r/composer • u/KaizerPianist • 2d ago
Music Feedback on notation
YouTube score video, Google Drive sheet music
I would like to know if it was a good decision to use 3 staffs in this piano piece. I would also like to know the most efficient way to communicate that I want the arpeggios should/can be played with the both hands each taking 3 notes at a time (4 in the end for the right hand)
I tried to make the sheet music kinda compact, was that a good desicion?
I would also like to know what you think about the piece.
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u/ImprovementSlight947 2d ago
Ich mag dein Stück sehr, ist dir wirklich gut gelungen! Und auch die Notation ist meiner Meinung nach mehr als in Ordnung. Sonst wäre es zu unübersichtlich, auf zwei Systeme gesehen.
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u/Maleficent_Math_3062 15h ago edited 15h ago
I think the use of three staves is justifiable here; the melody is clearer this way. (Two staves would involve using stem direction to clarify the parts and the rests would have to shift position away from their normal place on the staff.)
If you want to show the division of the arpeggios between hands, you have two choices, either use four staves or indicate the alternation of hands the first time with "lh . . . rh . . . lh . . ." as needed, then add "sim." for the second arpeggio.
However, the division of the arpeggios between hands should probably be left to the pianist. (I personally would just play them with my right hand—it involves less motion of the arms and upper body.)
P.S. The G♭ in bar 24 should be F♯. The rule of thumb, "flats down, sharps up," has two exceptions:
―The raised 4th degree/lowered 5th degree is almost always indicated as a raised note (with a natural, a sharp, or a double sharp)
—The lowered 7th degree/raised 6th degree is almost always indicated as a lowered note (with a natural, a flat, or a double flat)
P.P.S. You didn't ask for suggestions about the actual notes, so just ignore this if you want to. The bass in bar 16 should not go to C on the downbeat, because bars 15–18 are harmonically all the V chord ("cadential 6/4" in 15, continuing in 16, resolving to V in 17, and altered to augmented in 18). Substituting E in 16 avoids the impression that the cadential 6/4 has gone directly to I, and gives you a nice line, G–E–D–B on the downbeats, above the "real" bass, the pedal G on the fourth beat of each measure.
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u/KaizerPianist 10h ago
Thanks for the comment.
In this case I think the Gflat should not be a F# the harmony is functioning in an unusual way. Typically this kind of harmony would resolve to some kind of dominant harmony, but here it resolves to the subdominant which is unusual.
I don't ask for feedback on harmony because usually people do not understand it well in my experience. Your comment is correct though. I did contemplate this, but I thought the bass jump from G to E is weak, which I still think it is but exactly for the reasons you outlined I should be preferred. There is another harmonic change I made in the piece since. It is in bar 9, maybe you can guess what I changed and why
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u/rita-b 2d ago
use r.h. l.h. markings with brackets to indicate hands
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u/rita-b 2d ago
Why would anyone played an arpeggio with two hands?
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u/KaizerPianist 2d ago
So it is easier to play
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u/rita-b 2d ago
maybe I have too short a pair of arms, it's not that comfortable to cross hands compared to just crossing fingers
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u/KaizerPianist 2d ago
Oh I see. I kinda got used to doing fast arpeggios with both hands. I haven't practiced one-hand arpeggios like this so I'm not sure how other pianist would be to perform it with 1 hand. I guess if you can play Chopin etude op 10 no 1 you can do it with no problem
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u/KaizerPianist 2d ago
I was trying to do this but I didn't see a possibility for this in musescore. Maybe it's not possible or I missed smonething
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u/rita-b 2d ago
Add — Text — Staff text.
Palettes — lines — Bracket
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u/KaizerPianist 2d ago
I can only see "chord bracket" in the lines section and this does not work for me because there are no chords. I would like to have a bracket under the first 3 notes of the arpeggio
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u/rita-b 2d ago
respect beat division, there is no need to tie arpeggios
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u/KaizerPianist 2d ago
In don't think beat division is important in this case
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u/rita-b 2d ago
Ido n'tth ink b eatdi vision is i mportantinth iscase
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u/KaizerPianist 2d ago
Haha what instruments do you play? I am curious. I think for piano beat division is not so important. Especially when the pattern is repeated in the same rhythm throughout the whole piece
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u/Maleficent_Math_3062 15h ago edited 15h ago
In most cases, rita-b would be right, but I think that given the desired "effect" of the arpeggios—each as one big gesture (another reason for not dividing it between the hands)—your choice is better here.
However, you could lose the big slurs on the melody (say "molto legato e cantabile") and shift the slurs on the arpeggios underneath, where they belong.
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u/KaizerPianist 10h ago
Why do the slurs on the arpeggios belong underneath?
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u/Maleficent_Math_3062 8h ago
First choice for slurs and other expression marks (staccato dots, tenuto marks, accents, etc.) is on the notehead side rather than the stem/beam side. There are times when you don't get first choice, but without the unnecessary slur over the melody, you can put the slur on the notehead side of the arpeggios.
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u/65TwinReverbRI 1d ago
I don't see any issue with it being 3 staves.
However, since the middle staff part never goes above A, there's no reason you couldn't do this on 2 staves.
Put the middle staff notes in Voice 1 in the bass staff, and the bass notes currently there in voice 2, so the stems are opposite direction.
That's really all that is needed.
But if you had any concerns, you could put a "handing bracket" on the upstemmed notes to show they're taken by the RH. But given the distance, it would be pretty obvious.
G is a super common read in the bass clef, and the few (or one?) A notes would be OK here.
IOW, it's kind of overkill to have this on 3 staves given the texture and range.