Welcome to my blog

I have created this site in order to provide performers, listeners and composers with a description of a composer's experiences with the creative process. The posts will provide discussions of the inspirations, challenges, and successes of a composer from the inception of the piece to the culmination in performance. I will provide a link to where you can see and hear the works in progress. Comments and questions are always welcomed. They will not posted unless you grant me permission.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

7th Movement

I called the 7th Movement "Four A.M." because I think the title captures the loneliness I envision of someone walking the streets all alone. This can be seen as a microcosm of all the times we feel alone in the world. To capture this mood, I made the piano part very harmonic, not in the sense of chord progressions, but more as color chords. I derived a lot of the chord structures from the notes of the saxophone melody. I first tried to decide where I wanted the chords to change and then I put the notes of the saxophone line together harmonically for those beats. Sometimes I used only some of the notes and other times I added notes not in the saxophone line. The wide spacing between the left and right hands also adds an air of vagueness. I used my ear to find the sounds that I wanted. Some of the chords were derived by linearly moving the piano part to create a pattern or line itself (for example measures 7 & 8). The other thing I did with the harmony was to have it anticipate the saxophone part with the change of chord (measures 1 & 2). The piano occasionally imitates part of the saxophone line (measures 3, 17, 19, 20). In measure 9 the piano has running 16th notes that help intensify the climax, and in measures 10-13, the piano left hand is a key element in relaxing the tension and serves as a countermelody to the saxophone. Therefore my piano part is a combination of many different techniques that create variety for the listener and support for the saxophone line.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Sixth Movement

Before talking about movement 6, I thought I'd talk about my title for movement 5. This whole experience with titles is unusual for me as I often have titles before I compose the music. Since I am using a previous composition that did not have movement titles as the basis of this composition, I have the challenge of coming up with titles after the music is written. When listening to the 5th movement again this morning, the use of imitation triggered an image of a mime mirroring a person's actions in a humorous manner. Then the image of Charlie Chaplin came to mind and I decided to name the movement after him. I think that Charlie Chaplin represents our need to laugh and therefore he is a microcosm of the playful side of human nature. Sometimes he is witty and other times he is pure slapstick and I think there are elements of both in this movement.

I originally thought that movement 6 would be playful, but after adding the piano part, I felt that this movement reminds me of a storm that is constant in its relentlessness and that has peaks of activity. After the storm leaves, all seems peaceful and quiet again. I have called this movement Tempest, being a microcosm of the fickleness of nature. Syncopation plays an important role in the saxophone part so I built on that idea for the piano. The first three measures introduce the hemiola rhythm in the right hand of the piano while the left hand mirrors the saxophone part. The roles are reversed in measures 4 & 5 and then reversed back again in measures 6 & 7. The accompaniment becomes more sparse in measures 9-13 as it just fills in during rests. I use the interval of the 4th a lot for the harmony although once again, it is not chord progressions that I am after, rather just coloristic sounds. Measure 14 is one of the climaxes of the movement and arpeggiated 16th notes are used at this point. The accompaniment is like the beginning in measures 16-22. Measure 23 begins a 4 measure imitation of the saxophone line but a contrary motion bass line is added in the piano part. Measures 26-30 are added measures where I use material from 16-20 but the hands of the piano and the saxophone have different roles than the previous statement. The last two measures represent the fickleness of the calm after the storm.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B

Monday, October 29, 2007

5th Movement

This morning's work went quite easily. I decided to have the saxophone play the 1st four measures by itself and then I repeated those four measures in the piano. I first added a mostly staccato scale-wise bass line but changed to a slurred line in contrary motion in two spots (measures 6 and 8). I also filled in the harmony in measure six as well. These are not any particular chord progressions but just sounds I thought worked well both vertically and horizontally. In measure 7 on the last beat, I have the left hand imitate what the right hand did one beat before. In measures 9-13, the left hand of the piano follows the saxophone part canonically down an octave and a beat later. In order to keep the clarity of this imitation, I did not bring the right hand of the piano in until measure 13 where it imitates the saxophone part up an octave and one beat later. After all the chromaticism, the movement ends quietly and ironically in Bb minor.

