Analysis and Development

These are things that I usually struggle to find patience to do properly, choosing instead to go with my ear and my gut with very little understanding of the mechanics of what I am producing as if it is some mystical and incomprehensible fluke of the universe. Recently I have pushed myself to be more disciplined in this regard, and its already getting easier!

I'll begin this week's post by addressing the feedback I received upon presenting my work in progress to the class after my last post. Like me, the class seemed far more interested in what the piece had become since the last week, which was very encouraging. 

There were some suggestions concerning the piano part that I immediately implemented, such as some additional damper pedal and clearer notation. It was also noted that passages where cello and piano were playing together were rare, so I focussed on trying to increase the interplay between the instruments throughout the past week. Dr. Ross suggested that I analyze my motivic material to come to an understanding of what it was comprised of (ie modes, scales, etc) since I had written almost everything so far without these systems in the foreground of my thoughts. I found that my favourite motive, one that I'd hoped to expand on, was essentially built from an octatonic scale minus one note. Taking note of this, I elaborated on this section of the music by sequencing and rearranging the motive in the piano and loosely basing a cello line on the corresponding octatonic scale. 

I also continued to develop the aggressive groupings of 5 that open the piece, the contrary motion idea from the end, and a couple of chords that I had already used throughout such as cell (0, 1, 4, 7), and (0, 1, 4, 5). I only began to learn set theory on Friday, but I attempted to put it to use in the analysis of my existing material to help me expand on it, and it seemed to work well (although I'm not entirely sure I'm doing it right, so the previously mentioned numbers may be totally off). 

In all of these developments, I inadvertently addressed another piece of advice from Dr. Ross: the theoretical "61.8%" climax destination. I haven't done the math, but the climax now seems to come right around then! And although it was suggested that I bring a more gradual slow down to the pacing instead of an abrupt halt, I found that with some reworking of my ending and the later climax, the abruptness seemed to suit it well, so I kept it. We'll see tomorrow if my decision was an agreeable one!

Pointy things

It appears I am late to the party on blogging about my compositional experience this semester, so I'll get right down to catching up on the last few weeks of activity.

Our first assignment in Composition Seminar this semester was to write two character pieces for piano and an instrument of choice that didn't contain any melody or identifiable tune. Having been a violinist for all but the first three years of my life, melody is what I probably feel the most comfortable with in my writing, so this assignment put me a bit outside my comfort zone (which is exactly what I needed).
I hadn't written much for piano either at this point (in fact I'd never written more than three or four bars max), but I did play until I was thirteen so it wasn't totally foreign. However, its incredible how little I remembered about how music was notated for the instrument. This is an area that I feel I could use a lot more score study in.
I paired the piano with my favourite string instrument (yep, it wins over the violin in my books) the cello. In both etudes I chose a few chords that I liked as the main building blocks of the composition to avoid thinking melodically.
The first etude, "Cluttered Dream," came quite easily. I spent most of my time working out ideas on the piano that used a wide range of notes to create an expansive aesthetic with which the cello could converse. What I presented in class wasn't originally intended to be a finished product, but upon listening again the ending seemed like the right one, and the class agreed. There was one small matter of a rhythm that wasn't quite playable in measure 7, which I have since changed to fit the class' recommendation.
The second etude was to be written in a pointillistic style. In my first sketch of the piece, I focussed far too much on horizontal spacing, causing the piece to sound directionless and long winded. I really didn't like what I'd written when it came time to present it to the class, but I got a lot of helpful feedback. One of the recurring motifs that was intended to hold the work together was an aggressive barrage of two groups of 5 eighth notes that began the piece in the high ranges of the piano and reappeared throughout in both the piano and cello. I was hearing my ideas in measures of two beats divided into 5, but notating this was a challenge.
The last measure of the etude seemed to spark the most interest amongst the class and it was recommended that I use that material throughout the piece to tie my disjunct, broadly spaced ideas together. I took that motif and the aggressive 5+5/8 chords/intervals as my primary ingredients and reworked them throughout, and it greatly improved the piece, to my ears. I no longer hate it! Yay!
I look forward to more helpful feedback in class tomorrow morning, this piece assignment has really grown on me.