# An original piano piece



## roquejose

Hi all, I'd want to show you a piece I composed some days ago.






Thanks for listening!


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## violadude

It sounds heavily improvised, was it?


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## Chordalrock

It's hard to follow rhythmically, as if your phrase lengths were irregular and you're not aware of things like time signature and note lengths. Definitely sounds like it's not a proper composition but more the result of sitting down and playing something while recording it.


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## roquejose

Thanks for your comments, Yes It was improvised, I was a bit sad and tried to make something. Thanks for listening.


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## PetrB

Good things can come from improv, or 'just noodling about at the keyboard.' Recording helps you listen with more detachment, i.e. to hear what is and isn't working, what works better.

A lot of this sounds though (I say this a lot) like your fingers and motor habit of some standard configurations directed what we hear at least as much as your ears directed the piece. There is nothing wrong with a piano piece being highly idiomatic to the instrument, but when very commonly overused accompaniment patters begin to near predominate, it is time to rethink what you are doing, and challenge both your technique, playing habits, and see if you can come up with another accompaniment pattern, at least, which sounds richer and more fresh.

Notate it. Set it aside, and look at it when it is not 'about your mood,' and later see what you might change, keep, alter, etc.


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## Celloissimo

Not bad for an improvisation, but it sounds like it's being played in free-time. Nothing wrong with improvisation in free time at all (I find it quite fascinating actually) but if you want to compose a piece of classical music, it should have a meter and follow a form.

Not dissing your piece at all, in fact I like it a lot.


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## Boomcmoney

The second paragraph of PetrB's post pretty much sums up how I feel about this, at least for the first 45 seconds of the song. It is quite pretty though, if you could clean it up and be more creative with the note patterns, this could be a really good piece.


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## Xenol

Ill break the mould and say i quite like it. The slower bit after the strormy start is a little confused feeling, with no direction, but a bit of tweaking could easily fix that.


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## roquejose

Thank you for all your reviews!! I will try to follow your advices. Thank you for listening!! Greetings from Argentina.


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## millionrainbows

Not my cup of tea. It wanders, wanders.


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## roquejose

millionrainbows said:


> Not my cup of tea. It wanders, wanders.


Thanks for listening and sorry for dissapointing.


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## PetrB

roquejose said:


> Thanks for listening and sorry for dissapointing.


The very greatest of composers have yet to please everyone. Never apologize for a piece you've written, and I almost never use absolutes like that, but 
*j u s t-- n e v e r-- a p o l o g i z e-- i f -- s o m e t h i n g -- y o u -- m a d e -- d o e s -- n o t -- 
p l e a s e -- s o m e -- o n e.*


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## roquejose

PetrB said:


> The very greatest of composers have yet to please everyone. Never apologize for a piece you've written, and I almost never use absolutes like that, but
> *j u s t-- n e v e r-- a p o l o g i z e-- i f -- s o m e t h i n g -- y o u -- m a d e -- d o e s -- n o t --
> p l e a s e -- s o m e -- o n e.*


Thanks for the advice PetrB, I'm a bit shy, when someone says he/she didn't like what I wrote I feel like that person wasted time listening to it. But you're right, that's the right feeling, maybe when I have more experience I will think so. Thank you for your words!


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## aleazk

Celloissimo said:


> Not bad for an improvisation, but it sounds like it's being played in free-time. Nothing wrong with improvisation in free time at all (I find it quite fascinating actually) but if you want to compose a piece of classical music, it should have a meter and follow a form.
> 
> Not dissing your piece at all, in fact I like it a lot.


 Then anything of what I wrote in the past years can be called classical music!


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## aleazk

Anyway, I think the most evident problem that you often encounter when working with improvisation is that one tends to get stuck with certain patterns, without adding a convenient variation, and so it becomes tiring and uninteresting to the ear. Like the accompaniment and general rhythmic flow of the first 35 seconds of your improv, and in the second part too. As PB says, a more interesting accompaniment is definitely needed there. Try to be more adventurous next time. You will make mistakes, of course, but they are techniques you develop gradually. Also, try to think a little about the general shape or form you want in the improvisation. 

