Lesson with JairCrawford

In this lesson, we shall cover the basics of: harmony, scoring/orchestration (basics, and I'll link to QC's masterclass), and form. Harmony will include voice leading, but we won't go into counterpoint for now. (You can look at my various other lesson threads in the archive, in several of which I covered counterpoint).

To begin with, a couple of short exercises, just to see where you are. (If you need a score, i can post a midi or a .sib file)

Exercise 1: I would like you to fill in a third part (alto).

To elaborate: there are two parts so far, a bass, and a melody; bass, and soprano, if you will. I would like you to add another voice in between those two.

Exercise 2: I have written a little phrase, which ends on what is called an imperfect cadence - it is an open phrase. A closed phrase ends with a perfect cadence. I would like you to complement my phrase with an answering phrase of about the same length, and which ends in a perfect V-I cadence.

Exercise 3: Here is a little 4-part writing. I would like you to score it for any small chamber ensemble. Strings, winds, voices, it's your choice.

These are just to see where you are, don't worry too much. Also, if you don't understand anything I've said, or any terminology, let me know.

(Oh, and I just put the exercise together there now; the music in it is terrible - I'm tired! :P)

Jair Exercise.pdf

Jair Exercise.mid

I'm doing ex 1. right now.... Ok. Here is exercise 1.

What you've done is provide a nice running line in the inner voice. That is certainly something we would do in a real piece; however, for now we're just wanting to work with the harmony. Just use crotchets and minims for that exercise.

(There were a few mistakes, but I will discuss counterpoint much later)

Btw, do you prefer British terms (crotchet, quaver, semibreve, etc.), or American terms (quarter note, eighth, whole note, etc.)?

When you have done all three exercises, I will compile them into one, and post a pdf, so other people can see.

Oh... so do I use the same note values for the alto as the lead? (I'm much more familiar with the American note terms.) Crotchets and minims.... I'm assuming half notes and quarter notes given that those are the ones you used to make the exercise am I right?

(Oh, would it be alright if you posted a .sib for exercises 2 and 3?)

Ok. here's take two:

Your new ex. 1 is much better. I will comment in detail once all three exercises are done.

With exercise 3, I would prefer that you not copy and paste from the .sib file (I want you to think about each note carefully), but I'm providing the file anyway.

Jair Exercise sib2.sib

Ok. Here is ex.2 Ex.3 is in progress, I'm doing a string quartet... Ok. Here it is...

OK - attached are the midi and pdf files of the combined three exercises.

Now I will make some comments, but I will try to focus on basic principles rather than individual parts of the music.

Exercise 1

Mostly quite good. Be careful only to use one note per voice in this type of writing. If this were written for three singers, well an alto can't sing two notes! The appearance of an extra note makes the listener expect an extra voice, so in this type of writing, keep to one note per part. (Especially here, it is not saved by voice leading, as your F does not resolve to an E).

Another point: don't make the music too busy. If one part is moving quickly, it is often wise for the other parts to move less quickly. (This of course applies not to all situations).

So, for example, in measures 3 and 5, the alto needn't have had all those quarter notes.

That exercise was quite good, on the whole, though. You obviously have some grasp of harmony; we'll work on getting a little more-in-depth knowledge.

Exercise 2

Quite good.

The harmony of your second phrase is almost exactly the same as the first phrase, which makes it a little boring. Watch for this in future; boredom is the bane of music.

I expected you would continue more with the little motif, of which much use is made in the first phase. Think about what you would have done with that little motif (the dotted quarter, eighth, quarter motif which you use once in the 5th measure of the second phrase).

Again, try not to introduce an extra voice to the right hand; the first phrase used only one. The problem with this is consistency, as I mentioned regarding Ex.1. In the 6th measure of your second phrase, do you see the problem? The right hand has D C B, and with the G below, in the bass, those notes imply a certain dissonance (C above G) resolving to the G major chord (with B above G), but you have a B already in the left hand. Remove that B and listen to how much better it sounds. The problem is the clash between the C and the B, and the B ruins the nice suspension - resolution that the right hand gives over the G in the bass.

You did stay in character for the piece though, and it was fairly convincing, so a good attempt!

Exercise 3

Well you've really just copied and pasted it into a string quartet here. Nothing much to say. It would have worked equally well for voices, or woodwind quartet (if you transposed it), so this was not really orchestrating.

I will give you a tougher exercise next time on orchestration.

By the way, was the piano supposed to go with the string quartet? Because that does not make for a very good ensemble, when the piano is playing in such a 4-part hymn style.

Good work anyway. I will prepare another exercise.

Jair Exercise.mid

Jair Exercise.pdf

I'm very busy at the moment, so you could post your thoughts on what I've said while I prepare the next exercise.

Here are the final .sibs.

ex1+ex1take2+ex2.sib

ex-3.sib

Ok. Well, as far as the third exercise was concerned, it was pretty straight forward. There were four voices originally. So I applied each voice to a different instrument.

I meant your thoughts on my corrections. After all, there's no point in my correcting your work if you don't understand why!

OK - attached are the midi and pdf files of the combined three exercises.

Now I will make some comments, but I will try to focus on basic principles rather than individual parts of the music.

