Reviews for Impromptu - Spring

[MtM0201]

This is extremely well done! Whichever one of us wins, this is a great work!
Side note, sorry to hear about your grandmother passing, but it's good that you're at peace with all she's given you and your family. I'm sure if there's iGod's in heaven, it's now her newest addition to it and on play repeatedly.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thanks man! I really dig your piece as well and plan on leaving a review in due time.

Also, thanks for the consolation. If she's not listening to this now, I'll play it for her live when I get up there. :)

[descara]

Very touching piece - I'm sorry to hear about you losing your grandmother. The piece definitely feels in-the-moment, a proper impromptu. It was some time since I last lost a relative now, but your comments on the matter strike home to say the least.

It's hard to critique something like this without feeling like an arse.. but overall it's more than great! I almost wish for more reverb on the piano, but due to a slight hearing loss in the typical reverb response frequencies I'm not the best to judge this. I also would've kinda seen more of the cello before the orchestra entered, to really prepare for the orchestral que!

By the way, I love your progressions. You manage to pull off some great chromatic lines in the bass lines and some great use minor subdominants without sounding cheesy.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thanks for the words of consolation. Like I said though, I'm feeling at peace about it. :)

Hey, bring on the critique! I'll take whatever advice I can get. The reverb on the piano is subtle, but I think I'm pretty content with where it is at. I usually drown my piano sounds in so much reverb that I'm trying to go light on it lately. -_-

You know, that orchestral cue found it's way into the piece without much choice on my part! I just wanted to bring out the strings toward the end, but it sounded funny having them just pop in the way they did, so I added a cymbal for a small, light transition. That sounded so thin though, so in came the bass drum. Then, I had to beef up the dynamics on the piano and strings so that they weren't too quiet after the cymbal roll. By then I thought, "Eh, I've already come this far, I may as well add a timpani in thar!" Ahahaha. :D

I can see what you mean about a cello though. The issue to me was that I really wanted this to be a solo, quasi-improvised piano piece. The orchestral cue mostly serves for a) transition and b) to highlight the change of mood in the climax. Musically, I wanted to communicate the shift in my emotions and viewpoint regarding my grandma, and how I've come to see her passing not so much from an angle of bittersweetness but rather of great beauty. With that, I rationalized the suddenness of the cue.

Thanks regarding the progressions! I love chromatically descending bass lines, especially through the use of juicy borrowed chords. I'm also kind of obsessed with those minor subdominants...But yes, they definitely can be cheesy if used carelessly.

[CyberDrive037]

A Great Sad Song.

BlazingDragon responds:

Thank you. :)

[DungeonDweller]

I too have had a grandma that has passed away. We all will experience in it sometime in our life.

BlazingDragon responds:

I guess it's only inevitable, isn't it? How we deal with it is the important thing I suppose.

Thanks for the review.

[BrokenDeck]

I absolutely loved this song. The delicate piano melody was the thing I enjoyed most however, and I think you should compose more piano songs. Keep up the great work!

BlazingDragon responds:

Thanks BD! (Speaking of which, it kind of bothers me that our user names share the same initials... >.<)

Piano songs definitely come easiest to me, so I'll upload more in the future.