I am really at a loss as to the title for this movement. It sounds, witty, sarcastic, and ironic, but I haven't found an appropriate microcosm for this mood. Once again, I ask my readers for their assistance.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B

Saturday, October 27, 2007

4th Movement

I have not been getting any help from my readers regarding titles, so I am coming up with some ideas on my own. I titled the fourth movement Hiroshima as a microcosm of man's inhumanity to man. I think that the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima illustrates the kind of destruction of lives and property that we are able to inflict. I know that by dropping the bomb we were suppose to save many more lives than were lost, but the magnitude of this event and what we are capable of ( Post WWII Cold War and now terrorism) is what I feel is portrayed in this movement.

The angular saxophone line with its frequent use of altissimo register is what suggested the type of piano part I wrote. The piano uses the register extremes as well. In the beginning, the register extremes suggest the devastation. The piano lines move chromatically for the most part, but I break that pattern as needed for variety and to support the other lines with the appropriate harmony. At measure 5, the saxophone trill from the end was incorporated as a an accompaniment feature in the piano right hand while the left hand remains chromatic. At measure 7, I changed the 3/4 to 4/4 to add silence before leading into this quieter section with the piano right hand at the top of the keyboard. Dynamic contrast is also at the extreme in this movement as if one is screaming in the loud sections and staring in disbelief in the soft sections. Also beginning at measure 7, I introduce some ties and later syncopation to disguise the regular beat pattern. I made the tempo slightly slower in this section as well in order to create a quiet intensity. At measure 8, the piano begins to mirror the saxophone part as it is less chromatic. Measures 12-14 return the mood to the scream, but the piece ends with a quiet saxophone trill leaving us hanging with regards to the future.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B

Thursday, October 25, 2007

3rd Movement

I have tentatively titled the third movement "Apiary" as I see it as a microcosm of our busy and hectic 21st century lives. I am still going back and forth between "Leprechauns" and "Puck" as the title for the 2nd movement. I have been reading more about the history of Puck and even though his early associations are with the devil, Shakespeare made him more fairy-like. Maybe this movement is a microcosm of the devilish, trick-playing side in all of us. Help me out here by letting me know your thoughts.

Anyway, back to movement III. I added a two measure rhythmic introduction in the piano to open this movement and increased its tempo from 120 to 144. The piano left hand alone accompanies the first two measures of the rapid saxophone line. It has wide angular intervals befitting of the tension caused by our hectic pace. The rhythmic introduction is used to accompany the next two measures of the saxophone part but the chords are no longer static. There is gradual movement in each hand therefore adding tension. When the saxophone becomes more march-like in measure 7, the right hand of the piano does the busy saxophone line from measures 3-5 with a little punctuation added by the left hand. In measures 11 & 12, the piano returns to a fragment of the introduction underneath the FF sustained notes in the saxophone. The saxophone has a measure by itself before there is a recapitulation of measures 3-6. I now double the piano line in the right hand for added strength as we are approaching the end. The piano has the last comment on our busy lives by sustaining an unsettling diminished fifth echoed by the right hand fragment of the introduction refusing to stop.

I originally thought that I would be adding a lot to these pieces, but I have only added some brief introductions and an interlude here and there. Even though I am revising a much earlier composition, I find that they are very compact and intense short movements. They are almost Webernesque, where everything that needs to be said is stated over a very short period of time. We will see if the other movements hold true to form or whether they will be expanded more than I have already done to movements I-III.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

2nd Movement and request for help

I have completed the second movement but before I discuss what I did, I thought I’d explain the title “Microcosms” and request your (the reader) help in finding names for the rest of the movements. A microcosm is a diminutive, representative world; a system more or less analogous to a much larger system in constitution, configuration or development. My dictionary uses the illustration of a town meeting being a microcosm of American democracy. I named the first movement “Nebulae” representing what I picture cosmic gas and dust, with its contrasting light and dark appearance, would sound like if the visual image was translated into sound. It can be thought of as a microcosm of the universe. I have named the second movement “Leprechauns” because to me, it sounds witty and impish, an idea I associate with these legendary Irish fairies. They can be seen as a microcosm of a part of humanity that is playful, sly, and hoards wealth.

