# Rhaido for Solo Piano



## Torkelburger

"Rhaido" (pronounced "rye-though") was the name given to the letter R in the Proto-Germanic alphabet (runes), most notably used by the Vikings. The name literally means "ride" or "journey".


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## Ian Moore

Who's playing the piano? Very lively on the keyboard.


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## Torkelburger

Ian Moore said:


> Who's playing the piano? Very lively on the keyboard.


This is Finale spitting out a realization of the score.


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## dzc4627

awesome. reminds me of this piece by shchredin:


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## TheLastGreatComposer

Very interesting piece! What is your thought process for making music? Like, where do you get the ideas and inspiration to create your music?


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## Torkelburger

TheLastGreatComposer said:


> Very interesting piece! What is your thought process for making music? Like, where do you get the ideas and inspiration to create your music?


Thank you! I would love to say something insightful or spiritual or poetic in regards to my inspiration, but the truth is the only thing that inspires me is music itself. The great composers' works of the past and present inspire me and the feeling I get composing and listening to my creations.

With regard to my ideas, I'm a neo-classicist and so get my ideas in what many will probably consider a very old-fashioned way. But it is the way that comes natural to me and is also the way I was taught. It usually starts with one very basic musical idea, such as a motif, melody, chord, rhythm, etc. Then I figure out what sort of form would best present this idea over the span of a piece. In Rhaido, a two-measure motif came to me first which I then expanded to a full-blown melody with harmony and then looked at it and felt I had a dramatic first theme for a sonata form. The game plan is then laid out from there and you write the second theme group, the transition, codetta, and intro, and voila-you have your exposition (and recapitulation to a certain degree (you don't want exact repetition)). The last thing I write when I write sonatas is actually the middle part, the development, because I want to have all my materials in front of me to work with, even the ending.

The thing to get right is finding the right form for your ideas. Not all melodies are suitable for developmental forms such as the sonata form. The melody might be better suited for a contrapuntal form, or sectional form. Or if you've just got chords, then you have other choices (a Chaconne perhaps).

There is a thought process you may find interesting but one I have never tried that is a very unique approach. I know that John Corigliano uses and teaches a method where you draw a graph/picture of the piece and/or write with words what happens in the piece in regards to its "emotional landscape" and then go from there. Someday I may give that a try and see what happens.


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## TheLastGreatComposer

Writing the words for what will happen is how I tend to start off my compositions. I can tell you that doing so creates the challenge of translating the words into music. It does however create a unique experience when composing because you have to create the body of the piece from virtually no musical ideas. 

I've found that sometimes just going with what you feel is right creates the most expressive music. After that its really just up to the composer to determine if he/she wants to stay within the "rules" of music. Thanks for sharing! You have a very unique approach and I wish you the best of luck on future compositions!


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