I have to be honest with you... I've never really believed in the mantra "hard work always pays off". I've seen many situations where that simply isn't the case. I believe that hard work can certainly build character; however, the belief that 'hard work' will guarantee one's desired outcome has never really rang true for me. Thankfully, right now in Composition Seminar this mantra has never sang louder!
Evident by the bags under people's eyes and coffee in their hands, our class has no doubt invested a great deal of time and effort in this composition project. When we discussed in class about possibly pushing the deadline for this assignment, Dr. Ross advised that the rush up to a concert is something he has seen many times before. In most cases, the concerts have gone off with resounding success. From where I was sitting, I was extremely nervous that I would not fall under the umbrella of "most cases" and my pieces (both the one I had written/was playing and the one I was playing for Andrew) would be a large and booming flop. Although there was certainly some sections that I would like to re-record, overall I was surprisingly pleased with how the pieces came together! Now that is something I never thought I would say this time last week!
I thought everyone did a great job with their pieces. I mean this with respect to both composition and performance. I especially liked hearing how people's third movements developed since we did not get a lot of time to explore the last movement in class. I thought the concert was a great experience and was such a great way to spend lunchtime on Thursday!
Now... to do some score editing so someone else would be able to play my piece!
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Practice, practice, practice!
We've finally gotten together as a group to play through my piece!
I figured going into our first practice that, where it was the first rehearsal and all, things would be a bit rocky... sure I knew my part the least out of the three of us and I wrote the piece!
My first experience writing for and playing with a piano trio could not have been more positive. My players were amazing to work with; adaptable, musical, punctual, sweet etc. ETC. ETC! The compliments I could give are never ending! They were a total delight and absolute treat!
One thing I found great was that as we were playing, there were times when I noticed things that I had written and wanted to change. Even though the violin and cello were playing it exactly as I had notated, I wanted to change it to something slightly different. Neither of the players were upset by this and were totally willing to do whatever I asked. I can't emphasize what a positive experience this was!
A huge thank you to Dominic and Rachel for taking the time to learn and play my piece. At this time of the year, I know how crazy-hectic everyone's courses and workloads are, and it means the world that you put in the time and effort to play my piece with me. THANK YOU!
I figured going into our first practice that, where it was the first rehearsal and all, things would be a bit rocky... sure I knew my part the least out of the three of us and I wrote the piece!
My first experience writing for and playing with a piano trio could not have been more positive. My players were amazing to work with; adaptable, musical, punctual, sweet etc. ETC. ETC! The compliments I could give are never ending! They were a total delight and absolute treat!
One thing I found great was that as we were playing, there were times when I noticed things that I had written and wanted to change. Even though the violin and cello were playing it exactly as I had notated, I wanted to change it to something slightly different. Neither of the players were upset by this and were totally willing to do whatever I asked. I can't emphasize what a positive experience this was!
A huge thank you to Dominic and Rachel for taking the time to learn and play my piece. At this time of the year, I know how crazy-hectic everyone's courses and workloads are, and it means the world that you put in the time and effort to play my piece with me. THANK YOU!
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming...
I sometimes find that finishing a piece is even harder than starting. Luckily, for this set of pieces, once I had a concept for my past piece, it really took off from under me. I may need to backtrack a little here...
To start, I wanted to write a piece that balanced wonky tonalities with a folk-ish melody to start my three pieces for piano trio. Once that was done, I was inspired by Lutoslawski's scores to writing a piece that was intriguing to the eye and knew that I wanted to have this as a slower piece that focuses on the chords (from my original chord progression) and the sonorities that form from mixing the three instrument voicings. So that was all fine and well. Don't get me wrong- this certainly took some time, but overall it came together and I was pleased with the piece. Now what? Beats me I'll tell ya that much. When it came time to start writing my third and final piece of the set, I didn't quite know where to start. I would write something... and erase it. I would write something... and erase it. I would write something... and you get the idea.
Sometimes I've found that if you have a title in mind, it can help you take your piece where it instinctively wants to go; however, this also would not be of much benefit for me since I didn't have a title for my collection of pieces or a title for any movement. So I'm back to square one. I decided though that I would explore this 'naming' avenue first and maybe get inspired along the way.
To my surprise, this method actually worked! My train of thought actually went pretty fast here... I started with the first but couldn't think of anything immediately so went to the second. The second one had some homophonic movement like a chorale and some individual movement that was somewhat chant like. Chorale and chant... Church. But the sonorities weren't traditional. Everyday chant for the modern man. Translated to latin as it would have been and boom. Title created. Back track to the first piece. Something to go with chant. Chant happens on Sunday. Sunday? SUNDAY! Title for the set. My god! This is great! So back to the first piece... Hmm... What do I do on Sunday? I grocery shop on Sunday. "Off to the Market" it is. So now I've got a piece about a Sunday. The last piece from there was easy coming. It had to be something about dreams and sleeping and the mind rushing trying to fall asleep.
I was inspired by Tintinnabuli, a compositional style coined by Avro Pärt. To read a little more on this method, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinnabuli (yes, I know Wikipedia isn't a scholarly source, but it give a good description of this technique that is extremely accessible to readers).
From there, I created a somewhat minimalist style piece with repetition of certain pitch classes, moving rhythms, different accentuations, all with the underlying concept of Tintinnabuli and of course, chords from my original progression.
Funny how sometimes, music comes together in a way that you least expect.