By now, you can get a sense that there is a lot of poetic license in coming up with the titles. I’m looking for interesting titles that reflect what the music is about and that have a microcosm relationship. Below is a description of the nature of each movement as I perceive it:

III – busy with pompous interludes
IV. Very intense
V. Schizophrenic
VI. Playful
VII. Lonely – lyrical
VIII. March-like

So send me your comments with your ideas.

Movement II – Leprechauns begins with a staccato accompaniment in the first two measures. Notice how the left hand in measure 2 imitates the descending scale of the piano right hand in measure 1. The saxophone melody has four motifs, measures 2,3,4, and 6 respectively. They are constantly juxtaposed to create the entire saxophone line. The piano accompaniment interplays with these motifs, sometimes by supporting them with something similar and other times being imitative. Chords in fourths and triads wander freely with regards to tonality, so freely in fact that is difficult to decide whether I should use sharps or flats for the clearest notation. During the last 8 measures, imitation predominates leading the to quiet, magical ending.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B

Monday, October 22, 2007

A New (Recycled) Piece for Saxophone and Piano

The next piece that I am writing is a commission from Stacy Wilson, Associate Instructor of Saxophone at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. It is to be for Alto Saxophone and Piano and I have decided to recycle and older work of mine into a new one. Many composers recycle their music into new pieces for many different reasons. One is time constraints or having produce something for an upcoming performance and not having a lot of time to do it. Another is giving a piece new life through varying its instrumentation. A third reason is because the material has much musical merit and potential that may not have been fully exploited in its first usage. And a fourth reason is that the composer has matured and can find better ways of using the older material. In the case of the piece I am writing for Stacy,I feel that the last three reasons apply.

The piece that I am recycling is one that actually began its life as a set of pieces I composed for my oboist wife (then girlfriend) in 1966 and later were expanded into a work called "Micro Pieces" for solo saxophone that was dedicated to James Houlik. I plan to expand these again by adding a piano part and lengthening some of the movements. I am also changing the title to "Microcosms" and each of the movements will have a title as to what "mini-world" it represents.

For those of you who have been following my blog since its inception and have been listening to my music, you may realize that my preferences are towards music based in the traditions established prior to the mid-20th century. But as a composer and musician, I am aware of other compositional directions and will adapt my compositional style as needed in order to express what I am trying to communicate with each piece of music. In the case of "Micro Pieces" now "Microcosms", my melodic language is more angular and atonal. There is still an emphasis upon melody and rhythm, but the ideas change more rapidly and there is a greater emphasis on sudden contrast.

In order to add a piano part that is consistent in style with the melodic ideas in movement one, I chose to write a very coloristic piano part. In measure 2, the piano begins by reinforcing the forte of the saxophone crescendo in measure 1 with a diminished 7th chord. It then fills in the sustained saxophone g with a sextuplet with both hands in contrary motion creating intervals of sevenths and thirds that have root in the melodic interval of the saxophone on beat 1 of the measure and in the triad that accompanies it. The 3rd and 4th beats echo the saxophone from beats 1 & 2 and incorporate the diminished 7th chord once again. A coloristic G# trill in the piano right hand gives background to the repeated quarter note saxophone motif that was totally unaccompanied in measure 1. Afterbeats in the left hand of the piano again suggest the diminished 7th chord. Measure 4 consists of a rolled diminished 7th chord followed by the sextuplet again. Chords in 4ths accompany measure 5 which is followed the right hand of the piano in measure 6 and 7 playing an extension of the saxophone motif of measure 5 and 6. It is turned into straight 16th notes and varies its pitch content as it ascends, finishing once again with the outline of a diminished 7th chord. The use of the extreme ends of the piano add color and keep the accompaniment from obscuring the saxophone line as it is in totally different registers. These basic ideas continue through the rest of movement which ends with the piano doing the eighth dotted quarter rhythm from measure two, but this time as a diminished 5th instead of a minor 7th. This is a very tightly constructed movement, but hopefully has interest from the way the colors are used.

