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.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Inventions - Movement 5 - The Airplane

This is the fifth movement of a composition being composed as a result of a brass trio commissioning consortium. The title "Inventions' has a double meaning as a musical invention is a short contrapuntal composition that is usually based on a single theme. The second meaning is that each movement represents a significant invention. There will be five movements.

I created this last movement from a 2002 composition called "Celebration of Flight" that was written for alto saxophone and violin to commemorate the 100th anniversary of controlled flight. At the request of Shelley Jagow, the saxophonist, I transcribed the work for soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones and it is this version that became the basis for "The Airplane" movement of Inventions. Only the last movement of Celebration of Flight was used.

The Airplane movement begins with a celebratory section in 7/8 and 6/8 representing the success of the Wright Brothers. After this festive beginning, a sustained melody represents the first flight that lasted 12 seconds with Orville at the controls. This melody also lasts 12 seconds. Accompanying the sustained melody is the steady staccato eighth note rhythm representing the sound of the motor. After a short celebratory interlude, another sustained “melody of flight” occurs with Wilbur is at the controls. The staccato eighth note “motor” accompaniment changes into a flowing triplet figure during 59-second flight, the longest of 1903. The “flight” melody now lasts 59 seconds as well. After a “soft” landing of the “flight” melody, the “celebration” theme ends the movement in a festive and exciting manner.

Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.

Dr. B

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Inventions - Movement 4 - Morse Code

This is the fourth movement of a composition being composed as a result of a brass trio commissioning consortium. The title "Inventions' has a double meaning as a musical invention is a short contrapuntal composition that is usually based on a single theme. The second meaning is that each movement represents a significant invention. There will be five movements.

I had fun trying to work out a scientific approach to composing this movement and having it sound musical. My goal was to create a simple rondo form where the A sections would spell out in Morse code the words "brass trio" and the B sections would spell out the names of the three brass instruments. Eighth notes were used for the dots and quarter notes for the dashes. Eighth or quarter rests were used for the spaces between the letters.

The first part of the A section is homophonic and in the second part, each instrument plays their own line in canon with entrances a quarter note apart. The dashes at the end of the tailing instruments were elongated so that the instruments could end together. The harmony is a mixture of gentle tone clusters and triads.

The B sections are either monophonic in texture as each instrument plays its name or contrapuntal as the lines overlap.

To make this work, I used a lot of dynamic changes for variety and adjusted the ends of the sections to create cadences.

The form is ABA'B'AB''A''Coda. The Coda spells out the words "The End."

Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.

Dr. B

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Inventions - Movement 3 - The Periscope

This is the third movement of a composition being composed as a result of a brass trio commissioning consortium. The title "Inventions' has a double meaning as a musical invention is a short contrapuntal composition that is usually based on a single theme. The second meaning is that each movement represents a significant invention. There will be five movements.

It may seem like I am posting these movements very rapidly and one may wonder how I can compose this fast. First of all, the ideas for these movements are coming quite easily, something I don't always experience. Secondly, I am composing 4-5 hours per day. With that amount of time, it is very possible to complete two minutes of music for three brass instruments. I often complete the movement in one day, but I like to let the music sit for at least a day before reviewing it. I find that while composing, I am too close to the details of the music and by coming back to it a day later, I can have a broader perspective.

The way I decided to represent the periscope is to create a scenario. A submarine is lurking under water (Section A). That is represented by the dark colors in a slow 6/8. The melodic lines swell and recede representing the undulations of the ocean. Ominous sounds accompany the rising of the periscope and the scanning of the horizon for destroyers and for prey (Section B). The ascending staccato sixteenth notes represent the periscope going up and when the sixteenth notes descend, the periscope is being lowered. The half-step repeated figure is the periscope scanning the horizon.

The movement is in an ABA'B' form. Subtle variations in instrumentation, melody, harmony, and dynamics created the differences in the repeated A and B sections.

Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.

Dr. B

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Inventions - Movement 2 - The Metronome

This is the second movement of a composition being composed as a result of a brass trio commissioning consortium. The title "Inventions' has a double meaning as a musical invention is a short contrapuntal composition that is usually based on a single theme. The second meaning is that each movement represents a significant invention. There will be five movements.

This second movement represents the metronome. Please keep in mind that the music in this movement represents the mechanical, wind-up metronome that is very different than the modern-day digital metronome. Because it uses a pendulum, the metronome is very sensitive to the surface it is on. If it is slightly uneven, the ticks of the metronome will be erratic. Tempo was determined by the position of the weight on the pendulum. Since the metronome was wound using a spring mechanism, it tended to get slower as the spring tension decreased.

The music of the section that goes through measure 37 represents metronome practice. This section consists of constant eighth notes for 33 measures. While the rhythm is static, being in 2/4 with an occasional 3/4, the tempo, melodic line, harmony, and dynamics are varied. Imagine someone practicing a passage with a metronome and gradually increasing the tempo until the tempo gets so fast, the musicians goofs up. Measures 34-37 represent the frustration of the musician when he/she can't keep up with the metronome.

At measure 38, the musician goes back to practicing slower, but as he/she practices, the metronome begins to wind down and get slower. At measure 62, the tempo is so slow that the uneven surface the metronome is on begins to make the metronome beat unsteadily. The movement ends with the metronome stopping completely.

In keeping with the double meaning of the word invention, there are sections of tight imitation. An example would be measure 23-24 where the trombone lead is followed by the Horn a fifth above an eighth note later and then the trumpet at the octave an eighth note later than the Horn.

Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.

Dr. B

Monday, May 16, 2016

Inventions - Movement 1 - The Wheel

This is the first movement of a composition being composed as a result of a brass trio commissioning consortium. The title "Inventions' has a double meaning as a musical invention is a short contrapuntal composition that is usually based on a single theme. The second meaning is that each movement represents a significant invention. There will be five movements.

This first movement represents the wheel and is a perpetual motion in a fast 6/8 meter. It contains many sections of imitation. There are only two melodies in the movement and the rest consists of short motives. The first melody occurs divided between the trombone and trumpet from measure 3 - 11 and is extended and re-orchestrated in measures 12 - 22. Several motives appear in this section as well. One is the arpeggiated diminished seventh chord in even eighth notes that opens the composition. The second is a chromatic line in quarters and eighths that becomes straight eighths as an accompanying figure.

The second melody first appears in the trumpet at measure 32. It begins with a dotted rhythm that makes it distinctive. These two melodies and motives are combined and developed in different ways. The diminished seventh motive occurs with different articulations, for example. Dynamics are used to create variety. The ideas are used imitatively throughout most of the movement.

If one would try to analyze the harmony, one would have a difficult time because the movement is conceived linearly. Various modes are used for the melodies. The diminished seventh chord and chromaticism create a vague tonality. The ideas sometimes create a polytonality. The few chords that are used are basically quintal in structure.

The form of the movement is free, but sections do repeat with some variation. If one thinks of the first melody section as A and the second melody section as B, the form would be A transition B transition A' transition B' transition B'' transition B''' Coda.

Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.

Dr. B