Finding the Rhythm
I've been fighting with the chord progression in my new piano composition, but I think I finally figured it out. It is still a working title, but I've dubbed it "Project Liszt" as it shares some techniques used in many of Franz Liszt's Hungrian Rhapsodies.
The breakthrough moment came to me when I realized I was focusing too much on the chord progression and not enough on the rhythm. Many piano pieces change chords and repeat--- chords and repeat ~~~ chords and repeat.
This is the problem I have with post-modern and easy-listening piano. The musical phrase may be beautiful, but repeating more than two times or not trying to manipulate it to make it new to the listener is rather lazy, to me.
I started with chords in my latest piece but needed to break away from the repetition, so I mapped out rhythms and transitioning rhythms to make the chord progression never appear to repeat.
The result is an amazing flow and depth in the music, and tells a story rather than gipping its listener by repeating phrases over and over. It's still not complete, but I expect to have it completed by March 2015 for primetime.
