# Etude no. 4



## MJTTOMB

by yours truly, in C# minor. I'd appreciate any feedback.

Somewhat of a scriabin influence.


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## Weston

Impressive. I like the rhythmic transition at measure 43 or so and and when it appears again in other places. I'm not hearing the Scriabin influence -- I usually don't like Scriabin, at least not yet. But I do enjoy this piece. I'd love to hear it on a real piano, but it looks frightfully difficult to play. To my ears it sounds like it wants to be a tiny bit slower. 

Well there I go -- you offer free music and everybody wants to be a critic, but I really do enjoy this. I'm going for the mp3. Thanks.


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## MJTTOMB

Interestingly enough, that rhythmic transtition you like is an element called a _hemiola_ that I took from Scriabin himself (though used, no doubt by many other composers, it was his use of the effect that inspired me to take it and use it myself.). Hemiola is the term fro when you create an effect of two different meters playing simultaneously. in this case, 2 in the left hand and 3 in the right. the same effect is heard in Scriabin's 5th etude, C# minor, from op. 42. My video is a video response to the Vladimir Horowitz interpretation of the piece, so there should be a link at the youtube video.


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## MJTTOMB

bumping because i'd like more feedback.


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## Bach

Nicely written, very lyrical. Far too fast.


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## Fortissimo

I like it. Well done. Left you message on youtube. Agree with the rest, a bit fast. My own opinion: felt a bit exhausted and the end, would have preferred some breathing. Enjoyed the rhythm changes and melodies. Well done


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## chillowack

This is fantastic! You are a very skilled composer.

Did you compose this in Finale? What was your process? How long did it take you? Please share as much as you can, I would love to know more.

The only (very minor) criticism I have is that your rhythm, being rather intricate, sometimes sounds a little tricky to maintain. But maybe I just haven't fully grasped it yet.

I would be interested to hear more of your work, this is exceptional stuff. Please post links to other works you have composed.


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## MJTTOMB

chillowack said:


> This is fantastic! You are a very skilled composer.
> 
> Did you compose this in Finale? What was your process? How long did it take you? Please share as much as you can, I would love to know more.


This was composed in Finale, though I much prefer Sibelius personally. As for process, it was conceived on the piano, then taken to Finale for expansion and re-working. If you're looking for compositional advice, all I can really suggest is that you listen to a piece you like, look over the score for musical devices that you think work, and then adapt those devices for your own compositions.

The piece took me a few weeks of work to complete, though the work wasn't constant, and if it got stressful I took a break to rest.



> The only (very minor) criticism I have is that your rhythm, being rather intricate, sometimes sounds a little tricky to maintain. But maybe I just haven't fully grasped it yet.
> 
> I would be interested to hear more of your work, this is exceptional stuff. Please post links to other works you have composed.


Gladly.0
Suite for Strings, Movement 2
Movement 1

Etude 3
Etude 2

just a few examples. I'd love to hear more feedback.


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## SenorTearduct

Oh my lord, this is beautiful, all of it!!! how long have you been composing??


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## MJTTOMB

SenorTearduct said:


> Oh my lord, this is beautiful, all of it!!! how long have you been composing??


I'm 16 currently, but I've been composing for about 2 years.

And thank you all very much for your opinions, I appreciate them very much.


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## chillowack

MJTTOMB said:


> If you're looking for compositional advice, all I can really suggest is that you listen to a piece you like, look over the score for musical devices that you think work, and then adapt those devices for your own compositions.


Can you recommend a good internet resource where classical scores can be obtained for free?

Really enjoyed your other etudes as well. Great work!


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## Ben

Very very good! You really should record some of this. 

And try www.imslp.org for free domain scores


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## MJTTOMB

Ben said:


> Very very good! You really should record some of this.
> 
> And try www.imslp.org for free domain scores


I would second this. I'e been a long-time lover of that site. Just look over the scores as you listen.


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## SenorTearduct

Could you list the otherworks youve done in your two years? you dont have to make attatchments but just list all your works... your very talanted.


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## chillowack

Thank you both for the online scores resource, that's just what I needed.