I have titled this movement Nebulae, as it reminds me of pictures I have seen of cosmic dust.

I work in concert pitch, but the score I am posting has the saxophone part transposed.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/microcosmsblog.html

Dr. B

Saturday, October 20, 2007

The end of Suit Suite

Yesterday I finished “Suit Suite” but did not have time to post until today. I still plan to review the entire work over the next few days before I call it my final version. A little distance from the work usually gives me a different perspective on what I have written.

It took me two work sessions to finish Diamonds and then compose the Clubs (War) section of the piece. Diamonds ended with 3 measures of syncopated chords (measures 191-193) leading into an extension of the chromatic counterpoint section (measures 194-195). This builds into a long flutter-tongued chord (measures 196-197) that climaxes at the beginning of the Clubs (War) section. Clubs turned into a symbolic battle between the tubas and euphoniums. The opening repeated note figure that first occurs in measures 198 and 199 represents shooting. It goes through many transformations as the section unfolds, but has its most prominent role in the opening half. The two sides of the war identify themselves early. The first euphonium motif occurs at 199 & 200 and is immediately varied in measure 202. The tubas have two early motifs, one at measures 201 and 202 and the other at measures 203 and 204. The sides battle back and forth with “shooting” interruptions. A change of tonal center with the “shooting” motif at measure 210 ushers in new motivic ideas for both sides. The new euphonium motif at measures 211 & 212 is a canonic idea. The new tuba motif at measures 215 & 216 starts out like a rhythmic variant of the first euphonium motif, but it is extended and more forceful. The battle intensifies beginning at measure 219 where both sides present their motifs simultaneously. Notice the dynamic differences as this is intended to represent the ebb and flow of the battle. At measure 226, the battle begins to wind down for a brief respite, before taking off again at measure 231 in a slightly faster tempo. The piece ends powerfully without any clear indication that the war was won by either side.

I think it was a subconscious act that nobody wins this war, as I believe that most wars are senseless. If we spent as much money trying to alleviate the causes of the war as in trying to win it, there would be less pain and suffering. I usually do not end my compositions with a negative feeling, but “Suit Suite” actually represents the cycle of life. Although the piece presents the suits in order from high to low, their associations could be in almost any order. So even though the piece ends musically with war, it is as if the cycle continues with war (clubs) bringing death (spades) and out of ruin, springs life and love (hearts). Eventually, the craving for wealth (diamonds) and the power it brings, leads us back to war (clubs). The only way to break the cycle is to respect humanity and treat others as our friends and find ways to help all people dig their way out of hopelessness. So as I write this, maybe it is appropriate for “Suit Suite” to end with Clubs (war) as maybe it will imply a need to break the cycle.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/suitsuiteblog.html

Dr. B

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Diamonds continued

It has been a few days since I have posted. There are times when it is challenging to find the time to compose regularly although that is what I prefer to do. But I am also a performing musician and there are times when I get very busy with performing responsibilities, that composing takes a back burner. That has been my challenge the past few days. I have been working in short spurts and did not have enough to post to my blog until today.

In addition, I have been struggling with the Diamonds section. My initial ideas came easily, but developing the movement has been hard work with a lot of revision. The way this section is going together is my adaptation of a technique I ran across on a CR ROM by Morton Subotnick called Making Music. It a composition program designed for young kids and a part of it has short motivic ideas that can be put together in any order by the young composer in order to create a piece of music. In Diamonds, there are three main ideas; the lyrical waltz melody, the dotted eighth sixteenth followed by one or two short notes motif, and the overlapping chromatic motif. I jump back and forth between these three ideas and vary them when they return by adding to them, changing their meter, or combining them together. The problem I have been running into is the lack of direction this section has. It just seemed to wander around and I couldn't figure out what exactly was wrong. I liked the material well enough, but felt it was not coming together the way I intended. I wish I could illustrate all the things I tried and rejected, as I think it would be very informative to composers. There is an excellent recording done by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic where Bernstein takes discarded sketches from Beethoven's 5th Symphony and inserts them where he thinks Beethoven might have had them. Then the orchestra played these versions and Bernstein discusses why he thinks Beethoven rejected them. Everyone should listen to this recording as it sheds a lot of light on the composing process.

