Is this more like an Etude or Rhapsody?

I don't intend to change the title of this piece since it was published 4 months ago and I don't think my title veers too far too and still leans on the safe side. I just consider it a little more of a rhapsody, that's just my personal take.

Just curious what y'all would associate it more with - wld appreciate it if y'all could allay my curiosity : )

https://musescore.com/user/62605720/scores/11779810

Hi @Aw Ke Shen,

For me this is more like an etude! The recurring pattern of the right hand is more like practicing the ability to emphasise the first note of the melody. A rhapsody for me is more passionate and varied, sometimes more unpredictable! Since this one is made with MuseScore so there are occasional oddities like the pedal markings and the very low note for treble clef! Again I think you can modulate to different keys instead of staying in A minor! But this one is quite enjoyable, thx for sharing!

Henry

Thanks! I actually intended this piece to be an etude at first, but as I was composing towards the end, it all became a mishmash and repetitions of a few themes ( mainly two ), so I decided to just relegate etude and put in rhapsody together...lol. I'll see wht I'd do.

I should have used those octave lines for those very low/ high notes.

I have changed the clefs based on advice and where I hv found to hv similar issues. Th title has been changed slightly to " Etude And Rhapsody In A Minor " .

RH: m 100, 102, 127, 137-140, 201

LH: 199-217

Hope the changes would make the piece more appealing to play.

I think this fits better under the name of etude:
First of all, it has the same or very similar techniques throughout the whole piece, which makes it a piece suitable for learning and practicing certain techniques such as the jumps in the left hand or the emphasis on the beat notes on the right hand as @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said.

Also, the themes are very similar for it to be considered a rhapsody and if it were a rhapsody I would say it lacks of a lyrical content (textural changes and modulations would make a bigger contrast and possibly make a piece more rhapsodical) 

Finally, I think the piece has a really appropriate duration for an etude, but it is too short to be a rhapsody (even though there are always exceptions like eleven minutes of etude in “la ricordanza” or 3 minutes of rhapsody in the 17th and 18th Hungarian rhapsodies)

Do you know how to play this piece?

thank you for sharing this piece

On 12/27/2023 at 8:51 PM, Jqh73o said:

Also, the themes are very similar for it to be considered a rhapsody and if it were a rhapsody I would say it lacks of a lyrical content (textural changes and modulations would make a bigger contrast and possibly make a piece more rhapsodical) 

Ah  I see. Others have suggested for more textual and modulation variety within my pieces. Thanks!

I know you've already heard plenty of people tell you that your music is too repetitive, and this piece also suffers from that imo.  I think it repeats/sequences its ideas so much that it verges on annoying the audience.  I'm not sure you know how different your music is from probably most music you love to listen to from that perspective.  Like I just mean - if the composers who composed some of your favorite pieces/songs repeated things as much as you do, I don't think they'd be beloved favorites.  Composition requires a good sense of proportion and when too much is enough and if this sense is not sufficiently developed, they don't know when they're beating a dead horse in a sense.  This sense lets the composer know when a theme/motif/idea has been exposited enough and that it's now time to move on to something else or end the piece.

Also, many places in this piece are very robotic to the point of being impossible (meas. 157 - 160 and 204 - 216 especially), and I hope this isn't your sole reason for calling this piece an "Etude".

Thanks for sharing though, and keep composing!
Peter

On 3/10/2024 at 6:46 AM, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I know you've already heard plenty of people tell you that your music is too repetitive, and this piece also suffers from that imo.  I think it repeats/sequences its ideas so much that it verges on annoying the audience.  I'm not sure you know how different your music is from probably most music you love to listen to from that perspective.  Like I just mean - if the composers who composed some of your favorite pieces/songs repeated things as much as you do, I don't think they'd be beloved favorites.  Composition requires a good sense of proportion and when too much is enough and if this sense is not sufficiently developed, they don't know when they're beating a dead horse in a sense.  This sense lets the composer know when a theme/motif/idea has been exposited enough and that it's now time to move on to something else or end the piece.

Also, many places in this piece are very robotic to the point of being impossible (meas. 157 - 160 and 204 - 216 especially), and I hope this isn't your sole reason for calling this piece an "Etude".

Thanks for sharing though, and keep composing!

Yea, when I now look back, this is one of those earliest piece with the worst repetition issues, bordering on annoyance even to myself, even if back then, I felt it was only a little too much as I wanted to use that many repeats just to build up - instead of ( as I am considering more of now ) making shorter build ups or using more themes/other alternatives for build ups. I mean I still have quite some repeats in my later/latest pieces though I'm also glad that they are much fewer.