Shadow Sorceress (song)

Here is the piano song I wrote for my friend Nattie, inspired by her character Alia from Seeds of the Sands! ( seedsofthesands... )
(Alternate titles I considered were: Void Princess, Shadow Warrior) I don't know which title you like best/find the most fitting, but you know how much of a sucker I am for that Alliteration. 👌 Which is why I used this one.
I'm so happy to finally be able to give this to you! These songs are so much fun to work on but pretty time-consuming.
I can't believe this song is about 5 minutes long. There's a few parts that aren't very interesting and could probably be cut. But hey, you should've seen the original improv recording - It's almost 9 minutes long. (there's a lot of stumbling, pausing, and re-trying parts though, so.)
Y'know the drill, Nattie -- keep in mind I'm still so new to writing songs! xD But I do think it's the best one I've done so far, so that's good. There are some things about it that I can tell can be improved if I were a little more skilled. And there are other areas that I know for sure could be fixed/changed somehow but my brain can't even begin to wonder how to do so, lol. I think if I came back in a few years with more knowledge and experience, I could be like, "oh, why didn't I think of doing this in that part? It's way better." But I genuinely feel like I used all my current music writing skills to their limits with this one, and I hope that will help me improve in the future!
It could also be improved in the future by adding more harmonies, or playing around with octaves on a full 88-key piano instead of my dinky 66-key keyboard. xD (For example, on the very ending note, I manually edited the MIDI file after recording to make it go down an octave. So it sounds so much deeper and richer and aaaa... dramatic. :') I think this song could potentially benefit from more of that in spots, but for now I just have it on that ending note since those lower notes don't even exist on my little keyboard x'D cri.) Maybe one day I'll actually memorize this in its entirety & perform it on my actual piano.
(oh yeah and there's also still one very small part of this song that i just really do not like because i cannot figure out why it sounds dumb or how i can fix it LOL. i tried so many variations and it just sounds dumb no matter what. which probably means i should've just deleted it. but i liked the beginning of it, just not the ending oof.)
There're a few weird dynamics and phrasings going on in certain spots due to my skill-level. I also recorded this in a bunch of little chunks (because I had to memorize each little section, make any changes I wanted, record it, and then delete it from my brain and get started on memorizing the next section.) Due to that, there might be some inconsistent volumes in the different sections... I didn't really think it through until I was almost done with the song and realized that I change the volume of my keyboard from day-to-day, which could result in me playing harder/softer to compensate... Idk how to explain. xD
I still have a few leftover ideas written down that didn't make it into the song (just like, a couple measures & some chord progressions xD). But maybe someday if I wanted to change things up. Also, Nattie, if you remember that "Dramatic Alia Improv Vr 1" idea that I showed you in that Bach Kitty project, I ended up not putting it in this finished version of the song. ;( Because like I told you, for some reason I still feel like it's unconsciously copied from somewhere, so I don't trust myself to use it lol. However! I did throw in some descending bass notes in this song since I really really liked that. :'D It makes me happy lol.
The left-hand & chords are pretty basic and repetitive, because improvising still feels pretty foreign to me and I don't know what I'm doing lol. But I DID throw in some B diminished chords at one part to add some spice. LOL. This is probably the first time I've used a diminished chord in a song, since they scare me for some reason. I don't care when I'm playing them in actual songs, but when it comes to putting them in my own, I feel like they can sound really weird if you don't know how to use them properly (which I don't really x'D)
The part that starts at 1:52, and again at 2:21, is kinda what I consider to be her main theme? Or main melody? It doesn't have to be, but it just really makes me think of her for some reason.

[@BruneySparrow]

here are some funny comments from Rolf while she was helping me do the final round of tweaks:
at 1:10 | "this is the inhale--"
1:11 | "--stab--"
1:13 | "--need some time for the blood to freeze--"
1:14 | "exhale."
(i have no idea what scene she was seeing in her head but it sounds pretty dramatic LOL.)
at 2:27 | "and another thing-- i need a sword" *gets prop (a small German flag on a stick)*
*gestures around with it while listening to demonstrate to me what she envisions is happening during this part of the song.*
....
"...hold on lemme hear it again without swinging this around"
3:03 "that last note needs to ring out in the silence, you just thought you won but saw something bone-chilling.. like make the pause bigger but add a noise almost like a ringing in your ears, but not eerie. like a soft violin or something." (couldn't do this due to only using piano xD But I know exactly what she meant, and if I had an orchestra to arrange this song to, I would alter that part a bit and add some of that ringing she wants. xD because the sound from the piano can only ring so long, it kinda fades too quick.)
At 4:51, that small high melody that comes in very briefly (is it like a descant??) is something Rolf came up with so I added it in! She thinks it'd be cool if a violin did that high part -- starts off really quiet but gets louder and more emotional, with some vibrato and passion on the highest note.
And she agrees with me that the strong type of ending fits Alia, but it needs a more dramatic climax to build up to it better so it doesn't just come out of nowhere.

[@soldsoulforgold]

Sometimes when I'm listening to this I forget it's not like an "official" score made for a movie or gave by one of the famous pianists its just. idk man, too good. FDGJFD how are you that good. hh

[@BruneySparrow]

aa omg that means so much ;; thank you!!