Round three. Fight!

So I edited the first part of my piece. 

It took me a very long time to do.

My had showed my piece to my friend to get some criticism and he had said that it lacked direction.

I feel like it's way more clearer than it was at first.

I did like what I had written but I understand that realistically I needed to be clearer.

The comments I received reaffirmed that it was indeed a lot clearer than it was the first time.

I was also told to watch the register of the flute and to make sure the marimba part doesn't get too complex. (It needs to be playable! Unlike everything I write.) :)

Also, it was suggested that I should flutter tongue the second line in the flute part. I really liked that idea.

Anyways, I feel like I'm off to a decent start now.

I am not sure what aleatoric elements I'll be using but I definitely want something in there.

I'm hoping to finish this piece fairly quickly so that I can started on the next one. Writing for concert band/orchestra scares the crap out of me.

Anyways,

good work by all so far!

'night! :)

Round two. Fight!

So I presented what I had written today.

Overall I like what I'm writing. I knew I wanted to base my composition on "The Giving Tree" but I didn't know how.

I just started writing and it seemed to fit perfectly.

I was really unsure of the instrumentation I wanted but I think what I have now is absolutely perfect.

Some comments from today were:

- My piece sounds breezy and like it is set in a forest or a garden. [Goal achieved. :)]

- The instrumentation is perfect for what I'm trying to achieve.

- The break between the two sections was good.

-Using different mallets to get different sounds (I think this would be a cool idea although I'm not familiar with mallets and percussion at all.

-Getting my score to a percussionist ASAP because it seems like it might be tricky.

I am really excited about writing this piece.

Hopefully it'll work out alright. :)

-

Round one. Fight!

I'm not totally sure if this is going to work or not. (Meaning - if it will show up in the 3100 section)

Oh well.

I presented in class yesterday. 

I liked the chords that I had written, but my scale ended up being two pentatonic or something.

Ugh.

I'm going to try again until I come up with something a little more original that will work.

Hopefully we'll find out what instruments we'll be using because I think that's very important to know before actually sitting down and writing anything.

I am incredibly nervous about the concert band composition.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

:)

One more thing!

I was asked today if I would play in one of the Newfound Music concerts and I accepted.

I will be playing Metamorphosis 3 if anyone wants to come hear a beautiful piece by one of my favorite composers (if not my favorite).

The end!

It has come to an end.

It was actually a good experience. 

If I could tell anyone anything about this course it would be:

- stay on top of everything.

- make sure you have performers for the instruments you write

- be open to criticism!

- write what you want to write, even if it's really hard to play! (someone out there will be able to play it!)

I'm nervous for the advanced composition class but I feel more prepared than I did for this course.

Thanks for listening to my sweet tunes! :)

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Presentation day

So I presented today. (duh)

I had no idea that Phil had gotten an accordion. 

I wish my stupid printer would stop being crappy so we could've played it in class.

I did a lot of work on it in the past day or so. I added all my edits to the first few pages, I cleaned it up a bit, and added a new section at the end.

My idea for the end was to keep modulating and to gradually get faster and faster. 

I was told that perhaps I could make it incredibly chaotic, which I had intended to do.

Another suggestion was to create longer lines and to have a more broader range in the violin. 

I had actually tried to expand the range in the violin last night, but I guess I can keep going with that.

Someone also said to add chords for the accordion. I'm not sure exactly how you notate that, but I'm just going to put block chords in sometimes, while still retaining that line I have right now.

I'm really hoping to finish this as soon as possible. The last concert caused me so much stress, so I'm hoping to avoid that by being over prepared!

That's a bit impossible though considering the giant heaps of work I need to do in all my other courses.

:(

Wish me luck!

M.

So little time!

So we have a week left to finish our compositions.

Eeeek!

There is so much work to do outside of this class!

Anyways, so I presented my piece this week and received some good ideas.

I was told to make the transition into atonality longer because it seems a bit abrupt. 

I'm going to take a look at that, because I'm not totally sure.

I was also told to perhaps change the time signature because the pulse isn't exactly clear in 6/8.

Someone also mentioned changing the notation of the accordion. For now I'm going to leave it, but if it becomes a problem I'll change it.

Hopefully I can finish it in the next couple of days!

M.

So far

So we have a week left to finish our compositions.

Eeeek!

There is so much work to do outside of this class!

Anyways, so I presented my piece this week and received some good ideas.

I was told to make the transition into atonality longer because it seems a bit abrupt. 

I'm going to take a look at that, because I'm not totally sure.

I was also told to perhaps change the time signature because the pulse isn't exactly clear in 6/8.

Someone also mentioned changing the notation of the accordion. For now I'm going to leave it, but if it becomes a problem I'll change it.

Hopefully I can finish it in the next couple of days!

M.