Farewell, Composition Class

Ok, this is my final blog of the course and it's dedicated to allt he future students of this course. Here's some helpful hints, reactions, and comments on what has occured in composition class.

First things first:
ASAP at the beginning of semester locate/purchase a good notation program (mike cheers: 'sibelius! sibelius!'..poor student: but mike i'm poor...mike: 'torrent! torrent!'). Not only should you make certain such a program is in your possession, but you should familiarize yourself with it. Ask an expert to give you a little tutorial. Plug in your sightsinging melodies to play back to you as an icebreaker-anything to get well acquainted. This close partnership will yield bountiful fruit in your future projects. You see, if you don't procrastinate getting to know your notation program, procrastinating you composition assignments will be soo much easier and less painful!
I have personally experienced such pain and did none of what I have suggested above and therefore had great difficulty doing my score for the final project.

Blogging is a great way for the class to keep in touch and discuss things we can't get around to discussing in class. i think if i had my time back i would read more of my classmates blogs and leave comments. That would also make it easier to comment on people's pieces in class since you'd know the background of their piece or what challenges they are currently facing.

Don't chuck too many ideas in a piece. A fantastic piece only needs a few mediocre ideas. Be committed to ideas and be willing to explore and develop them.

If at all possible, try to get your scores done a day early and set a weekly time with performers to rehearse your piece before class. This makes a world of difference. a)people actually get to hear what you wrote in class b) a lot less time is wasted in class sight reading and repeating c0 when it comes to the concert time it's not a mad rush to learn and put together pieces.

I really enjoyed this course! Don't take all these comments too seriously. I sort of like the living on the edge-skirting distaster adrenaline one can get procrastinating composition assignments. Farewell!

You know composition is the best class ever when it has a rockin pizza party at the end like it did today. I really enjoyed this course way more than I expected to. I loved the discussion oriented classes where humour abounded and people were scurrying to get their stuff together to show people or perform a piece for someone. It's amazing to see how many different approaches there can be to composing, which the first project emphasized. Everyone had to work with an instrument and a piano and all the pieces were so unique. Creation is limitless! And I especially enjoyed, in the last project, having a little more creative freedom and being able to see the evolution of people's pieces, or, in some cases, death of old and resurrection of new pieces.

final concert!!!

Unforunately i had to sneak out of the concert Saturday night without hearing many people's pieces. I will, however, be securing a copy of the CD to listen to after the craziness of exams is over so i can hear the final results of everyone's hard work. I must say i was very proud of my performers who pulled together to pull of my piece. I realize that my writing rarely caters to the last-minute efforts required by our student composition concerts. In fact many sections would take quite a bit of rehearsal and repetition to coordinate so a big thank you to my performers for Saturday night and an even bigger thank you for Saturday afternoon when they really nailed the piece and made all my imagined images of the piece come to life. also, each performer helped me immenseley in the writing of the piece-first with improvising crashes for me to hear what I liked, then by helping me notate effects I wanted and giving suggestions for sections of the piece and idioms of their instruments. This project has proved to me the invaluable help of performers and the importance of such a relationship when composing. Thanks guys!!!
Special thank you's go to Andrew for showing up 12:30 every week for a month and half to lug percussion gear up to the classroom and subsequently performing for others in the class AND to philip for actually screaming into Jon's tuba. It made the course.

Marching mayhem......could be the title for my final composition. or not.