MJTTOMB: I wanted to ask you how you got your piano to sound ethereal like that? It's a beautiful sound, an almost mystical sound, perfectly fitting this style, and I would like to know how to approximate it, if ever I venture to explore this "Scriabian" realm (which I think one day I will). Is this just some default sound of your composition software, or did you tweak it at all?


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## SenorTearduct

What do you plan on doing in the future with your music.. Jw...


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## Fortissimo

I love you piano pieces! very well done. Post more if you have.


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## MJTTOMB

> Could you list the otherworks youve done in your two years? you dont have to make attatchments but just list all your works... your very talanted.


This link will give you a very accurate view of my development as a musician. I've been posting my work there for the entirety of my musical journey, from my initial musical failures up until my works of today. Some highlights would be my Nocturne in C minor, and much of my more recent work. Also, you can listen to tracks from a soundtrack I'm writing for a small upcoming game here.



> MJTTOMB: I wanted to ask you how you got your piano to sound ethereal like that? It's a beautiful sound, an almost mystical sound, perfectly fitting this style, and I would like to know how to approximate it, if ever I venture to explore this "Scriabian" realm (which I think one day I will). Is this just some default sound of your composition software, or did you tweak it at all?


I use Finale to compose my music, then I export the piece as a midi file and master it in GarageBand. Though looked down on by most people, GarageBand is a powerful tool if you know how to use it.

More or less the piano is just a digital Steinway piano sample with a slight bit of reverb, then equalized and compressed until I get a desirable sound.



> What do you plan on doing in the future with your music.. Jw...


I plan on going into music education. I want to teach high school for a while, and then move up to a university level of teaching later in life.



> I love you piano pieces! very well done. Post more if you have.


see above! 

Thanks guys.


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## Rasa

> Hemiola is the term fro when you create an effect of two different meters playing simultaneously.


Actually, there's two phenomenons in those measures:

Hemiola: In a measure with three times, it's a rythmical pattern that divides two measures into 3x 2 times. It makes the measure of three in a measure of two. Hemiolas were common in baroque music cadences, and are actually a measure changement that wasn't written out, the age's preformers knew it was there. This does not necessarily mean that there is:
Polyrythmia: different metric tropes superposed: in this case, the measure in three over the measure in two.

In the case of this bit, it's not a hemiola, it's a tuplet.

Other then that, nice etude. Pretty hard too, would take me a while to master.


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## MJTTOMB

Rasa said:


> Actually, there's two phenomenons in those measures:
> 
> Hemiola: In a measure with three times, it's a rythmical pattern that divides two measures into 3x 2 times. It makes the measure of three in a measure of two. Hemiolas were common in baroque music cadences, and are actually a measure changement that wasn't written out, the age's preformers knew it was there. This does not necessarily mean that there is:
> Polyrythmia: different metric tropes superposed: in this case, the measure in three over the measure in two.
> 
> In the case of this bit, it's not a hemiola, it's a tuplet.
> 
> Other then that, nice etude. Pretty hard too, would take me a while to master.


Thanks for the correction.

Yeah. It's pretty tough. I took a look at it this morning. It made my fingers want to cry, quite frankly.


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## chillowack

MJTTOMB said:


> I use Finale to compose my music, then I export the piece as a midi file and master it in GarageBand. Though looked down on by most people, GarageBand is a powerful tool if you know how to use it.
> 
> More or less the piano is just a digital Steinway piano sample with a slight bit of reverb, then equalized and compressed until I get a desirable sound.


Thanks for these specs MJTTOMB, I'm going to try this technique for mastering the current piece I'm working on (substituting Audacity for GarageBand).


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## Ravellian

I really like the principal theme.. the rhythm is inventive, and the melodic contour fits the accompaniment nicely. My one criticism is that the middle section isn't quite different enough from the outer sections since it's got a similar melodic line, so by the end I've gotten just a bit bored. Granted, I'm used to Chopin, who usually uses extreme contrast in his middle sections. Anyway, I dunno if you're still working on this piece, but here's my suggestion: instead of the same sort of melodic line in the middle section, make the right hand do something crazy- sixteenth triplet flourishes, I dunno.. do something unexpected. I think it would sound cool.


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