In Diamonds, I was feeling like I needed a break from the continuous waltz rhythm. I accomplished some of this by the meter changes, but I felt I needed to get a break in the thick texture and the continuous jumping between motivic ideas. At measure 150, I inserted 5 measures of just waltz rhythm with a 2/4 thrown in. That helped, but it went into the next idea too abruptly. I then added measure 155 which starts with silence of one beat then triplets leading into the lyrical waltz melody. This little interlude serves as break before the final push to the end of the section.

In my previous post, I was wondering if I wanted separate movements instead of a one movement piece. I am now hearing Diamonds building to a peak and climaxing at the beginning of Clubs (War). After all, isn't the quest for riches and wealth and the power that comes with it the cause of many wars? The smooth waltz seems to represent those with wealth that are oblivious to forces around them who are restless for change. The dotted rhythm motif and the chromatic motif keep interrupting the waltz as a form of foreboding.

I hope that I will complete Diamonds by the end of the week as I have a busy day tomorrow attending some rehearsals of my music and planning a concert my brass quintet is doing with a choral group, then a quintet rehearsal at night.


To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/suitsuiteblog.html

Dr. B

Friday, October 12, 2007

Hearts into Diamonds

I had a nice rehearsal with the Millersville University Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble on Wednesday as they are preparing my Quartet for Tubas for an October 24th Octubafest program. The students were very responsive to my suggestions and showed a lot of improvement in that one rehearsal. I am looking forward to the Oct. 24th performance. In addition, another performance fell into place with the Lancaster/Lebanon County Orchestra Festival to be held on Feb. 2, 2008. They will be doing my "Gettysburg Portrait". I always enjoy writing for and working with educational groups to help expose them to some contemporary sounds and treatment of musical material.

Between yesterday and today, I worked on the end of Hearts and the beginning of Diamonds. I am contemplating separate movements again instead of one continuous movement. There are smooth transitions between the first three sections, but I think I want a complete break between Diamonds (Riches) and Clubs (War). I'll know more when I reach that point. The transition between Hearts and Diamonds might need to be changed if I go that route because I am setting up the Diamond section towards the end of Hearts with the dotted eighth - sixteenth , eighth note - eighth rest idea that first occurs at measure 80, again at 85 and extended at 97. The motif at 97 then becomes one of the motifs I use in Diamonds at 99 etc.

When I was thinking generally how I wanted to represent the suits, Diamonds was the one that seemed the hardest. My wife suggested a regal march for riches, but I settled on a waltz rhythm. I envision a regal ballroom and people swirling across the floor alla 19th century Vienna. So opposite the dotted motif is a flowing line that appears first divided among the tubas and then in the 1st euphonium and 1st tuba. This is often accompanied by a flowing 1 2 (3) rhythm in the other tubas. The harmony is luxurious as well, being chords in fourths, seventh chords, etc. Again my harmony is derived both vertically and horizontally and while it has a sense of tonality, in wanders around a lot.


I extended the rubato section of Hearts by continuing the dialog section and leading it into a reprise of the lyrical melody section in a different tonality before arriving back at the original tonal center.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/suitsuiteblog.html

Dr. B

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Romance continued and other thoughts

Before I continue talking about my recent additions to the Hearts (Romance) section of Suit Suite, I thought I'd talk about some other aspects of a composer's life. Much of the time that I am not composing, I am spending time getting the word out about my music and searching for possible performances. As many of you know by now, I am an avid reader so I often compare a composer's life to that of an author. While there is a similarity in the creative process, the end result is more tangible for the author because the author does not rely on others to make the creative work come to life. Therefore, I am always looking for musicians to perform my music. When that occurs, it is usually a thrilling experience for me and I hope also for the performers. It is a great opportunity for performers to be able have input directly from the composer and I believe it is an experience that should happen on a regular basis, rather than the isolated incidences that occur throughout the music world. For instance, yesterday I was contacted by an orchestra director who is hosting a county orchestra festival. The guest conductor (a friend of mine) would like to do my "Gettysburg Portrait" with the county orchestra and the host wanted to hear a recording. I sent her a performance of the work by another county orchestra and I hope that they will feel it worthy of performance. But this got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if all conductors of honor music groups would do a piece by a local live composer and have that composer be a part of the festival? That way the students would not only be performing standard repertoire at a higher level then their school music groups but they would also have the thrill of performing a newer work with little or no performance history and have the opportunity to collaborate with the composer as well as with the conductor. This would be the complete music making experience!

