Well, as a guy who mostly composes solo piano pieces, I can say that this is great!
I love the simplicity most of all :)
It's actually possible to hear that this song is made by you. The chord progressions remind me of stuff you've done earlier.The intro especially reminded me of Sanctuary, while other parts felt more like the adventurer. I'm sure it's because the mood here too is pretty adventurous, although there are some other feels too :P
Great job!
Haha, if you've heard my other pieces I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to notice stylistic similarities! :p Like, I just realised now that 0:24 in this track sounds like 0:28 in The Adventurer haha. Plus my abuse of dominant chords and maj7 chords is similar to Windows.
Anyway, really glad you like it! Thanks for the review.
This song was so beautiful.
I go fly in my dream with this.
Thanks <3
You are very much welcome :3.
Whether or not this was difficult for you to make, I can't imagine you not having fun writing piano parts. It's been (in my opinion anyway) your MO for some years.
I enjoyed the way the song was structured. Starting off with bare-bones melody worked quite well in this piece, and the liberal (perhaps flexible is a better word than liberal) use of tempo is brilliant for the effect of emotion as opposed to a more upbeat (pun intended) and straight-tempo piece. I thought it was odd (not necessarily bad) that the recurring melodic phrase resolved to a major chord; I don't know if it would have sounded better if it finished on a minor chord or if it would even make sense with the character of Lai to resolve to a minor chord. Alternatively, I would understand if it were a conscious decision to provide more freedom to later part writing instead of being pigeonholed to one minor-key melody.
The second section with backing for the melody was equally well done. Patiently waiting to reintroduce the melody with the accompaniment is a smart choice. I was confused a bit on the lead-in to the second section, however. The run/arpeggiated chord/flourish at 1:03 felt out of place in the song and furthermore, to my (admittedly untrained and unprofessional) ear, sounded like it was outside the key, too. And if the latter is true, why would it not resolve or at least finish the run on the key?
The third section at 2:14 (Was there a key change there? There seems to be a very subtle shift leading up to it) also made sense, with variations on the original melody and even the backing provided in the second section.
Also, thank you for dynamics to support the mood that was originally developed by the tempo decisions.
In conclusion, the piece was beautiful but had two minor design choices that I am not convinced by (yet).
Wow, I haven't seen you in aaages! Really glad you dropped by to review this track, since I thoroughly enjoy your reviews.
"Whether or not this was difficult for you to make, I can't imagine you not having fun writing piano parts. It's been (in my opinion anyway) your MO for some years."
Well I won't lie, it was certainly fun. I do love me some piano, as you've quite easily noticed haha. I did have a tough time not because of the fact that I'm using piano per se, but because I'm using JUST piano. I've found that in a lot of my tracks there's a heavy reliance on various different instruments playing together to create a beefy and impressive sound. I feel a lot more... vulnerable? (for lack of a better word) when I strip the song down to minimal instruments.
"I enjoyed the way the song was structured. Starting off with bare-bones melody worked quite well in this piece, and the liberal (perhaps flexible is a better word than liberal) use of tempo is brilliant for the effect of emotion as opposed to a more upbeat (pun intended) and straight-tempo piece."
Glad you mentioned the rubato effect! I really can't make solo instrument music without rubato haha. It adds bucketloads of expression to the piece, and is pretty easy to do when you have a MIDI keyboard.
"I thought it was odd (not necessarily bad) that the recurring melodic phrase resolved to a major chord; I don't know if it would have sounded better if it finished on a minor chord or if it would even make sense with the character of Lai to resolve to a minor chord. Alternatively, I would understand if it were a conscious decision to provide more freedom to later part writing instead of being pigeonholed to one minor-key melody."
That's an interesting point. I don't think I put much thought into it but subconsciously I think I did try and add plenty of major chords. Lai's backstory is pretty sad but I was told to make something both sad and hopeful, so there's a constant conflict between major and minor chords, with melodic phrases almost always resolving on a major. I can't say that this is what went through my head when I thought of the melody (actually my thoughts were more along the lines of "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING") but you could probably blame the major chord on my subconscious attempt at making it sound hopeful and not just full of sadness and despair :p. That and I do love major chords in minor pieces.
"The second section with backing for the melody was equally well done. Patiently waiting to reintroduce the melody with the accompaniment is a smart choice."
Thanks! That's something I always wanted to do ever since I began making the track.
"I was confused a bit on the lead-in to the second section, however. The run/arpeggiated chord/flourish at 1:03 felt out of place in the song and furthermore, to my (admittedly untrained and unprofessional) ear, sounded like it was outside the key, too. And if the latter is true, why would it not resolve or at least finish the run on the key?"
Yep, you're right, it's in G Major (whereas the piece is mostly in C Minor). The F# might give it that out-of-key sound. Again, I don't really have an idea of what I'm doing but I just thought it sounded pretty haha.
"The third section at 2:14 (Was there a key change there? There seems to be a very subtle shift leading up to it) also made sense, with variations on the original melody and even the backing provided in the second section."
That is indeed a key change! It modulates to the dominant key over there for a split second, before modulating back to C Minor again at 2:27.
"Also, thank you for dynamics to support the mood that was originally developed by the tempo decisions."
Woo, got to love dynamics. Couldn't really pass on adding some of the beautiful soft notes that my piano VST has.
"In conclusion, the piece was beautiful but had two minor design choices that I am not convinced by (yet)."
Very valid and interesting points! Thanks a lot for the incredibly insightful review, as always!
"I find it hard making songs with minimal instruments." --> *bursts out laughing*
Dude, "Windows" and this piece are both amazingly beautiful. You have such an excellent sense of progression, and you really tell a story with your work. I love that, especially in classical music. Did you improvise this? The melodies are just stunning. It has a good sense of climax, as well as emotion. I especially liked the ending. It was very conclusive, and really served to tie together the themes of the piece as I see them. Best of luck with your visual novel project, and thanks so much for doing NGADM again! Keep it up, man! ;D
Hey man, what an encouraging review! Thanks!
""I find it hard making songs with minimal instruments." --> *bursts out laughing*
Dude, "Windows" and this piece are both amazingly beautiful. You have such an excellent sense of progression, and you really tell a story with your work. I love that, especially in classical music."
Funnily enough I actually think that Windows' progression is a little wacky (especially how a string melody comes in almost out of nowhere) although I'm fairly content with the progression in this piece. And hey, whether these minimal-instrument songs are good or not, I still have a hard time making them haha.
"Did you improvise this? The melodies are just stunning. It has a good sense of climax, as well as emotion."
I didn't improvise any of this but I did play most of it live on my MIDI keyboard, and the melody itself was born out of improvisation on the piano in the end. Fun fact, the accompaniment progression at 1:09 was an idea I had created from improvising years ago. I tried to make a song out of it but never got anywhere. Years later, I experiment and play it behind the melody in this track and what do you know, it fits perfectly!
"I especially liked the ending. It was very conclusive, and really served to tie together the themes of the piece as I see them."
Yeah that's exactly what I was going for! If you noticed the thematic reference of 2:07 played at the very end then please have a cookie because I FELT SO CLEVER AFTER ENDING IT LIKE THAT.
"Best of luck with your visual novel project, and thanks so much for doing NGADM again! Keep it up, man! ;D"
The NGADM is my pleasure. I was a bit torn on whether to make another one since I have a lot of music projects I've committed to (including the visual novel of course!) but Echo and I agreed that we couldn't pass up another NGADM after going for six years straight haha.
Thanks a million for the great review mate.
This is awesome Step! Beautiful piece.
Thanks man, means a lot!