To start, I wanted to write a piece that balanced wonky tonalities with a folk-ish melody to start my three pieces for piano trio. Once that was done, I was inspired by Lutoslawski's scores to writing a piece that was intriguing to the eye and knew that I wanted to have this as a slower piece that focuses on the chords (from my original chord progression) and the sonorities that form from mixing the three instrument voicings. So that was all fine and well. Don't get me wrong- this certainly took some time, but overall it came together and I was pleased with the piece. Now what? Beats me I'll tell ya that much. When it came time to start writing my third and final piece of the set, I didn't quite know where to start. I would write something... and erase it. I would write something... and erase it. I would write something... and you get the idea.
Sometimes I've found that if you have a title in mind, it can help you take your piece where it instinctively wants to go; however, this also would not be of much benefit for me since I didn't have a title for my collection of pieces or a title for any movement. So I'm back to square one. I decided though that I would explore this 'naming' avenue first and maybe get inspired along the way.
To my surprise, this method actually worked! My train of thought actually went pretty fast here... I started with the first but couldn't think of anything immediately so went to the second. The second one had some homophonic movement like a chorale and some individual movement that was somewhat chant like. Chorale and chant... Church. But the sonorities weren't traditional. Everyday chant for the modern man. Translated to latin as it would have been and boom. Title created. Back track to the first piece. Something to go with chant. Chant happens on Sunday. Sunday? SUNDAY! Title for the set. My god! This is great! So back to the first piece... Hmm... What do I do on Sunday? I grocery shop on Sunday. "Off to the Market" it is. So now I've got a piece about a Sunday. The last piece from there was easy coming. It had to be something about dreams and sleeping and the mind rushing trying to fall asleep.
I was inspired by Tintinnabuli, a compositional style coined by Avro Pärt. To read a little more on this method, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintinnabuli (yes, I know Wikipedia isn't a scholarly source, but it give a good description of this technique that is extremely accessible to readers).
From there, I created a somewhat minimalist style piece with repetition of certain pitch classes, moving rhythms, different accentuations, all with the underlying concept of Tintinnabuli and of course, chords from my original progression.
Funny how sometimes, music comes together in a way that you least expect.
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
http://thesaurus.com/browse/go+off+tangent
I had someone ask me a couple days ago who my favourite composer is. I honestly didn't know how to answer the question. I mean... To me, Bach set up fundamental compositional techniques for the C.P.P. that are now taught in hundreds (if not thousands) of entry level music theory classes... but I wouldn't call Bach my favourite composer. And to me, Beethoven was a crucial figure in the transition from classical to romantic... but again, not my favourite composer. I love Brahms' piano works, but to be my favourite? I don't think so... And I love newer music. And what about Ives? Stravinsky? Pärt? Barber? I just don't know! I feel as though I could have answered this question with great ease before entering the School of Music, but my time here has significantly changed this answer. By the looks of things, I no longer even have an answer at all!
So I did what anyone would do when they don't know an answer to a question: Googled it. Of course, I can't google, "Who is Vanessa's favourite composer?" but I can see what other people have to say about the subject. Surprisingly (I thought people would be forcing their opinions down my throat), I found that many other people struggled with an answer as well.
I stumbled upon Eric Whitacre's (see, another one I really like...) blog and I thought he had an interesting post.
http://ericwhitacre.com/blog/music-composition-for-dummies
While some people would take the compliment and run, he basically said, "let's get real here b'ys..." which I thought was great. Maybe deep down he really thinks he should be on the list, who knows, but I liked the way he approached the subject. His list of favourite composers would have a hundred names on it... and if that's good enough for Whitacre, that's good enough for me!
The reason why I thought this was somewhat relevant for my composition blog (now mind you, follow the title link) is because often, I find myself looking at other composer's works as a kind of precedence or possible building block for my own ideas. I'm sure many people would find flaw in this and say we should try and 'create our own wheel' but sometimes, you just need a little inspiration. But who should you be inspired by? What I have found in the past is that I'm often inspired not by my favourite composer, but rather by a composer who I happen to be listening to a lot of lately. I think this is why when I finally responded to "Who is your favourite composer?" my answer was not absolute, but rather a short list of composers who a was "on a bit of a kick."
So I did what anyone would do when they don't know an answer to a question: Googled it. Of course, I can't google, "Who is Vanessa's favourite composer?" but I can see what other people have to say about the subject. Surprisingly (I thought people would be forcing their opinions down my throat), I found that many other people struggled with an answer as well.
I stumbled upon Eric Whitacre's (see, another one I really like...) blog and I thought he had an interesting post.
http://ericwhitacre.com/blog/music-composition-for-dummies
While some people would take the compliment and run, he basically said, "let's get real here b'ys..." which I thought was great. Maybe deep down he really thinks he should be on the list, who knows, but I liked the way he approached the subject. His list of favourite composers would have a hundred names on it... and if that's good enough for Whitacre, that's good enough for me!
The reason why I thought this was somewhat relevant for my composition blog (now mind you, follow the title link) is because often, I find myself looking at other composer's works as a kind of precedence or possible building block for my own ideas. I'm sure many people would find flaw in this and say we should try and 'create our own wheel' but sometimes, you just need a little inspiration. But who should you be inspired by? What I have found in the past is that I'm often inspired not by my favourite composer, but rather by a composer who I happen to be listening to a lot of lately. I think this is why when I finally responded to "Who is your favourite composer?" my answer was not absolute, but rather a short list of composers who a was "on a bit of a kick."
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