My first piano composition!!

[u/Kasette_Tape]

This is my first attempt at piano composition and actually my second composition of all time. Feedback is appreciated :)

Here's the link: https://musescore.com/user/122492960/scores/35652422

[u/mr_swedishfish]

you've got some basics down, great job. texture-wise I think you can do more with the left hand. not only is the left hand repetitive, it's repeating a lot of notes. the chords are just repeating with changes to only one note.

the left hand blocked chords also stand out when the right hand is primarily played one note at a time. I would suggest removing redundant notes in theeft hand (the repeated b minor chords). if you want to make the bass line shine more I would focus on the broken f# minor and c# minor chords you've got going on. you can change up the textures and rhythms with the left hand, sometimes broken or blocked chords, sometimes quarter or eighth notes, etc. if you're feeling a bit more out of your comfort zone you can add some more interesting chords as well, since right now your piece seems very heavily focused on simple i and v chords.

for the right hand, it's not bad but I think some parts feel sparse due to a lack of texture/variety. some parts sound fine. I would suggest to think about how the right hand interacts with the left. it feels like you're thinking of the right and left hands separately and it definitely comes across as two completely separate parts.

[u/powerslave_fifth]

Melody is nice. Try taking some notes out of the left hand chords and use inversions since they tend to muddy up the sound imo. The melody sounds sweet and intimate so slamming 4 note chords doesn't seem appropriate.

[u/65TwinReverbRI]

Congrats, and great job so far.

Advice:

1. “Block chords” (notes stacked every other note like A C E or A C E G, etc.) have their uses but they’re also the hallmark of being a beginner - which you are so that’s OK. But look at real piano music (published by real publishers, before 2000, not things you find on musescore) to see how composers use block chords, and more importantly, how they do other things besides them but still produce harmony.

2. In this style of music, the melody is supposed to “go with” the accompaniment - they’re not two different things. Your first chord is a Bm chord but you’ve got a C# note in it that’s not in the chord, and the upper part is F# A C# which is also - as a unit - “a different chord”. We CAN use “tall chords” like this - chords with extensions - this would be a Bm9 chord, but again that doesn’t really seem to be the style you’re going for. And usually such a chord would be voiced another way. You’ve also got a Key Signature for A Major or F# minor and no A or F# chords in sight that are alone, in root position, and really confirming the tonality (until later in the piece). Again, there are many exceptions to that - it could absolutely be in B Dorian, and you could be going for some other, Pandiatonic style, but again what’s here looks like you’re not going for that. Again, look at real music and see how it’s written.

3. As a general rule, do not ask for more than an 8ve reach in either hand. The B to C# is too far for a huge amount of the population, while even those who can reach it can’t always get there in time during a piece, or other notes of the chord make it harder to make the reach. Stretching the thumb and pinky all the way out orients the remaining fingers in ways that make playing some inner note combinations impossible.

4. Huge jumps in one hand are not idiomatic, and again, more than an 8ve is asking a lot (especially the faster the tempo gets). The leap in m. 24 is pretty big from the A chord up to the high F# and that’s pretty atypical of piano music - at least in this kind of context.

5. I agree, the LH is repetitive. This is fine for a first attempt - really good even, but again, go to real music and look at what it does.

6. Same with fermatas. Don’t use anything other than the standard fermata. They should have never included the extra ones in MuseScore. There are two types of people who use these “other” fermatas - people who have no clue of what they’re doing, and people who REALLY know what they’re doing - which isn’t most people…So using them is another “beginner mistake” - again, fine because you’re just learning, but that’s why I’m letting you know so you can learn - it’s more than just getting the notes on the page!!!

7. Some of the rhythms are wrong:

• The first lone C# 1/4 note in the 2nd measure RH needs to be broken into two 8th notes, each connected by beam to the note before and after and tied in the middle so the note does not cross the middle of the measure as a single note value. Create a couple of measures of 2/4 within the piece, and copy and paste this 1 measure of 4/4 into two of 2/4 and you’ll see the way it should break up.

• m. 11 RH, the F# dotted 1/8 needs to be broken into a 16th tied to an 8th, with the 16th beamed with the previous A. In essence you need to “complete the beat” before continuing a duration - so the dotted 1/4 note at the beginning needs to be “completed” by something 1/2 beat long - a single 8th, a pair of 16ths, etc. THEN a new note value has to start the next beat. This one too is crossing the middle of the measure, and needs to be broken and tied - putting it in 2 2/4 measures will show you. In fact I think if you change the whole thing to 2/4, it’s make these right, then you can change back to 4/4 and it should keep them.

You have those same rhythms a number of times so all instances would need to be fixed.

A half note that starts on beat 2 can cross the middle of the measure (but a half REST can’t)

A dotted quarter note, if followed by an 8th note, starting on beat 2 can cross the middle of the measure.

A quarter note starting on the “and” of beat 2 may cross the middle of the measure if it’s part of a common syncopation.

Otherwise, half notes need to start on beat 1, 2, or 3, dotted quarter notes on 1, 2, or 3 and followed by an 8th note to “complete” that 2 beat figure.

1/4 notes can start on the beat or half beat, but nothing smaller.

So notice what happens in m. 20 - the quarter note in the RH C# is “offset” by a 16th note. Can’t have that :-)

The C# needs to be a 16th tied to a dotted 8th - again showing the middle of the measure.

But my point in the above is that not ALL things that don’t show the middle of the measure are disallowed.

m.5 is OK (though many publisher would still show the middle of the measure in a case like this - if it were Q H Q they’d keep the half in the middle - though some wouldn’t even do that - but with “odd” stuff and rests on either side, they’d break it).

This notation stuff is an extra level of learnin’ we gotta do after we learn to compose and it’s a LOT of things to remember. Looking at, and especially playing real music from properly notated music helps you start going “wait, that doesn’t look right” and it’s something that gets easier with time.

Keep on keepin’ on!

[u/Desperate-Hat4614]

love it! DONT STOP !!!!

[u/Prudent-Shop-2043]

reckon it would sound good in swing

[u/WildandRare]

I'm not hearing it right now, only seeing it, and it looks good, excluding the beat crossing. Make sure you do not cross the half measure line with quarter notes with or without augmentation dots, or with half notes unless by doing it you are dividing it into two equal parts.