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

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

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

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

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

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

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