tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69392705083965521572023-11-15T05:23:00.940-08:00Megan's Composition Blogmeg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-73244462964158591422009-04-13T21:57:00.000-07:002009-04-13T22:01:25.435-07:00finally, actually finished!I finally completed my piece! It took me a really long time, but I finally came up with a decent 'b' section that I really liked. I happened upon the idea for it after bringing it to class and having a discussion about being stuck. I felt like I had come up with this main theme of klezmer but I didn't know how to elaborate on it. Jon Rowsell made the suggestion of picking something that I really liked in earlier sections of the piece and elaborating on that. I decided to go with an ascending passage that happens just after the main theme is stated. There are descending thirds in the piano and the violin has a descending pizz. scale. As soon as I starting to elaborate on this idea everything else came fairly easily. I eventually brought the b section back to the main theme by increasing the tempo and adding claps (which is what I originally had planned when I first though of the Klezmer idea). I'm pretty proud of the piece at this point!meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-87339219650734223842009-04-10T04:52:00.000-07:002009-04-10T04:54:20.868-07:00I decided to take Jonothans idea about elaborting on a idea that you like early in the piece. I needed to create a "b" section and I was having al ot of difficulty with it. I wanted to create something that was a contrast with the tonal section, but I didn't want it to be an incredibly stark contrast. I decided to elaborate on a scalar figure that's heard in the A section that I really liked. Its just a descending scale that's heard as a pizz. in the strings and staccato in the piano.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-16664085933585038972009-04-05T20:43:00.000-07:002009-04-05T20:45:11.309-07:00Working...I decided to add viola to my string quartet, so its now a string quintet plus a piano.<br />I'm having a really hard time elaborting on the motive that I already have. That motive is so clear and so tonal that I want to create a contrasting section so the listener doesn't get bored. That's the hardest part! I've been fooling around with a few different ideas for the contrasting section but I haven't like any of them. I'm going to bring my composition to class this week and see if anyone has any suggestions.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-8529681908692727752009-03-25T19:33:00.000-07:002009-03-25T19:36:41.528-07:00sooo I haven't really been using this as often as a should.<br />I think I'll take advantage of it with this piece though.<br />Which I'm already finding frustrations with...haha<br />I think I've decided to change this piece from concert band orchestration to a string quartet (2 violins, cello, bass) and piano. However, I'm still finding it really difficult. But I'm going to push through it, because I think I have some solid ideas.<br />Tonight I did some work on the main part of the piece, and I'm going to try and have most of the main part orchestrated by Friday. Fingers crossed!meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-81780473463100747412009-03-09T16:05:00.000-07:002009-03-09T16:12:30.313-07:00PerformanananananceThis was really fun.<br />Everyone that I worked with was really flexible and they were all fantastic musicians. As I stated in the last blog, I was a little worried about the fact that I made several last minute changes to the music before the performance. However, after tweaking it a few days before the performance, (and the fact that I worked with fantastic musicians...did I already say that?) the final performance of it went off without a hitch! I couldn't have been happier. Thanks guys!meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-71935052022655130932009-02-23T06:36:00.000-08:002009-02-23T06:41:43.551-08:00Finished!So, womanizer is finally finsihed. Last Friday we played it in class (we being myself, Ian Baird, Scott Latham and Rich Klaas). I feel great about working with these guys because they're all great musicians. We only had one or tow rehearsals before we performed on friday, and it came together really quickley.<br />I got a lot of feedback on friday, both positive and critical. I definitely had a lot to work on with my piece. Luckily for me, Dr. Ross circled all the areas in my piece that needed to be worked on. So I fixed a few things, like the chorus (it sounded too much like the original Womanizer), and instead of having a confusing coda, I copied the chorus onto right after the second verse, then I tweaked it just a little bit to make it sound slightly different. I really liked this suggestion (by Dr. Ross). I tried to make it so that the listener would be slightly thrown off by the little differences. I also went through and corrected some of the areas where the voice wasn't fully balanced with the rest of the instruments.<br />I'm a little nervous about performing this on Friday, but hopefully everything will be fine, and we'll work out the new changes at the next rehearsal we have.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-61202823090538307962009-02-09T14:26:00.000-08:002009-02-09T14:31:25.752-08:00SuggestionsI played Womanizer for the class two weeks ago, but I didn't recieve much feedback because there wasn't much of it completed to present. Also, the class couldn't see the music, therefore couldn't see the lyrics. However, this week I presented for Theory Prof candidate Scott Godin, and recieved lots of helpful feedback. Firstly, Dr. Godin suggested that I bring back the sudden stops and starts that are heard in the piano accompaniment. He said that this sounds like a record skipping to him. I found this really interesting because I never interpreted this that way. I also asked him about the comedic aspect of it. I've been wondering about how I'm actually going to perform this. He suggested that the fact that I've set these lyrics is comedic enough, and anything else would probably be a little cliche.