The Mechanism - Piano Sonata by Rowan McTavish (Complete, with Sheet Music)

[@needforthegreen]

I love how the melodies are woven into the harmonies

[@blackmage1276]

That's called voicing...

[@needforthegreen]

I think there is a difference between good voicing of chords and containing the primary melody within the those voicings.

[@Iko_onthedl]

this is fire the classical scene is so askew; its like the weirder u write the more u r recognized as a competent composer while composers that actually embrace their musical nature, often into a contemporary voice, gets no recognition

[@RowanMcTavish]

I think the reason for that is simply that there's very little interesting, from an academic standpoint, about new music that conforms to typical tonal harmony conventions. That doesn't mean that there's not still tons of good new music that can be composed in that framework -- we see it every day, still, from pop to video game soundtracks to little piano channels on KZbin :) -- but I won't pretend that I'm treading any new ground here. It's just a great honor for me to know that I've maybe made someone's day a little brighter, or that they liked something I wrote enough to want to play it themselves.

[@Iko_onthedl]

@@RowanMcTavish no I know there isn’t but the contemporary accepted approach for a classical composer is basically just to write atonal etudes. Then ofc the movie and gaming scene etc is where modern, and LISTENABLE, classical music has its viability. The greatest classical composers of our time r Williams, Horner, Shore and Zimmer. It’s weird cuz in the end music is abt experience and the classical world embraces emotionless, theoretical abysses rather than modern melodic uniqueness. Anyways I think it was Chopin or Debussy or someone who foresaw this. It’s only natural but still sad

[@sundorwine]

A very modern sonata. I love it

[@vodkat07]

the first movement is just out of this world. absolutely beautiful

[@vodkat07]

my mistake; the whole thing is utterly beautiful

[@Frederic_Liszt]

@@vodkat07yes

[@jordynmoss3895]

This is such a beautiful sonata, it's genuinely so moving! I'm so glad that the algorithm brought me here!!

[@Calsas_]

Hey! I'm a young guy who wants to become a composer some day. Your sonata was really inspiring, it shows that classical form and music is still alive and can be as modern as any kind of music, and that's exactly what I aim for. Thank you for uploading!

[@diwali9218]

I believe that everyone of any age can be a composer. I started composing when I was 10. Why don’t you try it now? It’s really worth learning, and I'm sure you wouldn't regret a minute of doing it! It's another powerful way to express your emotions, apart from painting and writing.

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thank you! I think there's still plenty of opportunity out there to leverage classical forms in the modern era. Some of my favorites are Nikolai Kapustin, Masashi Hamauzu, Takashi Yoshimatsu, and Carl Vine. I hope you'll share your music once you start composing; I'd love to hear it!

[@Calsas_]

Thank you both for you comment! Actually, I started composing two years ago. I'm waiting to have the time to make a proper recording of my pieces so I can share them with the world!!

[@jakubdzwonkowski]

Hey! Also a young composer here. It's never too late to learn! I started composing around the age of 12 and now when I'm 16 let's call it my talent was recognised at my music school and they started giving me lessons on it. Remember one thing: mistakes are a human thing and you can fix them. Try composing in different genres. I started with being quite classical (wrote some preludes), then I moved on to more of a romantical style (wrote 2 movements of a concertino, doing a concerto) and now I'm interested in baroque and I'm trying to do some fugues so remember - learn to experiment. We are never perfect, but we need to start something to learn it. Good luck on your journey!

[@ericmurray8220]

This is incredible. I like how you focused more on the beauty of sound rather than virtuosity and atonality. This is what exactly modern classical music sounds like to me. Perhaps I could perform it in concert one day, and you have inspired in me some many compositions with this piece. Thank you vary much for sharing your work

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thanks so much for your kind words! I'd be honored if you performed it one day.

[@ulrichlehensteiner]

Very delighted that such composers still do exist: both solid craftsmanship and spirit are obviously present. Reminds me of the music of Xenoblade Chronicles with all the maj7 and 9-chords that make it so dreamy and light. I especially like the melody of the passage in the 1st mvmt. bar 50 and the motivic development of the accompaniment-pattern in the 2nd mvmt. Also very cleverly structured finale with all the nods to previous mvmts. (even at the very end). Well done, I would definitely like to hear more! 👏🏻

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thanks for your kind words! I love the XBC soundtracks (one day I'll finish the third game); maybe there's a subconscious influence there. 😅

[@ulrichlehensteiner]

@@RowanMcTavish There's not as much to miss as in the previous two, but definitely worth playing (just make sure to play the DLC as well). the series actually inspired quite some pieces of mine, also the 3rd one 😅

[@eduardogomezruiz9505]

It has a strong Ghibli touch to it. Lovely!

