Final Projects!

As all of you know already (from emails, probably), the only thing to do be done from now on is work on your final pieces! Remember: 30 to 50 measures, and 1 to 4 instruments (I suggest 1 or 2).

Last week Saturday, even though we did not have class, some of you met with Steve Taylor for some individual help. This will happen AGAIN TOMORROW (Saturday, 3/23). I encourage you to show up and get some guidance! The reading session for your pieces will be on Saturday April 13th, which comes very soon.

That's all for now . . . I'll update this post with more information as it comes to light. All of the previous posts on this blog, with video links to pieces, etc, should just serve as inspiration. There's no need to use any of it in particular. Good luck!

Interesting News Story - Major and Minor

Check out this interesting story I heard on NPR. You can read the article, but I suggest listening to the audio link at the top of the page, as in the interview they play musical examples for you.

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/08/173832177/can-you-make-sad-songs-sound-happy-and-vice-versa

Although the story is about changing songs from Major to Minor, or visa versa, it also talks about how a composer changes his/her musical ideas over time. This is called "developing" musical ideas, of which the major/minor switch is just one example.

Samuel Barber

In the Stravinsky post, I talked about how "Rite of Spring" is constructed in block-like sections. Barber, however, is a master of the "long line." His melodies are expansive and can have incredibly long arcs.

His "Adagio for Strings" is a great example of this. Listen for how the entire piece slowly builds in intensity. While the "Rite" has several sections, "Adagio" is almost like one big section. Here it is:

Another fantastic piece by Barber is his Violin Concerto. Below are all three movements, but pay close attention to movements 1 and 2, as both of these demonstrate Barber's use of long melodic lines.

Incidentally, movement 3 is a "Perpetuum Mobile" or "Moto Perpetuo," which is a piece where there is a non-stop steady stream of notes of a particular rhythm. Notice that the violin hardly stops whatsoever for the entire movement.

And by the way, in my humble opinion, the 2nd movement is one of the most beautiful slow second movements of any concerto. It's definitely one of my favorites.

Mov 1:

Mov 2:

Mov 3:

Stravinsky and the Rite of Spring

We haven't had a chance to talk about this piece in class yet, but if you haven't listened to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" then you should check it out! Fantastic composition. Even though it's not chamber music per se, hopefully it will inspire some ideas.

Below are the videos, and they have the piano reduction to follow along. Notice that the piece is very sectional . . . meaning, the music seems like it is constructed almost out of blocks. One section has a specific character and sound, then the next section has a very different character and sound, and on it goes. Compare this with the post on Samuel Barber (which I will post in just a moment).

Last note: in video #1, at around 3:30, is a famous section called the "Dance of the Adolescents." Listen to what happens, and I hope we can chat about it in class a bit. Enjoy!

And part 2:

And part 3:

And part 4, the last one!

Steve Reich and Phasing

Recall our brief discussion of Steve Reich and phasing. Check out this video of Reich's clapping music (a much better video than the one I showed in class). Notice that the bottom rhythm, when it changes, is just moving out of phase with the top rhythm. Otherwise, both rhythms are exactly the same, and neither change.

You should try this using your own melody. Or write a new short melodic idea (make the rhythms interesting), and try phasing it against itself. You can do this by copying the melody (highlight the music in Sibelius and type Command-C) and pasting it (with Command-V) on a different staff, but slightly offset.

And as we talked about in class, this is Steve Reich's "Piano Phase" below. In the sheet music, notice how the second piano speeds up slightly during each transition. By the way, this is called "continuous phasing" while the above is called "discrete phasing."

Here's a vid of a performance:

Assignment for Sat, Feb 23rd

As discussed in class:

(1) Please finish up your short preludes, if you haven't done so already. I've seen preludes from most of you, and good work!

(2) Write a melody. We will discuss more about melody next class, so don't worry about the melody . . . just try to write one!  Remember to consider melodic contour (the shape of the melody), and rhythmic interest (try adding syncopations and a variety of note lengths).

