Thoughts in B-flat

In the past couple of weeks, I found myself going back to a piece that I'd started working on a few years ago -- probably because it's in a slower triple meter that's somewhat calming for me. This is a condensed one-minute version, featuring piano and guitar, for the 60 Seconds and Under #2 MeFi Music Challenge.

This version is actually a smidgen faster than the tempo I usually play, in order to fit in all the measures I wanted into a minute.

I'd already written the guitar part a long time ago, so I recorded basically the intro of the piece on guitar and was about to submit it by itself. Then a few days later, I worked up a separate melody and picked it out on a borrowed digital piano. (I'm not a pianist and it's been over 15 years since I practiced any tune on a piano, so I kept it simple.)

I'm always wary of subconsciously channeling another song out there, so if this sounds like something else, I'd love to know.

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posted by rangefinder 1.4 (3 comments total)

I don't feel like it borrows from any particular tune; rather, it sounds like an old-school, lazy-country-river type of song (even though it's only a minute, it's a sleepy minute). A song which could fit many different well-known artist's repertoires – but which you could also hear being played during a talent show at your local dance hall. So:

Channeling? Yes.
A particular artist or song? No.
A wide, broad-ranging genre, then? Maybe kinda.

A GOOD SONG? YES! I liked it. Nice melody, has depth of feeling. subtle dynamics, and a complicated but not challenging chord progression. You also have a nice touch on the piano – it's not how many notes you play, it's the way that you play them.
posted by not_on_display at 10:06 PM on November 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the kind words, not_on_display! Especially about the piano playing. I like a lot of different music genres but yeah, thanks to my folks I've heard a fair share of country songs from the "Nashville sound" era, especially with Floyd Cramer and/or produced by Chet Atkins. This is probably the most country-sounding melody I've done so far.

I'm glad it didn't sound like any particular song or artist, and I'm really pleased you enjoyed the song.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 9:21 PM on November 25, 2016

There's a feeling of familiarity to the lilt of the piano melody, but like not_on_display I don't find it pegging any particular tune for me—I think it's just hitting the feeling of that kind of song, that gentle in-three piano sound out of something pastoral and warm. It's very pretty.
posted by cortex at 11:06 AM on November 29, 2016 [1 favorite]