# Variations in C minor (study/demo)



## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

I'm completely self-taught (see this thread), so I need to find out if what I've been reading about music theory has had any help. As such, *constructive* criticism is very welcome.

The first phrase is basically just voice leading (i-iii-iv progression), and isn't meant to be the actual theme.

MIDI, exported to wav (I don't actually play an instrument):

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https://soundcloud.com/kopachris%2Fvariations-in-c-minor

After listening to this myself, I think giving each presentation a perfect authentic cadence was a bad idea. A good solution might be to give each presentation a period instead of a single phrase? More variations might be in order as well.

As always with me, sheet music is attached. Again, because I'm self-taught, I crave constructive criticism--please point out if anything is wrong with it, and how I could fix it. Thank you!


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## MJTTOMB (Dec 16, 2007)

You're writing it as i-iii-iv, it should be i-III-iv. 

In minor scales, the chord values are: i-iiº-III-iv-v (or V)- VI- VII (or viiº), where lower-case denotes minor (or, if specified, diminished), and upper-case denotes major.

In major scales, the pattern is: I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-viiº

For a self-taught beginner composition, this shows promise, and I absolutely applaud your enthusiasm for doing things methodically and using music theory. In the later stages of your development I'd expect you to let go of that, but at this point you're doing yourself a huge favor by learning the rules.

Keep it up, this is a strong start!


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Sure it all seems to work well - im not sure how far along you are so yes this is a good start. Next try to think about the impressions your music will leave on the listener and work more towards a result than through the method (if you understand?)


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Thank you for your encouragement. I've been reading some books on common-practice music theory to help me improve. I'm currently reading Walter Piston's _Harmony_ and will soon move on to counterpoint (Piston's book on the subject, as well as a book on regular species counterpoint), form, and instrumentation/orchestration. To show my progress (to myself), I worked out another theme, which I might use in a later composition or write variations for:



Sorry, no audio this time. I might post audio later, but the way LilyPond does dynamics in MIDI only does it for one hand of the piano staff, unless explicitly done on both staffs.


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