Elements Movement II

I have completed the second movement of "Elements," a piece designed to musically portray the essential nature of the Classical Greek elements, fire, water, air and earth and their astrological implications.

The water element's chief characteristic is sensitivity, therefore I chose a slow tempo and wrote a movement that is lyrical and harmonically rich. This movement is in an ABA' form. The B section uses some tone painting where the undulating 16th notes are designed to represent the flow of water.

From a compositional viewpoint, I feel that the things that make this movement work well are the subtleties. Phrases are interchanged between instruments so in order to create continuity, I often overlap the phrases. When the A section returns, try to note the differences from the first A section. Since this section comes at the end, it needed some slight variation from its opening statement. The meter changes throughout add an element of subtle irregularity so that the lines are not predictable. The ending has a delayed cadence that once again adds a subtlety that hopefully delights the ear.

I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/elements_blog.html.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Dr. B

Elements for Saxophone Quartet Movement I

I am back writing about my compositions after a hiatus of almost a year. I have been commissioned by the h2 Saxophone Quartet and we decided to have me write a quartet that would be playable by good high school, college, and weekend warrior quartets. The piece I am creating is called "Elements" and is designed to musically portray the essential nature of the Classical Greek elements,
fire, water, air and earth and their astrological implications.

The first movement is Fire whose essential nature is strong and controlling. The music contains a lot of forceful sections, primarily in a homophonic style. In order to contrast these sections, quieter polyphonic sections are used that build into the more forceful sections. The technique of counterpoint in music is one that demands great control, thus fitting subject matter.

The harmonic style is a mixture of quartal harmony and triadic harmony. The music wanders freely between keys therefore creating harmonic interest. There is much rhythmic interest through the use of syncopation and hemiola.

I am now using flip pdf technology for the musical examples that go along with my posts. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time. To see and hear what I have discussed, go to http://www.cooppress.net/elements_blog.html.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Dr. B

Composition Competitions

I thought that I would say a few words about composition competitions as I have entered several over the past few months and have met with some success and have been disappointed with others. I hope that my viewpoints will be useful to other composers.

The two major resources I use to find out about competitions are the American Composers Forum http://composersforum.org/ and the Society of Composers http://www.societyofcomposers.org/. Both are membership organizations and the benefits are well worth the membership fee.

The next step is to be selective regarding which competitions you enter. Entering competitions can get expensive, as some have entrance fees and many require mailing multiple copies of scores. More and more competitions are going to online submission which saves duplicating and postage costs and I applaud this direction. It is bad enough that one sometimes needs to pay an entrance fee and many composers refuse to enter these contests because they say "why should I be supporting the prize money?" People running the competitions justify the fee by saying "it pays the costs of the judges and the administration of the contest." It is a personal choice as to whether you decide to enter competitions with fees. If I feel that my composition and the competition are a match, I will usually enter the competition even if it has a fee.

To determine if your composition and the competition are a match, see if you can find a list previous winners of the competition and try to locate their music. Google searching makes this fairly easy to do and it will give you a good idea of what the sponsors are looking for.

If you enter a competition, do not expect to receive feedback. I wish that feedback would be provided, especially if it is an annual competition that you have entered several times and not been successful. I recently experienced a non-placement in a competition that I felt sure that I would place. I did all the research and felt that my entry was very strong. However, it was not successful and the only thing I can determine is that judges found things more to their liking. One needs to realize that there are many fine composers entering the competitions and the judges will have their own personal preferences.

But if one is to further one's compositional career, one needs too realize that entering competitions are part of the process. It is easy to get discourage when one does not meet with success, but as the advertisement for the lottery says, "You can't win if you don't play." Just be selective, do your research, enter quality material, and do not take it too personally if you don't meet with success. If you keep doing it long enough, you will have success. Out of the dozen or so competitions I have recently entered, I have had success with two.

I hope that my experiences with competitions will help other composers navigate the maze of competitions. I wish all of you much success.

Dr. B

Learning from Other Composers

Throughout music history, composers have always studied the works of other composers that came before them.  It is a great learning tool for further enhancing one's own style.

During the fall, I took a class in Poetry from Ann Metlay through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of Yavapai College. Ann gave us an assignment where she developed a questionnaire on how to analyze a poem that we liked and then take what we liked to create a poem of our own. I found this assignment very helpful and decided that it would work very well to help composers learn from other composers. Ann gave gave me permission to translate her questions for music composition.

