This past week I spent some more time noodling at the piano; my best ideas unfortunately came just as one of my classes was set to start so I had to record quickly and run to class before I was late, but I’m pretty happy with what I came up with. I was trying to incorporate more pedal initially, but ultimately I think this might end up being a more lighthearted waltz of some sort.

Here’s what I recorded while noodling initially. There are some chord changes and other things in here that I do like and may incorporate into the final piece I write but…
This is what I came up with closer to the end of my practice block. I do feel like I remember being happier with it initially than on second playback, but again there’s elements in here that I think are good enough quality that I’d be happy enough to use in a piece.

I think the bulk of this will be written over reading break at this point, but I also don’t necessarily want to rush anything. In listening back to my own recordings, I noticed similarities to some other pieces I have heard in the past as well:

Such as the Married Life theme from UP by Michael Giacchino, or…
Always With Me from Spirited Away by Joe Hisaishi. I’ve shared a piano cover version here because I believe it’s closer to what I was playing.

Obviously with this string quartet with nature undertones, I think I’d want more Hisaishi than Giacchino, but the waltz element of it does lend itself more to that UP soundtrack. I might try and noodle a little bit more this week before settling on anything final.