🔔 The Story Behind Bell

Bell is a short piano piece in ternary form (A–B–A’), developed from the first eight measures that came to me rather spontaneously.

Background

One day while improvising, I played the opening eight measures by chance and thought they sounded nice. I recorded them on my Yamaha P525, planning to leave the idea for later. But the melody kept looping in my mind. I just couldn’t stop hearing it. So I decided to finish the piece over the next few days.

The title Bell came naturally: during composition, I realized the melody carried a kind of “bell-like” resonance, so I named it accordingly.

On Composition

Section A (mm. 1–22)

Most of section A was born directly from improvisation on the piano.

mm. 17–20: The melody in measures 17–18 is a variation of the opening measure, reminding listeners of the piece’s main motif. Measures 19–20 imitate the previous two measures but shift the register to create an echoing bell effect.

Section B (mm. 23–54)

The writing of section B mainly aims to create a musical texture different from section A. It is developed from the motive of section A, with variations in rhythm, melodic direction, and articulation.

mm. 23–26: Here, the main melody is transferred to the left hand—an inversion of the first two measures from section A. The right-hand line, meanwhile, augments the same material.

mm. 27–30: This passage mirrors measures 9–12 from section A.

To be honest, this part (measures 23–30) didn’t exist at first—section B originally began at measure 31. Later, I felt the piece needed more buildup before reaching the climax, so I added this transition. To make it more engaging, I deliberately varied the melodic contour and chord progression to create more contrast and dialogue. I ended up liking how it turned out.

mm. 39–42: This short passage connects the previous part to the coming climax.

mm. 43–48: This passage marks the climax of the entire piece. At first, I tried to have the right hand imitate the left hand from measures 1–4, but it turned out to be impractical. So I decided to redesign the right hand: unlike in section A, where the left hand mainly played a supporting role, here the descending chords in the right hand are just as important as the single-note melody in the left hand — almost as if the two are competing for the spotlight.

mm. 49–54: To create a bell-like resonance, I wrote the left hand to play an octave on the first beat, then immediately leap to the higher register for the remaining beats. It’s a bit tricky to play but produces a shimmering echo effect.

Section A’ (mm. 55–74)

Since I loved the sound of the first eight measures so much, I wanted to bring them back—so I structured the piece as A–B–A’. That way, listeners can revisit the opening melody one more time.

mm. 63–70: The right hand repeats the same melody from the beginning, but I changed the left-hand accompaniment for more harmonic tension. Instead of the original root-position A-flat arpeggio, I used a second inversion to evoke a sense of “the music coming to an end.”

In classical harmony, it’s common to hear the cadential progression $\mathrm{I}^6_4 \rightarrow \mathrm{V}^7 \rightarrow \mathrm{I}$ near the conclusion, and I borrowed that pattern for this part.

On Performance

Pedaling

The pedal plays a key role in this piece. I didn’t mark every pedal symbol on the score. That would make it too cluttered. And of course, I fully welcome performers to interpret pedaling differently.

One spot worth mentioning is measure 16, where I hold the pedal through the E♭ on the second beat and only change it at measure 19. This creates a bell-like resonance—two tones overlapping and shimmering together, much like how real bells ring in the air. (The same applies at measure 70 in the bass note.)

For measures 23–26, I intentionally avoid using pedal so the section feels clean and distinct from what came before.

Tone Color

This piece was originally written for the piano, but I later discovered that the “Stage E. Piano” sound on my Yamaha P525 fits this piece beautifully—it almost feels like background music from a game. I recorded a new version with that tone and loved the result.

I also think it might sound lovely on a glockenspiel or other bell-like instruments. If you find another sound that suits the piece, I’d love to hear about it!

Conclusion

Before writing this post, I asked ChatGPT for topic suggestions related to composition. It not only gave me topics but also some hilariously overly poetic lines. Here are a few:

1. “Sometimes I get stuck between two notes—it’s like words on the tip of my tongue that I can’t say.” $\rightarrow$ I mean, yes, I do get stuck—but that metaphor is a bit too much.
2. “When I played the final note, I suddenly felt the piece no longer belonged to me.” $\rightarrow$ Nope. It still does! My name’s right there on the copyright page.
3. “Every composition is a letter to a moment in time.” $\rightarrow$ Wow, that’s… dramatic. Sounds like something out of a romance novel.

So instead of following ChatGPT’s flowery advice, I decided to just write plainly—honestly recording my thoughts during the creative process.

If you’ve performed this piece, I’d love to hear your version! And if you upload it anywhere, feel free to share this post with your listeners so they can get a glimpse into the story behind Bell.