limited composition

hi everyone,

I'm a first time composer who has to make up a piece fo rmy chosen instrumen (flute) out of the aolian cmajor scale, so im using A,C,E and F. Does anyone know any flute expressive techniques so i can make it a bit more interesting?

Basic articulations (slurs, legato and staccatos) are always nice as well as flutter tongue and multi-phonics can add some fair. Also look up alternate figurings that create some cool tunings or alternate sounds. Grace notes and glissandos are also nice touches. Also having the player intentionally play with an airy tone at spots can create contrast as well.

Should be enough to get you started. :)

Good luck with that! I always find I work better with limitations instead of free reign, so hopefully this will be the case with you as well.

what exactly are multi phonics? my teacher was telling me about a technique somewhat like playing the didgeridoo, where you make a noise inside your throat and buzz the lips, is this anything like it or have i got the completely worng end of the stick?

Yes, multi-phonics involve humming or vocalizing while playing the instrument. It creates two tones at once. You can also growl, kinda like rolling an "r" while playing, but I think flutter tonguing would be more effective on a flute. I do multi-phonics more often on saxophone than flute- but your teacher was telling you about multi-phonics.

Humming while playing is one kind of multiphonics, but what is usually called multiphonics on woodwinds, is the use of special fingering and possibly a special embouchure to produce certain chords/intervals. You can find tables of multiphonics in various books and on the internet, but they can vary a lot between different instruments and different players, so it's best to work with a performer, respectively try them out yourself if its for your own instrument. Or, you can just indicate "multiphonic" over a note, without actually specifying the chord that should sound and leave it up to the performer to find a multiphonic fingering that produces a good/stable result.

Multiphonics can also done on brass instruments in this way, but this is usually quite hard and on brass instruments its much more common to refer to "singing while playing" as multiphonics. Singing while playing can actually produce more than two tones too, as combination and difference tones may also be produced (Combination and difference tones are new tones that appear at the sum and the difference of the frequencies of the two tones you produce by playing and singing).

Personally, however, I'm not too fond of using as many extended effects as possible just for the sake of using them. You can make a perfectly interesting piece without any magic tricks (not to say extended techniques are always magic tricks. They are just often used in such a way.). Admittedly, in your case you seem to be rather limited in your choice of pitches, but you can still play with rhythm, articulations, dynamics, registers, etc.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't use any extended techniques, but only use it when you feel it's musically needed. A piece where you get the feeling that the composer just wants to demonstrate everything you can do with an instrument may get boring much more quickly than a simple striking idea that you follow through your piece.

P.S. May I ask what an "aolian [or aeolian what I suppose you meant] cmajor scale" is? I can understand C aeolian or C major, but I've never heard of the combination.

Check out Berio's sequenza for solo flute, good place to look for effects/techniques.

Also, Varese Density 21 for good modern flute writing.

Also, Varese Density 21 for good modern flute writing.

Though it's a little simple by comparison. :>

i meant where you ahve the aeolian mode of cmajor, so you start on the a. at least thats how my teacher described it.

i meant where you ahve the aeolian mode of cmajor, so you start on the a. at least thats how my teacher described it.

so....a minor?

Isn't a minor slightly different theoretically? It has all the same notes, but I thought that the common chord progression were different. Also, most people don't write in natural minor, which is what makes aeolian, aeolian. Harmonic and Melodic minor are not the same thing. So it's a little different than aminor. But not much.

i guess so then. does anyone know how to notate a deliberate flattening of the note, like rolling the headjoint in?

I believe (I could be mistaken) that you notate the note you are bending to (usually a quartertone - half sharp or half flat note) and connect the two notes - the first one and the the one produced after the bending - with a slanted line from one to the other (and possibly back again if you wanna go back up.) I think you would indicate something very clear to understand, above those notes write "roll over headjoint" or something similar.

