This time next week, readers are going to get a brand new song from yours portly (indeed, by the time you read this post, it should already be on my YouTube channel; if you’re subscribed, you’ve probably already seen it).
In the meantime, I decided to take a brief break—don’t panic, Ponty!—from the live performances to feature one of my short Red Tardy Slip compositions. It’s the sequel of sorts to another piece, “Sleepy Student’s Serenade,” which I will likely rename to “Serenade for a Sleepy Student No. 1” if I ever record and release this self-indulgent project. This one, of course, is entitled “Serenade for a Sleepy Student No. 2.”
I like the simple, melancholic feel of this piece. I also love the little F diminished chord I put in the penultimate measure. The original manuscript score (below) has an F minor written, but I changed it to the diminished version of the chord (F, Ab, and Cb [B]) on a whim, and loved the sound of it. It also feeds in nicely to the G in the same major (G, B, D), with the repeated Cb / B:
And, as always, here it is on YouTube:
Finally, here is the score. Note that the F diminished is written here as an Fm7 (F, Ab, C, Eb), but I ditched the seventh interval and made it diminished, as noted above. Had I left the Eb, it’d be an F half-diminished seven chord.
Happy Listening!
—TPP
Other Editions of Open Mic Adventures:
- “Open Mic Adventures I: Oingo Boingo’s ‘Just Another Day’“
- “Open Mic Adventures II: Billy Joel’s ‘Piano Man’“
- “Open Mic Adventures III: Joanie Sommers’s ‘Johnny Get Angry’“
- “Open Mic Adventures IV: KISS’s ‘I Still Love You’“
- “Open Mic Adventures V: ‘There’s a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VI: Journey’s ‘Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VII: ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’“
- “Open Mic Adventures VIII: Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound of Silence’“
- “Open Mic Adventures IX: Journey’s ‘Faithfully’“
- “Open Mic Adventures X: ‘Time Warp’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XI: Spooktacular Supergroup Covers ‘Monster Mash’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XII: ‘Ghostly’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XIII: The Penguins’ ‘Earth Angel’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XIV: ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XV: ‘O Holy Night’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XVI: ‘Please Come Home for Christmas’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XVII: ‘L’il Divertimento in C major’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XVIII: ‘Satiean Motion’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XIX: ‘Two-Day Minuet for Left Hand’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XX: ‘Sleepy Student’s Serenade’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXI: Styx’s ‘Come Sail Away’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXII: ‘Blessed Assurance’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXIII: ‘Gabbi’s Gavotte’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXIV: ‘Softly and Tenderly’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXV: ‘Venite, exultemus Domino’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXVI: ‘Sonatina’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXVII: ‘Heavenly Sunlight’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXVIII: ‘Song of the Bigfoot’”
- “Open Mic Adventures XXIX: ‘Lavender’s Blue’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXX: ‘Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXI: ‘Carousel’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXII: Hymn Medley“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXIII: ‘Spore Song (Mushroom Dance)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXIV: ‘Chase’s Dilemma’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXV: ‘The Rings of Saturn’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXVI: ‘The Rings of Saturn’ LIVE!“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXVII: ‘Private Lessons (Goth Chick)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXVIII: ‘Quasi-Date’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XXXIX: ‘(I’m in the) Business of Love)’“
- “Open Mic Adventures XL: ‘Parada’“
The Portly Politico 
First of all, I love the freudian slip here: “I like the simple, melancholic feel of this peace.” Simple = peace; I suspect there’s wisdom in that.
It’s very pretty. I have no lexicon for music so hopefully you won’t be offended if I say ‘pretty’ instead of something more in tune (pardon the pun…) with the presentation.
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Ha! Looks more like a Freudian typo. 😂 But I am glad you found the humor in it.
Thank you, Audre!
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I often wonder whether your style would be suited to the video game industry. There are a lot of short piano pieces in them – some of the most beautiful appearing in Silent Hill 2 and Skyrim – and for a lover of composition, it’d be right up your street.
I like the mystery and wonder in the first keys of this track. I don’t think the last keys quite fit for me.
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Thanks for your feedback, dude! I’ll mess around with those final keys.
I have always been interested in cracking into that industry. My electronic music is heavily influenced by retro video games.
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I think 39’s suggestion about gaming music is intriguing.
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Agreed!
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You sell yourself short, mate. I know you’re a fan of retro but amongst the playfulness of your compositions, there’s a soulfulness, a melancholy aspect that would suit certain games, maybe short soundtracks. I’ve noticed that in some of the pieces you’ve put up here. They’re very Tyler but underneath, there’s heart.
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Thank you for that, Ponts. You’ve given me a great deal of confidence about my composing.
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One way to get your creative juices flowing is to find a scene in TV or film, mute the volume and imagine what sort of soundtrack, whether subtle or obvious, could potentially work for it. When you get invested in something, you’ll find you have more strings to your bow than you thought.
I sometimes do that with my writing. Think about the extension to a scene and write an alternative, how I see it developing, not how it actually develops. It can be quite fun.
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That’s an excellent exercise! I might try that with my music students this year, too.
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Good idea though you’ll probably get one smart Alec who decides that the best layering for said scene is silence! 😂😂😂😂
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Yes, that will be their excuse. Or “I don’t know what to do.”
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