Hope you like this short piece composed in a snowy, yet bright, morning in spring 2010.

Technically, this is an experimental study of the "circle of 5th". I call it "circle of 4th", moving upward. Starting on C major, the key changes every measure, making the 4th note of the previous scale the tonic of the next scale, until it circles back to C major. It must be pointed out, although it starts and finishes on the C chord, this is NOT a piece in C major.

It may not sound like it to the ear, but every key of the chromatic scale should have been played.

The Audio is performed by Cecilia Li.

All comments are welcome.

To listen: http://haostaff.com/snowflakes.mp3
Score on Grand Staff: http://haostaff.com/gs_snowflakes.pdf


Jeff Hao

Hi Jeff,

It's not a bad attempt and the fact that you got someone to perform it for you also counts for something.

However there are a few things I would recomend:

First of all, yes you do go through the circle of 5ths (or 4ths, it's pretty much the same thing), but you move constantly your left hand upwards, downwards and this makes things quite uneffective and tiresome. You only use the chords in normal position (with the root on bottom), so it's also a bit boring, if I may say so.

Secondly, your spelling is a bit bad. You go in B major and notate it at B natural Gb and Eb, which is the most bizzare way one would think of notating it. Either make the B natural into a Cb or change the other two into sharps. Next chord is E major and give it an Ab instead of a G#! Stuff like that make the pianist look twice before playing, I think and are unecessary.

Do keep in mind that the circle of 5ths does start from C to end in... B# actually and not C (technically speaking). This means that at some point you will need to switch from flats to sharps and change enharmonically your spelling.

Thank you very much, Nilolas, for listening to it and giving me tips .

Yes, I did not put enough care in the spelling of notes (X#, or Y, or Yb). If fact, I used Sibelius to type one measure, and then copied it to the next measure, and transposed it (the second measure) up "by 4th". That process resulted in many sharps and flats and naturals being not according to the usual Key signatures. So in order to minimise accidentals, I did what I did with manual adjustments, but using only flats . I totally overlook the factor that you are pointing out - pianists' trained habits of reading enharmonics.

Perhaps a digression, I am a self starter on piano and theory, and in fact I made up my own way of expressing music which disregards enharmonics (as it is very much a derivative of the Grand Staff and does not affect the music itself anyway). It is meant for certain people but certainly not all. This is how it looks: http://haostaff.com/hs_snowflakes.pdf

But point taken, that if I produce a Grand Staff score and want to tell the pianist about the "composing idea" in the best possible way, I should respell the enharmonics properly, which I am going to do right now !

Thank you again.

Jeff

Nikolas, hope you will have a chance to take another look. I have update the link in the top post with the "respelt score".

I reproduce the link here: http://haostaff.com/gs_snowflakes.pdf

It does look a lot better. Many thanks !

Jeff

Oh, on Nikolas' point 1, it is a good advice. But just want to explain here that this piece is partly intended to be a "study piece" to help people (myself being the first one in need) strengthen the grasp of the 12 major triad chords. I can figure them out without much problem. But it takes just a little too long. And I forget them quickly. So I intentionally put the chord in normal position on the left hand, and when I play them, I actually say the name of the first note .

On the right hand, I give myself a chance to practice the most commonly used major chords in one of the inverted positions (with tonic in the middle). I could develop a Part 3 to have a go at the other inverted position with tonic on the high note of each chord :), which I should do next .

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Sorry for not replying earlier. Yes, now the score looks much better, readable and for what it is it stands very nicely! It's also a good idea to give to other people a more firm grasp of the cycle of 5ths and you manage to use each maj triad twice! Well done!

As a very general advice, I would only argue to attempt to focus a bit more on music and less on the technical and pre-compositiona processes. I love organising stuff myself, but sometimes one needs to just let go and... follow the flow. Of course apply what they know, but also follow their heart, as well as an extro-musical idea!

I think that this score is rather complete as it is, and I'd suggest you move further to your next new piece! Best of luck!

Absolutely grateful, Nikolas, for your candid advice, which I will definitely follow in my future attempts. This is my first attempt at composing, and it has been nothing less than rewarding. That includes our conversation here, for a large part .

Cheers,
Jeff