For example, I did something similar once, i.e., a fully improvised piece that I recorded and later notated (an 'Harpsichord etude'). But it was not at all a 'naive' process. I spent weeks developing the kind of textures, patterns and form. In fact, I tried to compose the piece on paper first, but I was not satisfied with the result because I wanted the rhythms to be very free. So, I thought, 'perhaps if I improvise the actual rhythmic accentuations I will get what I want'. So, I went to the piano, and with a complete idea of the general form and direction of the piece, the different textures, developments, patterns, and techniques I wanted, I improvised the full piece. But the only improvised thing there are the actual notes as you can see from what I recount here! the rest of the pre-compostion work was the same like for any other piece. You could say that the full piece was already in my mind in its full form before I sat on the piano, I only needed to come up with a method to write the actual notes in order to 'realize' the piece.

I think this process only works for small and short pieces, and I only used it for one piece. It can be pretty fun and exciting, though.

In general, I would recommend a more orthodox approach to composition.


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## PetrB

aleazk said:


> Anyway, I think the most evident problem that you often encounter when working with improvisation is that one tends to get stuck with certain patterns, without adding a convenient variation, and so it becomes tiring and uninteresting to the ear. Like the accompaniment and general rhythmic flow of the first 35 seconds of your improv, and in the second part too. As PB says, a more interesting accompaniment is definitely needed there. Try to be more adventurous next time. You will make mistakes, of course, but they are techniques you develop gradually. Also, try to think a little about the general shape or form you want in the improvisation.
> 
> For example, I did something similar once, i.e., a fully improvised piece that I recorded and later notated (an 'Harpsichord etude'). But it was not at all a 'naive' process. I spent weeks developing the kind of textures, patterns and form. In fact, I tried to compose the piece on paper first, but I was not satisfied with the result because I wanted the rhythms to be very free. So, I thought, 'perhaps if I improvise the actual rhythmic accentuations I will get what I want'. So, I went to the piano, and with a complete idea of the general form and direction of the piece, the different textures, developments, patterns, and techniques I wanted, I improvised the full piece. But the only improvised thing there are the actual notes as you can see from what I recount here! the rest of the pre-compostion work was the same like for any other piece. You could say that the full piece was already in my mind in its full form before I sat on the piano, I only needed to come up with a method to write the actual notes in order to 'realize' the piece.
> 
> I think this process only works for small and short pieces, and I only used it for one piece. It can be pretty fun and exciting, though.
> 
> In general, I would recommend a more orthodox approach to composition.


I've found the same about improv, at least improv 'producing' a very short piece, very simple form (nothing wrong with either.)
But the improv can make for a good idea coming out from 'playing about' and listening. Unless you're a very experienced Jazz or Classical style improviser, even those short pieces which came up through improvisation are better worked on paper, 'the old fashioned way.' They may remain short and simple, but the luxury of time, knowing 'the lay of the land' makes for real opportunity to revise or polish what first was developed, even if it remains a nice, shorter piece in simple form.


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## BurningDesire

Celloissimo said:


> Not bad for an improvisation, but it sounds like it's being played in free-time. Nothing wrong with improvisation in free time at all (I find it quite fascinating actually) but if you want to compose a piece of classical music, it should have a meter and follow a form.
> 
> Not dissing your piece at all, in fact I like it a lot.


That is not true. Plenty of "classical music" doesn't follow standardized forms, or heavily modifies them to the point its not really the same thing anymore, and also plenty of "classical music" doesn't have a strict meter, whether it be constantly changing, or amorphous (which is typical of most piano music after the classical period).


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## differencetone

I don't think the meter is a problem but the timing is sloppy. That is what throws it off. It certainly is not the worst composition I have heard on here. Work on your timing and listen to some modern composers then try again.


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## nikola

I enjoyed your composition more than critics you received that somehow managed to ruin the whole experience with their technical points of view. 
I don't believe that something should be technically perfect to be good. It's obvious that you have a talent and what I would do in your place is to continue to play with piano and tones. It's better to continue with your own inspiration and enjoy while playing it than to think that you must sound like 'this' or 'that'. I know personally that nothing good ever came out of something that was way overanalyzed and forced, especially if you're trying to coordinate your style and talent with other people expectations. You can't please all people no matter what you do. 
Your composition does sound like improvisation and unfinished, but it really does not matter. It's quite charming, playful and emotional for musical sketch IMO.


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