Lesson with Steve

Steve, here is my intended course for you. Please read through and tell me if there is anything that you are already familiar with. Or if there is anything specific that you want to add. This is just an overview, there might be things that I will add later on. These are just what came to my mind right now.

Lesson Overview

Scale formation in 20th Century Music

-Five-note scales

-Six-note scales

-Seven-note scales

-eight-note scales

-other possibilities

etc..

Exercise 1: Compose melody with given scales

Chords

-Conventional triads

-triads with added notes

-quartal and quintal chords

-whole-tone chords

-polychords

etc..

Exercise 2: Compose chord progressions

Melody and voice leading

-Tonal melody

-New stylistic features of 20th century music

Composition: From here on we start to write a composition

Harmonic Progressions

-New approaches to harmonic progressions

-polytonality

-atonality

-pandiatonicism

Rhythm

-Syncopation

-Changing time signatures

-nontraditional time signatures

-polymeter

-ametric music

etc..

note: you don't need to do anything right now. I will start the lessons tomorrow and give you an assignment.

Steve, here is my intended course for you. Please read through and tell me if there is anything that you are already familiar with. Or if there is anything specific that you want to add. This is just an overview, there might be things that I will add later on. These are just what came to my mind right now.

Lesson Overview

Scale formation in 20th Century Music

-Five-note scales- Pentatonics, yup

-Six-note scales- Whole tone, augmented

-Seven-note scales- of course, but some national/ethnic scales i'm not very familiar with

-eight-note scales- i don't think so, i might if you name me

-other possibilities- tone rows

etc..

Exercise 1: Compose melody with given scales

Chords

-Conventional triads- know em

-triads with added notes- know em

-quartal and quintal chords- know, but not as experienced

-whole-tone chords- never heard the term, but i'm assuming they're chords derived from the whole tone scale

-polychords- know em, but not as experienced

etc..

Exercise 2: Compose chord progressions

Melody and voice leading

-Tonal melody

-New stylistic features of 20th century music- that's general haha

Composition: From here on we start to write a composition

Harmonic Progressions

-New approaches to harmonic progressions- general again (I know it's supposed to be general too)

-polytonality- know, not as experienced

-atonality- know and enjoy, but not as experienced (as in writing i've meant the term)

-pandiatonicism- if my memory is clear, means derived from diatonic mode but lacks a tonic center right?

Rhythm

-Syncopation- yea

-Changing time signatures- familiar

-nontraditional time signatures- familiar

-polymeter- multiple tempos at same time right? ives or elliott carter first started using that, metric modulation and all?

-ametric music- i'll guess that is meterless music

etc..

note: you don't need to do anything right now. I will start the lessons tomorrow and give you an assignment.

can't wait for lessons to begin, last day of my summer vacation is tomorrow too!

I know that you are already familiar with most of these scales but I am going to go over them very briefly in order to cover ever little aspect that we might need in the future.

Scales

It is unusual in the 20th century music to find an entire piece that uses only a single scale. The music simply wonders around different scales and tonalities. In many cases a complete scale is even not present but only a fraction of it may imply that it is a specific scale. You can consider scales as a useful tool to start of writing some themes and motives. By no means scales should limit your melodic imagination.

Pentatonic Scale (Five-note)

Pentatonic is a general name used for all five note scales. But the pentatonic scale is usually is the one shown on the following example. The pentatonic scale is often used to give an oriental flavor to a passage, but it certainly occurs elsewhere, particularly in folk melodies and children's songs.

The pentatonic scale is a limited source of melodic pitch material and also limited in its tertian harmonies. Meaning the chords built up using the scale sounds. The only possible triads are C and A and a minor 7th chord on A.

Whole-Tone Scale (Six-note)

This scale is constructed entirely of major 2nds. There are only two possible whole tone scales. Any other transposition will simply duplicate the two scales. The whole tone scale was popularized with the impressionism era, especially with Debussy. There are no major or minor chords are available with this scale and there is only one 7th chord available which is the dominant 7th with the 5th lowered or raised.

(We will get back to chords later)

Diatonic Modes (Seven-note)

Modes should be a chapter of their own but I am not planning to work on scales in depth so I am just going to pass through quickly. I believe that you already know the modes. (If you are not sure that you know everything about the modes I will add some more information here)

Octatonic Scale (Eight-note)

Also called the diminished scale, is a scale constructed of alternating minor and major 2nds. There are only two modes to this scale; one beginning with a major 2nd and the other with minor 2nd. The octatonic scale is a rich source of melodic material. It contains a vast amount of intervals; from minor seconds to major 7ths. Like the whole tone scale, it is difficult to establish a tonal center using the octatonic scale.

