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My Meandering Mind

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Author Comments

I decided to really challenge myself for this round. I very rarely compose jazz, especially for the piano. And whenever I've done it, it has usually been a pretty short piece.


This time I wanted to go all out! The end result is somewhat of a mix between a very classical piece and heavy jazz influences. It's a tricky piece to play, with a lot of small details and elements to keep track of!
I also used a new piano, which is a bit better suited for this style.


As per usual with my solo pieces, you can watch the video on YouTube:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyxHM0YVp6c


Enjoy ^___^

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I like the tasteful ascending roll at the beginning and the bouncy feel of the texture. The rhythm is a little hard-to-follow at times, with some very sudden changes in emphasis starting at :11. I like the more contained sound at :36 and how you quickly open it up with the bluesy bass line at :45, and the cadence at 1:05 cements the blues theme for me. The pause at 1:07 was a bit long, although it also did a good job of predicting the more downtempo section that followed. I like the gradual increase in energy level until 1:32, and the frantic doodling there sounded rather impressive. I like the wonky, refreshing vibe at 2:13, but by 2:43 I’m starting to feel that the piece resets itself a bit too much to really come together how I want it to. The final phrase at 2:58 is nice regardless, and I think the slight ritardando and jack-knife descending scale there really sell the conclusion. Overall, you took a lot of risks with this piece, many of which paid off wonderfully, but some of the more dramatic transitory moments are still going to take some getting used to for me. Still, I applaud your exploring a new genre, and given the piano’s rich tone and good balance of frequencies it’s hard to complain about the sound design or mixing either. Nice work, Ale! Keep it up. ^_^

Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1/1.5
Melody, tonality, harmony, and texture
2/2
Instrumentation and sound design
1/1
Emotion, atmosphere, and catchiness
1.5/1.5
Originality and uniqueness
1/1
Overall (how do the elements above interact?)
.75/1
Composite score
9.25/10

LucidShadowDreamer responds:

I must apologise for the very late reply! I've been fairly busy in my own life, and much of the free time I've had I've tried to dedicate towards composing and the like. Now that the NGADM is nearing its end, I find I have a little bit more time to dedicate to other things too, which is nice. So I am trying to get back to people I haven't been very good at responding to in a timely manner. Here we go!

As you noted in your review, jazz isn't a genre I typically compose in, although I've dabbled with it here and there. For this piece, I just wanted to see what I could do if I tried to make a full-length piano composition with a jazzy style in mind. In this specific instance, it ended up becoming a little jazzical. It was fun to play! When composing, I spent faaar to much time making and learning the part at 1:32. I had to practice for hours on just that short part, because of the speed and complex finger placement. Not the smartest decision for a competition like this, but I'm glad it worked out in the end, and I'm happy with the sound. I suppose I ended up making my final piece even more difficult to play, though, looking back at this :p

I understand that parts of the structure and progression can be a little bit wonky, since I was quite experimental with this piece. I am glad that you enjoyed it anyway, and thank you for the high score!
I hope you're doing well :)

Credits & Info

Listens
1,456
Faves:
14
Votes
26
Score
4.85 / 5.00

Uploaded
Sep 29, 2019
4:09 PM EDT
File Info
Song
7.4 MB
3 min 16 sec

Licensing Terms

Please contact me if you would like to use this in a project. We can discuss the details.