I recently struck inspiration and within about 10 minutes wrote a very rough draft of the first few measures of a song. F# minor, 6/8 time. I haven't gotten into the main part that I have in mind yet.

I know, there is no discernible main melody. It's a very rough draft. I know the bass clef is... not spectacular. It is just minor arpeggios in triads.

Critique what I haven't mentioned, if there's anything left beyond that. :p

Note: MIDI only plays through 0:52!

Update.

From the Update:

If I were you, I would probably add a transitional melody at 20-21... I see that you tried to do that at meas. 23-28, but what happened was that you put in the tonic chord, which just (in my opinion) abruptly ended it... try adding a few different chords around that part, and see what you can make in order to make the piece flow better.

As for measure 28-29, the chord that abruptly ended the piece... I don't like it was any other note than an F# (the base of the chord), so would just making it a single note, rather than a chord, fix that? And the same chord occurs at 33-34, just an octave higher. That doesn't make it sound like it abruptly ends? Measures 19-20 have an F#m chord too... what is so particular about 28-29? I have never taken any theory classes and am only trying to incorporate what little I know.

Here: I'll explain in greater depth...

(Disregard this part if you wish until the [/end]...)

Here's how I see your piece:

There's the intro: 4 measures, then comes in the first theme at meas. 5 (to meas. 8). At 9 you do the same as you did as the first few measures, then you add in a mordent to try to put a little variation into the piece, which continues to 20 (and now that I think about it, I think it would probably be a good idea to add more sustaining tones/pedal tones). Then you continue the piece for another two measures with the bass line, then you try to put in a variation of the theme you put in (or, perhaps it is the 2nd theme)... and then comes in that chord that I mentioned (28-29).

[/end]

About the chord: the root of the chord won't matter; you still put it as the tonic chord... and I do realize the same chord occurs at 33-34. The two parts could work, but perhaps adding different/more harmonies could be better... For me, the chord at 19-20 works because you're ending the theme/phrase. Why the other two chords seem abrupt is because it seems as though you're splitting the theme/phrase by putting the tonic chord in the middle of the theme. After that high B (meas. 27), I suggest probably thinking of something else to extend the phrase.

I love pedal, but I must not know how to properly mark them, because it always makes notes end very abruptly when I put the little * there. I don't know how to mark "take the pedal off but put it back down on this same beat."

I love pedal, but I must not know how to properly mark them, because it always makes notes end very abruptly when I put the little * there. I don't know how to mark "take the pedal off but put it back down on this same beat."

You mean pedaling at a specific point, even if it is between beats? Only Finale can do that... but if you want to do it for playback purposes, you could, for example:

Let's say I have a quarter note and I want the pedal to be released on the downbeat and pressed on at the half point of the beat. I would type it in as two eighth notes tied, the first one having the * and the second one having the PED. symbol.

I have full Finale 2008.

I have full Finale 2008.

Then, in that case, click the Smart Shape tool, and look for a tool that has _ with a ? above it. Double-click and drag.

It's pretty much impossible to make pedalling transitions sound realistic using MIDI. When you tell it to stop pedaling, it pretty much abruptly cuts out all the notes - there's no dampening time in between. I also don't think it recognizes any notes triggered before the pedal, even if it's still sustained for that duration. The sustain pedal controller doesn't specifically tries to model the effect of an actual piano pedal - it just extends the length of the notes within that region indefinitely until the either the pedal is turned off, or you start playing too many notes.

At best, you can just try to shorten the pedal off/on interval as much as you can. I'm not sure how discretized Finale allows you to go, but try to place the pedal ending and pedal beginning as close possible. For example, don't raise the pedal until it's like a 32nd or 64th note away from the next pedal point.