[@bethanywakim6175]

This is beautiful; really loved that moment of bitonality going into a key change near the end of the first movement. Glad to have found your channel!

[@Frederic_Liszt]

My faith in humanity has been restored

[@lucatran2809]

Great I love the kind of ravelian sound sometimes, also reminds me of ghibli sometimes. You should put this on spotify

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thank you! I'm gonna write one or two more things to wrap up my second album and then I'll be putting everything on Spotify!

[@arkantyne7122]

As a fellow aspiring composer this is beautiful! As you mentioned in a reply to a comment, you don't see yourself as 'treading new ground' in regards to the tonal harmony and conventional phrase structures. I love the way you handled said conventional harmony/phrasing though. This sort of studio ghibli-esque einaudi-esque music often falls into the trap of repetitiveness, lack of variety or overuse of pentatonic melodies/harmonies, and you have deftly avoided it with frequent switching of textures, harmonic progressions, keys and even meter. The first movement was luscious and bright, the second beautifully sombre, the third meditative and the fourth uplifting and refreshing, but yet in all four movements the theme of a 'mechanism' is clearly reflected, and without overshadowing everything else in the music. If a student composer was taught by Einaudi, Yoshimatsu and Hisaishi all at once, they might dream of writing this. Bravo!

[@arkantyne7122]

Oh, performed beautifully as well by the way.

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thank you so much for your kind words and analysis! I hope to listen to some of your music some day.

[@sadbeans7232]

I love the way you incorporated the heartbeat sound throughout the first movement, makes it sound alive!

[@AbeLincoln1]

If this isn't absolutely amazing, I don't know what is! Outstanding dude! Keep up the great work!

[@tommasobego4816]

This sonata is so intelligently thought out and yet feels so natural... such a beautiful piece Thank you very much

[@LidiaKotlovaPianoStudio]

I love the last mvt in particular, to me it's Ravel+ Phillip Glass. Superb!

[@eline8087]

I like it! It's easy enough to play that I can attempt it, but it also has enough complexity, and of course, has some beautiful harmonics.

[@Ninjanugets123]

reminds me of a final fantasy or other old school jrpg soundtrack, while retaining uniqueness! great work.

[@RowanMcTavish]

I was raised on old-school JRPGs (and still love them!), so this checks out 😀

[@AsierD-he1jx]

Woow!! I really like the concept of the whole piece, and i love the beautiful harmonies and the heartfelt melodies you use in each movement, truly inspiring :) 👏👏👏

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@alexandrebeauharnais6849]

Reminds me a little of Ryuichi Sakamoto. It's a beautiful sonata. I think I'll try playing it myself.

[@iMacxXuserXx485]

I love it! It's like very soulful anime music to me. I like that you keep the rhythm very sweet and simple but keep things fresh with the harmony or by moving melody to the bass.

[@carpinchipedia7009]

This is absolutely fantastic, really reminiscent of Christopher Larkin and Yoshimatsu, but also so much its own sound. Bravo!

[@joshuacervenkamusic327]

Thank the algorithm. I have not heard this piece before. Absolutely stunning!

[@jillwark2782]

Wow just found a gems in the sea of internet. Nice competition btw, sounds like background music in the space documentaries with Jpop infused.

[@ackamack101]

Very nice! Thank you for posting this. I like it a lot! 😌♥️👍🏻

[@vaultboy1488]

I think you were inspired by Einaudi and Ravel😊 Very nice sound. Thank you very much for this beautiful work, bravo!

[@jonaskatona7136]

Sounds like Yoshimatsu in the best way possible! Beautiful, serene music that transports you to a far away fantasy land :D

[@RowanMcTavish]

Always happy to come across another Yoshimatsu fan!

[@Jeramyd69]

This is a very beautiful piece of music. I enjoyed the work as a whole, but especially the first movement. It was so nice to be surprised by the harmonies at each turn. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@shshsh0]

6:04 esse trecho que vai do compasso 152 ao 158 me lembrou Poulenc. Adoro Poulenc.

[@j.thomas1420]

From his piano concerto, first mvt.

[@Kikidium]

Thanks, this is great to listen to when stressed, something to occupy the mind.

[@dspumoni7365]

Wow, this is just marvelous. Thank you for the lovely accompaniment to my morning!!!!

[@JLTraducoeseCorrecoes]

Absolutely beautiful!

[@jamescash4065]

This piece is incredible! You should be proud!

[@jonpursell5608]

reminds me of Takashi Yoshimatsu!

[@leonidyakimov6249]

Just wow. Beautiful. Very relaxing. Melodies are kind to the listener and the form is perfectly built. Great perfomance btw.

[@Yaro_Yurs]

Thank you for such a touching and extraordinary piece!❤ I especially liked the filigree clear playing of the pianist, it was pleasant for the ears and soul, I was immersed in other worlds.

