First Piece Posting -->

[Grant]

Hey everyone, I've been browsing the forums for awhile and have been extremely impressed with the talent this forum has!

I'm still in college, I have taken zero composing classes but I have taken several music theory classes.

If you guys notice, the key changes 5 times. The intro is in D minor and shows the 5 progressions of government from my understanding of Marxism.

It starts off kinda evil sounding, (showing the first form of government as cruel) but gently makes its way getting more and more Major sounding until its reached a happy place.. (Capitalism or Socialism depending on your views) and then towards the end goes back to evil sounding as it makes its gentle progression to Communism which thus again is given a evil theme.

Thanks for any constructive criticism, I'm relatively new to this!

[Grant]

Here's the actual .mp3, this might be easier.

[Adrian Allan]

Nice piece. Liked the dissonant melody; very much in the style of Shostakovich - intentional ? The second section broke the pattern nicely, too. Well done.

[H. Archibald]

I think this is a good effort and piece for having only taken theory classes. I would suggest coming back to this piece in the future once you have musically matured a bit. When you do mature more and you come back to this piece you will seee that you have some strong material and motivic ideas to push this piece into something a little bigger and dramatic! :)

For example...
You have a nice rhythmic ostinato figure in the Bass that need not stay in the Bass or as a single note incarnation. This particular motif can be used nicely as a "hammering" ostinato on the piano in octaves or harmonized in some way. The same can be said for the melodic theme you introduced in the right hand.

I also think you could have used some variation of your rhythmic ostinato or the right hand theme as a way to create dramatic transitions to the various keys for the 5 times it changes. It would create a sense for great build up and a nice way to give a strong impression of something forwrad moving.

I'm curious, how did you map out the harmonic layout of the piece? Did you let it develop as you composed or did you in some way map it out?

Anyway, as I said its a good piece. The ideas presented in the piece are good and good enough to go back to at some point and expand upon.

I hope my comments helped.

[Grant]

To be honest, I was not familar with Shostakovich until you mentioned him. I checked out his Symphony No. 5 on Youtube and it was incrediable. That's the type of music I want to write!

Thanks for the comments!

[Grant]

Thank you!

When I first began writing it the other day, my intention was for it to sound Chopin like but I like the way it progressed out. I'll have to check out some more Russian composers, very cool!

[Grant]

Hasani, thanks for all the feedback it was very enjoyable to read! You've given me lots of ideas!

Originally I did map this out section by section, my original goal was to write something that changed keys several times smoothly and I think I accomplished that.I ended up straying from my original map a little bit.. I started to feel like I was playing Sudoko while trying to figure out some of the voice leading issues.

Thanks for the comments!

[H. Archibald]

"Sudoku"? LOL thats a great saying. It sometimes happens and sometimes for the better.

I had asked about the mapping out process because I thought in some of the moments of key change including some type of "transition" moment in your mapping would have been a nice touch unless you were going for a more sudden entrance into your new keys.

Either way, good job.

[Grant]

Well crap.. My original goal was to write something that changed keys "smoothly". You've brought up some great points Hansani, I appreciate it!

Now I must rewrite it!

I'll have to reread a few chapters on modulating to different keys to see if I can smooth it out some using some different methods.

Thanks!

[Spiros Makris]

I liked it a lot,it reminds me of Russian composers.Could you send me the sheet music?

[Grant]

Absolutely.. I don't have Sibelius (sp?) or Finale on my home computer, only at my college and that doesn't start back up until the 12th.

So we'll see what I can come up with in the next week or so.

Thanks for the comment by the way, I appreciate it!

[Spiros Makris]

take your time,I can wait for you :D