrote some fine minuets as a young teenager. I don't think minuet composing is equaled as a platform for learning the classical schemas. I intend to get as closer to the true style as possible in my next series.

My 6th one is simpler still with a bit more counterpoint. I'll try to record it today so I can study a few scores next week before I compose again. I'll probably write down the piano sonata before I forget it soon too.

I think I will wrote out the score before I play the next minuet, it occurred to me that's why I keep making mistakes by playing from memory.

I've started creating a 'how to guide' for learning to compose for complete beginners. Once I've got some more of it written down could I bounce it off you, your input would be appreciated? I want to help capture some of our beginners on here so that there is a better understanding of the craft on how to get started.

Hey, Carl

Thank you for listening to my minuet and for your kind words. I think minuets are a great place to begin classical and baroque composition. Their appeal lasted a very long time with composers and listeners alike.

Beethoven probably recognised that the many 10,000's already written had exhausted the creative possibilities of the form but he composed one of the best ones ever, the one in G. His short forms are definitely worth a study.

I play music from Bachs little book. There might be some influence from him. Composers got a bit lazy after him and often used repetitive bass lines, variants of the Alberti bass which listeners probably wanted but a little counterpoint adds interest in my opinion.

Darren

6 hours ago, Papageno said:

I've started creating a 'how to guide' for learning to compose for complete beginners. Once I've got some more of it written down could I bounce it off you, your input would be appreciated? I want to help capture some of our beginners on here so that there is a better understanding of the craft on how to get started.

Haha thx Darren. But maybe sometimes my comments are quite trash though and my own posts are not good enough as well to guide others.

Henry