[@willymusic1698]

I really love this! Nice job!

[@ShelbyTomov]

this is gorgeous. thank you so much for sharing your work.

[@dgrtnio]

I love It. This sonata can reach the soul of everyone. Bravo

[@lionelmenguina658]

Beautiful. Wish to compose like that some day.

[@IsabellaRollim]

What a great composition! Bravo!

[@nikriedel]

Gorgeous work. Thanks for sharing

[@poczatek8]

i think it's like something from fantasy world, where you with your friends, explore the world

[@fczyn8612]

I am touched..For the emotions, feelings and memories. For beautiful world created by your great heart. I am under impression that You brought to life modern piece tastefully....

[@vanoksilver6170]

this piano sonata is very graceful. it's played very softly and carefully. Einaudi is much more interesting and noticeably more complex. Brings to mind thoughts of observing space in nature. With love from Russia for this wonderful piece and the opportunity to try to play it yourself.

[@wheresthe4percentmilk]

I'm curious what Ludovico pieces you have in mind that you consider more complex than this sonata he made. I can't think of a single one. His work is very straightforward and melodic - almost "pop" like. Which there's nothing wrong with, but in the piano world - Ludovico is always regarded as the "pop" contemporary artist.

[@vanoksilver6170]

@@wheresthe4percentmilk дык, я и говорю, что таких произведений я у Энауди и не слышал, они все не то, что простые, а какие-то плоские, без глубины, что ли.

[@jakeharrison5523]

This is amazing!

[@iMacxXuserXx485]

3:19 is awesome. I might do something like this. Sounds so good. Def sounds like Ryuichi Sakamoto. Love it :)

[@MinYangLeong]

Beautifully written and played.

[@ArthurSabbatiniBuoro]

Muito bonito. Meus parabéns!

[@pianosenzanima1]

Excellent!!

[@lluisrafalessole-classical5068]

This is very beautiful music

[@clay112]

sounds good!

[@alejandropolanco5997]

This is really cool!

[@cyrene7985]

such a wonderful music!!

[@Peppercof]

Great!!!

[@alexmaleyeff293]

Love it ❤❤

[@emanuelevercellinodicastel2409]

Bravo 👏👏👏

[@prs_81]

Beautiful

[@christopheluciani1913]

Beautiful work! I would be interested to know what you think of my waltzes 2, 3, and 4 if you have time to check ^^

[@RowanMcTavish]

They're very nice! I liked #2 the most because I thought it was the most harmonically interesting, especially how it kind of avoids the tonic a lot of the time, but #3 and 4 (especially 3) were impressively Chopinesque.

[@hiritoguevara7500]

I would really like to know what inspired you? this is beautiful

[@RowanMcTavish]

I wish I had a good answer! I started writing the first movement as a standalone piece quite awhile ago, and set it aside pretty early on because I didn't like it. But then I came back to it and decided it wasn't so bad, and by the time I'd finished, the theme of some sort of "mechanism" had kind of revealed itself, so I kept running with it.

[@liltick102]

Impressive

[@gameclips5734]

tenuto seems like an odd marking to use for the melody. Definitely getting a lot of japanese (videogame) vibes, nice job.

[@RowanMcTavish]

Hah, yeah, I stole that from one of the Russian composers, can't remember who (Medtner, maybe?) -- they used tenuto throughout a long run to indicate which notes were melodic, and I liked it. Just a little bit of weight to distinguish it from the other notes. Typically I'd just use a second voice, but I intentionally try to keep the scores simpler for beginners. And thanks!

[@kamilibragimovbayan7707]

Bravo!🔥

[@RowanMcTavish]

Большое спасибо)

[@RowanMcTavish]

(Actual new music coming soon!)

[@boyleiidea]

I'm looking forward to it! Your work is amazing! I can't wait to hear more! May the Lord bless you!

[@cinplux]

2:05 has Interstellar vibes

[@wersenchannel6168]

I absolutely love this piece!! But I disagree with the title "piano sonata" because it doesn't feel like sonata form at all

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thank you! I'd argue that "sonata" is (and always has been) a fairly vague term. It certainly doesn't follow a Mozartian form, no. But it's a larger-scale, multi-movement work for a solo instrument.

[@wersenchannel6168]

@@RowanMcTavish yeah. I guess. But piano fantasy also has multi movement you know lol. IDK because to me, it feels like every single movement in your sonata has different story to tell.

[@Zee-ik9og]

Do you happen to publish your scores book?

