Minuet in Bb major

I composed an entire minuet in just a few minutes. It is way better than my first minuet(I never even finished that one, it was so bad), but I still might need to make some changes, particularly to the B section. I used motives to both intensify the B section as it moves to F major and to de-intensify it as it moves back to Bb major. Overall, it is in rounded binary form, which is typical for minuets.

What do you think of my minuet? Does it need any changes? If so, what changes? I tried to stay in the Baroque style, thus the melody and countermelody, but should I have an ending chord to both confirm that it is the ending and make the number of bars even? That would leave me with a bit of a coda to my minuet, which isn't typical.

(I'm no expert in Baroque, so take my comments with a grain of salt. Also, I hope this helps and you don't think I'm overly critical.)

I think you've got the beginnings of something here, the first two bars have some reasonably effective counter motion but I first notice something amiss with the third bar's descending 7ths: as far as I understand the rules of counterpoint, these are fine as long as they resolve to consonances. In this situation, there were too many dissonances without a satisfactory resolution (the fourth isn't really enough - you need a third most probably.)

Aside from this, two other aspects stood out:

• Rhythmic complexity and embellishment, I think some semi-quavers and dotted rhythms would work well, as would turns and grace notes befitting of the period. These could be focused on the main theme to make it more identifiable.
• More harmonic interest, ending a 'question' or 'call' phrase on the dominant, or starting the next phrase on the dominant is effective: that first section could be altered to end on the dominant the first time around, instead of just repeating it. Plus, try some more accidentals!

It's nice, but I think it needs a bit of work.

I'm not an expert in counterpoint, but I have a little knowledge of some of the rules.

There are some awkward moments where harmonically, the voices don't fit together. You can listen out for them and hear them.

There are a couple of instances of parallel fifths and octaves (e.g. Bar 14 and 16.)

The octaves at the end of the first phrase and the whole piece lose some weight, where a different harmony could have been more effective.

One more thing. My personal preference would be to use hairpins instead of dynamic lines.

I think it just needs a thorough look and patching up. Well done!

On 9/4/2019 at 2:39 AM, aMusicComposer said:

It's nice, but I think it needs a bit of work.

I'm not an expert in counterpoint, but I have a little knowledge of some of the rules.

There are some awkward moments where harmonically, the voices don't fit together. You can listen out for them and hear them.

There are a couple of instances of parallel fifths and octaves (e.g. Bar 14 and 16.)

The octaves at the end of the first phrase and the whole piece lose some weight, where a different harmony could have been more effective.

One more thing. My personal preference would be to use hairpins instead of dynamic lines.

I think it just needs a thorough look and patching up. Well done!

 

Well, I wanted to make sure it sounded closed at the end of the A section and at the end of the piece, and I was doing 2 voice counterpoint, so I had it end in octaves for that reason(in my mind, the octave is the most closed of cadential intervals, especially when preceded by a leap in the bass). Also for that reason, I had the bass leap from F to Bb in the final cadence of both the A section and the piece. Here is the A section so you can see how I structured it:

Also, I personally do this for my crescendos and diminuendos:

• 1 bar or less - Definitely a hairpin
• 2 or 3 bars - If it is a short time signature like 2/4, hairpin, if it is a long time signature like 4/4, line, 3/4, I make my decision and then stay consistent with it
• 4 bars or longer - Definitely a line

I will fix those contrapuntal errors though, I'm not one to just leave errors behind.