(3) If you have time, take your melody and compose a short passage that sets the melody in one of the textures discussed in the pdf (see the previous post for the download link). You may choose any texture you like, but I recommend one of the following three: (i) chordal texture, (ii) homophonic texture (think melody and accompaniment), or (iii) monophonic texture with decorations and embellishments.

Orchestration Textures

Here's a link to a much larger PDF that includes the "Orchestration Textures" images a few posts down. Download the PDF from here to view!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/19603359/Orchestration%20Textures.pdf

My favorite piece is..

My favorite piece is A Fifth of Beethoven because it's a classical piece with jazz in it, and those combined together make a great song to listen to. I listened to it a couple years ago, and it's still one of my favorites. It was written by Walter Murphy.
(I had to post the other version of the video because I wasn't sure which one to use)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=681NvqpO2eU

Jacqueline Du Pre, Elgar Concerto, 1967

Shostakovich's 8th Quartet

The first part of the Shostakovich 8th Quartet (mov 1, 2 and 3). Later I will post the remaining movements.

Initial Orchestration Texture images

A scan from an orchestration texture regarding the use of musical textures in composition:

Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor

We listened to some of the fourth movement to this fantastic piano trio. Here's a video of the *only* the 4th movement:

And because it's wonderful to hear the entire piece, all four movements, here's the video of the trio in its entirety:

Jenna's favorite - Mozart - Serenade in G major, K. 525 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik' - I. Allegro .

I like this piece because it is very bouncy and joyful. It has a repitition of a theme in different parts of the piece. This is a very famous piece, and I still enjoy it . I hope you do too!   - Jenna

Bach Cello Suite #1 in G: Prelude

This is one of my favorite pieces. I've performed many times on viola and it is (in my mind) a great example of an idea moved forward by harmonization. I think Yo-Yo Ma does a great job of showing the progression in harmonies as the piece moves to its climax and eventually calms to a well rounded end.

Beethoven Violin Concerto

One of my favorite pieces is the Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61. I really enjoy how the melody develops throughout the concerto, and how the intervals in certain passages are nice the listen to. Also I like the textures of the orchestra, and the melody represented in their part.
Itzhak Perlman - Beethoven Concerto in D Major

Favorite Piece

One of my favorite pieces is the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major because it has a very beautiful melody that  keeps coming back but is approached through different ways. The whole piece is very emotional, and the orchestra fits very well with the violin part to make the piece exciting and keep the listener interested through the whole piece.
 Tchaikovsky violin concerto in D major-Joshua Bell

Giant Steps - John Coltrane

My favorite piece is one by John Coltrane, the famous jazz saxophonist. The piece is called Giant Steps and shows Coltrane's mastery of the instrument and the mastery of his quartet as a group. The reason I like it so much is the quick chord changes and the amazing solos throughout bring keeps ones interest during the whole four and a half minutes.

John Coltrane - Giant Steps

Beethoven Triple Concerto

 

What I like most about this piece is the beautiful melody. It is really amazing how Beethoven passed the melody through the three performers, but putting a little twist on each instrument. He was able to accomplish this so it doesn't get boring it keeps your attention, and you get a little curious on what is going to happen next. 
                                                     Tamara Asire.

Learning Sibelius

A few helpful links for learning Sibelius:

• Official Sibelius blog
• Quick Guide to Sibelius Note Entry
• The Sibelius 7 ribbon (if you download Sibelius version 7 - it looks different from Sib 6)

IMSLP and scores

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but the Bach and Chopin scores I showed you can be downloaded from the wonderful site www.imslp.org; and here are links for the pieces. I also made a Sibelius version of the Shostakovich, which you can download and mess around with if you like. Have fun and good luck writing your pieces!

Bach, Prelude in C major, Well-Tempered Clavier book 1, BWV 846
Chopin, Prelude in C major, Op. 28 No. 1
Shostakovich Sibelius file (download this as a file by right-clicking, or control-clicking on a Mac)

Quick Sibelius shortcuts

Click in an empty part of the bar to select the whole bar

For note entry, click on a rest

Option-click anything to copy it

R = repeat (either for notes or whole bars)

K = key signature

Q = clef

T = time signature

S = slur; use space or shift-space to make the slur longer or shorter

H = hairpin; use space or shift-space to make the hairpin longer or shorter

L = line; brings up a dialog with lots of different lines (trill, 8va, etc. etc.)