[@RowanMcTavish]

Not physical copies (at least not yet!), but you can get digital copies of all of my scores on my website, www.rowanmctavish.com

[@Zee-ik9og]

@ thank u :)

[@bananana6380]

If I may ask, why did you decide to only use one voice in the treble clef in 2:25 ? If it were up to me, I would've separated the melody from the F ostinato using 2 voices so that the score would be more understandable interpretation-wise. This is especially a problem (for me, at least) in the following bars at 2:43 to 3:01 since I'm not entirely sure if the repeated F notes are still considered to be part of the ostinato or part of the melody itself.

[@RowanMcTavish]

Good question! When I started this channel, I made a conscious decision to minimize more complex voicing to keep the scores visually simple for the sake of beginner pianists, my target audience. That's why you'll frequently see tenuto, rather than a second voice, being used to indicate melodic notes. This sonata in particular is a slight departure from my target difficulty level, so I probably should've just written it using the multiple voices I'd typically use. And excellent point about 2:43 to 3:01; I see how a simpler-looking score can actually complicate interpretation here. A (hopefully?) generally safe rule of thumb is that if there's no explicit indication that some notes are melody and some aren't, then they're all roughly equally important. During that segment in particular, the ostinato becomes part of the melody (it's a slightly modified, drawn out version of the figure in the right hand in measure 7).

[@cinplux]

What program do you use to notate your music, and what about playback?

[@RowanMcTavish]

I use MuseScore 4 for notation. It's pretty good, overall. It's occasionally frustrating, but I've learned workarounds for dealing with specific things over time, so I feel pretty comfortable with it these days. I also like supporting free and open-source software when I can. For recording, I play on an M-Audio Oxygen 88 MIDI controller and use the East West Bosendorfer piano VST in REAPER. I'm not a digital audio engineering guy, like, at all, so I could probably get a better sound out of it, but it's worked well enough so far. I feel like it lacks real "oomph," though, so I don't get quite the dynamic range I'd like; all of my recordings sound kind of...flat, I guess, to me. After I finish my next few pieces, I'm going to look into trying the Modartt Pianoteq -- their Steingraeber sounds incredible. Ideally, I'd love to simply record on my acoustic piano, but getting a good recording out of an acoustic piano is a nightmarish endeavor I'd rather leave to the pros. Maybe one day I'll book time in a recording studio and re-record some stuff.

[@cinplux]

@@RowanMcTavish Thank you for your reply! I'm getting into arranging songs for piano and appreciate the recommendations

[@liltick102]

Do you have anything posted stylistically similar to Satie, Mompou, or Glinka?

[@RowanMcTavish]

Not really, I'm afraid; I'm going for more of a contemporary style.

[@alexandertarasov1191]

Would suit well an anime cartoon as based on a pentatonic

[@chutdigadut]

Brilliant! You are an amazing composer

[@DelaCruzHJesus]

Beautiful!!! I've got a question. Did you got inspiration on Bach's Prelude (C minor Book I)? I talk about the 3rd mov. Thanks for this beautiful piece. Greetings from Perú 🇵🇪🫂🎶

[@RowanMcTavish]

Yes! Just a little nod to how Bach's music is still inspiring us centuries later. And thank you!

[@Goodpianist]

B minor always the saddest key

[@RowanMcTavish]

That's not what Spinal Tap taught me 😁

[@nuclearbass9780]

Me recuerda mucho a Hollow Knight,

[@amitjena8082]

❤

[@dazza2350]

Mfw I find a lava rock

[@이동혁-g4w]

I want to press 100 likes..please help....

[@Whatismusic123]

This is not a sonata nor is it music. At best this qualifies as poorly composed background noise.

[@RowanMcTavish]

A visit from the legend? Am I famous now?

[@derenou]

Tempos are too boring (only the first part is different): all are near 80 - 90 bpm. Too many melodic and rythmic repetitions. Obviously you want depict the mechanism, but your mechanism is not interesting. Listen (and analyse), for example, "time forward" by Sviridov, or "der leiermann" by Schubert. These pieces also depicts mechanisms, but in very interesting and charming way.

[@RowanMcTavish]

Eh, I think you're just not the target audience, honestly. I write "sleepy," quasi-background music for hobbyist pianists, not serious music for the concert hall.

[@derenou]

@@RowanMcTavish ah, ok, but i think you have a potential for more serious music

[@RowanMcTavish]

Thanks! I've certainly written more serious (and substantially more difficult) stuff in the past, back when I was performing. Some of it I'll likely record and upload here one day!

[@senortenpiedad8515]

There's always an academic classical musician that puts down new composers because they don't sound like old dead XIX or even earlier century composers 🙄

[@RowanMcTavish]

It doesn't bother me; they're not invalid complaints. My specialities back in the day were (and still are, I suppose) Russian composers: Medtner, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, etc., so I'm very aware this is a different kind of music for a different audience. :)