Writing a solo work

Last week in my honors English class, my teacher assigned us to do Taylor products, in which we do something creative as literary analysis. This could be a piece of music, a diorama, a timeline, etc. Anything.

Of course, being the class's only composer, I decided to write a solo flute piece and perform it for the class, as the teacher had instructed (presentations of work are required for this class)

And then I realized...how can I convey the elements of To Kill a Mockingbird in flute writing? Or, in a broader sense, how can a composer hold the listener's interest in writing a solo work for a melodic instrument like flute? No harmony makes writing for a solo instrument quite tough...

Let me know what you guys all think!

It's hard because you can't hide a weak melody with clever harmony. Do you want something complicated and fast so that listeners won't miss any harmony you might have put in, or would you rather keep their interest with participation (where they hum along with a simple and infectious tune)?

A little bit of both, really. I intend for it to be rhapsodic, with an improvised feel. Like a long cadenza, in the atmospheric style of perhaps Debussy.

Flute is a very good solo instrument, as are the string instruments and any keyboard-like instrument. It's easy to create 'phantom' harmonies in a single line as long as the line can move quickly. I would do this with the flute by writing arpeggios outlining harmony, then creating a flowing melody out of that. As long as the harmony and melody work well together, you can create a unique atmosphere that pulls the listener in. Be careful - a lot of stops and starts in a solo piece can get tiresome to hear, so it's best to pay attention to the flow of the piece when writing it. anyway, I wish you luck on this endeavor!

If you're looking for an improvised feel, why not design an improvisation structure based around the plot of the book?

Or a quick set of character studies of each of the characters? This could prove to be difficult, since some of the characters don't fit the "standard" emotion of the flute, but very rewarding.

Just a suggestion - if you play more than just flute, you can have different "movements" for different instruments. Just switch between. Perfect for the character study idea. Movements don't even have to be long... just 30 seconds to a minute or so each, or two if you're adventurous.

For solo composing - go listen to some Bach. Violin and flute partitas, cello suites. Many of it is or could be played monophonically. For an example of a fellow young composers work you can take a peak at my own Concert

Density 21.5

There's this dude in the Grand Central Shuttle that plays a solo flute piece he wrote called "Storm" during the 60 second ride. Its actually quite amazing how expressive the flute is in it's bottom register.

To Kill a Mockingbird, eh? I think the flute would work wonderfully here. I can't help but think of Elmer Bernstein's score for the movie. Very simple but haunting and effective. Since the novel deals with the loss of the innocence of youth I imagine a flute quite capable of capturing this. There are themes of dignity and justice which I think would be well served by an expressive -- not necessarily flashy -- solo piece. I would say take your time in laying out a couple of good themes and let the underlying harmonies poke their heads out. Actually, that part of the composition could hint at the mysterious character of Boo Radley!

Ok, I hope I've been able to help a little. The suggestions to look at Bach are quite good.

Sincerely,

Brian Sagraves