New thread for my works In progress

[Aspiring Composer]

On 3/16/2019 at 5:08 PM, Polaris said:

it gets much of its apparent coherency by arbitrarily labeling some harmonies in a piece of music while ignoring others that either don't have labels or simply don't fit the theory

I don't think so, would you please give some examples of harmonies that you think it can't explain?

[Polaris]

1 hour ago, Ali Jafari said:

I don't think so, would you please give some examples of harmonies that you think it can't explain?

 

I don't really see harmonic theory as explanatory. To me, it's just a set of labels to apply to different chords in the music. The thing is, a lot of harmonies don't get labeled by it. They're discarded as passing chords and the like. And then, after these harmonies are passed over by the theorist--and only then--he can claim that the progression follows certain rules. These rules have been recorded in a kind of flow chart for the composer to follow. But there is almost no composer who has ever followed these flow charts except if you arbitrarily cut out segments of their music. I've actually seen an ascending minor scale in which every note appeared get labeled as a V. There is a V in there somewhere. And then it was followed, some time later, by a scale degree I in the analysis. This is where the guidelines fall apart. If you can say that a V-I occurred by virtue of cutting some notes out, you can just as easily cut out a different set of notes and say that a progression from something else to I occurred. Of course, it has a great deal to do with how prominently featured the V notes were. They might have occurred on strong beats, for example, with non-V notes occurring on weak beats. That doesn't mean the other notes weren't there, though. And what is more, these other notes have an impact on the musical progression as surely as anything else. They might feature a later repeated motif, or, in light of them, the composer might wish to choose a different harmony to follow the "V" than he otherwise would have done.

[Aspiring Composer]

16 hours ago, Polaris said:

These rules have been recorded in a kind of flow chart for the composer to follow.

Not really. As Schoenberg says, they aren't even strict rules, but some guidelines that can be used to create certain effects.

 

16 hours ago, Polaris said:

there is almost no composer who has ever followed these flow charts except if you arbitrarily cut out segments of their music.

I don't think so, I can hear certain progressions in many works of the classical repertoire. And chords are definitely used by every composer that I know.

 

16 hours ago, Polaris said:

I've actually seen an ascending minor scale in which every note appeared get labeled as a V

Would you please post it here too?

[Polaris]

On 3/19/2019 at 5:18 AM, Ali Jafari said:

Not really. As Schoenberg says, they aren't even strict rules, but some guidelines that can be used to create certain effects.

 

I don't think so, I can hear certain progressions in many works of the classical repertoire. And chords are definitely used by every composer that I know.

 

Would you please post it here too?

 

All I remember is that it was a Youtube analysis of a piece by Bach. I saw it a couple of years ago.

[Polaris]

I've totally changed my approach to composition, and I think my music has greatly benefited. As proof, here is another pair of canons. One is the upside down version of the other:

've tot

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[Polaris]

I changed the instruments to ones with less reverb, and they sound clearer now:

 

[Polaris]

 

[Polaris]

 

[Polaris]

I've written such dreadful canons--most of which have been deleted. Anyway, here's something I just finished: 

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by Polaris

[Polaris]

I wrote this pair of short pieces earlier today: 

 

[Polaris]

Another short musical composition of mine: 

 

[Polaris]

Another composition of mine: 

 

[Polaris]

There was one little note that was bothering me. Here's the improved version: 

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[Polaris]

In my never-ending quest for musical perfection, here is improvement number three: 

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[Polaris]

A canon I just wrote: 

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[Polaris]

I've improved since the last time I posted. Here's a harmonization I did of a short melody called An Choisir: 

 

[Polaris]

Another short melody that I've harmonized:

 

[Polaris]

Here's a much clearer version of An Gabhran as harmonized by me:

 

[Polaris]

All of today's harmonizations: 

 

 

 

 

[Polaris]

I put a little bit of extra effort into this harmonization. It's my best one yet:

 

[Polaris]

 

Another short harmonization.