<br />Dr. Ross also suggested that I experiment with the Latin-type motif heard throughout the piece. This week I added a section where the time is a little different, but I haven't really done much yet in terms of the notes themselves. The cut and paste tool on sibelius is just so darn tempting sometimes...meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-1821004558043487112009-01-28T07:12:00.000-08:002009-01-28T07:16:08.501-08:00Womanizer womawomanizerSo I decided to base my piece on the text from Britney Spear's <em>Womanizer</em>. I thought it might be fun to take lyrics that are recognizable to a lot of people and twist them out of context. I decided to score it for female voice, piano, marimba, and percussion (wood blocks, snare and shaker). I wanted the song to still have some pop music elements, so I figured that these instruments would probably do the trick.<br />The song went over well in class, and because there wasn't a whole lot of it finished yet and I didn't have copies of the score with me there was hard to give a lot of feedback. Hopefully next week when I present I'll have more written and the class will be able to see the score.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-54090993963815903742009-01-20T16:28:00.001-08:002009-01-20T16:32:01.883-08:00New Semester!weee its a new term.<br />I'm going to try not to be a downer right about now...<br />But I'm not having a great start with the first project. I'm finding it really difficult to come up with different ideas (and putting them together). I started two different pieces but I really didn't like them. I'm going to go see Dr. Ross during his office hours I think to get some help...<br />yikes.<br />I promise to be more optomistic as the term progresses!<br />haha<br />-megmeg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-45549421543724222982008-12-07T09:50:00.000-08:002008-12-07T09:54:37.033-08:00RehearsalThe only time we ever really got a chance to rehearse was about an hour before the concert. I was feeling pretty good about it though, because I was working with really good musicians. I knew it would be alright! haha<br /> We began the dress rehearsal at around 5:40 or so. I was a little disappointed at first because I dnd't ahve all o the equipment I needed with my drums. The hi-hat and floor-tom were missing, but luckily I was able to get mine for the rehearsal. The first two times we ran through the piece were a little stressful. Because the violinist and I only have parts we couldn't see where we were if we got lost. However, after a few more run-throughs everything was fine. The last run-through was great, we never had to stop and go over anything. I was a little nervous for the concert, but excited too.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-86783897998440208152008-12-07T09:45:00.001-08:002008-12-07T09:49:17.839-08:00So I finally found a way to finish my piece. People in the class (and Dr. Ross) suggested that I end with something really climactic, a "big bang". This is pretty easy to do on drums and even on piano, but I needed to find a way to bring this to the violin. What I ended up doing was bringing back the tritone idea heard earlier in the violin part. I started it off in the piano and then the violin came in with it. To really build up to the last little bit I had the piano and violin rise chromatically, fisrt in eighth notes and then in sixteenth notes. I really think this brought the tension up to the climax well. Finally, the violin part sustains a b (the key which most of the piece is in) and the drums and piano cue each other into the last two beats.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-17805406301432580102008-11-20T15:40:00.000-08:002008-11-20T16:10:02.620-08:00Keep Warkin'...I'm almost finished Disco Infernote now...I think anyway. I put a few hours of work into it on Tuesday night and I added in some parts to make the transition between the sections a little smoother. Also I wanted to get the music to the instrumentalists a little earlier so that they had more time to look at the piece before playing it. (It can be difficult to get accurate feedback in class when we start and stop so much...) The piece begins with a pretty typical disco-type passage, with just chords in the piano and a simple violin part. This first section sets up the cliche, and then there are some atonal chords in the violin and the piano that create a transition from this section to the second section. This section focuses on the piano as it slowly moves into the walking octave bassline. After this section theres a brief section (section section section) that puts the melody in the violin and veers "off the rails" in terms of tonality. After another section with atonal-ish chords in the piano, a bass-riff comes back into the piano and the solid chords in the right hand also come back. The violin is given a solo that resembles an electric guitar solo, and there are hints of the walking octave bassline coming back into the piano. This is probably where I'll end the piece, but I'd like to get some feedback.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-35049216393066629102008-11-11T21:09:00.001-08:002008-11-11T21:15:13.060-08:00So it turns out that I decided against the idea of bluegrass after...and went with the cliche of disco, which turned out to be a great choice (I think anyway!) I'm really really enjoying this project. I'm much more comfortable with the idea of experimenting with tonality. In the piece, called "Disco Infernote", I begin with a very clear example of disco music, and then it slowly starts to fall "off the rails". I'm having so much fun with this piece...it doesn't feel like work. Lovely!<br /><br />ps. here's a link to a hilarious take on a surprising cliche...