Exercise 1

Mostly quite good. Be careful only to use one note per voice in this type of writing. If this were written for three singers, well an alto can't sing two notes! The appearance of an extra note makes the listener expect an extra voice, so in this type of writing, keep to one note per part. (Especially here, it is not saved by voice leading, as your F does not resolve to an E).

Another point: don't make the music too busy. If one part is moving quickly, it is often wise for the other parts to move less quickly. (This of course applies not to all situations).

So, for example, in measures 3 and 5, the alto needn't have had all those quarter notes.

That exercise was quite good, on the whole, though. You obviously have some grasp of harmony; we'll work on getting a little more-in-depth knowledge.

Exercise 2

Quite good.

The harmony of your second phrase is almost exactly the same as the first phrase, which makes it a little boring. Watch for this in future; boredom is the bane of music.

I expected you would continue more with the little motif, of which much use is made in the first phase. Think about what you would have done with that little motif (the dotted quarter, eighth, quarter motif which you use once in the 5th measure of the second phrase).

Again, try not to introduce an extra voice to the right hand; the first phrase used only one. The problem with this is consistency, as I mentioned regarding Ex.1. In the 6th measure of your second phrase, do you see the problem? The right hand has D C B, and with the G below, in the bass, those notes imply a certain dissonance (C above G) resolving to the G major chord (with B above G), but you have a B already in the left hand. Remove that B and listen to how much better it sounds. The problem is the clash between the C and the B, and the B ruins the nice suspension - resolution that the right hand gives over the G in the bass.

You did stay in character for the piece though, and it was fairly convincing, so a good attempt!

Exercise 3

Well you've really just copied and pasted it into a string quartet here. Nothing much to say. It would have worked equally well for voices, or woodwind quartet (if you transposed it), so this was not really orchestrating.

I will give you a tougher exercise next time on orchestration.

By the way, was the piano supposed to go with the string quartet? Because that does not make for a very good ensemble, when the piano is playing in such a 4-part hymn style.

Good work anyway. I will prepare another exercise.

It seems pretty self-explanatory to me. I think I understand what you are saying. ;)

Whenever you're ready :thumbsup:. :)

Free next week.

Been snowed under with coursework.

I hate winking smiley faces. ;)

Free next week.

Been snowed under with coursework.

I hate winking smiley faces. ;)

Ok. Sounds good. I don't mean to rush you. ;)... um I mean :).

Difficult exercise this time.

Please refer to QcCowboy's orchestration masterclass for help in that part of this exercise.

Attached is a melody. The exercise: to create two different basslines (I.e., implying different harmonies) for this melody.

For each bassline & melody combination you now have (2), I want you to create a scoring.

Score one for a small string ensemble (string orch, string quartet, trio, anything). Score the other for small wind ensemble (quintet, quartet, etc.)

You will have to create other parts to fill out the harmony, and keep things interesting. You may wish to post when you have created your two basslines so that you don't orchestrate something which isn't as good as it could be.

If you post the basslines, post them WITH the melody - not just bass alone.

Have fun!

Melody Jair.pdf

Ok, for the string one, I decided to do a trio. So far, I'm doing alright with the viola part, but the cello part is driving me crazy. I can't get it to sound right.

Here's what I've done so far. I've updated it.

2ex-1.sib

You're not meant to start orchestrating it until you've written out the bass-line.

The bass-line comes first. Post that, and then you can work out a viola part (which is of course going to be easier).

The bass-line is the most important thing other than the melody, so it's what the meat of this exercise is.

Post me two melodies with their bass-lines - then we can worry about orchestrating.

Ah. Ok. I made the change. I figured that the viola part would be good for the bass line, so I moved it to the cello.

I DON'T want 3 parts yet!

(from what you have posted: avoid the bass and soprano always having the same rhythm. The Db in the melody could work with an F in the bass, in this type of harmony. The bass you have there is not good.)

Ok, so I've done this much so far. But at that next measure, I get stumped. :wacko: Updated

Ok.

Some basic pointers: don't think about harmonising each and every note. Harmony doesn't usually change with every note of the melody. Try and see what harmonic rhythm is being dictated by the melody. Remember than you can have passing notes, and appogiaturas etc. in the melody -- don't harmony note by note. Probably think in bars, and half bars, and maybe occasionally the harmony can change faster.

Keep the bass part fairly simple for now.

You seem to be harmonising just by trying to fit the best consonant chord to each melody note -- try to be very conscious of the progression of harmony - play out each chord change, and make sure it's strong. (I say chord because you must be implying a chord with your bass and melody).

As for the Db, like I said, an F could work below, so could a D, a Gb, a G, an A,....

Certainly, in C major, Db implies a Db F Ab chord, but you needn't be restricted to standard tonal progressions. The A before the Db almost rules out a Db major chord.

By the way, watch that the rhythm of your bass-line doesn't 'denature' the 6/8 rhythm in the places where 6/8 is meant strongly to be felt.

Ah... I must be limiting myself... I'm not into atonal... so I guess I'm limiting myself to tonal harmonies.

Nowhere did I say atonal. It would be very difficult to make something atonal out of this melody. You just don't have to limit yourself to standard tonal progressions in this.

Some of the melody suggests a certain tonal progression, whereas others suggest things which are much less standard.

That's part of what makes this a difficult exercise. I want you to tackle all these problems.

Oh. Ok. Well, I updated the excercise.