Comments from last class on my marching cliche piece:
-Go listen to Stravinsky's "A soldier's Tale" since it has some similarities to my piece and will provide some ideas to inconspicuously steal or incorporate in my piece
-Expand the opening theme
-Expand the brass instrument role reversal snare drum theme
-depart/ go crazier before the "crash"
-the departure at the beginning of the piece may be a little hasty
I love hearing the piece played in class since it reaffirms my mental images that are destroyed by midi instruments on finale and because it is enourmously entertaining to watch Phil, Jon and Andrew read and play the parts. They exceeded my expectations this week especially, nailing some of the more tricky rhythmical sections.
Unfortunately, the class has dispelled my hopes for describing the crash in a paragraph on the score. I'm still not exactly certain what shape it will take and how specific I'll be with notation. i am currently relying on my players to help me notate things i've enjoyed that they've improvised, like Jon's pedal note that holds out the longest into the silence. I also think a whistle would be funny, but that may be a little ambitious for the already uber multi-tasking percussionist.
Nobody has commented on my middle eastern section, which was a relief since i was afraid it may stick out, but it seems to work well. I think I should expand that as well.
The ending is very elusive currently, but since i still have at least another minute of the piece to go I'm leaving it up to fate and timely inspiration.
overshadowing all of this is the fact that, ultimately I will either have to steal someone's version of finale/sibelius or once again write the score out by hand. There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to both. It is so much easier to compose organically, I find, when writing by hand since i naturally add in all dynamics and articulations as I go. With this composition, using finale notepad was essential because i was incapable of synthesizing the parts in my head or playing them concurrently on the piano, however the program has many limitations and i get lazy since i don't want to take the time to figure out how to add everything in while trying to get notes down.
For this week I'm focusing on completeing the piece as far as i can. Next week I'll have to tackle the sheet music.

Marching Mishap Mayhem may be the title of piece. It is certainly appropriate.
Last week the class suggested that I elaborate and expand the section before the crash, which made a lot of sense. So I developed a motif of the melody by displacing it, having a call and answer of it between the trombone and tuba and changing it slightly.
I also decided to apparate (for you Harry Potter fans) to another area of the earth (not quite sure which one) for a few phrases. Did you know there are over 7000 brass marching bands in South Asia that are integral to Hindu wedding celebrations? With that information I could not deny the presence of such a musical section in the piece. I will also eventually add in the xylophone for the percussion melodic part as we discussed in the previous class. Currently I am struggling with some software limitations. Apparently for some reason, free downloadable software does not have the same capabilites of $50 programs. Go figure. Hopefully I'll be able to yoink someone's computer to put my final draft on.
Next up....well still searching for inspiration. 3-5 minutes is a hefty chunk of time...especially when you want to make it the best, most exciting, insightful, enjoyable, amazing 3-5 minutes possible for listeners.

Tonight I started my final composition. I love the cliche idea. It's such a great springboard. However, I found it difficult at first to compose an original march-like melody (did i mention I'm doing the march cliche?). I want to start off somewhat typically, have a 'crashing' moment and then restart the march much more crazy and less tonal. Other marches I'm familiar with would get stuck in my head and sound so much better than my attempts. I finally managed to get something I liked for the trombone line and then tried to work out the tuba bass line. I think I will try my best to get a hold of a computer program, even if just to have something played back to me because my piano skills don't allow me to hear what I've composed. Since marches are so predictable in who has what role, I'm planning on doing some role reversal between the brass players and percussionist. I'm also investigating the idea of odd meters and incorporating world music (elements of marching music from South Asia).

My final character piece was played on Friday in class. (Thanks to Chris Miller- the fill-in trombonist). It was great having Chris play my piece since he loves the trombone sooo much and gave me some really helpful feedback, such as one note I had written for the pedal range of the instrument wasn't really possible. However, he did say it was pretty idiomatic for the trombone- something I've been really trying to focus on, especially since the trombone is (for me) such an interesting and unique instrument.

I was pretty pleased as well with the performance o f the piece because nobody picked out what I feared would be its demise. Sometimes it's what people don't say that makes you happiest. The piece took form out of various ideas that I had discreetly. Trying to format them into a coherent whole was quite the undertaking. I'm still looking at how I can meld them in the best way possible.

I used a pianistic motive for much of the piece (thanks Kim for helping me!!) and it was suggested that this should develop and permeate more of the piece, which I will definitely try to amend.

Friday past my first two character pieces were played.
"Adrift"- the heavily revised edition of my first piece- went better than I expected. I really tried to simplify the first version, which worked much better. The class even remarked that it sounded good played out of time, so i should incoroprate instructions for tempos to reflect and imitate that (rubato, rit, etc.) to really capture the timeless element of the piece.
My second piece (which if I had had any extra time and sympathy on my performers I would not have made them sight read) went over similarly well. I think that the class may have been surprised by the blatant humour of the piece. I need to revise some notation to make it easier for the performers to read and also consider the trombone and piano crossing voices in a similar range. Altogether, a much more satisfactory feeling than my disappointing debut two weeks before.