Other Possibilities

It would not be correct to tell you that I have discussed all the possible scales. Composers have always been in constant search for new possibilities. There are other scales which have been used extensively in 20th century music which is impossible to omit, chromatic scale, for example, had a huge popularity with the introduction of serialism. But I don't want to get into 12tone rows here. microtonal scale (using intervals smaller than minor second) is also another possibility.

EXERCISE 1

-Using pentatonic, whole tone, octatonic, chromatic and a mode of your choice, write 5 separate melodies. So one melody using only pentatonic, another using only whole tone etc..

-Your themes should be no less then 2 bars and no longer than 5 (but I am flexible, if you got carried away, write longer)

-Each theme should be in contrasting character. One could be rhythmically intense motive and another one could be a long legato melody.

You have one week to work on this. I will be back here in a week. Meanwhile you can still ask me questions using this thread. Submit your homework in midi, finale or pdf. Whichever suits you. I don't use sibelius.

:thumbsup:

gotcha, gonna work now

This was a little more challenging than I thought, although I am very familiar with most of these scales, it was awkward consciously limiting myself to the available tones and those only...for the most part the use scales in my writing is either unconscious or a starting point for ideas, where I can alter notes that follow and stuff...here's some little descriptions I made for each scale excercise

Pentatonic Scale (Five-note)

Ok I know pentatonics pretty well, both major and minor/blues...did a major pentatonic but I used it in two keys, felt like doing that and I don't know if you will either be more impressed or was looking for just one key

Whole-Tone Scale (Six-note)

Know the whole tone too, and as after I started inmprovising around with it I realized I was swinging my eigths and starting to sound like Eric Dolphy

Octatonic Scale (Eight-note)

This one was the hardest, and eventually I ended up with a melody that vaguely suggested a couple tonalities at points, but used some of the scale's oddball pitches to throw them off

Chromatic

Just an 16th note atonal stream, I just loved the effect of that

Mode (Dorian)

Fooled with the melody and realized I was suggesting more of a modulating phrase, fitting in the not yet mentioned notes in the modulation, but I fixed it up a bit (decided to introduce the G natural sooner and more often)

exercises 1.MUS

I really liked the homework you have done. You did what I was exactly aiming at. This is a good sign, it means that we will be in good understanding throughout these sessions. A lot of these melodies show a potential to be a piece later on. I especially liked your octatonic melody. You have not done these melodies for nothing; throughout the course of these lessons, we will use these themes, develop them and perhaps turn one of them into a piece. I don't want to get in detail with the melodies because we will cover them when we get to the appropriate chapter. With this homework I just wanted to see what will you come up with.

In order to increase the effectiveness of this class I have decided that we might also need to do some analysis of work composed in 20th century. But I don't know how we will do this. Lets both try to find a way for this. We really need to do some analysis, it is very important.

[EDIT] I will not be able to post the lesson tonight. But I will certainly do it tomorrow. Sorry to keep you waiting.

I decided to alter the course a little bit. We are now going to start to write a small composition. After that we will get back to where we left off. I would like you to compose a piece for a solo instrument. The instrument must be a monophonic instrument. I suggest flute or clarinet but it could be something else if you have an idea.

You already have a nice collection of themes you composed for the previous exercise. Now I want you to get back to them and listen again. Find and chose the ones you like the best. I remember liking the octatonic one. I think that might work well. But again it is up to you, it's your composition after all. With the themes we choose, I want you to write a few variations or alternations of these themes. Such alternations might include octave change. Pick a few notes and change their octaves, see if you can come up with something different with those themes. Another alternation can be inversions, retrogrades and retrograde inversions. Or, you can simply re-write the theme maintaining the same character. These are just a few ideas you can do with these themes. Think of it as a game, play around with your themes and come up with a number of variations. We need to build up a vocabulary of which our piece will be built up on.

After you complete this we will have a lot of material to start working on the piece.

[EDIT] and keep in mind the register of the instrument that you will be writing for.

Okay here's what I came up with...I will admit it was tough at times...maybe it was the lack of harmonic grounding to guide me, or maybe becasue I'm just trying to write in that 20th style which is generally new to me compositionally...I did mix up themes and motives melodically similar to the original one (my octatonic one you liked) and ones just based on the character of the original and its successors...and can you maybe give me some scores to analyze too?

here's the Finale attachment

clarinet.MUS

Steve, I looked at your finale file and I am afraid I am going to ask for some corrections before I take a look at it.

There are too many double sharps. It makes it very time consuming for me to read and think what you are doing with the piece. It's just not practical.

Also, it could be better if you can separate all your themes and motives by an empty measure so I can understand better what are your themes. Other than that, it seems you did a good job. I take it that you decided to go with clarinet instead of flute. Good, clarinet is a very versatile instrument and you will have fun writing for it. In terms of leaps and dynamics, there are no other solo instrument that it can match its versatility.

