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The monthly depository of compositions from PianoWorld members!

MARCH

Compositions are copyrighted at all times to their respectful owners.

At any time one can delete their compositions in this thread. Though this is not nice, there might be reasons to do so. However, be aware that after some time has passed you can NOT edit your post, in which case you'll need to delete the file from the servers.

If you have troubles uploading, finding webspace, offering or htmling, just let me know. I'm only a PM away, or an email away. It's very easy to get a hold of me!

And if you want, offer your insights on your own works. Offer the score, or the recording. Offer both, or offer your ideas as well. Write as much as you'd like, or as little. Share with us your thoughts about your own works... and when you're done with that, share your thoughts and your feedback about the works of others. Offer and receive!

Finally... enjoy...

And here's my offer for this month...

It's an older work (around 2009) for solo piano (and string, missing here), which was composed for a computer game. The computer game was never completed (as of now, cause you never know), but this work sits very nicely to my students... Of course you'll guess where the "inspiration" *AHEM* came from, but after all why not... :P

I certainly can't take much credit for that anyways, being a very clear theft, but in any case you people may enjoy it!

So here you are:

www.musica-ferrum.com/documents/harris_office.pdf (The score)
and
www.nikolas-sideris.com/EMF/harris_office.mp3 (The recording)

See? I told you it was very very close to something else! :P

This piece is far and away the most liked of anything I have written. It is on the Pianoworld CD but I shall post the score here again in case somebody wants to learn it. It isn't as difficult as it looks.

The Call of the Hundred Islands

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Chopin did it better.

Kidding, Nik. I liked it a lot! I particularly liked the way yo didn't end it on the tonic. Is there a term for this? What video game is this for?

EDIT:

Wow you stole that key change in the middle straight from Freddy himself!

I can see why you would want to compose this; his E minor prelude is such a nice, simple little kind of composition. I've always wanted to write something in that fashion as well.

I really liked this. Sometimes I found myself a little bit lost, but that could just mean I haven't listened to it enough times. I can tell that it slightly surpasses the performer's technique. Not that the performance was bad, but I feel that if a more technically sound pianist was performing it, this would really sound wonderful. Good job.

Sounded nice to me, Nikolas. I don't really like classical music that much so I wouldn't know the source anyway. It's the sort of piano figuration you could build up to a really big climax had you chosen to do that - like Chaminade's Elevation - that sort of thing. But it's attractive kept quiet too.

I enjoyed both Nikolas' and Ted's pieces. I know exactly what Joel means when he talked about Ted's piece being perhaps a bit much for the pianist. There's a lack of clarity to the performance and it sounds rushed, but it's a fine piece and I'd love to hear a more assured performance.

Thanks for listening Steve and Joel. I am not a pianist per se at all, and find performance of pieces, even my own, difficult at the best of times, no matter how simple the music. This piece has been performed on various occasions as an encore in concerts, but I have never been present, so I have no idea what other players have done with it.

Ted is there any way you could make your piece available in MIDI or a musescore file? I would like to hear what it sounds like straightforward from MIDI and also I would like to view it on Synthesia. If you could do that, that'd be great.

Joel: I highly doubt that Ted will be able to do that. He played the work years ago as I understand it and all he can offer is the handwritten score (which I haven't had the time to edit into a single file, but promise to do on Monday).

To everybody else: I've been extremely busy this past week and haven't been able to listen or comment... Sorry...

So YOU, Nikolas, are going to be editing Ted's work into a file? That would make it a bit easier for me to make it into a midi. I can't read the manuscript!

Joel,

I won't be creating a proper score out of the manuscript. But, as I've done in the past, I will create a single PDF file with all the pages, so that people can download the score and print it more easily...

What about will not be 'proper'?

(all I need are the notes anyway)

I think I'm not making myself clear.

All you've got is the manuscript to work with and the recording. I won't copy anything in the computer. I don't have the time! Sorry...

I thought you were making a PDF from Ted's manuscript? Doesn't that require putting notes into a software like Sibelius or Finale?

No, what TED is offering is image (turned as a PDF or not, it doesn't matter). I can combine the images/PDF pages into a single PDF for ease of use (as I've done in the past).

In any case: Copying from manuscript is not easy, takes a lot of time and it's something that I currently cannot do. Sorry Joel for letting you down...

Try to work with the manuscript and the recording. It's not really that difficult to make out what's going on, with the help of the recording provided I think.

And, btw, I'm quite happy that you like Ted's work so much! I guess Ted is also happy!

It's fine! It wouldn't be very nice to just expect you to do something like that. It's all good, really. I might consider doing it myself. I really want to hear a midi version of this.

Joel, I downloaded Musescore and tried it, but soon found that whatever it takes to use it efficiently I don't have. It would take me a month of Sundays. I am puzzled why you want to hear a Midi of it, as from what I have heard, even a rough performance would sound better than a Midi for anything with irregular rhythm and free expression.

When you say you are lost with my score, is it perhaps because of my "go to " shorthand ?

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.

I perform my latest composition at my church's coffee house night on a Kimball grand piano. The Passage of Time, link to audio from live performance:
https://www.box.com/s/pwwgtzhliwm86u0i987i

There are hesitations and minor flubs. I am a one year beginner on piano. So despite the flaws, I count this live performance as a success.

The seed for Passage of Time came to me in the form of a seven note phrase that I heard in my head. The same motif is likely in some other published piece(s). However, that will be true for most short melodies in major keys. I sounded out the notes on the Casio PX-150 and saved it. Good thing, because the next day it was not there in my head, until I played back the recording. I kept playing the short inspired phrase and eventually found a section three, then a section two.

It took several weeks for the piece to come together. I could sit for twenty minutes playing the same phrases over and over, thus the heavy repetition as written. I am pleased with the piece, the range of dynamics, the title, the feel. It is my first piece with triplets. I never found a really satisfying ending, so decided to end with a phrase that only appears at the beginning.

I have years of experience performing on whistle and flute, though I am definitely in the hobbyist category. Live piano brings nervousness because I am a self-taught one-year beginner. My pedal work was inconsistent, but I did express some of the dynamics that I have written into the piece.