Woah this is a very beautiful piano solo! I don't think there is anything wrong with it. It's a very well put together piece! It gives off a really good feeling that I can't describe but it's nice! Good job!
Reviews for "Staying with You"
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Thanks a lot for your review! I'm glad you liked the song :D
I just realised how long it's been since i last commented on one of your composions. I love it! also i am very curious, what do you record with? it's so delightful! Very well done indeed
I like the evocative riff in the upper register at the beginning. Almost reminds me of a piano representation of an alarm clock - a somewhat repetitive ringing sound distorted by a state of being half-asleep. I like the simple descending progression at :05, which contrasts nicely with the more rapid ascending melodic patterns at :20. The rhythm feels a bit square until :45, and I like the lighter fare at around :59. I also appreciate the harmonic liberties you took at 1:10. The jazzy minimal section at 1:40 is fun, and you’ve really started to capture the emotional appeal behind the theme of the piece at the 2-minute mark. There’s a great moment of arrival and release at 2:15, which feels reminiscent of the beginning of the piece in a way. That moment of arrival is short-lived, however, and honestly I sometimes wish the pacing of the piece was a bit slower. The piece really starts coming together at 3:10, with a rich range of frequencies and a powerful and victorious tone. I thought some of the progressions and foregrounded content were a bit cheesy in the last minute or so, especially the frantic descending line at 4:16. The ending also feels a tad too drawn out imo. That said, some of that content also helps add some cohesion to the piece, which is hard to detect at other times in the melody lines. There are certainly some rough transitions in here, but I’ll commend you for the rather effective harmonic framework and pleasant melodic riffs. You’ve created a lot of variation around the bass lines and motifs, which gives the piece a strong narrative flavor. What else can I say, Ale? I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to and reviewing your work throughout this competition, and I absolutely look forward to hearing more of it in the near future. Congratulations on your effort and good luck with your future projects. ^_^
Mixing, mastering, and balance
2/2
Structure, transitions, phrasing, and variety
1.25/1.5
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
9.5/10
This is an official NGADM Judge Review for the Final Round.
As always, I tend to like to read song descriptions before listening to pieces that I need to judge. When I read the description here and saw that you were combining elements of your previous entries, the bar was set pretty high, and like always, you managed to knock it out and away. This piece sells emotion and really shows how flexible of an artist and player you are - the faster sections have energy, the slower ones have all sorts of smoother textures, it really works. It's a piece that leaves to the imagination a unique story. And I will even say the run at 2:22 is top notch - it must have been hard to perform that, considering that you have to keep the intervals while rapidly heading upwards. I've listened to this multiple times, and it's absolutely worth listening to plenty more
I just have a couple of complaints: firstly, the transitions between the faster, energized portion into the slower one (at 1:38) was a little bumpy for me, even after going back and listening a few times. It happens again at around 2:54, but it's a little smoother there. A little ritardando should help make the transition a bit easier to handle. Second, the sustain at the end of the piece, while a good idea, did include a rogue C6 from the repeat phrase that was in the beginning (I did like the callback, though), and it kinda left a sour taste because of it clashing with the B and C# from the phrase, so just make sure to be careful of that when doing something like this again.
Overall, though, this is a genuinely great piece. I love it a lot, and I know I will be coming back to it again and again. Good luck in the final phase of NGADM, and thank you for coming out this year!
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
It's nice to see that someone reads the descriptions I write. They're not for everyone, but I feel like it's a chance to look just a little bit into the artist's thoughts behind a work, regardless of its format or presentation.
To me, this composition signifies a journey that's full of learning and interactions with all kinds of things and people. So to show my own growth as a pianist and composer throughout this NGADM, I felt it was only right to incorporate some of the element from my previous pieces. I'm glad that you felt that this piece succeeded in conveying many emotions, especially since it's filled with positive feelings, which can be difficult to convey believably with just a piano.
As for 2:22, it's a difficult run indeed. Thankfully, it goes straight into a short pause, which makes it easier to focus on it whilst playing; I don't need to think as far ahead.
I agree that 1:38 is a bit of a sudden transition. The way I imagined it, the person that's experiencing a rush all of a sudden gets struck by a thought/memories, and everything slows down for a moment while they reflect on it. As for 2:54 (2:57), I was trying to convey the feeling of determination. You're probably right in that it could've been a bit smoother.
And yeah, I should've been a with more careful with the sustain pedal and the reverb with the few end notes. I don't really mind it too much there, but I can see how the slight distortion that occurs because of it can leave a slightly sour taste, especially since it's the end of the piece.
Thank you for pointing out where I could improve the composition, and I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Thank you for the well-wishes, and for helping the competition along by judging.
This is an official NGADM '19 Review
Composition:
This piece felt intricate and masterful in terms of your playing and compositional ability. Listening to the song I could imagine a type of triumphant and joyful scene from a musical. It feels grand and celebratory mostly. The runs are well played and it feels also like a modern style of piano music.
Production and Sound Design:
I don’t have much to say about this. It's a solo piano, and it's sounded the same as your other piano pieces.
Structure:
Good use of energy dynamics. I also like the contrast of styles especially in the first 2 minutes. The first 40 seconds are really technical and even, and well contrasted by the swung and polyrhythmic section that followed. Then what you have as the most contrasting section of the whole piece between 1:00 and 2:11, which has a lot of emotion backed into it. Afterwards though I didn't feel like there was as much contrast or energy dynamics.
Emotion / Conclusion:
After listening to it a few times, what I kept feeling was that the song felt a little more on being technical than it is emotional. At the end of the song, what I take away from it was some well played runs more so than a theme I could latch on to. I still enjoyed it, and I could still pick out parts here and there that felt really genuine. You still did well on conveying the intended emotion, but it may have been lost a little bit
Composition: 9.5
Production: 8.5
Sound Design: 9
Structure: 8.5
Emotion: 8
LucidShadowDreamer responds:
Thank you for the review!
I tried to put together everything I've learned from composing for this year's NGADM in this piece, without forcing anything of course. I'm glad that the 'triumphant' sound came through. I often write melancholic pieces. This time, I wanted to challenge myself to write something mostly positive. Perhaps this is why you felt it was less emotional overall, since it plays on very different emotions. For me, personally, I'm quite happy with the atmosphere.
The intro was a little bit inspired by some of the techniques used in Liszt's "La Campanella".
As for the production, I actually spent many hours trying to get the right sound for this piece. I used a piano I don't think I've used previously this year, and was a bit obsessed with getting the sound like I wanted it. I'm afraid that maybe I overproduced it a little bit though! I'll have to think about how to best achieve a good sound for solo piano pieces.
You're right in that I wanted to contrast some of the faster sections of the composition, with the slower parts after the one minute mark. I feel that it's the parts like that one that really 'make' the piece, since they provide a well needed break from everything that's going on. I tried to do something similar at 2:57 and a few other later points, but maybe I should've taken a slightly longer rest in those parts.
While I agree that there are many technical elements of the song, personally I feel like that was in an attempt to portray emotions and an atmosphere that I couldn't otherwise get across. But I understand how it can also feel like a bit much, and that maybe more focus should be put on clearer melodies. I like trying out different approaches though :)
Thank you for listening, and for diligently judging throughout the competition!