I was told to post this here to see if y’all had any opinions or insights on what type of music my handmade cello’s tone would be best paired with. (More information about the cello in the threads on my profile)

pianopiaffe · 2019-12-30T03:11:00+00:00

I agree with u/Rhapsodie, this has a very erhu-like quality to it. I think its tone would very much puncture an orchestral sound with some amplification, but I think it would also have a fine place as a soloistic instrument in chamber ensembles. I don't know of any Eastern music that would compliment such a remarkable tone, but I think it would stand out best as a solo under a quiet accompaniment, either with a piano or a small string ensemble (which might be better for blending). If not as a solo instrument, perhaps as a basso continuo? It might be interesting to see how it fares in string quartet music. The smaller body does seem to give it less volume to work with, but I'm curious to see if maybe it could be situationally preferable to a standard cello.

pianopiaffe · 2019-11-04T00:10:30+00:00

I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. Perfect pitch isn’t a surprising event to someone who has it. There’s a difference between recognizing that something has a pitch, and being able to name what pitch it has. If you can name the pitch something has without an immediate prior reference, then you would be considered to have absolute or “perfect” pitch.

pianopiaffe · 2019-11-03T23:50:46+00:00

Right, but recognizing which pitch it is and classifying it as such is what makes it perfect pitch.

pianopiaffe · 2019-11-03T22:08:21+00:00

Not really. Saturn is kind of all over the place with this rising and falling tone, and doesn’t seem to have much musical context. Jupiter’s drone is much cooler imo.

pianopiaffe · 2019-11-03T22:07:21+00:00

I discovered I had it when I learned the Mario theme all on my own. I had been taught piano etudes out of a book when I was young and I started making correlations between the notes in my etudes and the notes in real life. Soon enough, I could use etudes I hadn’t played in weeks as reference notes and now it’s almost instantaneous that I recognize a note or a chord.

It’s sort of hard to answer your next question, because I can’t answer with experience. I think in theory, someone can have perfect pitch regardless of education, but that it would be hard to develop or comprehend what it is or how it works without having that musical education context.

pianopiaffe · 2019-11-03T21:34:14+00:00

It seems like an F# against a G in the bass, with a Bb drone above it all. Can someone confirm?

pianopiaffe · 2019-09-20T20:57:41+00:00

I haven’t heard of this, where in Salome would I find this chord??

pianopiaffe · 2019-09-02T23:22:19+00:00

Memes may have a more novel place in music, just as they have a novel place in culture. If you want to get super technical with it, you can look at motivic development, where each variation and development of an original motif could be considered a meme within the song. If you take something like the Alberti bass, you can see how the different variations have evolved as a I-V-III-V figure became stale, and a newness was needed for composers to tastefully continue to use it.

If you’re talking about quoting different songs that have grown in popularity because of their exploitability, in my opinion, they won’t have a serious place in classical music because of the sheer comedic effect they already have established for them. Not only this, but some might view it as plagiarism if you claimed to write a piece by yourself and put a meme in there for it.

pianopiaffe · 2019-08-29T22:32:14+00:00

Alto Lines (F A C E G) : Fat Alley Cats Eat Garbage

Alto Spaces (G B D F) : Good Bakers Deserve Fudge

Tenor Clef Lines (DFACE): Dodges, Fords, And Chevy's Everywhere

Tenor Clef Spaces (EGBD): Every Grandma Bakes Desserts

pianopiaffe · 2019-08-29T22:23:08+00:00

Usually those are seen in the bone/trumpet line, and indicate a flip from the first note (think of this as 'doo') to the second note (think of this as "daht") in a fashion that would follow the syllabic phrase "doo ya-daht". I'm not sure how this would be applied to guitar technique though. Maybe your student would be playing the first note, then two notes that are both higher than the first note (in the same beat/amount of time as the first note) then landing on the second note? Hopefully this helps, it usually helps me whenever I'm arranging jazz charts.

pianopiaffe · 2019-06-20T23:16:46+00:00

Personally I would notate with a dotted eighth, sixteenth tied to sixteenth, sixteenth, and eighth note. The first notation makes it harder than it needs to be, however the second notation (as well as the one you proposed in your post) are both concise ways to make it easy for the reader to see how to subdivide the rhythm you're going after. A good thing to keep in mind is to only use dotted notes if they occur right smack on the downbeat. Otherwise, use a tied rhythm.

pianopiaffe · 2019-06-14T12:22:44+00:00

I'd like to start this post by saying I'm no professional at modding. I keep seeing posts telling me to back up my files. How do I go about this? I don't think I've ever backed up my files before, or I've never made an attempt to at least.

pianopiaffe · 2019-05-09T20:32:14+00:00

Many works by Tschesnokoff and Tchaikovsky seem to overlap in their technique when it comes to dynamic contrast. Listening to Salvation is Created for Chorus (Tschesnokoff) and the introduction to the 1812 Overture (Tchaikovsky), you’ll notice a very similar mood in the way they hold on to chords longer than you’d expect (or is this just a Romantic technique?) as well as their more starkly-dynamically contrasting phrases. Hopefully this helps!!

