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Something Christmassy (Piano Sketch)

Discussion in 'Critique & Feedback' started by Duncan Formosa, Nov 25, 2020.

  1. #1 Duncan Formosa, Nov 25, 2020
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2020
    I'm always really slow when it comes to writing music so I've decided to try compose something Christmassy and aim to have it done before Christmas day, that way I've set myself a deadline since Christmas music has a certain vibe to it.

    This is the piano sketch I've got so far.

     
    Tom Welsh, Sinethemba Gwadiso and Matthias Calis like this.
  2. #2 Matthias Calis, Dec 1, 2020
    I like it. It was easy to follow and held my interest throughout the piece. If I may be permitted to level one minor criticism it would be that there are some (for my tastes) superfluous repeat sections in the piece. Most notably from 1:30 up until 1:46. I expected the bass notes to hit at around 1:34 instead of at 1:39, or in other words: where you did 4 repetitions of that light staccato phrase, I expected about 2.

    Secondly, the melody in the right hand from about 1:51 onward is also repeated verbatim a few times too many. The repetition itself is not bad in of itself (and you do change the harmony, which is nice), but I was expecting the melody to shift register, maybe go up an octave or to be repeated in octaves, or up an octave and in triads.

    On the whole however, I very much like the sound of this piece. The vibe is there, the structure is there and I genuinely enjoyed listening to it. Will you be submitting the orchestrated version to this year's Unleashed?
     
  3. #3 Duncan Formosa, Dec 3, 2020
    Hey Matthias!

    Thanks for the feedback, I agree, the section from 1:30 - 1:54 is a tad long and repetitive.

    I'll maybe change up the counter melody slightly the second time the theme repeats at 1:51. I'm wanting a solo trumpet to be doing the melody at this point with horns doing the counter melody, so shifting it up an octave would mean there will be notes they can't hit (or hit easily) and having them down an octave (I think) sounds a little muddy. But then that could be cause my mixes are bad or the samples just don't cut it.

    I've got the main theme parts orchestrated, but that B theme is giving me nightmares. I'm trying to do the shimmering strings effect but it sounds terrible, though that's probably due to my playing. Having to fix a lot of performance issues.

    Hopefully I'll get it done before Christmas and ready for unleashed this year. Although I think Mike said in one of his streams recently that he's thinking about only taking piano sketches this year, in which case I'll send the modified version.
     
    Matthias Calis likes this.
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