Dahans' compositions: Romance for piano

[dahans]

Dahans is definitely not Debussy. XD lol

Shut up, Slow.

It is for an audition. Every audition time, the music professors choose a criteria for one of the two songs we have to play.
For this upcoming quarter, one of the pieces must be in E Major (Concert)... meaning F# for us. I still need to find a second song. If I keep it the same, it's D Major, so...

Good luck . You can also change the key at the beginning and after you have finished your arrangement, you can change it back to the original key?

[dahans]

http://www.mediafire.com/?bgl6pyeypzctlbr

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[Ruto]

I see what you did there  ^^

[dahans]

String quartet c sharp minor :
http://www.mediafire.com/?9e65h14cxk1tri6 [MUS]
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?b8n4e9siy0iz0h4 [PDF]

Wrote that in the past 2 weeks! I am sure you will like it! :D:D It somehow reflects my present situation xD.

[MaestroUGC]

Again I say wonderful, you really have a gift for melody. Unfortunately that gift is lost through execution. The first movement started out well enough, but due to a lot of improper chord progressions and bum notes, it left a lot to be desired. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad as your previous quartet and once you settled on your new tonic keys it was fine.

By far the best movement was the second, the theme and variations. Here I saw that you had a motif, you knew your boundaries, and you had a plan; overall it was fairly well done, just a couple of issues, mainly the pizz variation due to the rhythms, a bit to fast to make it sound good in a real setting.

The third was alright, it didn't really stand out to me as a piece other than it being really fast, I'd reccommend changing the meter to cut time with a tempo at half=150, since the pulse is really on the first and third. The middle section you can just leave as is. One glaring problem was on measures 328-336; when you're modulating like that, you don't change keys until you settle on the final chord. You can indicate the progression using accidentals, changes key that quickly will only serve to confuse the players as they have to constantly readjust to the new key, it's easier to read with accidentals.

The fourth was nice, but had many of the same problems as the first. Oh, measures 428-436 made me cringe; I can't stand it when people simple modulate the music up a step, you did it 3 times in a row. If you're going to do something like that, make it flow, don't just shift gears into a new key as a means to get you where you want. Personally, the ending left me wanting something more conclusive, this one was just like "I'm done now, bye."

[dahans]

Haha first of all thanks^^ and thanks for commenting on each movement, that means a lot to me!

1st movement: I definitely know what you mean with improper chord progressions. I can't tell you why I like them, I just love to try out new things. "as bad as my previous quartet" sounds a bit harsh in my opinion xD--- personally, I consider this movement the weakest of all 4.

2nd movement: I have always wanted to write a theme with variations, I don't know really why I have never tried to. And well... that's the final result^^. I totally agree with you with the 3rd variation (pizz), it might be a bit unplayable.

3rd movement: I was in a really bad mood when I wrote this movement. I think you can hear that. Thanks for the tip with the key changes, I will try to improve it!

4th movement: the word "cringe" is also really hard xD. Actually, I like it to move the theme up a step. This one is by far my favourite movement, I can't tell you why.

Anyway, this piece is very emotional and I was really surprised that I finished it so fast. I'd like to know what other members think about it. Too bad, most of them aren't interested in "home-made compositions".
Next, I will try to write a clarinet/piano concerto, as DrP suggested. Sounds like the perfect challange for me!

[MaestroUGC]

You post here for criticism, and I such I'm going to tell you what I think of the piece in question. I'm not going to sugarcoat things because that will not help you improve. If you are going to make single-step key changes, it should serve to heighten the tension of the music, not as a means to imply there's something new when really there's not.

[dahans]

You post here for criticism, and I such I'm going to tell you what I think of the piece in question. I'm not going to sugarcoat things because that will not help you improve. If you are going to make single-step key changes, it should serve to heighten the tension of the music, not as a means to imply there's something new when really there's not.

well i meant its new for me not new in general. And i totally appreciate your critisicm and it helps me a lot!

[dahans]

Birthday present for a good friend of mine, performed by me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k95jLXQMSLA&feature=youtu.be

This is me playing an original composition. Took me quite long to write it, I think it's quite ok.

[MaestroUGC]

Hey, it's dahans live! Not bad, although, you do realize the the actual song "Happy Birthday to You", which you quoted early in this piece, is actually under copyright by Warner Music Group. Europeans won't be allowed to use the song freely until...2016. Be careful who sees this video.

Other than that, this piece has you written all over it; the chord progressions, the piano technique you frequently employ, overall it sounds like something you wrote.

[dahans]

What? I didn't know that... are you sure? :O

And thanks, it was definitely written by me xD.

[pumpy_heart]

Fun piece you have there. And if what Zach said is true, better watch out for those youtube cops XD

Like your other pieces before, there is little to no transitions to new themes (and I do believe they're themes, each one standing alone save for the overarching Happy Birthday theme). If you're going to have so many themes I would try to develop into them instead a few seconds of transition. Warps you directly to the new themes that themselves don't last for that long a time frame which makes you wonder about the importance of each one.
Parallel octaves in the bass for 90-95% of the time? Try to write some unique lines for the bass a lot more, creating more independent lines and more interest to that aspect of the piece. The line it has near the end drew so much attention because nothing like it had been heard before. It works, but you can also use the left hand for far more clever things.
Surprise us more. Keep us on our toes. After a couple of seconds in each theme, the theme became predictable. No one knew what the opening to Beethoven's 5th would do on it's premiere and it contained many surprises throughout the piece with only 2 themes. Try for more surprises.
Rest a bit more too. Give the audience a chance to breathe and realize what happened. Silence or absent of lines could be used very well in the right context.

I hope you don't take offense with the Beethoven reference; I think it's a compliment to be compared to the greats. =D
Great listening experience; keep composing!

[MaestroUGC]

You know, I got the impression that this was mostly improvised. If so, kudos man, I've done that before on stage and it is not a smooth experience if your are not improvising of off familiar material.

[dahans]

1) yeah thanks for the reference with beethoven.  i don' think it's offensive. And yeah i know what you mean with the elaboration of themes and the bass line. I did that in kind of 2 to 3 hours one afternoon, as a result there isn't sheet music for it. I would have taken more interest in a decent bass line if i had written it on my pc. But on the whole, you're right I need to work on that very badly. In this case I kind of wanted to write as many melodies as possible. I thought that to be a challange.
2) there are youtube cops?
3) thank you both for critizicing me. It really helps me a lot

[MaestroUGC]

Here's a good Rule of Thumb: More does not mean Better. In fact, in music More often takes away from the piece as a whole.