Contrasts for Euphonium and Piano Part 2

I have begun the fast section of Contrasts and I am pleased with how it is going. It is challenging for me to compose with uninterrupted daily sessions as things keep coming up regarding my impending move to the Southwest. I also spent several days moving some cassette recordings of my music over to digital. That was an interesting project as it gave me a chance to review several earlier compositions and I have decided to eliminate some of those works from my catalog. My main reason for eliminating them was because they are too dissonant. They were composed during the 1970's and early 1980's and I find that I have become more tonal in my later years.

The fast section of Contrasts begins with a syncopated motif in the euphonium and a staccato 1/8 note bass line in the piano. The piano soon picks up the syncopated rhythmic feel while the euphonium becomes more lyrical with its line that is interspersed with some staccato figures for contrast. I find myself attracted lately to a 3 phrase structure reminiscent of the 12 bar blues (a a b). However my 3 phrase structure is often 11 bars instead of 12. The piano them takes over the euphonium part in the right hand beginning at measure 62 while the left hand remains syncopated. From measure 73 to the downbeat of 79, the euphonium and piano have a transition section consisting of the running 16th notes over syncopation. From the 2nd beat of measure 79 up to where I stopped is a more lyrical 2nd theme (also in a 3 phrase structure) over a quiet yet intense bass line. The piano fills in with some running 16th notes during the euphonium sustained notes. The harmony of this fast section is primarily quartal (chords and arpeggios in 4ths instead of 3rds).

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to  http://www.cooppress.net/contrasts_blog.html

Dr. B

Contrasts for Euphonium and Piano Part 1

I have completed the slow section of this two-part piece and I am pleased with the results. However, I was not feeling that way while I was working on the piece. I mentioned in my last post that I was pleased with the beginning of the piece and will then need to see where the piece takes me. What I mean by this statement is that my music, as well as a lot of other contemporary music, is based on motives rather than themes or melodies that occur in regular phrases. Therefore the traditional formal treatments do not seem to apply and it is often unclear what structure the composition will take. It wasn't until Monday, when I reached the climax at measure 24, that the shape of this section became clear. This part is a loose ABA structure with the first A going from the beginning to measure 16, the B section from measure 17-25, and the last A, with some slight changes,from 26-42. A euphonium cadenza serves as an interlude to the upcoming Allegro.

The way each section is constructed is based on key motives that suggest new melodic ideas. The harmony is a result of the independent, yet related lines in the euphonium and in both hands of the piano. Let me identify some of the key motivic ideas and then you can try to find them being used in both the euphonium and piano parts throughout this section.

The opening 16th notes in the piano becomes what I call a noodling motif. It comes back in various forms in both instruments. The three 8th note idea that leads to longer note that occurs first in the euphonium melody in measure 1 to measure 2 is another important recurring idea. The two 16th notes followed by an 8th note which first occurs in the euphonium in measure 5 gets transformed in its melodic direction, but is an important unifying rhythmic idea. The syncopated 8th 1/4 8th rhythm that is used for sudden contrast in the piano in measure 3, dominates the middle section and is the main feature of the climax. The triplets, sextuplets, and 32nd notes all add rhythmic variety and are interspersed at key moments in this section and are also important in the cadenza. Another key element is the interval of an ascending minor 7th that is used throughout, but especially at the climaxes.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to  http://www.cooppress.net/contrasts_blog.html

Dr. B

New Piece for Euphonium and Piano

After spending the past three weeks preparing our home for sale so that we can move to Arizona, I am finally back composing. My next project is a composition for euphonium and piano for John DelVento, a very talented high school student from Connecticut. Since we are looking at a piece that lasts approximately eight minutes, I thought I would write a piece that begins with a slow section and ends with a fast section. This approach gave rise to the title "Contrasts", and the title suggested the opening of the piece. I began with a high piano arpeggiation that is vague in tonality. The euphonium enters one and half beats later with a low and sustained line therefore setting up the first contrast. Other contrasts occur in measure three with the articulation of the piano at the end of the measure and in measures 4 and 5 where the texture changes to euphonium alone. Measure 5 is also a contrast to the quarter note pulse by using an uneven 7/8. There are also contrasts in tonality as the piece does settle in any one place. These contrasts are subtle, but nonetheless important to the musical expression of the piece.