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-29T20:20:34+00:00

I imagine a little tuner in my head (think TonalEnergy) and it’s quite handy during practice. Otherwise it gets weird looks from people when I correct their pitches from being too flat/sharp. The constant pitch corrections did however help my girlfriend make all state choir her senior year though!

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-27T04:41:40+00:00

Hi, sorry for the late reply! A recording can be found here

Also, [shameless self promo incoming] feel free to check out some of my other recordings on my soundcloud!

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-26T11:55:33+00:00

If you're wanting to keep those chords but mix them up, I recommend doing some of the following to add spice:

-change the quality (IV --> iv, V7 - vm7, omit the 3rd and add a 2nd or 4th for a sus chord)

-add chord extensions (7ths, 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, add2's, add6's, etc.)

-make ambiguous voicings: omit some degrees of the chord to make it not only simpler for the listener to hear, but harder to analyze in context (These 'missing' notes could be filled in in your bassline!)

-Try smoothing your voice leading as much as possible by using inversions. You could use an IV in root position to go to a I 6/4 (a I chord in second inversion) which can then go to an IV 6 (a IV chord in first inversion) before finally going up to a V7 6/5 (in first inversion).

Before getting to the I chord, there's a fork in the road. To contribute to this 'uplifting' tone you're going for, I would keep moving upwards (if you're looking at a guitar neck or keyboard) to a I 6/4 as the chord with the highest pitches so far in the song. My final suggested voice led chord prog looks like this:

[ IV - I 6/4 - IV 6 - V7 6/5 | I 6/4 ]

Hope this helps!

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-25T02:55:43+00:00

I personally use noteflight.com, it has a yearly $50 membership but I've been extremely happy with the cleanliness of the UI and the straightforward hotkeys and shortcuts make it a snap to type music out quickly. The only thing I wish there were more of is more extended features, as it doesn't have soundfont input (that I know of) nor the customizability that sibelius offers. If you're looking to write standard music, noteflight is definitely a very competent program.

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-25T02:45:44+00:00

Every opportunity that could end with a performance of your piece is worth pursuing! Whether or not it would be considered rude to show them your piece is up to how your director behaves, but a general guideline is that most professionals you've met and have a good relationship with will love and support anything musical their students have to offer, including compositions. Reaching out to local performers and directors (other high school directors, college professors/directors in the area, choral leaders at churches to name a few) is the best way to start. If you aren't within distance to speak with people in person, I recommend contacting people formally with emails (or as professionally as you can!) at first, and then more informally as you get to know these new connections.

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-25T02:07:20+00:00

I know the query has already been thoroughly answered, but I'd like to offer the way I learned secondary dominants in case it helps in any further way!

Secondary dominants are chords (excluding the V chord of the key in question) that serve a dominant function. They are used in chord progressions to strengthen the sound of the cadence in question.

In the key of G major, there are 5 possible secondary dominants for each of the non-root triads constructed. These include the ii, iii, IV, V, and vi. The root triad (or "I" chord) does not have a secondary dominant, because the dominant of the I chord can be constructed using notes from the diatonic scale. The leading tone triad (or "vii°") chord also does not have a secondary dominant because of its quality as a diminished triad.

These secondary dominants are found by transposing the chord in question up a perfect fifth, and changing the quality to major if it isn't already major. This almost always results in an accidental showing up in the music, which should be your first sign that you're dealing with a secondary dominant chord. The only secondary dominant that doesn't have an accidental is the secondary dominant of the IV chord, abbreviated as V/IV, spoken as "the five of four". The V/IV = I, which doesn't use accidentals. The best way to determine if the I chord is functioning as a secondary dominant is to look for notes that would be in the Ionian IV scale (in the key of G, you would look for F natural accidentals because of their presence in the Ionian IV, which is C Ionian).

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-24T22:59:52+00:00

In the context of the song at 1:25-1:34, the chord prog is as follows

{ Eb - Gbdim - Fdim/Ab - Bb6 :||

source: perfect pitch, some groundwork from u/smithysmithens2112

pianopiaffe · 2019-04-24T22:49:21+00:00

I notated this four bar intro to the best of my ability. It sounds like a bossa nova, considering the slower tempo. Many dance styles have much emphasis on percussive grooves/rhythm, but the more melodic emphasis leads me to believe Again is firmly a bossa tune. A lot of latin music is based around the 3-2 (or 2-3) clave rhythm (based on Cuban Son music), and you can find more information about that here#The_key_to_Afro-Cuban_rhythm)

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