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Steve, it is a very beautiful piece!

Wow. I've listened to all the recordings and checked out the sheet music for anything available. Very very nice job on everyone's part. I was going to upload a draft of a piece I wrote based on an 8-note recurring theme, but it doesn't hold a candle to what I've already heard. So, instead, I offer this: if anyone would like me to tackle a piano piece they've composed but for whatever reasons, cannot play themselves, please let me know. I'd be happy to have a look.

Glad you liked them. I also appreciate your generous offer. PM me your email (I know I had it once upon a time) and I'll send a pdf of eleven pieces and you can take your pick. I can hack my way through all of them, but eventually the question becomes do I want to invest years learning pieces (and never playing the harder ones particularly well) or do I write more. That collection does not include the Elegy.

Also, I wouldn't be so quick to hold off posting your own work. We may be able to help you find ways to improve it or we might like it just the way it is. It would be a shame if the enthusiasm of a few intimidated others from contributing. If the only purpose served by you posting your piece was to inspire others that it's okay to post something that's a work in progress you would have done a good thing.

Steve- excellent suggestion. I may do just that. If my work can do anything, it is to inspire others that no matter how bad they think it is, it could always be worse!

I do have one particular piece for which I like the theme, and every variation is "okay", but I have no modulation for it, and nowhere to go with it. (This is one area, I think, where I have as little talent/knowledge as there could possibly be. I can tell when something's working and when it's not just from my general musical background, but I have no idea how to fix something that isn't working.)

I'll send you the PM now. Thanks.

Derulux: Your offer is excellent and I'd also like to thank you. From behalf of all the composers, I think that this is a valuable offer, and I might take it up as well (for the same reasons as Steve: I don't have the time to learn/study everything).

On offering your work: I think you should do it. I've already had a similar discussion in another thread about pretty much the same thing. I don't think that one should be limited in not posting their works, or recordings because others seem/are/whatever better...

I mean we all are different and the idea of 'right' or 'wrong' isn't applicable in composition really!

To fix something that isn't working I have two methods, the first is trial and error, when that doesn't work I just mull it over for a few days and usually a good idea comes.

The problem with variations is modulation aren't typically part of the scheme. So feel free to put them in either as transitions between variations of within a variation. My advice with composing variations is compose at least 5 and either throw them away or edit them to bare minimum. That'll get rid of the obvious ideas (walking bass, light ornamentation, super slow, fugues etc.). Now you have to actually be creative and that's when things get interesting and/or exciting. You'll know you've mastered the process when you find yourself trying to figure out what order will give your piece the most dramatic impact. In my Spring Hop I kept the light ornamentation and fugue variations (because I liked them) but dumped the super slow and didn't bother writing a walking bass one.

In any case the music is in your inbox now, so you can look it over and try some on. Hope you like it.

Dara,

I found your improvisational composition very pleasant to listen to. Thanks for sharing!
I am curious about the instrument you are performing on. Is it a perfectly tuned grand piano or possibly an digital piano? Your recording sounds really good

Rune

Nice thread, I've started listening at the top and I've enjoyed what I've heard. I haven't posted in a long time (though I still lurk). I'm not very good and don't compose often but this is a party so I'll post something.

This is a short looping number I wrote for someone who wanted to evoke a dance of draculas for a school play. I had created it in a demo version of Noteworthy Composer and never got around to redoing it in something else so that watermark is all over it.

Midi: https://www.box.com/s/m8b56pwkvepa766qzis5

Pdf: https://www.box.com/s/6ungl92w8u1bbe9t3b0e

If that's a digital then perhaps I should sell my Estonia.

Dara, I agree with Rune, that's a very enjoyable piece. Structurally, it wanders a bit, but everyplace it goes seems nice.

I spoke to Dara over skype about 12-14 hours ago (It was midnight for him and morning for me)... It's an acoustic piano and a zoom recorder!

Now it's after midnight for me and early afternoon for you in the N. American Continent!

Cheers and good night. More to come in a few hours!

Elegy is haunting me now. When I want to be down in the dumps I'll be sure to listen to it. It really is effective at casting a gloom.

Derulux,

In addition to what Steve wrote, good composers have certain “tools” in their little bags of tricks. While flights of inspiration are typically the very best material with which to work, there are several, well-defined techniques that many composers use to “connect” those more inspired moments, and make the music flow between them.

Take a baby-simple example: Everyone has heard, or learned, Hot Cross Buns (Well, maybe not Nikolas, who first heard "Bring me a Mandolin", or something else by Hadjithakis!) –
[1] Write a measure using three scale notes.
[2] Repeat the first measure. (Recapitulation!)
[3] Use a couple of those same notes in a different order, a different rhythm. (Augmentation!)
[4] Re-repeat the first measure. (Recapitulation!)
. . . Compositional techniques! (Sonata-Allegro Form at its most rudimentary!)

So, to your dilemma on nowhere to go with it.:
*Take the part you like, and after stating it, try writing it backwards.
*Take the part you like, and after stating it, try writing all the intervals “up-side-down”.
*Take the part you like, and after stating it naturally, then extend the values of some notes, and shorten the values of others.
*Take the part you like, and after stating it naturally, then extend the intervals, by moving them up or down the natural harmonics of the original note.
*Identify the part you like as either a musical question, or a musical statement. If it is a question, then follow it with a musical answer. If the first part is a statement, then ask a musical question about that statement. Then answer THAT question. This builds into a musical dialog - ideal, incidentally, for Theme and Variations!
(God, I am giving everything away here!)

These somewhat mechanical tools do not replace inspired melody or harmonies - NOT AT ALL. Over-use creates music that is formulaic and mechanical! But they do augment pure inspiration, and frequently become the SOURCE for new inspiration.