Anyways, just to clarify if there is any confusion left, there are *two* types of "multiphonics." The first type is a real multiphonic, where you get the instrument to sound more than one note at a time. Can't really be done on brass (I won't bother discussing what IS possible in that regard), but on woodwinds you can find "trick" fingerings that yield a few certain notes together but they often differ from one instrument to the next and brand to brand. The second type of multiphonic can be done on ANY wind instrument and that is when you sing while playing the instrument, where you usually indicate the notes that are physically sung with a special shape notehead (usually like a diamond-shaped one or rectangle or something different.) These two multiphonic techniques can be combined as well.

Anyways... A minor is not the same as A aeolian, or even C major. A aeolian is a mode and its scale is equivalent to A natural minor scale, true, but if you write a piece in "A minor" it will usually use the melodic minor as well, and other changes. To write a piece truly in "A aeolian" is to use ONLY the A aeolian scale (again, equiv. to A nat. minor) --- so there would be no big V - i, just the v - i. It has a different character, since it is a mode. Vantastic just said he was using only A, C, E, and F. That could actually fall into a couple of different tonal centers. It's part of A minor, A aeolian, and fits nicely into F major/ionian/lydian as well. I think he got confused because A aeolian has the same series of notes as C major only with a different tone center - essentally the aeolian mode OF the C major scale. The Dorian mode of C would be D dorian then, since THAT is the same as the notes in C major, lydian of C would be F lydian, and ect. ect. This would all be opposed to saying the mode ON C. Aeolian ON C would be... C aeolian - equiv. to C nat. minor.

Sorry if I kinda talked about nothing much for a long time. :sweat:

Anyways, just to clarify if there is any confusion left, there are *two* types of "multiphonics." The first type is a real multiphonic, where you get the instrument to sound more than one note at a time. Can't really be done on brass

I already mentioned that :P But you can create such multiphonics on brass, it's just very hard and extremely uncommon. You can for example play exactly between two notes of the harmonic series and both "adjoining notes" will resonate, even though it's very hard to keep the tone stable between those notes, as it always wants to "snap into the grid". With some very weird embouchure and half-pressed valves in combination you can create even more multiphonics. All such brass multiphonics sound very harsh though and often it will sound a lot more like distortion than two distinct tones.

To write a piece truly in "A aeolian" is to use ONLY the A aeolian scale (again, equiv. to A nat. minor)

Another slight objection there: It has always (well, not always but definitely in the later middle ages) been allowed and common to augment or diminish certain notes of a mode in certain passages. For example, a finishing clause usually has one voice approaching the fundamental tone from the heightened 7th, i.e. the leading tone, even in dorian, aeolian, phrygian, etc. Leading tones were rather common even before the time of major and minor scales. You just have to be extra careful with your voice-leading to not produce a hiatus, i.e. the augmented second (for example between the 6th and the augmented 7th of the aeolian mode, like harmonic minor).

You can for example play exactly between two notes of the harmonic series and both "adjoining notes" will resonate, even though it's very hard to keep the tone stable between those notes, as it always wants to "snap into the grid".

Unless you're just starting to learn the brass instrument. :thumbsup: I'm taking up the trombone now... being working on it for about three days now and let me tell you, it ain't hard to get that lovely P5 Chewbacca call on command. Used to get it on horn, but once we learn to play the instrument better, it's more a force of habit to slot the notes perfectly because it's dead easy not to.

:P True. Sometimes not knowing how to play an instrument has its advantages too.

thanks for everyones help, i finsihed my first ever composition with flying colours. Thanks again!

FYI, flute is really the only woodwind instrument where it's possible to sing and play effectively (cue: stupid human trick of playing Frere Jacques with yourself). On reed instruments, the reed gets in the way... all you're really doing is trying to hum through your nose (and it can be quite uncomfortable). On recorder, the simple nature of the instrument makes singing impractical because it screws up your notes.

Hi again

I need to write a piece for my HSC composition, 2 minutes in length, for any instruments and with basically no limitations.

I've already written a timpani part along with conga and a drum kit (although badly because I have no idea how to notate drum music properly), but i can't seem to come up with any harmonies or melodies that seem interesting.

It's in G natural minor, and I wanted to do a flute and piccolo duet, with the piccolo just playing a few ornamental parts. Or perhaps a flute duet.

Anybody got ideas? I'd love to hear some!