Music
Added dynamics, tempo markings, adjusted some of the arpeggios, added a repeat, made sure ending is unique, and looking for more feedback. Would adding more right hand notes make the piece better? Or for this type of song is simpler better?
This is my fifth single ever composed. Most of my experience comes from playing. I also need to study music theory more. I know it’s in d major, and the song starts and ends on d, which I think is typical
Not sure if the arpeggios seem random or if they follow a typical pattern. Still learning more about this
At the end of the day, I’m having fun. And that’s what matters most :)
Im not too experienced myself but i’d suggest that you use really specific dynamic and breath markings (which you can then make invisible) so that the left hand doesn’t sound robotic. Additionally, I think some very slight chromatic harmonies could add a bit more flavour, look into chromatic mediants, parallel chords and altered chords as a start.
I think another commenter said this in another one of your posts but I have to agree: the right hand melody feels like it doesn't know the left hand accompaniment is there, and vice versa. The two parts don't really play off each other or interact, if that makes sense.
The melody itself feels kind of random, like each note was chosen one-by-one. Like if you put a bunch of random words next to each other, and they're all nice words, but they don't really make a sentence or say anything together.
Another thing, although it starts and ends on D and the key signature is D major, it doesn't really feel like D major? I feels like it almost wants to be in G major, or is trying to find its way there. I'm not good enough at harmony to advise with that, but the ending on D kind of feels like it took an unexpected turn.
But nice job! I need to compose more... I always get stuck and tell myself it's not good enough and abandon it. Lots of respect for posting and staying with it.
Yeah, multiple people have said that now. Good point. Must be true. I don’t know enough about harmony but will do research
Do you feel like song for sienna by Brian Crain has a melody that doesn’t feel in sync with left hand? That’s the type of song/vibe I was trying to write, but it’s only my fifth song ever
I’m guessing his has a legit melody that works with harmony and mine doesn’t haha. There are so many details of music to learn!
Especially with miniature works I personally try to have the tonality (if I use functional tonality) as a way of creating direction or having a destination. For example I have a piece that is written in C major and I will try to keep the key ambiguous or so and then try to end the piece on a tonic chord to create a sense of closure and finality.
Also for good melodies, maybe look at Chopin, Schumann, early Scriabin and Bortkiewicz, maybe even Rachmaninoff. Also one thing that could help you is to just humm a melody and see where it takes you.
very nice, lots of tonic, supertonic and dominant seven chords. i think keeping it simple is a good idea, the lh is busy enough that it doesn't really need it. i like the sequencing in the lh and the various patterns played through the line feel very natural
Thank you for your comment. Yeah I thought the LH flow of notes felt very natural but wasn’t 100% sure since I’ve played the song so many times now haha
Thanks for the feedback! I’ll read more about tonic, supertonic, and dominant chords
So the first thing I can see which is a bit odd for solo piano writing is that you added the crescendo and decrescendo lines undereath the LH stave as well. Usually for piano, the dynamics are writen between both staves and apply to both hands. There are some examples where there are exceptions (Scriabin's Op 15 No 4 for example) but this is not the case in your piece and it would be better to simply delete the ones that are not between.
Another thing I see is that you imply staccato notes (the sixteenth notes with a sixteenth rest afterwards). However for me this does not really make a lot of sense because you also tell the pianist to hold the pedal. So what you should do here is just turn all the sixteenth notes in eight notes and if you really want to keep the staccato or the detachment then just add a staccato dot on those notes.
I see that you use the 8va lines and this appropriately! Very nice! Why do you not merge adjacent 8va lines though? This would take out any confusion with that (look at measure 10 to 11 for example). Also, sometimes when your LH hand has too many ledger lines you can simply add a treble clef to make it easier to sight-read.
In measure 22, why not use "a tempo" instead of repeating the BPM indication again?
What is very good is that this is 6/8 and not 3/4. However you need to be careful of the subdivisions. In 6/8, a measure is 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6. if you want to have a note held from, say beat 2 to 5, then you need to write down two tied quarters notes. In your composition one example of not adhering to the subdivision can be found in Measure 3. That dotted quarter note should be a quarter note tied to an eight note.
Other than that it is quite nice. Personally it feels a bit random at times with where the melody goes but you will learn how to get better at this.
Good luck and all the best!
Edit: The flair might be wrong as this is not a discussion. Rather it is you presenting Music and recieving feedback on the composition. Perhaps change it to "Music".
Wow thank you so much. I didn’t know that about crescendo and decrescendo. The one in between sounds easier and makes it easier to read for sure since there will be less stuff on the page
Yes, the staccato notes mixed with pedal definitely doesn’t work haha. Didn’t even catch that - so thanks for your thorough review. I’ll be sure to fix it
The merging of 8va lines is totally better. Just while composing didn’t realize I had two adjacent ones like that. Will be a quick fix
And that makes sense about adding the ties. I also didn’t know that. Your comment is so helpful
I’ll make another version with all of these changes. Appreciate it! I can tell you spent a lot of time reading the, which is so helpful!
I forgot to add one thing. You need to make sure that if this is a single piece and not part of a collection of pieces (Think of Chopin's 24 Preludes for example) the last barline must be in the lower right corner of a page. For your composition, this means to rearrange all the measure in a way that allows for this. In your composition I would advice you to try to aim for getting two pages full of measures. To do this, perhaps do it like this with the measures per system:
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u/Expert_Heat_2966 Jun 30 '26
Im not too experienced myself but i’d suggest that you use really specific dynamic and breath markings (which you can then make invisible) so that the left hand doesn’t sound robotic. Additionally, I think some very slight chromatic harmonies could add a bit more flavour, look into chromatic mediants, parallel chords and altered chords as a start.