Solo Unaccompanied Violin

This is a piece for solo unaccompanied violin that I've been working on and I'd love to hear feedback and things I can improve on. I'm pretty new to composition and this is one of the first pieces I've completed so I definitely have a lot to learn and I'd appreciate any pointers. Thanks!! P.S. Sorry about the poor handwriting!

Hi Tracy,

Congratulations on your first piece! Before I send you any particular direction, I'd be interested to hear the three things you like most about and the three things you most want to improve.

Wow! Thank you for sharing this.

Very interesting and very well done! 
I like the multiple stops and contrast between arco and pizzicato.

Maybe you can add more structure to your next compositions. It helps me to finish compositions and I get a clear overview of where the music goes.

Good luck!

Maarten

Hi Adrian Quince, and thank you! I'd say the three things I like most are that I think I achieved a pretty out-there sound while maintaining musicality on some level, I like my use of repeated motifs, and I think I achieved a certain level of contrast (between pizzicato and arco, forte and piano, chords and single notes, high and low notes, etc.). I would like to improve on my use of rhythm, my ability to create an emotional arc that is both complex and successful/coherent, and my ability to create an introduction that both sets up the rest of the piece and is interesting in itself.

Hi Maarten Bauer, and thank you for your feedback! I was trying to play around with lack of structure in this composition but wasn't sure if I had used it successfully, so your thoughts on that are helpful.

@TracyC, it sounds like you've got a great perspective on your piece. That's really important as you look to improve.

Addressing your likes:

The out-there sound and the motives (motifs) go hand in hand. You managed something big for a composer right out of the gate by building your piece out of those motives: you created a piece that has both unity and diversity of sound. Good job!

The contrast is a little more problematic. You did achieve contrast, but it gets in the way at times. For example, the pizz./arco switches in the second line feel pretty random to me. Can you find symmetry in your line that you can highlight with the alternation of arco and pizz.?

Addressing your dislikes:

The emotional arc is somewhat there already for me. Here's what I sense: Uncertainty, changing into sadness, then maybe a touch of anger? But, I definitely agree it could be more structured.

Here are some basic principles of managing an emotional arc through tension and release:

1. There is only one high point for any piece. It is the place where the most tension accumulates.

2. There can be secondary high points, where lesser amounts of tension accumulate and are released.

3. The more a listener is exposed to a tense sound, the less impact it has since the listener grows accustomed to it.

Here are some techniques you can use to manage tension:

Volume: Increase volume to increase tension. Decrease volume to decrease tension.

Dissonance: Use dissonance to build tension, use consonance to release it.

Repetition: Repeating the same figure immediately intensifies it. Finally moving on to another figure releases that tension.

Frequency of contrast: Quick shifts in the music cause tension. Sticking to the same thing releases it.

Rhythmic Character: Irregular rhythms increase tension. Regular rhythms decrease it. Also, faster rhythms increase tension. Slower rhythms decrease tension.

Range: Extremes of range increase tension. Middle ranges decrease it. (On violin, the upper extreme generally matters more than the lower.)

A couple of notes on the arc your piece specifically:

• In the fourth line, the G-F# double stop is a really evocative dissonance. The A-F# double stop later doesn't have the same power since it's a consonance, even though it contains two notes of the dominant chord.
• The quadruple stop interjections all feel the same volume to me. Think about using different shades of loud for these to highlight your arc.

Regarding the rhythmic sense, I see your most immediate opportunity for improvement being finding ways to break out of the 8th note grid. I can pretty much count the beats between the fermatas as "1 and 2 and ..." the whole way. There are no dotted rhythms and only a pair of triplets near the end. Also, be wary of stopping the action too often with fermatas. That technique can frustrate a listener.

Finally, regarding an intro, the piece is so small I don't think you need one. The first line of the piece already sets up the material quite nicely. You lay out the pizz./arco relationship, the big chord, and the creeping quarter note motive one at a time, then bring in the 8th note motive on top of the big chord. It does everything an exposition is supposed to before you go on and develop things.

You're off to a good start. Keep studying theory and composition techniques. Seek out unfamiliar music to broaden your palette. Most importantly, keep writing! While studying is important, as composers we truly learn by doing.