I always find getting started on a new piece challenging, especially after a lay off from composing. I have this fear that I won't be able to come up with anything and if I do, it will sound just like something I have already written. It still amazes me that I can come up with something new each time. I am looking forward to working on this piece and seeing where it takes me.

To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.net/contrasts_blog.html

Dr. B

A Busy January

I wish to explain my absence from posting on this blog for over a month. My compositional efforts have been focused on arranging the song contest winners in the York Symphony Orchestra competition. There were five compositions awarded prizes and part of the prize is to have their composition arranged for orchestra and performed by the York Symphony. The winners range in age from 9 through 14 and I am astounded at the talent these young composers display.

I also worked with an organist on registration and reworking three of my chorale preludes to enter in a competition. Since the competition required anonymous entries, I cannot post my revisions, but I would like to share with you some of the things that I have learned that are not in any books and articles about writing for organ. Regarding writing for the pedals, it is easier for the organist to alternate feet than to slide the foot. Therefore I reworked my pedal part to alternate feet more often. I also tended to use the extreme low notes too often that had the organist constantly reaching to his left with his feet instead of playing toward the middle of the pedals most of the time. For the manuals, I reworked some of the voicing so that the organist’s fingers could glide from note to note instead of lifting the hand. Lastly, we rebalanced the registration in order to bring out the important lines.

I also took a two-week vacation to southern Georgia. When my wife and I arrived home, we decided that it was time to leave Pennsylvania and relocate in the sunny southwest. During the past two weeks, we have been readying our house for sale and making plans to relocate. Now that the house is listed, we are gradually going through our belongings and selling off or giving away many things and packing the rest. We hope that the house will sell quickly so that we can get on the road by mid-April. We plan to camp in our van until we find a place to relocate and then send for our belongings. We are looking forward to both the adventure and to being settled in a new place.

My next project is to compose a piece for euphonium and piano for a very talented high school student, John DelVento. I hope to work on it while waiting for the house to sell and during our travels. I will try to post more often during the transition period in our lives.

Dr. B

Lan Na Thai - Comments from Andy Wen

I thought I'd share the comments I received from Andy Wen, for whom Lan Na Thai is composed. Andy said that saxophonists prefer contemporary music to be written without key signatures and prefer sharps over flats because being an Eb instrument, they are more used to sharps that flats. This is because Eb instruments remove 3 flats or add 3 sharps to the key signature (or a combination of the above) so they more often play with sharps than flats. For example, if the concert key is C, transposing for an Eb instrument puts them in A or 3 sharps. So after I carefully formatted the piece using key signatures, I removed the key signatures and made some of the flat notes there enharmonic sharp equivalent. Fortunately the page turns worked in the spots I had before even with the addition of all the accidentals.

During the next month or so, I'll be working on arranging for orchestra the winning songs in the York Symphony Song writing competition. Songs is probably not the correct word as the winning compositions are more than melodies, they are complete pieces within themselves. There are two winners in the elementary category, two in the middle school category, and one in the high school category. I am amazed at the level of creativity and craftmanship exhibited by these young composers. I may also try to compose something of my own during this time. If I do, I'll be reporting on it here.

Thank you to Carlton for his comment regarding Lan Na Thai. As always, I appreciate any comments from my readers.

I wish all my readers a blessed and peaceful holiday season.

Dr. B

Lan Na Thai Formatted

Yesterday, I worked on formatting La Nan Thai so that the saxophonist would be able to turn pages and also coordinate with the pre-recorded sounds. The first thing I did was to make my score a transposed score since the saxophonist will be playing from the score rather than an extracted part. In doing so, I decided to add key signatures even though the piece in not in a traditional major or minor tonality. The key signatures made the reading easier as there were less accidentals. The middle of the second movement was put in Db major as this section uses a black key pentatonic. I changed some of the notes enharmonically in order to make them easier to read.

