Opinion on piece?

[arieblock]

Forgive me if im not aloud to post this here. Im new lol. I wanted some opinions on these etudes I wrote.(it is not me playing)

[anacrusis]

Good job! You have some nice sounding ideas there. I think you can think about:
* developing your ideas and going to new keys. The e minor piece stays in e minor throughout and is not very adventurous harmonically, and you could get a bit more variety in there. Many good composers play with our expectations - sometimes they give us what we expect, and sometimes they surprise us.
* Etude no 5 sounds like it should be in 3/4 but is notated in 6/8, is there a reason for that?

Keep it up and keep composing!

[arieblock]

Thank you!I agree I should try to change keys more and mess more with things harmonically.Im still learning alot about the theory part of composing. Ive played classical piano for 8 years but composing is another animal lol. and as far as the 6/8 i just like that time signature lol

[anacrusis]

It certainly is another animal! The only way to learn is to keep creating, studying, seeing what works and what doesn't.

As for the 6/8, it's a cool time signature. Maybe you should write something specifically designed for that time signature. It can help you study more closely what makes 3/4 different from 6/8 (they're very different!)

[bwl_13]

as far as the 6/8 i just like that time signature lol

I do like 6/8, especially writing in it. A big reason is that it's duple meter with a triplet feel, that's one of the primary characteristics of it. I can't hear the pieces here because they're unavailable for some reason so I'm just trusting what anacrusis said.

[lettersquash]

I do like 6/8, especially writing in it. A big reason is that it's duple meter with a triplet feel, that's one of the primary characteristics of it. I can't hear the pieces here because they're unavailable for some reason so I'm just trusting what anacrusis said.

Yeah, pity those seem to have gone?

I'm no expert, but I'm learning that time signatures and rhythm are...how to put it...weird. I mean, there's a good deal of choice that's somewhat arbitrary or maybe just traditional. Take the first variation of Bach's Goldberg Variations (attached), which is in 3/4, but can easily have six counted instead, so could be 6/8 perhaps, or could be in 12/16 if that was the kind of thing people did. It seems fairly arbitrary to me. I know the idea is that in 6/8, you'd have a secondary emphasis on beat 4, but who says you can't have two secondary emphases on beats 3 and 5? There's even a sense in which the Variation 1 could feel very like a march, if slowed down a bit (or for soldiers with very short legs)...each beat being counted 1 - 2.

[dw4rn]

Take the first variation of Bach's Goldberg Variations (attached), which is in 3/4, but can easily have six counted instead, so could be 6/8 perhaps, or could be in 12/16 if that was the kind of thing people did. It seems fairly arbitrary to me. I know the idea is that in 6/8, you'd have a secondary emphasis on beat 4, but who says you can't have two secondary emphases on beats 3 and 5?

Hmm.. I'm no expert either, and I agree that sometimes it might not be crystal clear why a composer has chosen a particular time signature.
But in this case I think it's clear that Bach chose 3/4 because he conceived the piece as a sort of Polonaise and that's how he wanted it played. It's more or less impossible to play this with an emphasis on the 4th eight-note (in 6/8 you have six eighth-notes but two beats)
"Secondary emphases on beats 3 and 5" is pretty much a description of 3/4-time, except that, again, you should have written eighth-notes instead of beats, or: "secondary emphases on beats 2 and 3".

[lettersquash]

Not only am I not an expert, I'm repeatedly reminded how little I know about music theory! Thanks for that, and if I can pick your brains a bit more (or anyone reading)... I'm puzzled. So, you say that in 6/8 time there are two beats, so it's counted something like 1 & & 2 & &, where I - probably mistakenly - thought the 6 meant there are 6 beats, and the 8 meant they are eighth-note beats. Am I conflating the time signature note number with beats?

So how do I know how many "beats" there are in a time signature - is there an accepted method? If I take six divisions and count them 1 & 2 & 3 &, I can make up a tune just fine. I imagine, however, that it would normally simply be notated as 3/4, but it would be clear that it's a compound time where each of those beats is - or can be - a pair of eighths.

I also have a vague memory of learning that the choice of note value in the time signature is to do with a range of tempo traditionally allocated to the notes, but that's maybe a separate issue.

[dw4rn]

Here's something you could have a look at. As far as I can tell, it seems like reliable information, fairly clearly and exhaustively presented.
https://people.carleton.edu/~jellinge/m101s12/Pages/06/06CompoundMeter.html

"The time signature represents compound meter if the upper number is greater than or equal to six, and is a multiple of three."
Then you simply divide the upper number with three to get the number of beats.

I also have a vague memory of learning that the choice of note value in the time signature is to do with a range of tempo traditionally allocated to the notes, but that's maybe a separate issue.

I think you're on to something there - a 3/8 would probably be played faster than a 3/4, everything else being equal - but yes, I would say that's a separate issue.

[lettersquash]

Excellent - that's just what I need. I could have googled, but didn't! I'm in the process of writing a MusicXML parser for an alternative notation project I'm doing, so I need to get my head round all this. Many thanks.

[ranjit]

As far as I know, the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 is usually the location of the downbeats. 3/4 is usually ONE two three. 6/8 is ONE two three FOUR five six. So the rhythm sort of goes in threes in 3/4, but twos in 6/8.

[visitor]

As far as I know, the difference between 3/4 and 6/8 is usually the location of the downbeats. 3/4 is usually ONE two three. 6/8 is ONE two three FOUR five six. So the rhythm sort of goes in threes in 3/4, but twos in 6/8.

Thats along how I would say only a layer beyond that is you'll generally feel a big single beat for 3/4 ie One........One......One
And 6/8 feels in two with a strong beat and a weaker one so in two
One.....two......One......two.....One....
Underlying pulses or subdivision is the other one but I really when it begins moving along you'll feel a 3/4 much like a 3/8, and the 6/8 you'll feel it like 2/4 at times