Tips for improving an overly simplistic left-hand piano part

[Drakken]

I have a song that got rejected recently due to a couple issues, but mainly the left-hand piano part being too simplistic/repetitive/rigid. I'm not a piano player, so coming up with a neat part for the left hand to play isn't something that comes easily to me. I'd appreciate some tips from those with experience composing piano parts on how to change things up and make this sound more interesting.

Here's the song:

Right now I'm mostly just doing a simple 1-5-1 pattern with occasional arpeggios. One concern I have is that if the left hand part gets too intricate it might take away from the peaceful, floaty feel the song currently has, so keep that in mind.

Also, I'm not bumping my old thread in the WIP forum for this as I feel the comments in this thread could be helpful to anyone looking to improve their left hand piano writing. Mods, if I'm wrong in that thinking, then let me know and I'll post it in the WIP thread.

[Kidd Cabbage]

Steal from Chopin and Lizt.

I'm not even being facetious.

[Rozovian]

User bigger chords. Play with rhythms. Not everything has to begin with a 1.

And steal stuff.

[ambinate]

Steal from Chopin and Lizt.

I'm not even being facetious.

this is good advice.

play around with octaves (like repeating a pattern an octave higher or lower), incorporate thirds/fourths/fifths (rather than using full chords - using just an interval instead of a chord might help you avoid ruining the peaceful/floaty feel you mentioned), stuff like that?

[PrototypeRaptor]

My composition professor told me something really profound the other day - he told me that it is impossible to compose something that doesn't already exist.

By that he meant that I was writing music that I hadn't already created - I was using my midi mockups as a crutch for actually "hearing" the music.

If you think about it, that was how ALL music was written until 50 years ago - with only imagined sounds and possibly a piano. I mean, Beethoven went deaf and still had stuff to say...

I would try this, as he told me to:

Listen to the melodic material, then "hear" it in your head. Then start to mess around with ideas that could go with that melody in your mind, don't start messing with the piano or synths.

When you truly have an idea, cement that sound in your mind, then try to recreate it with the tools available to you.

This is damn hard, but the only way to really "practice" composition - you gotta get to the point where you are hearing the music before actually "writing it."

not that stealing from Chopin is bad, but it gets old fast...