The next step was to be concerned with page turns. I first told the Sibelius program to hide any unused staves. It does this by system and made the notation cover less pages. I then looked at where the page turns occurred and combined the gong and taiko drum parts in spots in order to eliminate more staves. I then combined some measures so that page turns always occurred during rests for the saxophonist.

The last thing I did was to extract the pre-recorded sounds part by muting the saxophone line. I am sending Andy Wen an mp3 version of the pre-recorded sounds along with a pdf file of the music for his comments and suggestions. I'll let you know if anything needs to be changed.

I have posted to the following link a transposed and formatted version of the score so that you can see the results of yesterday's efforts compared to before. The recorded accompaniment sounds are not accurate on the MIDI playback. The shakuhachi plays back like a saxophone instead of a flute and the gong ageng plays as a cymbal instead of gong. Since the correct sounds and balances are an integral part of the piece, I have posted an mp3 version of each movement that uses the Sibelius Sounds Essentials playback. To see and hear what I have composed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/lan_na_thai_blog.html

Dr. B

Lan Na Thai 3rd movement

I have been working on this last movement for about 2 weeks and have not posted until now because I was unsure whether what I was writing would work. One of the reasons that I was unsure was because I was using the same pentatonic scale that was used in the other movements and I was concerned that the three movements together would not have enough tonal variety. I did try to incorporate the B and F or F# (4th and 7th tones of the major scale) which were omitted previously to keep the scale more purely pentatonic. This seemed to help, but it is the treatment of the musical material in this movement that creates the needed contrast.

The movement begins with a florid saxophone line that is punctuated by various percussion and flute sounds. At 5'29.1", a two-note motive emerges that becomes an important idea for this slow section. It becomes the basic idea for the transition at the Piu mosso at 6'11/1". As you can see and hear, the two-note idea is expanded and repeats several times while the saxophone continues with flourishes. At 6'24.5", the saxophone plays a staccato figure that is imitated in the xylophone and we are off and running to the Presto.

A Taiko Drum rhythm begins the Presto. The xylophone plays the opening idea of the new Presto theme, but it is the saxophone the carries the idea while the xylophone inserts the motive as an irregular ostinato (6'29.9"-6'43.4"). The ostinato gets turned upside down at times for variety. At 6'43.4", the xylophone offers a contrasting melodic idea that is filled with glissandi. The finger cymbals are added to the Taiko Drum for the rhythm background and the saxophone takes over the ostinato. Notice the different rhythmic placements of the saxophone ostinato in this section. At 6'50.9", the saxophone takes over the xylophone melody. I was challenged by creating glisses in the saxophone. after checking with Andy Wen and finding out that while the saxophone can do scoops (easier up than down) from short distances to the intended note, glisses can only be created by fast chromatic fingerings. I decided to write my own fast fill-ins using the pentatonic scale instead. Behind the saxophone are true glisses in the shakuhachi. At 6'59.9", this melodic idea turns into a 3 part canon, 2 measures apart. The shakuhachi begins the canon, followed by the xylophone then the saxophone. When the canon begins, I remove the percussion sounds to add a variety in texture. The canon ends at 7'23.9" when we return to the xylophone statement of the 2nd Presto melody with the saxophone ostinato. At 7'40.4", the canon begins again, this time one measure apart with the xylophone leading and the shakuhachi and saxophone following. The percussion stays in during this statement of the canon. As the canonic voices dissipate, the saxophone winds done to a written out tremolo. The movement piece ends with a two and a half octave saxophone flourish.

My next task is to combine the pre-recorded sounds into one or two staves so that the saxophonist will have less page turns. I will also try to post an mp3 realization of each movement so that you can hear what the piece would really sound like as the MIDI sounds are inaccurate.

The alto saxophone part is in concert pitch while I compose the piece. The recorded accompaniment sounds are not accurate on the MIDI playback. The shakuhachi plays back like a saxophone instead of a flute and the gong ageng plays as a cymbal instead of gong. These sounds are correct when I use Sibelius Sound Essentials, which I will use to create the prerecorded sound version to go along with the saxophone part. The sounds are also in a better balance. Please use your imagination when listening and substitute the correct sounds in your mind. To see and hear what I have composed thus far, go to http://www.cooppress.net/lan_na_thai_blog.html

Dr. B