Ed

Two different idioms from the past off an old tape.

Barclay's Blues

Barclay's Blues PDF1
Barclay's Blues PDF2
Barclay's Blues PDF3

A Romantic Duality (Part 2)

RD1 PDF
RD2 PDF
RD3 PDF
RD4 PDF
RD5 PDF
RD6 PDF
RD7 PDF
RD8 PDF
RD9 PDF
RD10 PDF

How do you merge a number of PDF scans into one file ? That might help me in future.

I thank you both for taking the time to reply in such detail and care. It is truly appreciated it. I'm going to keep hammering at it, and if I get it to a workable place, or even if I continue to be completely stuck, I'll share and perhaps get another masterclass.

Steve- Incidentally, I'm going after the Rhapsody. Great piece. Hopefully I can make heads of it, and not turn too many tails. I'll let you know when I've got it working well under my fingers.

Allazart: I think it's a very nice short loop. Easy to play and right to the point. Of course there are many things one would do to 'make it better', but who the heck cares really... And the theme is fun and fine! I do think that the piece deserves a live performance... I can't do it myself, but perhaps someone else could?

Derulux: Yes, keep working on it. I think that composing is ALSO a great deal of 'getting used to it' and being used to doing it. It's a bit like a habit. It comes easy to some people because they've composed so much (and often these people burn out eventually...). Don't give up and show your efforts to us (whenever anyhow. It doesn't have to be THIS month or any other month, or anywhere). I fully support the idea that composition is about communication and if you're not showing it to anyone... well... you're not communicating.

Ted: There are a few ways to do this (combine different PDF files), depending on what you've got on your computer and how tech savy you are...

1. If you're "printing to PDF" with a PDF printer (these small software that allow you to print directly to a PDF file rather than a normal physical paper?), then a few can 'append' or 'delete'. For example PrimoPDF asks you the name of the new file. If you put the name of an already existing file, it will ask you to either append it, or delete it. You just need to be careful on which files to print first.

2. If you've got Acrobat Pro you can combine directly with it, different types of files (including PDF files of course), and sort out the pages at any point. But this costs money. Other software that do this is NirtoPDF, which again is not free.

3. If you've got someone who knows what they're doing just send the files over and he can combine them for you. In fact I just did that, so there you go:

HERE IS Barclay's Blues
and
HERE IS A Romantic Duality

They both are fine works, and I especially liked A Romantic Duality because of many things (including the clever titling... hehe...).

And your handwriting is great! It's not a clean score or anything and there a few things I'd like to ask you, but it remains great as evidence of a musicians and composers handwriting!

Questions

Barclay's Blues:

Why this time signature? I understand that you're following what you wrote (which is especially clear in your second work), but in this case wouldn't it work to have the 'traditional' way of 'swing' in the tempo marking and leave it up to the performers to play it as intended? It's something that's met quite frequently in more 'jazz' scores.

And what do the numbers in circles with the arrow mean. I think that your playing matches the score without any going back and forth so I'm not too clear about that either.

A Romantic Duality.

There's no time signature in this one, right? I don't mind it at all, since it's what I've been doing to a few of my own works lately... But at the same time the piece didn't strike me as 'no tempo or no time signature' piece, it felt a bit straight forward rhythm wise?

Also, everyone, please note that the recording of 'A Romantic Duality' starts at page 5 of the work, not at the beginning. It's PART 2.

And a third post in a row!

Here you can find Rune's Lullaby:

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD LULLABY BY RUNE ERENIUS

Just beware that the score was produced by me, so any errors (especially in the division between hands) is my fault (and I just saw that the rit in the last system is touching the slur line, but I don't have the time to fix it now.).

Oh well...

Enjoy people! Some very fine music in here!

Thank you for taking the time to listen and comment, Nikolas. Every one of your points is correct, and they all stem from the fact that I am very much an improviser by nature. Ideas flow very easily at the instrument but I find the task of making even a reasonable approximation in notation a frightful struggle. That is why I am posting old pieces - because I haven't attempted it for a long time, but have just recorded hundreds, possibly thousands of improvisations since I retired.

Anyway, the things you mention:

Numbers and arrows are my own lazy device to avoid writing anything twice. Rule:

Start at the beginning.
Play until 1 with an arrow and jump to 1 without an arrow.
Play until 2 with an arrow and jump to 2 without an arrow
.
.
And so on until the end.

Sorry, I should have explained that.

Yes, I have always found the notation of swing a dilemma. The way you suggest is the more accepted, and is unambiguous as long as the triplet feeling is constant. Once a mixture of rhythms occurs it can get difficult very quickly. I began using the notation I do after reading Brubeck's comments in the preface to Points On Jazz, wherein he suggests writing things as they sound. There is also the so called dotted note convention for triplet rhythm, which adds another confusion.

The great transcribers of stride, swing and similar styles, Dapogny, Farrell, Posnak etc, use your way, and you are quite right in that my piece is so simple that it might be better for communication all round.

All this, of course, stems from the fact that I have had no conventional tuition at all in these things, and none in conventional piano technique either for that matter. An experienced professional like you would spot this lack immediately. I assure you I am keenly aware of it also. However, at sixty-five, I am enjoying spontaneous creation so much that I see little point in trying to assimilate these skills now.

Nonetheless, I thought your thread well worth supporting, and thank you again for taking the time to listen. And thanks for combining the pages.

Thank you for some exciting news on a Tuesday morning. I'm excited to hear how you do with it. Don't get me wrong it's plenty difficult, but I think it sounds harder than it is. Have fun and good luck.

Rune,

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

Are you "sandbagging" on us? You have no formal training? And you can not read music?

If that is truly the case, Braviss-iss-iss-issimo!
Ed