Alex0102030405

Avoid augmented intervals and weird jumps Also may i point out it is hell trying to write atonal choir music - I did it and i showed it to two different composers who both wanted me to notate it differently - So it probably will be wrong and right from different people. Dont think of the piece as chords (as in the soprano alto and tenor together) think of it as individual lines as the soprano wont read the alto or the bass. I notated it as chords and the only use is for the composer not the performers. So the alto can have flats while the soprano has sharps that doesnt matter (unless its on short piano score (i think)). Im still confused about it but i think that you just need to keep the music on the line readable, and give it to a singer or choir master. They are the ones who will tell you where you have gone wrong notating it. its going to be wrong i can tell you now!

1) Don't seem arrogant. 2) be willing to discuss in detail - favourite composers, least favourite composers, favourite compositions and all of your own compositions. 3) Be open and be ready for criticism or praise - thus being able to discuss yours and others music without seeming single minded. 4) Have an impressive history. - Had 4 Interviews to study composition and got into 3. I said to be open because in my interview (only one of them) they were really critical about my work asking me why i had done this and this is wrong (i.e the layout) and i notated it incorrectly. They asked me about music i liked and i told them straight up and they asked why (they HATE it if you say "i dont know / "lots" / All Music"). I also had some lessons with some quite high up people and had lessons from a professor in comp. - Which is the most important thing i feel as it shows you are striving already to learn and have been noticed by someone else if not more qualified than the interview panel and it instantly sets you aside from everyone else. Also partake in summer camps - festivals - concerts - Anything that is extra curricular and well known. Also you need good compositions!

Hermann Takemitsu - Jerry Goldsmiths original planet of the apes is incredible Not an insult to williams as he can make a cracking theme tune - but nearly everyone starts with an ascending fifth... jurassic park, star wars, ET, indiana jones and i think even harry potter

Yeah, going to try it with the choir in the next 2 - 3 weeks, we shall see if its sing-able...

I know its not atonal, it just doesn't reside in a set key - i will think about this as i have some passages that are in eb, and some in bmaj. The score is hand written and im currently putting it into sibelius...

Finished writing a piece for choir ssaattbb - took is to my professor and he said i need to write it in terms of the musicians not the composer - i dont see him for 3 weeks. i understand what he's saying but i need a bit more help... My piece uses the chords ( in the first 8 bars ) - Emaj - Bbmaj- F#maj - F#maj - Cmaj - Abmaj - Emaj - Ebmaj (then i stay in Eb - ish) So how would i notate this? as i would end up with double sharps everywhere if i went - - Emaj - A#maj- F#maj- Dmaj - F#maj - Cmaj - G#maj - Emaj - Ebmaj ?? However, my bass lines goes E-D-C# (in terms of notes) in the first bar - so would it go E-C##-C#?? its really confusing me what to do as for me it makes sense to just write the chords i use not have lots of sharps instead of just a natural? as he said singers will look in terms of interval - so a 3rd is easier to read than an augmented 4th - which i understand its just like doing a bloody soduko thing, where if you change one note the rest has to change! Help!

Composers today are not bound to a tag they are free. Some have serial influences, some focus on rhythm with stravinskian influences, others purely comercial - but in the case of classical 20\21st century many different techniques are employed, and with bespoke combination of instruments. Serialism has strict rules but many composers today like John Mcleod, take serialistic aspects - like a tone row of a certain number of notes, not always 12 tone, with frequent use of transposition ect but you have to listen to these pieces to truly appreciate them and look through scores to understand them due to the fact that there not easily defined by a catchy tune. Boulez is another composer who loves his serialism Most composers are heavily influenced by stravinsky - rite of spring / petroushka due to his use of poly-tonality = combining triads e.g in petroushka he uses a C & D chord together in the strings and in the rite of spring he used an E7th and Eb7 on top of each other in the cellos - stravinsky also uses changes in metre changing each bar from 2/8 - 3/4 - 2/4 - 6/8 ect. Composers like Thomas Ades use very complex rhythms and sit for hours trying to work them out - listen to any Ades piece my favourites are America: a prophecy & Asyla - III - ecstacio. However, if you analyse these pieces you will understand them, which i cant stress enough as Ades's pieces are Atonal yet the chords aren't random if you analyse them - they make perfect sense. other composers like Mark Anthony-Turnage have heavy influences from jazz, yet still that Stravinskian rhythmic patterns and tonality - for example Scherzoid, sounds nothing like serialism. There is a lot of music being composed today which like pop music can be followed, and its your own preference if you like it or not! - its not all lumped in and sounds the same Scriabin's piano sonatas are from the late 1800 - early 1900 (died in 1911) and his works change the texture and rhythm - like later schoenberg and webern - instead of harmony and melody. but he kept a tonal basis except for his later atonal sonatas. Debussy as well, people often forget, the use of the whole tone scale and pentatonic scale. Debussy and ravel portray images and scenes very well but if you look at the music, the harmony is rather abstract. Bartok - who took folk tunes - he was font of parallelism, like debussy. - where a chord shifts by exact semi-tone / tone difference. Commercial modern compositions arent so fantastic - listen to ANY John williams theme tune and they all go I - V in the first bar of the melody. I say this as they are purely commercial - im not criticising as they are great compositions but can't be grouped with classical. On the other hand many horror films are influenced by stravinksy and his rite of spring. Other composers dont want any definition and compose to 'Portray' something - a picture / smell / feeling. And people forget that your portraying it through another sense which is sound. They cant hear a structure or they look at the score and see no relevance - this is because the only way to notate music is in a tonal way, even if what your writing is atonal. If you want to get into modern music it may take a while to get to grips. Minimalism i have left out but many composers have influeced from the use of cells - and use this to develop their rhythms Music Listen to: (<< = important) Bartok - Music for strings percussion and celesta - I is an atonal fugue. & parallelism in II + III<< Debussy - Bells between the leaves / fireworks (literally fireworks on the piano) << Ravel - String quartet in F + water games Scriabin - Black mass sonata - atonal Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring << Webern - Quartets - serialism << defines his sections by changing the texture and dynamics Tippett - Double concerto for strings - uses pentatonic scale Berio - sequenza's (These are avant garde and i personaly dont like them - this is random music with no structure or relation!) Ades - Asyla, I - II - III + IV (III is the easiest to follow, he portrays club music through his orchestra) / Tevot / America: A prohecy << Turnage - Scherzoid hope this helps

Thanks, looked it up on wikipedia and that is exactly what i was looking for! However, what about in terms of just the major chords/minor chords, not 'exact interval parallelism' but can i use the words 'parallel tonality?' as well as parallelism? because i use: (it may not make sense sorry!) 'parallelism' in root position, then 2nd position for 1 chord, back to root parallelism, followed by 2nd, 3rd, (not parallel) then back to root.

In Bartoks 'Music for strings, percussion and celesta' 2nd mvt. (which is atonal) Bartok has a passage which uses only major chords in a certain way. is there a name for this device? or scale he uses? its pounded out on the piano. the strings fill in pizz. and the bass plays a phase shifting E dim chord with E flat ( e,g,bflat,dflat,eflat ) he uses chords - Fsharp - Bflat - A - Fsharp - F - D - Fsharp - Eflat - F - G - (now with xylophone) A - Bflat - Dflat - D and so on, these are the chords i have the score. Anyone have any ideas? listen from 2:40 and you will hear when it comes in. I need to know how to describe this for my composition at school, i use a similar device, but its more tonal where i only use 3 chords in a diminished pattern (E flat - G - B) Thanks