I'd love any honest constructive feedback regarding this piano piece I composed yesterday. My goal is to make a living composing, overcoming obstacles of limited time/energy/finances/technology issues.
Regarding recording quality, please bear in mind that I don't have any DAW yet. I use my MacBook Pro work laptop (Shhh!) and GarageBand to record and I'm not good at recording or the software yet. I'm looking at learning Logic Pro X (via online tutorials) and saving up for my own computer to run that with samplers.
Any positive criticism/advice regarding the composition itself, technology, quality for licensing professionally, etc. will be most appreciated. This is a recording made (after composing it in about 2 hours) in one take with no practice. Yes, practice and a re-recording are in order. :)
Just want to hear honest critique from fellow composers to gauge where my music lies on the quality spectrum and alongside fellow composer works. Please do not hesitate to offer honest criticism for the purpose of my development as a composer and toward making my living in composing for film, TV, documentaries, webisodes, theatre, etc.
Thanks for listening: https://soundcloud.com/jenny-leigh-hodgins/karmic-thread
Replies
Thank you SO much for taking time to listen and provide feedback. Yes, it is simple and intentionally so, due to not having time to practice piano anymore (hectic job) and as a general rule, my focus is more and more on simplicity. I composed it as a thank you for a friend, and was behind schedule on coming through on that, so didn't dilly dally one minute once I started composing it. Great questions. It could be used as part of a longer piece, could be a great addition to my collection of piano solos for future publication, and I COULD work toward elaboration of it and/or it's themes with more orchestration. However, due to practicality, I probably would rather first practice it to play it more fluently/expressively, then extend it as a piano piece. It was not written for any film or video 'picture' in mind, however, I find that a lot of my pieces seem perfectly suited for visual of some kind. That's why I'd like to get myself involved as a composer for film/TV, etc. I've done only a few local indie films, though.
This piece would be a great 'track' to start getting into licensing. My basic plan is just to compose continuously and build a body of works for that purpose and beyond. Currently, I'm finishing a collaboration for a kids' musical (vocals, lyrics, and music). SO much to learn!
Thank you again for listening and making me think about its' purpose! ^_^
Very beautiful. I bet you are pleased with it yourself. Or could you point out anything that you are not satisfied with in the composition itself? I listened to it twice and on both times I went like "wait, what was that... oh, I get it" on a few points in the track. And only once I didn't quite get it. I don't care to "get" everything, but when I don't get something, at its best it's about something excitingly new. Sometimes it's about missing a rule, not breaking it, and that's when it gets dull. I shall return to this piece when I have more time, listen to it once more and ask you about the one point I didn't quite get, because it was more of the dull experience than the uplifting thing.
I've recently written a lot of songs, most of which I've been quite satisfied with in such a way that I kind of know the weak points in the songs and I might return to them and maybe fix them. But then again not. Even if someone else would point out something in them, I might leave them as they are, because they are good enough for me to love them. It's hard for me to explain, maybe it's like "I know some rules say this should be done like this and this, but this is how I like it". That's why I ask you how pleased you are yourself with the composition.
Hi Jenny, I really enjoy short pieces like this. Playable, and with a purpose
to each note. I love the chords and cadence, with a Rachmaninoff flavor.
These pieces seem to sound even better 'late night' if you know what I mean,
like a nocturne. A little polish and you've got a gem.
Do you intend to post the score(PDF) ? Roger
Hello,
Very nice, did you write note for note before playing or are you improvising over a chart?
I could see very well this piece as an intro to an orchestral development around the theme.
And nice playing as far as I can hear.
Jenny,
I just listened to a few of your tracks on sound cloud. I thought they were all lovely. One thing that there will alway be a demand for is simple piano music. Do you remember composition class at USF? I was in it with you. I think Hilton would be proud :)
-tim
Jenny...
I am by no means a professional, but I think your piece was lovely. Very simple and uncluttered. You didn't try to make it more than it was. Very easy to listen to. Just a nice piece of music.
My impression on the first listen was that this piece had been improvised- I was surprised to read that you'd notated it from the outset.
The advantage to music with an improvised feel (whether it is or not) is that it tends to flow.
There's a demand for music of this type- incidental music for any number of purposes. I often hear music like this when I call a government office and am put on hold. Somebody is being paid to write it :^)
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