Handwritten notation

My unofficial rules for writing music by hand:

1. Always use a straight edge for stems and beams. Beams should be thicker than stems.
2. Stems should extend an octave above or below their notehead. For the middle line and higher, stems go down; below the middle line, stems go up (for ledger lines and beamed notes, these rules can be relaxed so the beaming looks good).
3. Accidentals extend above or below their notehead by a perfect fourth.
4. Plan how many measures you'll have on each staff system, so you don't run out of space.

Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C Major

BWV 846; performed by Sviatoslav Richter.

Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C Major, op. 87

Performed by the composer.

Chopin Prelude in C, Op. 28 No. 1

Performed by Martha Argerich. These videos which show the score as the music plays are some of my favorites.

Assignment for Saturday, February 2

Please post to this blog a video of one of your favorite pieces of music; in the post, explain what it is about this piece that you like so much.

Academy Syllabus

Stephen Taylor and Halim Beere, instructors
Saturdays at 1 pm, Music Building Room 5047 (CAMIL computer lab)

Welcome! Our plan for this semester is for each of you to compose a short piece for your peers, to be premiered at the spring concert on May 18. The exact instrumentation is up to you - it can be anything from solo instrument up to four or five players.

We will learn how to compose for strings and piano: instrument ranges, techniques like double- and triple-stops, as well as some more extended techniques including sul ponticello, sul tasto, harmonics (both for strings and piano), playing inside the piano, etc. We will also be studying some of the best chamber music composed in the last 100 years, and we will learn the basics of notating scores and parts with Sibelius, the music notation software in our CAMIL computer lab.

You will also be driving the repertoire and class activity - we would like each of you to post ideas, questions, cool videos, etc. to this blog, so that during the week we can all keep working on our pieces.

Academy Schedule

January 26th, February 2nd, 9th, 16th:  Composition 1pm (CAMIL lab, Music Building 5047)
Theory 2pm (basement, 1180)

Rehearsals 3-5PM or as scheduled

1/26
- basics of staff notation 
- Shostakovich, Preludes and Fugues for piano
- how to use Sibelius 

2/2
- introduction to orchestration (please bring your instruments)
- Shostakovich, Trio No. 2 in E minor for violin, cello and piano?
- Eighth Quartet?
- more Sibelius

2/9
- jazz chord notation
- Debussy, Sonata for Violin and Piano? Ravel?
- more Sibelius

2/16
- Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time for violin, cello, clarinet and piano
- more Sibelius

February 23rd: 1pm Composition
- Messiaen continued? Bartók?
- more Sibelius

2pm Studio class, Smith Memorial Room

Theory 4pm

March 2nd: 1pm Composition
- Elliott Carter? Stravinsky? Penderecki?
- more Sibelius

2pm Masterclass, Smith Memorial Room

Theory 4pm

March 9th and 30th: 1pm Composition
2pm Theory
Rehearsals 3-5pm or as scheduled

3/9
- John Adams? Steve Reich? Phil Glass?
- more Sibelius

3/30
- György Ligeti, Etudes for piano? Miles Davis? Bill Evans?

April 6th:  1pm Composition
- First draft of your piece is due!

Theory 2pm

3pm Studio Class, Music Bldg. Auditorium

April 7th: 1pm DoCha Recital and Masterclass, Orpheum Museum

April 13th/20th:  1pm Composition

2pm Theory

Rehearsals 3-5pm or as scheduled

4/13
- Halim Beere, pieces TBA
- reading session for student pieces

4/20
- Stephen Taylor, pieces TBA
- Radiohead? Björk? Other?

April 27th   1pm Composition
- Revised draft of your piece is due!

2PM Masterclass, Smith Memorial Room

Theory 4pm

May 4/11th: 3-5pm Rehearsals

May 18th: 1pm Auditions, 202 Smith

6pm Recital, Smith Recital Hall