Today I also have the honor of returning to Millersville University, where I had taught before retiring, to work with the tuba-euphonium ensemble on my "Quartet for Tubas". I am looking forward to this opportunity to have my music come alive.

With regards to Hearts, one thing I forget to mention in yesterday's post was how I am trying give the musicians an opportunity to breathe. In this section particularly, I want very little break in sound. Try to notice how I alternate phrases between different instruments and often overlap those phrases so there is a more continuous sound. I have the luxury of being able to do this because I am writing for six instruments but rarely use all six at the same time. For the performer, this technique creates more independence in their part and they must use their ears carefully to see how their part fits with the whole. At times a player will have the main melody, and at other times, a harmony part or counter-melody. An good illustration of this is at measures 60 to 77. In this section, I am bringing back material from the first part of the Romance, but I am adding lines to it. I have tried to mark dynamically where the individual lines peak and you will notice that the ensemble does not always peak together. This will be an important balance challenge in rehearsal because the lines cross voices a lot and because of the homogeneous sound of this ensemble. Measure 77 begins a short interlude that is more rubato as if it is a dialog between two lovers. I'm not sure where that will lead, but my mind was getting tired so I knew it was time to stop for today.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/suitsuiteblog.html

Dr. B

Monday, October 8, 2007

Hearts (Romance)

My transition to Hearts is a subtle one. Because the tempo of Spades and Hearts is similar, I am creating variety in other ways. Spades ends in F minor and Hearts begins immediately on a low, sustained E. A pyramid follows the sustained E bringing in the next three higher instruments each time a perfect 5th higher. The entrances occur every beat and a half therefore disguising the basic pulse. The euphoniums enter at measure 45 with a triplet on the third beat, thus created variety from the predominantly duple feel of Spades. The meter patterns change often in this section as well as the use of divisions of 2, 3 & 4. Thus the music flows along without a clear sense of pulse creating a dreamy, romantic mood.

The harmony in this section is rich and frequently modulating. When I create harmony, I often do not have chord progressions in mind. My harmony is a result of linear movement of the lines. I am aware of what is happening vertically, but my concentration is on creating an interesting sounding line. After creating the melodic line, I might work on a bass line first, then fill in the inner parts. Or in the case of the three euphoniums at measure 45, I work the 2nd & 3rd part together, seeing where they want to go. I do have some favorite structures that result: minor triads and 7th chords, chords in fourths and chords in fifths, but I don't limit myself to those structures. I also tend to use chords borrowed from other tonalities and modalities.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/suitsuiteblog.html

Dr. B

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Spades (Death) continued

Today, I was able to complete the first movement. The form turned out to be an Introduction plus ABA'. I began in the B section. I had written measures 20-23 yesterday, but I was not sure where it would take me. I started by repeating measures 20-23 but had the last measure build into the climax at measures 27-29. I also varied the repeat a bit by extending the euphonium line by one note and changing the tuba rhythms to occur a half beat later in measure 25. After the climax, things quiet down in measures 29-32 leading to the return of the A section. This section begins down a minor third from the original statement for the first two measures and then it goes back to the original tonality. Measure 40 leads to a quiet ending instead of crescendoing as it did in the first appearance of A.

