Suspended Animation

[Will Kirk]

Hey guys

This is my newest piece, and the title track of my next CD

I wrote it around 2 AM after getting no sleep, and then recorded it 2 days later

The nature of the piece is loosely centered around a minimal idea, but with more concentration on harmony than melody. So don't go bashing the repetious nature, because it's supposed to be that way

Anyway, comments appreciated

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6548590

[stevel]

Originally Posted by Will Kirk

So don't go bashing the repetious nature, because it's supposed to be that way

"Don't go bashing the fact that it sucks, because it's supposed to be that way"

!!!!!

Of course it doesn't suck Will, but, if you have to make that kind of disclaimer, usually that means you have some reservations about it :-)


It's a nice piece. I think it could be improved.

#1 - you do some really nice things with dynamics and ritardando towards the first part - later on, it seems like you mean to do them but you're still learning to play the piece so you may have forgotten what you wanted to do. Anyway, when a piece is this repetitious, the listener often needs something else to hold thier interest. THe chords here are "interesting", but not enough so to hold one's interest past the second time through. I think you REALLY need to think out some dynamics and tempo or "flow" points of interest. Another thing that might be interesting is to accent something in the arpeggio - you know, beat two on one chord, and beat 3 on another, or the open strings each time, etc. Could be chord by chord, or section by section.

#2. I think you "give away" the harmonics too soon. It would be cool if, each time around, you had more and more harmonics to gradually build up the amount of harmonics for the ending - otherwise, the ending sounds like, "where'd this come from - I thought I was listening to arpeggios?". So say, at the send of section A, you did an E harmonic (or something like that). Then after the next section, you did B-E, then the next time, you do G-F#-E or so that when you get to the G-F#-E harmonics at the end you've kind of hinted at that section enough so that it doesn't come as a total surprise, and such that the earlier harmonics have some relation to that section and don't seem to just be out there for no reason.

#3. Around 3:00 it really starts to seem rather directionless. I don't know if it's your performance, or you're trying to introduce new ideas this late in the game or what. I would say, the piece is too long as it is. Hearing the stuff twice is enough. But, I think if you're able to add some more interest via dynamics and tempo, and by "building" the harmonics idea to the finale, you could get two more repeats out of the entire structure - because then people want to see where it's going (the way it is, I think people will "get it" after the second time, and lose interest when they hear it's just happening yet again on the third pass).

#4. Great title - wish I had thought of it (though I'm sure it's been used before!). I think overall the piece is nice - but without doing something "extra" to it, it's kind of like the other 5 zillion pieces guitarists write like this everyday (I wrote my share of repetitious arpeggio pieces).

HTH,
Steve

[Will Kirk]

Originally Posted by stevel

"Don't go bashing the fact that it sucks, because it's supposed to be that way"

!!!!!

Of course it doesn't suck Will, but, if you have to make that kind of disclaimer, usually that means you have some reservations about it :-)


It's a nice piece. I think it could be improved.

#1 - you do some really nice things with dynamics and ritardando towards the first part - later on, it seems like you mean to do them but you're still learning to play the piece so you may have forgotten what you wanted to do. Anyway, when a piece is this repetitious, the listener often needs something else to hold thier interest. THe chords here are "interesting", but not enough so to hold one's interest past the second time through. I think you REALLY need to think out some dynamics and tempo or "flow" points of interest. Another thing that might be interesting is to accent something in the arpeggio - you know, beat two on one chord, and beat 3 on another, or the open strings each time, etc. Could be chord by chord, or section by section.

#2. I think you "give away" the harmonics too soon. It would be cool if, each time around, you had more and more harmonics to gradually build up the amount of harmonics for the ending - otherwise, the ending sounds like, "where'd this come from - I thought I was listening to arpeggios?". So say, at the send of section A, you did an E harmonic (or something like that). Then after the next section, you did B-E, then the next time, you do G-F#-E or so that when you get to the G-F#-E harmonics at the end you've kind of hinted at that section enough so that it doesn't come as a total surprise, and such that the earlier harmonics have some relation to that section and don't seem to just be out there for no reason.

#3. Around 3:00 it really starts to seem rather directionless. I don't know if it's your performance, or you're trying to introduce new ideas this late in the game or what. I would say, the piece is too long as it is. Hearing the stuff twice is enough. But, I think if you're able to add some more interest via dynamics and tempo, and by "building" the harmonics idea to the finale, you could get two more repeats out of the entire structure - because then people want to see where it's going (the way it is, I think people will "get it" after the second time, and lose interest when they hear it's just happening yet again on the third pass).

#4. Great title - wish I had thought of it (though I'm sure it's been used before!). I think overall the piece is nice - but without doing something "extra" to it, it's kind of like the other 5 zillion pieces guitarists write like this everyday (I wrote my share of repetitious arpeggio pieces).

HTH,
Steve

Hey steve thanks for the comments

As for reservations go, only reason I said that is because it's the first time I've ever written something this repetitious before, and I was kind of nervous about it at first, but case in point, there's nothing to be nervous about

I think around 3:00 is where I was trying to slow down the piece and get ready for the harmonic ending, I'll try to work on some way to make it seem directed

Well as for tempo I dynamics I tried to vary it a bit without seeming disruptive to the flow, I don't know if it's just because I did it or not but I will look into it to see if I can't do more with it

Thanks for the help Steve