Further to our studies I am going to mention to you some about clarinet and some of the possibilities that you can employ in your piece. But for now, we need to work on our themes first.

About the analysis; Since you will now write for a solo clarinet lets look what others did with it. The only thing that comes to my mind right now is Sequenzas of Berio, which could be too heavy for you right now. If you can, find and listen the Sequenza for Clarinet by Berio. That, of course, is very virtuosic. I am not expecting such thing from you. It should only give you an idea of what could be done with clarinet.

ok I'll clean it up tomorrow, i was rushing to get it to you by tonight for you to look at, and writing for a Bb instrument isn't a strongpoint of mine...I will see what I can do about getting a hold of the Berio, I have knowledge of the piece but haven't heard it or seen a score...

You don't need to notate it in Bb, just write it in C and you can do the transposing later.

here it is, no double sharps!

clarinet.MUS

Steve,

It seems like I need to be more specific on what I ask from you to do. For now, your work shows that you are taking this class seriously and I appreciate that. So far I am liking your work and it shows a lot of potential to be a nice piece.

I need you to decide a main theme for your song and be more economic on your themes. This is another golden rule you should understand. Being economic in your melodic materials not only makes it easier for you to organize your piece but also makes it easier for the listener to understand your music. Ultimately it helps your piece to be more coherent. For your next assignement choose a melodic material from your recent sketches and try to be more faithful to the original material when you make the transformations and alternations. I am going to be more specific: on the staff paper write the theme that you choose and after that write 3-4 different alternations of it. It will be also a good idea to choose a contrasting theme to be the 2nd theme of the song. You can also write alternations for that one. Please indicate everything with text on the finale file.

hey i'm going to try to post something tonight, I've been very busy with school and work lately, sorry I couldn't turn in material sooner

okay back from my hiatus, sorry it's been a while, I've been VERY anxious for our lessons! anyways, I think I held a bit more true to the theme, did struggle a little bit, mostly because I got kind of sick of the theme and starting getting stale...I wasn't too sure if I was supposed to do a bunch of variations on a second theme because the first and second set of directions were different...I like one of my older motives I came up when I did the assignment incorrectly and left it there with its proceeding chaotic breakdown, which I also like :) It's labeled "theme 2?"

clarinet.MUS

I am very sorry for the long delay. But this was due to the fact that I had no internet connection the past week and also I was in the middle of some important stuff. But anyway, hope you forgive me for that and lets get back to our leson.

Your materials are good. I think you mis understand me from somewhere because I never said you did something incorrectly I just wanted you to work on limited number of motives at first. Of course I don't ask you to erase your materials.

Here is what I think about the progress so far: I do not want to interfere with your melodies so I will only speak of what could have been done to improve them. First of all the rhythmic aspect is very unvaried and predictable at some parts. For example the ascending triplet figure, you know how it will end at the moment it starts.. You get my point ? Also the persistent 16th notes starting at measure 9. I know that this stage is too early to get into such detail but I am just telling you what I think as we progress, it might help you later on. I would suggest you to be more inventive with your rhythmic patterns to avoid predictability which sometimes is the reason to be a piece to be boring.

On the second page however, you used 8th notes and quarters. why? why the sudden change in pace? Or did you make it like this as a working draft of your motives. Or do you intend to crate a contrasting character with these ?

Ok see, now you got plenty of material to start writing your piece. Now you know for which instrument you are writing for and you got plenty of themes to work with. Have you decided on the form or the length perhaps? I assume this will be a pretty fast piece so it might be only 2 minutes or so. Perfect for our first assignment, so we can quickly finish this up to move on to another one.

For your next assignment:

Organise your materials in a fashion to represent an ABA form. You can use your main theme at the both A parts and the slow themes of the second page on the B part. Organize them and leave blank measures where you plan to crate transitions and other materials later on. This way we will have the backbone of our piece and will get the basic idea before the details get in.

if you get stuck.. just post what you have

okay...i have to go to my job for a few hours and willl work later, but a few things to say first...yes, this was a draft with motives and themes...I will work on improving the themes, maybe coming up with new ones, etc...i was hoping to make it short, and I didn't have a form in mind (although I'm open to your choice of ABA)...from the begininning through the end of the 16th notes was originally conceived as one whole beginning, and the stream 16th notes were on purpose and is intended as a virtuoso display, but is intended to be "stretch" effect through changes of drastic slow and fast tempi (I don't know much on controlling that type of playback)...but if you really are opposed i can get rid of it...i'll try to finish the assignment too (I'm anxious to move on to something else too!)

sorry it has been so long...i have been swamped with my job and school work, and will get to the assignment asap...don't worry I am still anxious for our lessons!