Two things occurred to me while working today. The first is the varied emotions one goes through when dealing with death. The introduction has both sadness with outbursts of anger. The first A section is like a dirge that grows in intensity leading the the B section (which begins at measure 21) that has a sardonic laugh (staccato 16th notes) with a building anger. The last A section is dirge-like again, but this time with more of a feeling of acceptance. The second thing I realized was that in all likelihood, this piece will be one continuous movement. I am trying to keep the entire piece around 8-9 minutes. Because of this, there is not a lot of time to develop the ideas and one continuous movement should create more of a sense of continuity. Besides, if you have read my other posts, you know that endings give me the most trouble. So now I only need one ending instead of four! The other endings of the sections will serve as transition instead of endings.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/suitsuiteblog.html

Dr. B

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

First Movement - Spades (Death)

Once I had the idea for the piece and the movements, I started hearing the opening idea, a descending, dark figure using a dotted eighth and sixteenth rhythm. That was all I needed to begin putting notes on paper, so to speak. I am not one of those composers that hears the entire piece from beginning to end and then just needs to notated it. The adage that says composing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration describes how I work. I began in 4/4 but quickly realized that this would be a mixed meter movement. The sustained note in measure 2 cried out for what I call punctuation, a short rhythmic idea that helps fill the space and keeps the piece moving forward. In measure, 3, I developed the dotted rhythm idea into a motive that permeated the first section. It serves as the main melodic idea in measures 3, 5 & 7 and as an accompaniment from measure 9 - 18. This provides a lot of unity to the first section. Measure 4 introduces another motivic idea that is first used as a counter melody to the sustained note in the tubas, and then in permutations at various spots as the movement progresses. See if you can recognize the different ways this motive is used and developed. It serves as a unifying device but it is not repetitive.

At measures 11-14, the first euphonium introduces a lyrical melodic line in 3/4 that is later transformed to 4/4 for the tuba 1 melody in measures 15 - 18. The last note of the 2nd euphonium at measure 14, I originally had as a G. When playing the music back, I found that the G did not provide any pitch variety for the tuba 1 entrance at measure 15. This made the music both harmonically and rhythmically weak. I changed it to Bb and solved the problem. Measures 20-23 are leading me into a contrasting section that I discuss once that section is complete.

My harmonic language thus far includes chords in fourths and a lot of minor triads. I am trying to keep the chords well spaced in the tuba parts in order to have them sound clear as there are an abundance of overtones that can clash easily and cause a muddy sound. This is always a concern with writing for tuba-euphonium ensemble.

To see and hear what is discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/suitsuiteblog.html

Dr. B

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Planning my next piece for Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble

My next composition is a commission from the Kansas State University Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble. I have decided to write for three euphoniums and three tubas which should give me a good balance between the higher and lower instruments of this family.

A few days ago, while I was out walking, I was thinking about this piece and came up with the idea of writing a 4-movement piece based on the card suits. I am not really a card player. My most recent excursion into card playing occurred when my parents moved from California to Pennsylvania to be near my wife and myself as my father's health was failing. My parents lived in a retirement community where my father played duplicate bridge once or twice a day (he was a life master). We knew he was going to miss this, so when they got settled here, I asked him to teach me how to play bridge so that we could play together. After a six week crash course, he said we are ready to go the bridge club. I was never so scared in my life! I understood bidding fairly well, but had know idea how to play the cards once the bidding was over. What was a miracle was that we were leading for almost two-thirds of the tournament and we came in 3rd or 4th. This whole experience was a special bonding time between my father and myself, and although his health was never good enough to play again, I know it gave him great pleasure. I still read the bridge column in the newspaper, although I don't play the game. The point of all this background is that cards have a special place in my heart and writing a piece of music based on the suits sounded like it would be fun to do.

After a brief internet search, I found that spades are associated with death, hearts with romance, diamonds with riches, and clubs with war. This should give me plenty to represent musically. I am thinking about an 8-9 minute piece with each movement about two minutes long and I'm calling it "Suit Suite".

Inspiration for a piece of music can come from many sources. In this case, my inspiration is something extra-musical. In other instances, I just start writing and the music suggests a title and form. I find it easier to compose when I have an extra-musical idea to represent, but the process of working with the material is similar no matter how one gets started. I'll be discussing that process once I begin the piece and will be linking to a score and MIDI performance of what I have written thus far so that the reader can experience the composition process as it occurs. Your comments and questions are always welcomed.

Dr. B