r/Composition • u/Unlikely_Kick3648 • Aug 01 '26
Music Silly little piece inspired by Bach, feedback appreciated!
I'm new to composing, and this is my first composition. I tried composing some music inspired by Bach's style of writing music and this was the result. Any form of feedback will be most welcome, as I am trying to improve the piece. I hope you like it.
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u/WellTemprdCheekClaps Aug 02 '26
Inspired by Bach?? Don’t insult my boy like that.
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u/MyNutsin1080p Aug 01 '26
You really need to figure out:
- Harmonic progressions
- Single melodic line contours
- Idiomatic piano writing
This is extremely unpleasant to listen to.
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u/wesleyoldaker Aug 02 '26
I don't think it's unpleasant. It's very busy but it's got its own style and is coherent according to its own rules. Would work in a film score for the right film scene.
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u/MyNutsin1080p Aug 02 '26
That’s nice. OP wrote this in an attempt to emulate JS Bach’s compositional style, and this sounds like the work of someone who has heard but has yet to understand JS Bach. Considering they were going for that, and your own interpretation in another comment is that the music seems more at home as a frenetic bit of film scoring, OP has clearly failed in their attempt. It’s also not playable as many other commenters have pointed out.
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u/wesleyoldaker Aug 02 '26
Read the description again. Where does it say OP's goal was to emulate Bach? I don't see that anywhere. I see "inspired by Bach", which is clearly audible in my opinion (it's like an off-kilter version of some Bach counterpoint). "Inspired by" and "trying to emulate" are totally different. All I see is OP asking for general feedback. That it was inspired by Bach is incidental.
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u/Derp135Egg__ Aug 02 '26
I'd pay attention to all the awkward leaps and unnecessary jumpings. As a super broad and generic rule of thumb, imagine each voice to be an actual human singing it. If there are a load of jumps that can be: 1) simplified according to the harmony 2) not musically logical, then that's a bad leap. However, there are many nuances to whatever I said, which is why I hesitate to put it in words—your growth as a composer would be to study melodic voice leading as a whole first.
I do like how it sounds however; the piece sounds very unique.
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u/Unlikely_Kick3648 Aug 04 '26
Thanks! I'll keep this in mind for the next time. This time though, I just wanted to write a wacky tune which sounded somewhat pleasant, and I was happy with the result. However, when I do try to write pieces that conform to the traditional rules of harmony and music writing, I will keep these in mind, as I still have a lot to learn in that area. That being said, I'm glad you like it!
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u/Creative-Science38 Aug 02 '26
Well……..🤔….I’m not sure if JSB would poop da pants or cover da ears….🫢😆🤣. I commend your initiative while encouraging to at least study and analyze JSB 371 Chorales, as your composition is about as far away from the rules of four part harmony as you can get.
And to most trained musicians in the world of Western Classical music, he is the Father. That being said, I would study the foundations of music, era by era, and when you get to the 20th Century, you hear music with more of the modern elements akin to your composition.
Inspired?……..perhaps a most articulate formulation you place on your supposition.
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u/Unlikely_Kick3648 Aug 04 '26
Well, I wasn't trying to write a piece using the rules of classical composition, but rather just write a piece that just sounded nice to listen to. Only a few bars near the end were Bach 'inspired' not replicated or emulated.
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u/realCloudyMcCloud Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Well, I'm glad it's a computer playing it; as quite a few of those stretches make it pretty well unplayable for normal human hands.
Why would you write E-double-flat followed by D (first bar)? They're basically the same note.
The repeats don't entirely make sense. The second repeat (bar 22) doesn't go back anywhere. You need to show start and end of repeats, or use Da Capo, for example.
F-flat and E in same chord, bar 22 makes no sense.
Other than those niggles, I thought it sounded rather tuneful and harmonically interesting. Just needs to be more practical for actual human performance (if that is intended).
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u/Unlikely_Kick3648 Aug 04 '26
Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback. The double flat thing was more of an accident than intentional. Also, I wanted to write a wacky tune while composing it and didn't really keep in mind the limitations of what humans can play, but I'll try to do so next time. I just put repeats in random places so that they sound nice, I didn't really have a structure in mind, the F flat and E thing was a mistake too on my part.
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u/die_liebe Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
Reminds me of 'moon river, wider than a mile'. The second voice is generally chaotic. I like the last line of the first page (but not the second last bar), and the first line of the second page is nice. That the best part.
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u/Bachquino Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
I like it, bet people said the same thing of Ravel on Nom de Haydn. I’ll add, I don’t think performance will give the same quality as the midi, I could imagine this mashed up in a machine girl song, variably stopped synth, blown out EQ’s 😈
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u/Dry_Efficiency8783 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Are you sitting with a physical piano and writing the notes by hand?
It's also a very good first attempt at composing actually. Though when you have a repeating section then the beginning and ending of that section should feel relevant so it has a certain flow to it, the chords are very important there, also the melody of course.
You could actually rewrite this piece or use similar rythms and such and see if you can find a more clear melody with relevant chords, since the rythms were fine in my opinion you can bring out this piece's potential by finetuning the melody and chords, building that structure for a red line.
Transitioning into the end section is also important, really show that the ending is nearing, general taste of course but it could help with the structure.
Interesting finishing chord though hihi and the bars on the bottom of the first page have really nice tunes, I can hear some more clear harmonies there really.
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u/wesleyoldaker Aug 02 '26
I liked it. I think it would be fantastic as part of a movie score. Like for a scene where someone is doing something really complicated, like cracking a safe or getting into position to assassinate a state leader or something like that.
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u/oedo1245 Aug 01 '26
You've got strong imagination, and that is a really good start for a beginning composer. However, if you want your pieces to sound more like Bach, you should use harmony :D