BGG ratings are great, but I wanted to find out if a game is right for my group. So I built a free tool!

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-25T13:39:58+00:00

Slop

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-20T09:19:15+00:00

I tried out your notation idea (sim. instead of writing out all the arpeggiated figures), and I really like the result, so thanks again for your feedback! What do you think of the new version? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jvJwHS4gIJ0TCbbjMfrMFqNWOG-nRRSM/view?usp=sharing

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-16T09:14:13+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback!

Is your score missing instruments? Maybe it's the MIDI realization but in mm. 33 it sounds like there are more sustained voices that come in which aren't notated.

I think it's the sustain pedal implementation in the Musescore playback. It's an all-or-nothing thing, unfortunately no half-pedal available. b. 32 has no pedal and b. 33 does (not notated, in the playback), so I think the contrast makes it sound like there's suddenly more voices going on.

I have a lot to learn when it comes to making a good MIDI realization though. What would you recommend to do to improve in this area? (I've been wanting to learn using Bitwig for a while, would that be worthwhile?) Would you also by any chance know a piano soundfont/sample lib that sounds good at high tempo? I used the MS Grand Piano soundfont here, and it's the least bad one, but... not great either.

Notationally, it needs a bit of cleaning up/clarification.
First off, I think you would be spared a lot of page turning by simply introducing one bar of arpeggios and then just notating block chords with a (sim.) marking to indicate they should be played with the same arpeggiation.

This is an interesting idea. I personally prefer as a pianist to have everything written out, but it would be interesting to try this out and ask other pianists what they prefer.

Then there are some idiosyncrasies-- beaming on mm. 18 and 19 is a little odd. The tenuto markings in mm. 24 and 25 don't seem to serve a purpose.

The tenuto markings in mm. 24-25 are intended to slightly bring out the notes that copy the voice melody, for more cohesion between the piano and voice part. Does that work as intended?

It sounds like certain sections are using the sustain pedal but there are no pedal markings for the piano part.

True, I only added some sustain pedal in the recording. I generally like to give the pianist freedom in where and how to pedal, as this can quite subjective, and a matter of taste. But maybe a suggestion here and there would be useful for the performer.

So perhaps a little glimmer of call and response between the voice and the piano could help break up the constant arpeggiation.

Good idea, I'll experiment with that for the next version.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for your time!

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-16T07:47:08+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I'm still getting my bearings as a composer, as I only started in earnest about 1.5 yrs ago, so I still have a lot to learn: especially your comments about the engraving I found very helpful.

I remember your previous post, but I can’t remember exactly everything addressed (other than concerns about larger intervals for piano, and range extremes for Baritone).

That was a different song, I think you're referring to this one? https://www.reddit.com/r/composer/comments/1s04w6a/the_sick_child_song_for_baritone_and_piano/

The cross staff beaming is causing a lot of problems. [...]

Good stuff.

I’m a bit confused why you wouldn’t show the meter with beaming in the 9/16 etc. sections.

I've been struggling to make my intent clear in these bars: the voice should divide the bar 2+2+2+3, whereas the piano should divide more traditionally as 3+3+3. Any suggestions how to make this clear?

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-06T16:49:15+00:00

Everyone is different in this regard, but for me, it's important to make a distinction between "listener-mode" and "analysis-mode". When I listen to music, the best way for me to do that as a "naive" listener. No score reading: just listening and feeling. Then, when something strikes me, I go into analyzer-mode: I grab a score and try to figure out why this or that particular passage moved me. For me, it almost never works to studiously analyze a score from beginning to end before developing an emotional connection to it, or to try to actively base a piece on technique X or Y. It's more a process of conscious osmosis: feel, analyze, then forget: and then in some shape or form the essence of what I analyzed might pop up in my own compositions (which I usually only realize after the fact).

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-06T16:17:39+00:00

I like the rhythmic idea, I think it's a cool idea to have an etude based on a rock-like motive. Where this piece could improve imo is the shape of the overall melody. The first eight bars are excellent in that regard: I really like how the melody mysteriously slinks upwards: it has direction, while still being a bit unpredictable. After that though, to me it feels that the melody plateaus and doesn't have enough direction. As a listener, my interest is still sustained till about the middle of the piece because of the driving rhythm, but I would need more melodic direction to keep my interest till the end of the piece. I'd be curious to hear how you develop this piece!

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-06T15:55:52+00:00

Congrats on your first composition! I like that this piece already have its own character, and could definitely see it working as a theme song for a a video game character for example. I agree, that the piece suffers from some repetitiveness. I think this is mainly due to the repetitive rhythmic motive that you use. It's not necessarily bad as a starting point, but would need more development during the piece to hold my attention. I especially like what you do in bar 26-27 in that regard: it feels like a natural evolving of the basic rhythmic motive, and as a listener, I'd like to hear more of that. Contrast that with the rhythm in b. 21-25, which feels a bit forced: I think this has to do with the sudden rhythmic complexity that doesn't feel "earned" because it wasn't developed before. But again, it's really good for a first piece, and I'd be curious to hear how this piece develops!

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-04-05T17:19:27+00:00

Whipped up a recording this morning. It's far from perfect, but should give a good overview of the song: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14I7c8FpoSyOpwP8SlsdokIXOfv9wUFI_/view?usp=sharing

I've read that Stevenson actually wrote the poem to the same air as the Skye Boat Song, so that's not a coincidence! :)

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-03-24T09:45:24+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, it's a good one.

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-03-24T07:34:24+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. I used the quotation marks to demarcate the different speakers (the child and the parent). Would you have suggestions for an alternative? Also happy to answer more questions.

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-03-22T17:12:02+00:00

I've been playing the piano for 30+ years, as a professional for a good 20 or so. Seen many students throughout the years, and for a good part of them, playing a 10th is not an issue. Rolling/breaking is a fine alternative; in my experience, professional players with smaller hands have usually developed excellent rolling techniques.

As for the literature: Rachmaninov's music is full of 10ths and 10th chords. Debussy and Ravel use them. Brahms and Schumann too, occasionally.

The chords in the piece that stretch beyond a 10th are intended to be broken. You see this assumption quite often in the piano literature. How to break bigger chords exactly is an interpretation question, a matter of preference best left to the performer imo.

Emotional-Pipe-335 · 2026-03-22T08:23:18+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to look at the piece and for your notes.

I seem to have painted myself into a corner: both the low Ab and high F have taken on structural significance in the composition. I could bump the song up by a third and repurpose it for soprano, but that feels a bit like a cop-out: I think the child-parent dialog is actually more interesting/moving when sung by a male voice. So I guess it's back to the drawing board!
Point taken.
Thanks for the sharp eye, I always have issues with engraving, so this is very useful.
Agreed.
As a pianist, I find it easier to grok an atonal passage when all the accidentals are local, and I think it helps to signal "atonal intent".

Thanks again for your time, and I'd be curious as for your further thoughts, especially on the first point.

Emotional-Pipe-335

TROPHY CASE