Lessons with Muzic

Cool. What exactly do you want to learn? I can take you through traditional counterpoint, if you like (which will benefit your choral writing), but I'd like to know some specific goals you have for these lessons.

Learning counter point would be great. I am sorta a blank slate I want to learn what ever I can, but what really interests me is choral music although I would love to learn to write music for quartets, symphonic bands, paino, or even orchestras. One specific goal would be learning to create a peice of music in a particular format, so I sounds more musical. Trying to make my music more musical and interesting is what I am trying to work on. I am in my third semester of theory now, so I know most of the basics.

Okay. Let's go step-by-step through a choral piece. Find a text you are interested in setting, and post it here.

I hope my answer helped, and did not confused you.:)

Ok will this work?

Psalms 145:15,16

The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

Very nicely.

Okay. What about this text do you want to highlight by music? Alternately, what do you hope that your setting of this text will achieve?

I want to highlight is how the text contrasts the yearning and the waiting for God with the fulfillment of desires and needs in their due time.

Okay.

How do you intend to make your setting of the text highlight this contrast?

Okay.

How do you intend to make your setting of the text highlight this contrast?

By using different tonal colors and rhythms with particular passages?

Sounds fine. Can you give me specifics? In general, any question I ask should be answered with as much specificity as you are comfortable giving.

Some questions to guide your reading:

Will the piece be tonal or atonal, and how much?

Will the text setting be realistic (speech-rhythms) or abstract ("musical" rhythms)?

Will the different passages have different pitch collections?

How complex will the rhythms be?

What voicing of choir do you intend to use?

How important is it that the text be heard? Is the music the delivery for the text, or is the text the inspiration for the music?

In the text, what words are grouped, either by synonymity, or antonymity? (I think I made those words up, but they make sense.) How do these groupings affect the use of compositional materials in your piece?

How important is the horizontal aspect (melody) vs. the vertical aspect (harmony) of the pitches?

I don't necessarily need answers to all these questions, but you should think about them and whether you want them to affect your compositional process.

I'd like to see a basic explanation/sketch of what you (specifically) want to do with each phrase.

For example, I'm going to set the text, "I was walking on a beach/And then a seagull crapped on me."

General Remarks

SATB choir. Mildly humorous, "non-sequitur" text. Simple rhythms to allow text to be heard, but some rhythmic complexity for text-painting purposes.

"I was walking on a beach"

Use tonal conventions, major key, to set up a peaceful scene. Regular meter denotes "walking." Low voices doing "wave" dynamics - regular swells. Swells also include some chromatic materials to set them up as a compositional aspect, and also to evoke the noise of waves. Low tessitura in all voices.

"and then a seagull crapped on me."

Ascending melody lines on "and then" to build tension. Tessitura rises for all voices. High voices do a canonic repetition of "seagull," evoking the sound of gulls on the ocean. More chromatic notes to build further tension. "Crapped" is a big minor chord, to be melodramatic and make the audience laugh. "On me" drops back down to the lower tessitura, and is more prominently voiced in the tenor and bass, evoking the shame of the speaker.

Bolanos - You are certainly welcome to do the exercises with us and express your musical ideas in forum, but I'd rather leave "suggestions" out of it. A lot of this work is about finding an individual voice through trial/error, and learning how to think at the minute and detailed level.

ya sorry I wasent really sure what you were asking.

no problem. I'll try to be clearer from now on. The questions above are good guides to compositional thought.

Ok the peice will be tonal, l but I would like to borrow from other keys and modulate so it wont be boring. I dont think the rhythms should be too complex because I think I would take the attention off the text. I tend to look at harmony as most important when I write for Choral music (I probably listen to too much Eric Whitacre).

General Remarks

the song should be solemn and the rhythms should not be complex to bring the text out. Harmonies should be used to add meaning to the text with words that stand out like; eyes, wait, thee......ect.

"Thee Eyes Of All"

The texts is kinda Erie so I would open in a minor key. The men come in softly and sing the phrase and repeat and the women come in singing the same thing and repeat creating a rhythmic cannon. All in a low tessitura. like whispering a secret drawing the audience in a monophonic texture.

I hope that makes sense. Sorry I will have the rest done tomorrow I was really busy today.

Also if you dont mind could you take a look at this piece I have been working on.

Agnus Dei.pdf

Agnus Dei.MID

I read through your piece. I'm afraid I can't say too much about it, because it's not all there. I'm not sure where the text lines up in all the voices, so I can't say much about the interplay of words.

Strictly musically, you have a good sense of harmony. I'm concerned that the horizontal aspect is getting lost. There are a lot of half-notes, with very little variation. Even executing a couple dotted figures would help so much.

The sopranos routinely sit up very high. In general, the range from D - F is a soprano's passaggio range, which is the hardest range to sing in and make it sound good, and there's a lot of passaggio. The range being so consistent also makes the piece sound unfocused. A shift from high to low, or an arc form of low-high-low, or the inverses of these two, will provide a sense of "goal" to the piece.

"and thou givest them their meat in due season"

The audience probably has the question who is "Thee" and why do all wait upon thee. I would say that this section is a section of release as the introduction built up tension. The choir changes the mood using major chords. The audience relaxes, and as the phrase ends the mood is change back as the choir sings due season bringing the audience back to a place of tension.

Okay. Now, can you draw up for me a few sketches of motifs, melodies, possible harmonies that you want to use? Be sure to label them by what text they will initially be setting.

I am sorry haven't posted anything its midterms week so I have been busy. I have incomplete sketches, so I should have something soon.

sorry for not posting anything yet my laptop in the shop getting fixed.

Sorry My mother Board on my laptop is toast. I need to get finale on to another computer, or try and work of school computer.

Hey I just bought a new computer. I am really sorry about that. I still hope we can resume lessons. I should have finale on my computer as soon as i can get ten bucks to download notepad.