<br />http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1889851meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-14788688070162825422008-10-27T07:54:00.000-07:002008-10-27T08:00:58.635-07:00ClicheThis week I began working on the new project, a musical cliche. I was deciding between bluegrass and disco and I chose bluegrass. I have a lot of different ideas for this cliche, and bluegrass has so many particular characteristics/instruments that can serve as a starting point for cliches. For example, much of the music is dominated by a 1-4 bassline and chords on the second and fourth beat. The instruments are usually banjo, guitar, bass, fiddle, and mandoline. Hopefully these things are enough to give me a bit of a starting point.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-91945409747823464472008-10-13T09:31:00.000-07:002008-10-13T09:43:27.637-07:00Last compositionI finished the last of my three pieces this week. The final piece, called "The Old Hag", was very difficult me at first. I found that I had a lot of ideas that I couldn't connect in a fluid way. I kept running into mental blocks, so I decided to go see Dr. Ross. He gave me lots of ideas, including how to physically write out all of the things that I wanted to do with the piano but didn't know how to notate correctly. When I played the piece in class, I received a lot of helpful feedback. The class really liked the part where I plucked the strings of the piano with my right hand. The most popular comment seemed to be that the ideas in my piece were interesting, they were just very short. The section with the strings being plucked on the piano is only six measures long. I was told that "The Old Hag" needed more fluidity in terms of ideas. It seems as though there are several different, contrasting ideas over a short period of time. This week, in refining my last three pieces, I'm going to work on connecting the different ideas in my piece.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-74378882643339937412008-09-28T12:32:00.000-07:002008-09-28T12:37:51.111-07:00Week #3This week I wrote my second character piece. I was really frustrated with the first, and didn't really know where to start work on it, so I'm going to leave that until last and then go back to it for revisions. This week I feel like I had a lot more success with my composition. While once again it took a while to get the creative process started, once it did, things fell fairly easily into place. While I didn't discuss it in class, I created this piece based on falling asleep while listening to the rain. I used a repeated F note to represent the sleep, and this was represented through both the piano and violin part. The F note is constantly heard through the piece with one two-measure exception (which reflected stirring from the noise of the rain). I felt like this piece was recieved a lot more positively than the last one. I recieved a lot of helpful comments, like the fact that I could have used more of the piano/violin alternating in the staccato and pizzicato. I only had this for one measure, but I was told maybe that it could be more. I was also made aware of more violin tones and techniques. I don't know much about violin (or strings in general really) so I found this very helpful and I'll definintely experiment more with these ideas in the next piece.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-81730056529631096652008-09-24T18:50:00.001-07:002008-09-24T18:57:03.665-07:00Week 2Last week was week 2 of the composition character piece cycle, and I debuted my first piece. I found this piece really hard to create. I had a lot of thoughts and ideas but none of them seemed to materialized as I wanted them to on paper (or computer screen). I figured that at this stage, the best thing for me to do was to play what I have, and then get some feedback. I decided to pick the character "fear". I tried to display this through the repeated use of semitones and the unpredictable cluster chords in the piano leading up to the end. When I presented this piece in class I got some very helpful feedback. It was suggested that I use the more of the piano itself, and take advantage of the fact that it is a piano and not a single-tone instrument. Also, I was told it was a little short, but a lot of my ideas in the piece could be expanded on. For example, the semitones in measure 7 could be extended into a more complex echo, using different chords and notes than just the C# and D I have now.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-80067993324508512322008-09-14T12:12:00.000-07:002008-09-14T12:22:44.469-07:00First CompositionThis week I began work on my first atonal composition. One of the biggest challenges in writing this piece was to create a clear and consistant "arch" in terms of the dissonant climax. I tried to approach this by slowly going down the keyboard with each of my 12 chords. I got a lot of helpful feedback when I played this piece in class, and one of the most popular opinions was that the piece did not have much of a resolution. The closing chords were just as full and "crunchy" as the climactic chords. In order to create more of a seamless arch (of dissonance) I need to try and make the last three chords (as chord 8 was the most dissonant) slightly less intense. I'm going to try moving them back up the keyboard into a higher register and experiment with them there this week. Also, I was told that the first three chords were also more intense than many of the other pieces we had heard in class. It might help to make an even clearer rise and fall in dissonance if I start off with less "crunchy" chords.meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6939270508396552157.post-5399670897230547022008-09-08T06:18:00.000-07:002008-09-08T06:19:20.892-07:00First blogThis is a test for my first blog entry!!!!meg293http://www.blogger.com/profile/01672281029691772892noreply@blogger.com0