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This is a really old piece that I dug out of my archives and decided to finish. It is an exercise in how to turn a really banal and repetitive melody into (hopefully) something more interesting through polytonal harmonization. Also, there's lots of cross-relations but I tried to keep them tasteful. I decided to keep some traditional cadences intact despite the polytonal context. Needless to say, this is a bit rough around the edges and might qualify as more of an experimental orchestral sketch than an actual piece LoL. Let me know if you like it or not. I welcome your critiques, suggestions or just observations. Thanks for listening!

The title of this piece translates loosely to 'Trek on the Oregon Trail' and it refers to the wagon trains that were travelling across the continent America to find a new home sometime in the 19th century. It starts simple, not certain what is to come. While travelling through the prairies, deserts and mountains, the group comes upon different challenges and also beautiful passages. When they reach their destination, it gets calmer again and the last chord represents the group settling down in their new home. Der Oregon Trail-score.pdf.pdf Der Oregon Trail-audio.mp3.mp3

Really easy to listen to. Here in the UK it would be classed as "light music" and is entirely successful at that - probably playable at sight for performers in that arena. It's the kind of music one might find backing an activities sequence in a documentary - light hearted, enough dissonance lift it out of the banal, a buoyant rhythm. Easy-going energy. Very little to say about it otherwise. One of those pieces that should be used in a multi-media context. Nice rendering. Shows how something lieft on the back-burner can be given new life!

Hi everyone. Gosh it has been lightyears since I sat down and actually wrote a piece. (lol) Background of this composition: I wanted to capture the same musical energy and vigor of the WTC preludes. Simple and elegant! Thus, the first thing step, as always, I wrote down a simple idea that would flourish with in the composition as a whole. You may notice that there are hints of chromatics (here and there) and inversions of other harmonies. (I wanted to use 9th chord and 13 chords, but they were not used in this period). I am rather pleased with end result.

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Hi Aaron, I really think that you have improved much! Apart from what Peter had said, you are really exploring different keys this time and the piece appears more flowing than your previous ones. The changing of rhythm in b.25 is really nice for me for the hemiola usage. I may use a D major chord for b.48 for a return to G minor next bar. FOr the tied figure in b.19 actually I think you can just use a dotted note for that. I may also use the melodic minor instead for the main theme with a F natural replacing the F# in the top line, but that's personal. Thx for sharing! Henry

Hey Peter, I really like this and I think you have achieved your goal to turns "a really banal and repetitive melody into something more interesting through polytonal harmonization." I really enjoy the repetitiveness and banality of the theme, since this makes the underlying polytonal harmony much more interesting than if the motives themselves are already complicated and you will have to not only analyze the polytonality but also the development of the themes and motives. I say this because I conceive this work as a dance and I think the repetitiveness is actually a great decision. Maybe you can just change the instrumentation slightly with the same lines to add varieties for both the repeated section of b.1-40 and b.43-67. In the first section C major is taking the lead and the flat key chords are subordinating to it. I am thinking maybe you can reverse the role and have the melody in flat keys (which you did) and C major as the subordinate chords. Or the second section the main melody is in minor with the C major constantly contradicting the "sadness" underneath the melody. But this is an enjoyable funny piece! Thx for sharing! Henry

Now this is a piece based on a motif. Note that I categorize this slightly differently than motive which I feel is a more deliberate theme that doesn't necessarily have to recur so often, or doesn't require a strict pattern. Anyway, this melody is short enough to qualify as a motif and it's certainly recurring throughout. Moving on, even if you categorize this piece as experimental, it can also be a study due to how organized, focused it is. I'm trying to pick out the new parts for fun. At around 1:55, the tension and release is well done. I feel this perhaps qualifies as one of the new part you worked on (let me know if I'm right? lol). You then expand on that idea at around 2:36. This is really very good. I think that at around 0:38 seconds in through 0:50 seconds, this part just feels slightly too repetitive. But then you follow it up with some really great writing immediately afterwards. I'm not sure if I'm hearing the old Peter transition to the new Peter here. 2:22 through 2:35 is actually almost the same passage as 0:38 to 0:50, but it's done in a much more interesting way...again, new Peter? But in general, while most of the piece is actually repetitive, it's done in a way that is enjoyable to listen to, and I think that people can learn from this (sorta like a motif study perhaps). One thing to note is that the score needs to be landscape or tabloid when you are doing orchestral works, just so that its easier to follow along. It should not read like a piano score.

Thanks very much for listening, and for your comments! It's a good point about not much place to breathe in the coda of the last movement. Despite being a (former) flute player, I seem to keep neglecting the need for breathing when writing for winds. I would love to get this performed, but I cannot imagine how that would ever happen. I imagine hiring five professional wind players to record a 20 minute piece would be prohibitively expensive.