# Nocturn in C minor



## MarkMcD (Mar 31, 2014)

Hi all,

Been very busy the last few months, doing stuff to the house and a little tour of Extremadura for a month, then family over to visit too..... But I've also been working on a couple of new pieces and I think I have this one in a pretty fair state, I'd love some feedback if you feel inclined.

It's a piano and flute duet, and I did actually start a thread a few months ago to see if anyone wanted to play a game, I uploaded a few bars of something I liked the sound of and I invited people to add a few more bars if anyone wanted, a few of you did and I liked a lot of what was added, but in the end, I've taken back my original few bars, and this is what resulted, I hope you like it. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/17az3aa0ga3qs5u/Nocturn_in_C_minor.mp3?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xq464w0ymedvmnt/Nocturn in C minor.pdf?dl=0


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Your piece is in C# minor (the sharp was left off) which means almost all your C-naturals in this piece are to be notated as B#'s to be correct.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

MarkMcD said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Been very busy the last few months, doing stuff to the house and a little tour of Extremadura for a month, then family over to visit too..... But I've also been working on a couple of new pieces and I think I have this one in a pretty fair state, I'd love some feedback if you feel inclined.
> 
> ...


Good job! I enjoyed it.


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## MarkMcD (Mar 31, 2014)

Thanks Captainnumber 36, I'm glad you liked it. Hi vask, what a stupid mistake, of course it's in C# minor, don't know why I left that out, and I will rectify the C naturals, thanks for your input.


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## MarkMcD (Mar 31, 2014)

Here's a new link for the amended score should anyone like to see it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6youcpm8c5z2tt/Nocturn in C# minor.pdf?dl=0


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

A couple of suggestions:

(1) In a 6/4 meter (2 beats to a measure - the first consists of beats 1-3, the second 4-6), the start of the second beat (beat 4) must not be obscured. I'll point out 2 places, but there are plenty more. The RH of the piano in m.8 write the quarter note dyad (2-note chord - D & F) as two eights tied, so the eighth is the seen as the start of the "second beat" (_of course I'd redo the dyad of E & G to be a quarter tied to an 8th so its end is beamed to the start of the 8th second dyad_). The next place is m.9. The half note dyad must be first a dotted quarter tied to an 8th because the 8th note is where the "second beat" starts.

(2) Your pages are too cramped. You need to limit 3 systems per page. The pedal markings right now are way too close to the system staff below them, plus it makes you have to have phrase markings/slurs collide with crescendo markings. BTW, you really don't need all those pedal markings as after a few bars you could simply supply the term _simile_ (actually just abbreviate _sim._) ONCE and all pianists would continue with the pedaling you want. The _sim._ is placed where the pedal marking would be.

3) Expression markings like _legato, espress., dolce_, etc go above the staff (above RH of piano)


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## MarkMcD (Mar 31, 2014)

Hi Vasks,
Thanks once again for your help and I do appreciate your attention to the details, I can see I'm going to have to pay more attention to the scores in future. I tend to leave them much as Sibelius writes them as my music theory is not good, although the placing of expression markings was my fault, I am a pianist albeit amateur, I still should have recognised that mistake having read thousands of scores over the years. I will have a look at the points you mentioned and see what I can do. I did know the point about the pedalling but in order for Sibelius to play it properly I think you need to keep telling it what you want in the way of pedalling, although I have to confess I haven't tried to _simile_ or _sim_ to see if it works, though I suspect it wont.

Thanks again
Mark


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

MarkMcD said:


> Hi Vasks,
> I did know the point about the pedalling but in order for Sibelius to play it properly I think you need to keep telling it what you want in the way of pedalling, although I have to confess I haven't tried to _simile_ or _sim_ to see if it works, though I suspect it wont.


Yeah it probably won't. I have Sibelius too. The pros who use Sibelius (there's a Facebook group that I sometimes read and Sibelius has one also) where you can learn lots of what to do. In my case I first make a score so it sounds like I want. Then when done, duplicate it and touch up the duplicate, so it looks like I want. The pros don't do that, but I'm a composer only and feel like it's a waste of time to research everything. It especially gets messy when you have the score just right and then have to create parts. Again the pros have work-arounds so they can create parts without messing up the score, but they're too intricate for me.


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## MarkMcD (Mar 31, 2014)

Hi Vasks,

Well if it's too intricate for you, imagine what it would be like for someone who only has grade 3 theory! I do think it's a good idea though to print a second amended score for publishing/posting as lots of people like to read the score, me included, and it is annoying to see glaring mistakes (some not so glaring in my case), but I will take your advice under advisement and thanks once again, I know this is not really your type of music and so I appreciate your effort to help.
Mark


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## KjellPrytz (Dec 16, 2016)

Wow, how beautiful this is. Brilliant.
Nice to have you back on the line, Mark. Your are a talented composer who also shows interest in others work.
Thanks for giving us this wonderful tune.
Kjell


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## MarkMcD (Mar 31, 2014)

Hi Kjell,

Thank you for your kind words, I'm glad you liked it, it took a lot of work this one, but I think it paid off in the end. Still a bit of tidying up to do here and there, (or is it that I just can't stop tinkering with things when I should leave them well alone lol), but anyway, thanks again. I'm still busy with things in the house at the moment so I don't have as much time as I'd like right now, but we've nearly finished now so I'll be able to spend a bit more time here soon.
Thanks again, 
Mark


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