Three of Three

I played my third piece today and found the feed-back really helpful. What I have so far are some ideas that I am still working out notation and a structure for. I think I will definitely extend my first character with some hints at smoother section ( or extra long coda) to come. I definitely agree that my ripple figure came and left too abruptly and I would like to have that be a really good transition as it is the very last section of my entire set of pieces. I really like having the two characters in the piece, although to some it could seem like two completely different ideas so I think I will keep it but work on transitioning and even foreshadowing the change to connect the piece more. I'm really excited to extend this piece a lot more, thanks for the ideas!

Composition no.2

I played my second piece for class the other day and I'm pretty happy with how it went. I was definitely going for a nice, atmospheric, even dreamy feel and I was pleased to hear that a lot of people got that from it. (Still really liking the title, "drifting along") I re-used little motives a fair bit in an attempt to contrast from my first piece which was more random and disjointed. My concern was that it would come across predictable or dragged out but I think it was varied just enough to keep the atmosphere relaxed and unified. I will definitely look at one of my motive repetitions that may just be one too many times and see if I can put a twist on it to end the piece!

Lindsey

Finished (ish) composition #1

I have now added various textures and rhythms to my chords. It's about 1 minute and 15 seconds long.

One thing I'm definitely struggling with is not having a computer program to write it up on. I've been using manuscript paper and it has gotten to a point where I just have my own symbols that only I can understand; however, I have played it/worked it enough that it's pretty solid in my head.

I chose flute for my melody instrument and was very apprehensive about writing for an instrument I didn't know much about. My ideas for the flute part came across a lot better than I thought and with more ease for the player than I expected (trills and ripply patterns).

The character of my piece was originally going to be happy excitement, but in aiming for that the character came off a bit sneaky as well as apprehensive like kids playing hide and go seek or something. I have an ABA' pattern (though the second A has different chords, but same character) and B is the big bully of the twisted playground.

Lindseyw 3100 Blog 1

I have now drastically changed my chords, my last is now the first and vice versa. The majority in the middle are still there (though in a different order) with maybe 3 completely new chords. One completely new chord was "found" by reading the chord which was written in the bass clef as if it was in treble, and I really like how it resolved the chord before it. I then kept looking for chords that not only sounded good/ interesting on their own but that had some connection to the chords around it. I took most of my chords down to the same register and in rearranging some chords the first 4 gravitated towards each other, possibly because the bass moves down in whole tones. I double checked that there was no tonal sounding chords or progression and i think it helps build tension for 5-9 which is the high tension part of my progression. Overall, the shape I was going for with my first progression did not come across as clearly to the class as I would have liked and I personally found the changes in register distracting from the tension of the chords and decided to only vary that in my upcoming variations. Because of this, I did a lot of re-voicing and re-positioning. I worked on making my area of higher tension clearer and more contrasting while still keeping it connected....