I recently had an opportunity to try this assignment with my composition student Joshua Torok-Bachar. Josh has been studying with me for about three years and is a very talented eighteen year old composer. This semester, I am having him analyze a work by Stravinsky, a work by Copland, and a work by Bartok. He has completed the analysis of the Devil's Dance from Histoire Du Soldat of Stravinsky and then wrote is own composition, The Flight of the Wulzak based on what he learned. I was extremely pleased with the results and thought I would share them here (with Josh's permission). First is his analysis of the Stravinsky along with the questions he had to answer, followed by a youtube of a performance of the Devil's Dance.

Composition Analysis - Stravinsky Histoire du Soldat

1. What attracts me to the composition?
The frenetic energy. On a composition level, the harmonies seem to lie just on the borderline of unrecognizable, but stay enough within conventional harmony that I, as a listener, have a hard time labeling this piece as avant-garde or atonal. Most of the interest comes from the interplay of the rhythms and motivic material. Stravinsky expertly weaves these two musical components in ways that are unexpected and exciting, but still within ‘reason’ to keep the listener’s attention.  The contrasting mini-sections of the piece area good example of the way Stravinsky switches between his motivic ideas extremely quickly and abruptly, at points. However, he does usually include some sort of echo of the previous section early on in a new section to tie them together. 

2. What sections are most attractive?
The sections with the most note space between instruments. These sections also seem to hold much of the contrapuntal melodic lines and are extremely exciting and invigorating! The contrasting quiet sections are also very effective.

3. Tone and message of the music and how is that conveyed.
Frenzied and with a feeling of insanity, but with a good dose of humor. Stravinsky uses the humorous side of the music (conveyed with scattering of emphasized comical intervals, like seconds in a random place, by staying mostly in a major-sounding tonality, and through chromatic melodic runs over major tonalities) to avoid having the listener take the music too seriously. I believe he wanted the listener to feel as though all was lost but ‘you can’t help laughing about it.’ The ‘crazy’ nature of the music is conveyed through abrupt changes in thematic motives and abrupt/extreme register changes in instruments. The fast tempo of the music also adds to this frenzied feeling, along with the long strings of notes in motives, which gives a maniac, never-ending feel to the music.

4. Dominant harmonic language used.
Stravinsky combines the major and minor instances of the tone center/key (which changes often, but seems to resemble a combo of “G” major and minor with “A” major, along with chromatic notes). The tritone is quite prominent in one of the main themes and is often combined with notes that would form a diminished chord. Stravinsky also uses the natural and flat third of the tonal center “G” close together either together in harmony or very close in melodic sequences. This brings out the natural dissonance of a minor chord, accentuating the minor second dissonance of the overtone series.

5. Analyze the form of each movement or section.
The form as I perceive it: A, B, B’, A’, B’’, Fine
A opens with the characteristic accented 8ths and 16th patterns. The piece transitions quickly into B which introduces the quieter chromatic melody section. B also includes a quick interjection of the 16th motive of A. B continues with the staccato/legato chromatic melody and lets evolve before slipping into B’. B’ transforms the B motives and adds harmony. Harmony and melody line are both played by the violin. The section is much softer as well. A’ brings back a sparser version of A and expands the running 16th lines somewhat. A’ then crescendos into a neat transition to B’’, which is soft and uses transformed material from B and B’. B’’ is followed by the finale.

6. Instrumentation and how it contributes.
Piano, violin, clarinet.
-The piano plays a multitude of roles in this piece; melodic, supportive, rhythmic, and as a powerful ‘hit’ behind notes/chords that are heavily accented.
-The violin is often playing double stops and its single lines are often complimentary or contrapuntal to the clarinet’s. It also has some rhythmic functions. The violin really shines in the quiet sections where Stravinsky uses the naturally expressive and coloristic quality of strings to enhance the alternate color and contrast of the soft sections.
-The clarinet is the poignant, sarcastic, and insistent voice of the piece. Disregarding other instruments, it soars through extreme register changes at fortissimo. It does also play a supportive role, but most often its lines are the melodic lead in the ensemble.

7. Rhythmic devices used.
The most common devices I see used in the piece are fragmentation and combinations of rhythmic motives. Stravinsky also uses a technique in which he will place a part (usually syncopated) of a rhythmic motive in the context of a different meter. For example, in a 4/4 measure, 2 16ths, 8th tied to 8th, 8th tied to 8th, 8th. Stravinsky takes 3 quarters of this sequence and places in (8th to 8th, 8 to 8th, 8th) and places it in a 5/8 measure. The result is quarter note, quarter note, 8th.  At the top of page 3 Stravinsky also uses what could be considered a diminution of half of the main opening rhythmic motive.