Just a note on titles, it is sometimes difficult to come up with a good title for a piece- one that adequately describes what you're going for, does or doesn't provide programmatic information, rhymes/ alliterates with your other character pieces...so much to consider. It's almost as difficult as writing the piece (almost being the key word there). Dictionary.com helped me with "adrift". I feel a sense of searching in that piece and "adrift" not only captures that, but also adds a wonderful imagry to the piece. However, "audacious"-I learned- is not the same as "cheeky" so I'm still working on that one.

My final piece is proving to be very difficult for me to start. I want to create a dark, stormy, foreshadowing-something-bad, powerful character. I think the piano part i am envisioning may be beyond my abilities to score...and i'm finding it difficult to draft melodic material that suits the purpose. This will be a good challenge!

I am finding that rhythm really inspires me in composing. Today, instead of fiddling with notes and chords to figure out what I wanted in one section of my second piece (the arbitrary method I've been using), I drafted five bars of rhythm and afterwards filled out the rhythm with actual pitches. It really sped up the process for me.
I suspect that it may be my poor aural skills that makes this such a good option as a method of composing for me. I am very strong in rhythmic dictation and notation and very weak in the melodic and harmonic areas.

Well, although my trip to Labrador was one of the best experiences of life, it did not, for some strange reason, include any composing. Therefore, I have two days to revise my first composition (with which I was extremely dissatisfied) and get moving on my second. This afternoon I completely reworked/ rewrote my first piece, keeping only about 4 bars the same. I tried really hard to a) keep it simple (I was inspired by Saird's discipline and commitment to motif this afternoon) b) maintain charcter while also building meaningful tension and c) make sure it would be easier for the performers to play. At this point, I'm not really following my original chord progression at all. Rather I stuck to 3 or 4 of my favorite parts of the piece and developed those rather than try to reflect my original chord progression. I think I have a more coherent result, but one can never tell. I don't have the use of a computer program so many things I write are approximations that are only filtered by my poor mental ability to visualize the music in my head.
I just read the creative angst entry and I must say that the element of composing that causes me the most angst is most certainly coherency. I have lots of ideas all the time, but very little idea how to combine, develop or display them. Deadlines are always good for a little angstiness as well.

First Piece

I really agree with the observation that one's mood affects one's composing. I think my piece would have turned out completely different if I had done different sections on different days.

I am currently struggling with maintaining the overall character of my first piece and still build tension and interest. I fear my piece may be a little too developmental and dynamic and also, resultantly, that my pieces will all sound similar. I have sketched out the entire form, but still need to work out the logisitcs.

I am also incorporating minor improvisations from the performers since I find I can't really notate exactly what I would like to hear, especially for special effects. We'll see how it turns out.

and *neat* not "net" line 5 same paragraph. My typing and editing skills sorely miss wordcheck on these blogs.

That's *tone* not "one" in paragraph three, line two.

The chord progression I laid out was played in class yesterday. It was a weird experience and didn't sound as familiar as I had hoped. I didn't realize how different music can sound when I'm not in my own world, with my own hopeless keyboarding skills.

Some classmates seemed to approve of the increasing tension I tried to formulate, whereas others perceived a rather lengthy tension plateau in either chords 2-6 or 3-8. As well I have a much less gradual decrease, sort of a sudden drop. I'm finding it difficult to decide whether to pick it apart totally or keep it mostly the same. I'm finding revisions much more painstaking than initial creation.

In my progression I tried to plan ahead a little and used a common one in all the chords, however, I'm considering removing it from the most tense chord just to give that little extra something for all those perfect pitch people out there. I figured that would allow me something net to play with in the eventual resulting compositions. I also chose not to use register shifts so that I could clearly distinguish dissonance (recall class discussion regarding pitch, dissonance and what is tension?) and because I didn't want to limit my later compositions to certain register formulas. However, I am currently perplexed at how I'll be able to make three separate creations from a simple chord progression. I seem to either have not enough ideas or too many, depending on the moment.

Testing testing. 1-2-3. Check check.