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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.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Divertimento for Woodwind Trio or Quartet Movement 3

This is the third movement of a three-movement composition for a flexible instrumentation woodwind trio/quartet being composed as part of a commissioning consortium. Groups interested in joining the consortium can do so until November 30, 2016 at http://www.cooppress.net/page9/page10/index.html

This movement is called Tarantella and is in a lively tempo. The form of this movement is a large ABA (Scherzo, Trio, Scherzo). The A sections are in triple meter while the B section is in duple. The
A section is in three parts, forming an ABA within the large A. The material for the first part is
motivically derived. The first motive is a dotted eighth, sixteenth, eighth note followed by even
eighth notes. The second motive is four chromatic sixteenth notes followed by an eighth note.
This motive appears both ascending and descending. The B section within this large A consists
of a slurred melodic line that has both stepwise motion and leaps. It is accompanied by
staccato chromatic eighth notes. The large B section is folksong-like and is in a recognizable
binary form that repeats in a new key. The large A serves as a recapitulation of the opening
section and it ends lightly and playfully in keeping with the Divertimento title that means to
divert or amuse.

The major challenge in composing this piece is to make it playable by either a trio or quartet. I accomplished this by making the 2nd part an optional part. It adds some harmony that is not present in the trio version. The 2nd part also has important melodic lines, but those are cued in other instruments. After creating the piece in this manner, I then created specific versions for a trio of flute, clarinet, and bassoon or tenor saxophone; a quartet flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon; and a SATB saxophone quartet. The quartet versions gave even more melodic material to the second part.

Videos of the transposed score playing with sampled sounds appear below.

Your comments are always welcomed.

Dr. B


Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon Version

Saxophone Quartet Version

Flute, Clarinet, and Bassoon Version

Flute, Clarinet, and Tenor Saxophone Version

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