# Fantasy for Solo Piano



## Musician

Performing my Fantasy for piano,

Regards,

Saul


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## pluhagr

Do you have the scores to any of your piano pieces? I find this pretty, but it sounds dated and this type of music has been done so much that it sounds like every other piece of quasi-impressionistic piano music.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

To me I feel like you have repeated many 19th century clichés. In writing stories it's best to avoid clichés becuause it come across as poor quality writing (unless they are done well and in an interesting context that makes them unpredictable, check out some polystylistic music by Alfred Schnittke in which he can draw on different clichés from many different styles throughout history in a new and fresh context). The same applies to your music here, you've obviously found something you like about the style you are imitating but it's also good not to spend so much time putting in cliché after cliché in a repetitive manner as you have there. However, you could think of this work as an exercise and use different parts of the music in a larger work in a similar way that Schnittke could employ dated clichés in his music but in a completely new and original context, or of course you could apply them in any other way you want so that it doesn't seem to be a long string of clichés. 

Good work though, it's great that you are imitating these older styles because learning by imitation is generally one of the best ways to approach studying composition and I always encourage people to study existing styles and imitate them to get an understanding on how they work which will get them to be better composers in the long run.


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## aleazk

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> To me I feel like you have repeated many 19th century clichés. In writing stories it's best to avoid clichés becuause it come across as poor quality writing (unless they are done well and in an interesting context that makes them unpredictable, check out some polystylistic music by Alfred Schnittke in which he can draw on different clichés from many different styles throughout history in a new and fresh context). The same applies to your music here, you've obviously found something you like about the style you are imitating but it's also good not to spend so much time putting in cliché after cliché in a repetitive manner as you have there. However, you could think of this work as an exercise and use different parts of the music in a larger work in a similar way that Schnittke could employ dated clichés in his music but in a completely new and original context, or of course you could apply them in any other way you want so that it doesn't seem to be a long string of clichés.
> 
> Good work though, it's great that you are imitating these older styles because learning by imitation is generally one of the best ways to approach studying composition and I always encourage people to study existing styles and imitate them to get an understanding on how they work which will get them to be better composers in the long run.


For some reason, I feel that Musician will not enjoy Schnittke as much as you... :lol:


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## violadude

aleazk said:


> For some reason, I feel that Musician will not enjoy Schnittke as much as you... :lol:


Aww, he just needs to listen to the right piece.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

aleazk said:


> For some reason, I feel that Musician will not enjoy Schnittke as much as you... :lol:


Becoming a good composer is not necessarily so much about writing enjoyable rehash as it is understanding what it's like to use clichés in a creative and unique way while actually understanding a lot about the different clichés in many styles. Musician is already part of the way there, so here's a pat on the back for stylistic recognition and being able to imitate that! Having a good knowledge of these things would get one to think about what they are actually doing when putting notes on the page. It's more of a learning experience rather than just having a good old time listening to music.


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## aleazk

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Becoming a good composer is not necessarily so much about writing enjoyable rehash as it is understanding what it's like to use clichés in a creative and unique way while actually understanding a lot about the different clichés in many styles. Musician is already part of the way there, so here's a pat on the back for stylistic recognition and being able to imitate that! Having a good knowledge of these things would get one to think about what they are actually doing when putting notes on the page. It's more of a learning experience rather than just having a good old time listening to music.


Cliché or not cliché, that's the question!. 
Well, I completely agree. We will have to wait for knowing Musician's opinion on this.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

aleazk said:


> Cliché or not cliché, that's the question!.


It's what one _does_ with it that matters.


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## violadude

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> It's what one _does_ with it that matters.


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## aleazk

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> It's what one _does_ with it that matters.


Well, yes. But you are suggesting the use of clichés in a new, non cliché way. So, at the end, it's indeed a question of cliché or not cliché.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

aleazk said:


> Well, yes. But you are suggesting the use of clichés in a new, non cliché way. So, at the end, it's indeed a question of cliché or not cliché.


Ah I see now........:lol:


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## Musician

Thanks for everyone comments, glad you took the time to listen and comment.

About words like cliche, imitation, style, and so on, well none of these came to my mind as I was composing it. I don't know if anyone can really call it a 'composition' per say, it was rather a spontaneous burst of music, I think I was very passionate about something and sat down on the piano and played/recorded the whole thing in one sitting. Sometimes it does happen that all the fingers fall down on the rite keys without any mistakes or rehearsal. I find it interesting cause even with other forms of improvisations, sometimes I need to rehearse and refine the improvisation before recording, but frequently some improvisations have a really good quality of what one may describe as 'completion' or 'composition'. Had I written this music on paper, I doubt that I would have changed anything. So this piece is available currently only as a recording, but not as a score, I really don't have a problem with this. After all a recording is just another form of 'capturing' the music, though its in a way limited compared to the written score, cause no other pianist can play this. Putting this piece of music on paper would be a daunting task, and very time consuming. I really do wish there was a program that could transfer Mp3 files into written scores, I'm sure someone is working on it, and when it would become available I would love to utilize it.

I want to make one thing clear, the reason I don't like modern music is not because its 'modern', but because I feel its not beautiful, and inspiring. Had these 2 elements were more incorporated within modern music, I would have been more then happy to be open to it and give it the time of day. But since it is done in a distasteful manner, I don't like it. This whole thing has to do very little with technique and style, but with approach , and the specific refusal to compose anything that is truly beautiful and inspiring. Beautiful and inspiring go hand in hand, because beauty awakens certain feelings and emotions within the listener, and they in turn inspire, and music that is not inspiring in my opinion shouldn't be written, composed, recorded, created.

I understand that 'beauty' in music is not what all composers are looking for, many look for intelligent and sophisticated complexities and harmonies, adventurous explorations, reaching the very nadir of the cosmos. This philosophy in my opinion is twisted because in essence what they are saying is that everything was already ventured and tried and used, and the only way to create something original is to seek a new path, that is totally different from anything else that was previously explored. This in my opinion is putting limitations on music, and the ability to compose things of immense beauty and grandeur within the classical/romantic framework. It is saying that music has been so stretched and excavated that nothing else can be done and therefore its vital to find new grounds for exploration. Well, this approach could have been totally correct if we would have been dealing with physical locations, when one has completed exploring a certain location, he needs other locations to investigate, but when it comes to music, I believe you can have 1000 composers in the like of Bach and Beethoven and its absolutely possible that all 1000 can be great and influential because there is no limitations with what anyone can do with music. So with regards to this piece, some may believe that it has elements of cliche and imitation, well so what? for me when I listen to modern music, I feel great similarities between different modern composers, but no one here seems to care about that...

When writing literature there is no need to invent new words or new 'word combinations', you just need to tell your story, that's about it, the same goes with music, its not necessary to venture to distant chasms in order to compose, all you have to do is compose what you want to compose, as simple as that, and if it later could sound like a cliche, then there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it was not done on purpose and 'imitation' wasn't your main objective. The quality of the music is determined not by its style or level of antiquity or modernity, but by its content, and if you have something good to sell with your music, people will like it, but no form or style, or any other invention under the sun can obscure a poor sounding composition, cause its faults will glare so obviously.


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## mtmailey

schubert wanderer is a good one to hear.


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## Muse

nice work! enjoyed it, thx


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https://soundcloud.com/pianomonster-1%2Fplayful-animals-in-the-magic


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