Digging In Deeper...

I am pleased with the progress I'm making on my composition thus far. Just this past weekend when adding other details to my piece to present on Monday, I found myself completely braindead, for lack of a better term! I read Kate's blog entry for this week and felt the same thing about having so many ideas, but then sitting in front of the computer screen listening over and over again, feeling as though you actually didn't have those good ideas because you can't write. I don't know why this is, but it's an interesting concept. I suppose maybe it's because we're thinking outside the box a little, and notating different sounds or effects that take some extra thinking as to the most effective way to go about doing that. I find it funny though, that ideas have come to me when I haven't been in "composition mode", so to speak, and then it's a mad dash to the computer or the piano!

Once again this week, I received a lot of encouraging comments about "Shipwreck." The sudden tempo change from the quarter note = 60, to 120 or 130 was received well, and I want this to be a very direct change. I am firstly illustrating the colour of the picture in the slow section - the white background, the desolate, almost eerie atmosphere, to the second section, which represents the rough water and the unsteady ship. I was possibly weary that I had too much going on at one time here, but I've thought about it more, and I like what I've come up with. Each line has its own melodic line, but they work together and create atmosphere I was aiming for. I don't remember who made this comment, but someone commented on the spatial element of the piece, and said it worked well.

I think one of the things I'm "stressing" about is the instruction in the piece...the piano introduction for example. Dr. Ross - thank you for your interpretation, which I like far better than my idea. Constantly brushing the lower strings of the piano, creating a wash of deep colour works far better than single strokes, one after the other. The sound is a little more permanent this way - I will make that change.

The piano accompaniment is very chordal, so I was given the suggestion to experiment with that and make it a little more interesting. I actually plan to have these chords rolled, so maybe I can work with that element...maybe rolling up and then down, to foreshadow the roughness of the water? Maybe???

I'm still finding it hard to decide on the ending of the piece. I need to finish the middle section, but I'm trying to think ahead...I really don't know if I want the piece to end abruptly, similar to the second section, or if it should represent something similar to an ABA form, where the tempo changes again for the 3rd part. I'm leaning more towards this option, but I'd love to hear your opinions as to what you think...

That's all for now! Happy composing, everyone!
-Jenn

Out of One Zone, Into Another!

I'm surprising myself as I'm working on my first composition for the term - I can write music that's not tonal! Initially, I felt as though I was simply 'writing notes on the page for the sake of doing it'; it felt like there was nothing behind it...no meaning. I needed to base the composition on something, and I suppose I wasn't thinking this way to begin with because I was too concerned with the aspect of atonality. The following link will take you to the painting I have chosen to base my composition on (entitled "Shipwreck").

http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/upload/public/docimages/image/c/e/k/the%20shipwreck.jpg
(This is a painting by William Adolphus Knell, painted in 1856.)

I'm thinking of the piece in 3 sections...
1. The opening is representing the darkness around the edge of the picture, and the dreary-coloured sky.
2. Following this, a more abrupt section, written in 5/8 time representing the rough waters, and the shipwreck itself. I have created a motif for the piano, and possibly the clarinet (I need to fool around with balance a little). I am still trying to create exactly what I want, but I'd like to shape the phrase like the shape of the wave, as you scan the picture from left to right.
3. I think the piece will close with the eerie, dark mood as presented initially. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this actually....should I end, keeping with the abrupt tempo and mood, or close it off, recapping the initial mood??

I heard some helpful suggestions and a lot of positive feedback in class on Monday...
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* The piece seemed to be well-planned out, and basing my composition on a painting was a good idea. Before I write, I usually have a plan similar to this one - I need to see a long-term goal for me to reach the end.

* Dr. Ross offered an interesting suggestion to keep the piano in the higher register in the opening, to provide a larger contrast for the 5/8 section. I had originally thought about using both, but I think I'm going to stick with this idea...maybe I will foreshadow the wave motif in the lower register, while keeping chordal accompaniment in the higher register. As soon as that 5/8 section hits - it will be much more effective this way I think.

* Another helpful suggestion was to map out the breathing issues in the individual parts right away. As I was writing, I thought "ok, I do need to let them breathe at some point!"

* Also, notating the special effects has to happen. I am somewhat unsure of how to go about this, but once I have a clearer picture, I'll be able to figure out exactly what I want, and how I want it to sound.
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I have now gone further into my composition, and I'd expect that there will be more to talk about in class this coming Monday. I presented preliminary information, but now I have more material to work with, and I think the class will most likely get a better, clearer picture of what I want.

Any other comments or suggestions are always welcome! :)
See you all tomorrow!

Escaping Tonality...

I have to say, I am really looking forward to this course...although all of my compositions to date have been very tonal, I am excited to explore writing music in a different way, and pushing myself to expand my compositional abilities. I really think that the initial exercise we were instructed to complete was definitely a beneficial one. For someone like myself, I suppose the best way to explain this, is to say that I am unsure of a starting point for writing atonal music. Designing our own atonal chords and deriving a scale from those chords, to me, was an excellent activity to begin opening my mind to another musical world. I actually made 2 attempts at completing this activity.

My first end result, were chords that sounded pretty 'wonky' to me, but the scale that came out of these was very chromatic - almost too chromatic, and not original enough. I also had 14 notes! So, I said, "no, this can't be what Dr. Ross is looking for..." and decided to go back to the drawing board for a second time. This time, I came up with an interesting scale that started out with semitones, and ended with whole tones - this time with 9 notes in total. I was more pleased with this one, and came up with a melody with accompaniment that I initially really liked. However, I now think that it may not sound as atonal as it could. If someone were to hear the melody alone, I think they may wonder where it's going, but I don't think it would strike someone as being completely atonal. When the accompaniment is played with this melody, it sounds a little more towards being atonal than not. I am experimenting with sound, and timbres of instruments, and hoping to include this melody/accompaniment in my first piece. I'd like to play with counter melodies in either the flute or clarinet to work with this as well.

One of my fears with composing atonal music is that there won't be a coherent sound world - everything will seem like it has been pulled from other compositions and thrown into one. I know that this may not be the case, but once I have a clearer idea of what I want and get deeper into my piece, I'm hoping that fear will go away!

Happy composing everyone! See you all on Monday!
-Jenn