8. Any extra-musical ideas used?
Well, the story behind this movement is that the soldier steals the violin from the devil and begins to play music that the devil MUST dance to. The movement seems to reflect the torment and teasing that the soldier inflicts on the devil. For example, the movement starts out very fast and insistent. It slows at some points, but never for long, and it always comes back with more force than ever. I think this symbolizes the soldier teasing the devil, making the devil think that he is going to stop playing, but then keeps on. The end also seems like both a release and the end of the devil’s energy. However, the music ends with a bang showing that the soldier ends the music with the upper hand.

9. What specific compositional devices are utilized?
It is quite difficult to keep track of everything going on in this piece! I see a lot of theme fragmentation and transposition. Stravinsky enjoys blending this with contrapuntal techniques to form a hail storm of music, so to speak. For example, the two major motives (accented 8ths ostinato, and arpeggiated 16ths followed by syncopated 8ths) are transposed and juxtaposed in contrapuntal styles. Stravinsky also likes to play with the roles of each instrument through these motives. In one instant the clarinet is playing the rolling 16th line up the scale, but then falls quickly to the background accented 8ths as the piano picks up the 16th sequence. In the quieter 8th note melody passages it would be reasonable to consider the sequences a melodic expansion of the accented 8th note ostinato.

10. Additional comments.
I think one of the most fascinating aspects of this work is its ability to seem both completely out of control and completely planned out at the same time. This seems to bepresent in much of Stravinsky’s music. He uses such a brilliant blend of harmonies, rhythms, and motivic development, while being ultra-conscious of how close he is getting to the edge of atonality. This ambiguity -- between tonal and non-tonal, standard rhythms and rhythmic surprises and oddities – is what keeps Stravinsky’s work fresh and utterly fascinating throughout.


Here is Josh's composition that uses flip pdf technology http://www.cooppress.net/flight_of_the_wulzak/flight_of_the_wulzak.html. You will be hearing an mp3 of sampled sounds playing the music and you will see the score at the same time. It uses Flash Player that most browsers come with and I have a mobile version that uses an embedded mp3 file. You will need to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows at the appropriate time.

If you would like to hear more of Josh's music, his web site is http://joshuabachar.com/.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

Dr. B

Checklist for Composers

I recently came across a blog post by Brandon Nelson on Thoughts Before Composing a Piece that can serve as an excellent checklist for composers, not only before composing, but also during the composition process, especially when one feels stuck. When one is composing, we often feel that something is not quite right but may have trouble pinpointing the problem. This is when I encourage my students to use the table of contents of my book, A Composer's Guide to Understanding Music as a point of reference and ask themselves "How is my use of _____?", where the blank is filled in with the subject of each chapter. Brandon Nelson's blog post is even more detailed than my table of contents, and serves as another way of reviewing or making decisions about composing.

Writing my Music Practice Guide

Dear readers,

I have not posted lately about my composition activities because I am in the middle of writing my free online Music Practice Guide. Musicians spend many hours in the practice room perfecting their craft, yet how many are actually taught how to practice effectively? This free guide is designed for all musicians and teachers as a compendium of ideas that I have gleaned from my teachers, by attending workshops and master classes, by talking to colleagues, and finally, through sheer necessity of needing to help a student or myself solve a problem.

This guide is divided into four main sections; preparations, focusing practice, reinforcing learning, and making practice enjoyable. The appendix contains sample practice sessions that incorporate the ideas of the main sections and are grouped according to the development level of the musician. Most of the ideas in this guide can be applied to or easily adapted for any instrument or voice.

It is my idea to invite others to offer suggestions that can be included in this guide in order for it to be constantly evolving. At this point about a third of the pages are written. You can see what is completed by visiting my website at http://cooppress.net and clicking on “books” then “Music Practice Guide”. I hope this will turn out to be a valuable resource that will enable both the musician and teacher to spend their time more effectively, see more rapid improvement, and find more enjoyment in making music.

Dr. B

Creating Win-Win Opportunities for Performers and Composers

In many fields where competition is stiff, one must figure out a way to stand out. This especially true in the arts where there are many talented and creative people expressing themselves at a high level of competence. It is not enough to be good and hope that someone will discover you. The artist must create methods of getting their work known. In this essay, I will discuss three programs that I created that have been instrumental in fostering my career as a composer and at the same time benefit the performers with whom we interface.

