New Composition Challenge

Ok, my last challenge (jazz harmony) wasn

Oooh sounds fun! I'll give it a try...

Ok. I'll start it off with the number sequence from above. Hope it works.....

1. 695-9882

2. A local business number

3. file is "source 1" in half notes

4. I tried to write a very short, very lame fugue. The number sequence is the subject. The number sequence I got from C major, A D G D C C D, but it leads to G, not C. So I wrote my little fugato in the key of G major. It's written in 3 parts; for 2 violins and 1 cello.

source_1.MID

fugato.MID

fugato.MUS

Interesting idea. The original idea for the scherzo in my piano quartet (which I scrapped, but may use in another quartet) was a prestissimo fugue in which the main motive came from a the license plate of a car I was stuck behind in heavy traffic one day...

LoL. I like the license plate idea.

On an off topic note, I was just listening to my previous attempt, the fugato, and I thought of another short piece I wrote. The motive kinda sounds like it....

The subject is the little theme of "all things considered" from NPR, National Public Radio. I wonder if anyone knows what I'm talking about. Well I wrote it as my first fugue attempt. I hated it and wanted to get better so I "googled" fugue writing and got the "fugue challenge" in this forum. That's how I found this forum...

npr_fugue.MID

Yes, I've heard NPR a number of times and recognized the theme. It makes an excellent subject, and this is one of the better things I've heard from you. Very listenable!

Yes, I've heard NPR a number of times and recognized the theme. It makes an excellent subject, and this is one of the better things I've heard from you. Very listenable!

Well thank you for that compliment. At the same time however, it bugs me slightly. I consider the npr fugue as good ideas, but very poor execution. I wonder wich of my other posts you have listened to. Please check out my bigger pieces in the Jazz band/concert band section. They really are far better.

At the same time, I'm slightly dissapointed no one has tried the number composition yet :P

I just got some time and was thinking of trying another, but I don't want to be the only one posting on my own thread....

Interesting idea. However a random number may occassionally produce an augmented interval. That's melodic death.

Interesting idea. However a random number may occassionally produce an augmented interval. That's melodic death.

How is it melodic death? Show me an example.

Well..

I suppose it depends in part on your musical sensibilities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone

Think of the difference between the melodic minor scale, and the harmonic minor scale.

One is used for harmony, one is used to define pleasant melodic progression without augmented intervals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melodic_minor

Quote:The interval between the sixth and seventh degrees of this scale (in this case F and G sharp) is an augmented second. While some composers, notably Mozart, have used this interval to advantage in melodic composition, other composers have felt it to be an awkward leap, particularly in vocal music. Thus, for purposes of melody, either the subtonic is used, or the sixth scale degree is raised; either way, there is a whole step between these two scale degrees, considered more conducive to smooth melody writing./Quote

I've posted a melody that I wrote as part of an exam taken a few years ago. Whatever you think of the melody, there is one note that sounds a bit awkward (or more awkward) - out of place - in it. I did in fact get marked down for it. (Last note of Bar 5 to First note of Bar 6)

As it happens, I had an idea to write something based on my phone number when I was a teenager, but I never wrote it down. I remember it like it was yesterday, though. I'll write it down and post it when I get home.

OK, so here it is. My concept for how to use the number was that each numeral represented a degree of the scale: 7 is the 7th, 8 is the octave, 1 is the root, 3 is the 3rd, etc. - so it differs from cmaj's concept a bit.

The number: 781-3769 (my telephone number in the 1970s)

I've stated the "theme" first in half notes, then followed with a brief humouresque on the theme. 'Tis the most trifling of trifles...remember, I was a teenager. This is the first time I've written this idea down since it came to me.

SO why did this thread die? It seems to me like we could use more challenges and composition games on this forum...

This one really does seem like a fun one, having tried a few times already.

This is also a perfect opportunity to write a few "miniatures" possibly in new to the composer) styles. Try it.