            Early in my composing career, I was exposed to a win-win idea by tenor saxophonist, James Houlik. Houlik is an excellent musician who performs on an instrument that does not have a large body of literature. In order to expand the literature and to build his reputation as an artist, he contacted several composers and asked them to write a composition specifically for him. In exchange for the composition, he promised to perform the work at least a half dozen times. He contacted me because I had started a co-operative publishing company for composers in 1972 where the music was printed on demand as orders were received. Houlik was impressed with our offerings and my music, and the connection was made. I composed two pieces for Jim and I received copies of the programs and recordings of his performances.

            I never forgot my experience with what he referred to as a “performance commission”. When I retired from teaching to devote more time to composing, I began to offer a Commission Grant through my publishing company, Co-op Press, that is modeled after Houlik’s “performance commission”. The Co-op Press Fund was established in 2000 as a means of encouraging performers to experience the excitement of collaborating with a composer to premiere a composition written especially for them and to share that excitement with their audiences by having the composer in residence. This is a competitive program that is available to individuals and performing groups living in the contiguous United States. The applicants can range from elementary level through professional and must demonstrate through the submission of a recording, their level of competency within their grade level. No money changes hands as the program is designed to provide benefits for both the performers and myself. To date, forty-one grants have been awarded.

            While there are many highlights resulting from my creation of this grant program, a few stand out as being career changers. At least a dozen of these commissions have resulted in a performance at national and international conferences. Many other musicians, therefore, heard my music and either purchased my compositions and performed them. Some have decided to apply for a commission grant themselves.

            As an illustration of what can happen when one thinks outside the box and creates win-win situations, I would like to refer to a commission grant we awarded in 2002 to Shelley Jagow of Wright State University. Jagow applied for and receive a grant for me to compose a composition for alto saxophone and violin in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the Wright Brothers first fight in December of 2003. The resulting composition was called “Celebration of Flight” and consisted of three movements, Inspirations, Experiments, and Triumphs. The premiere performance was scheduled for January 2003 to kick off the centennial year. After receiving an excellent performance and recording, I decided to send the recording to NPR’s Performance Today to see if they would broadcast it. It wasn’t until mid-November that I heard from Performance Today informing me that they would you use the recording during their program on December 17, 2003, the anniversary of the Wright Brothers historic flight. I was honored that my music was selected as the composition used by Performance Today for this occasion and that it was broadcast over the 250 NPR affiliate radio stations.

            The success of the Commission Grant Program inspired the establishment of our Recording Grant Program in 2005. The Recording Assistance Grant enables talented performers to produce a professional quality CD in collaboration with my recording label, Emeritus Recordings. Emeritus Recordings designs the cover, tray card and insert, obtains and pays for mechanical licenses, manufactures the CD, and commercially distributes the CD through storefront, web-based, and download retail outlets. The artist must include at least fifteen minutes of my music on the CD. The performers also provide us with the digital recordings of all the compositions included on the CD and contribute $600 towards the cost of producing and marketing the CD. The artist also receives 100 CDs that they can sell at their performances and keep the profits. Emeritus Recordings keep the profits from the digital and physical sales we make through our affiliates. This win-win program has enabled us to award twenty grants and manufacture seventeen CDs thus far.

            While the income from sales of our products and airplay on radio stations generate some income that is used to sustain the grant programs, the major benefit comes from knowing that there are people enjoying the CDs, downloads and broadcasts. Reviews of Emeritus Recordings products have been very positive. For example, James Wegg of James Wegg Reviews writes that our “Collage” CD is “a delightful smorgasbord of textures and tones.”

            In 2010, I established our Fundraising Program for Musical Organizations and Schools. Once again the thinking was to determine the needs of performers and align them with the needs of my publishing company in order to create a win-win situation. Schools and musical organizations are always in the need of funding and Co-op Press desires to offer quality recording samples of our music in order to provide potential buyers with a realistic rendition of the music they are considering buying. The cost of hiring professional musicians to record all our music is prohibitive, but by making a financial contribution to a school or musical organization to record our music is both financially reasonable and assists the groups in carrying out their mission. About two-dozen works of mine have been recorded through this program and we have contributed around five thousand dollars to musical organizations and schools.

            The establishment of a professional recording portfolio for a composer is an essential step in obtaining commissions and grants. The Recording Assistance Program and Fundraising Program have enabled me to apply for and receive grants and commissions otherwise unobtainable without these excellent recordings. It is a lot of work to administer and promote these programs, but at the end of the day, I can sit back and enjoy listening to performances by top-rate artists performing the music that I have composed under these programs. This is an accomplishment that always brings a smile to my face.

Please feel free to leave a comment.

Dr. B