Tips for Composing String Quartets

This post will be my opinions and takes on the string quartet, that will apply to all genres of the string quartet. For anyone who is interested in writing string quartets, I shall try to give my best unorthodox pointers and tips on how to make a string quartet better, and utilise each instrument to the best of its ability.

Personally, I am an amateur string player since young who has both avidly listened to and played numerous string quartets and I tend to take inspiration from the quartets that I listen to while composing my own quartets. Now, let me discuss some of the pointers:

1. Make as much contrast as possible. Be it a major key, minor key, loud, soft, monophony or polyphony, I believe that contrast is the single most important essence to a good quartet. A good quartet needs a lot of contrast, to keep the quartet interesting to the ear and creates variety in sound. No one instrument should overpower the others in the melody and relegate the other instruments to a form of accompaniment for the entire piece. Playing some of the accompaniment parts personally before, it can be rather dull for them and it creates a dull effect where there's not much dialogue or antiphony between the instruments. One often overlooked way to create contrast is through the texture of the quartet. However, I disagree with the notion that counterpoint should be used at all times and to avoid parallel motion or chorale-like melodies at all costs. While counterpoint is very good at creating unique quartets and is key to a good quartet, when used correctly, parallel motion or monophonic themes across all instruments can elevate a quartet to another level (especially in a climax of a piece). It should be used sporadically at key moments during a piece, to highlight a certain motif or theme, or contrast an otherwise fully polyphonic section, one example of this brilliantly done is the opening of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue. There are many ways to create contrast, and after studying many quartets I realised that every composer has a unique way of creating that sense of contrast in their pieces. It's important to find one's preferred method to develop contrasts in their quartet.

2. Make more use of multiple stops. Double stops is a great way to add challenge and a unique texture to a quartet. However, it may be daunting for composers who have never dealt with strings. For this, I would advise that (90%) double stops with intervals 8ve or less in a chord are playable (the occasional 10th is possible but not for prolonged periods), and for triple/quadruple stops, try to stick to 5th or 6th intervals between individual notes to be safe. The exception to these rules is always the open string. As string players do not need to place their left hand fingers down when playing open strings, any interval that can use the open strings tend to be much easier for a string player to manage and allows for greater intervals between notes. 

3. (Good) transitioning is much harder than meets the eye. For myself, I started composing more than a year ago. Still, even with my prior experience with string instruments and repertoire, it took me >20 tries across 7-8 different pieces to get transitions to a decent state. (I was working on string orchestra pieces back then, similar to the quartet) Even now, I wouldn't call myself a good composer in transitions and I still frequently struggle with transitions. The main difficulty of transitioning especially in a string quartet is not so much like orchestral or solo pieces, where you can find a pivot chord and modulate quickly without a hitch. Rather, it is because of the string quartet's unique nature where frequent contrasts in the music are required and the counterpoint across different instruments that makes it hard. Trying to bridge a very loud, climatic section with a very soft, intimate section within the span of a few bars is very daunting in string quartet writing. If anyone is interested, I can make an entirely separate post just on transitioning and some methods I have picked up through prior work on string writing. 

4. Don't be afraid to cross registers. Some composers who are new to quartet writing often view the string quartet as SATB writing for strings. While this has some merit, this is not entirely true. String quartet writing is very fluid in the fact that there are many styles. In romantic and 20th century string quartets, it is very common for the registers of different instruments to continuously cross over one another to create variety and effect. Any instrument, even the cello at times, can take the highest register out of the 4 instruments at any given point of a quartet. (This is why many quartets let the cello play up to even D7 or two octaves above middle C frequently!) Don't hesitate to try crossing the registers of the different instruments over, and a good place to start would be with the viola and cello alternating registers. 

5. Practice makes perfect. This is especially apparent for string quartet. No matter how much analysis of famous quartets, the best way to compose a good quartet is through prior practice. It took me many tries to at least reach a decent level in string writing. Try practicing across a wide range of styles and genres of the string quartet

6. Lastly, string quartet is not a dead medium. This was actually a view held by many late Romantic/Impressionistic composers, who felt that String Quartet was a dead medium where not much new styles or forms can be pioneered and all possible iterations and styles have been exhausted. This is why many of such composers (Debussy or Ravel) composed only one quartet. However, this was clearly proven otherwise when 20th century composers turned the medium on its head and pioneered an entirely new way to compose the string quartet. Some composers now have the same view as the Late Romantic composers. However, string quartet is one of the most flexible and versatile mediums of classical music to date. It differs so greatly, from the classical quartets of Mozart and Haydn, to the Romantic Quartets of Mendelssohn and Dvorak, to the 20th Century Quartets of Shostakovich and Gliere. There is still so much more to discover for the string quartet and there are many examples where one-of-a-kind quartets have been produced. Let me just name an example: Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor was very eye-opening for me. It is a very unique string quartet that focuses on the resonance of the open strings of string instruments and the virtuosity of its players. It is very intricate and heavily utilises double stops throughout its piece, to the point where even the original publisher rejected it for having too many double stops. However, it was indeed playable and it gave rise to a new form of string quartet, with its lyrical, fast-moving melodies and its sonorous sound, yet filled many sharp contrasts. I would suggest to anyone who is bored of string quartets to listen to this, and possibly gain inspiration. Such a unique thinking of the quartet has not been thoroughly explored yet and I urge others to explore the resonance of open strings in string quartet as sort of a challenge to anyone composing future string quartets haha this is the link to the quartet: 

This post will be my opinions and takes on the string quartet, that will apply to all genres of the string quartet. For anyone who is interested in writing string quartets, I shall try to give my best unorthodox pointers and tips on how to make a string quartet better, and utilise each instrument to the best of its ability.

Personally, I am an amateur string player since young who has both avidly listened to and played numerous string quartets and I tend to take inspiration from the quartets that I listen to while composing my own quartets. Now, let me discuss some of the pointers:

1. Make as much contrast as possible. Be it a major key, minor key, loud, soft, monophony or polyphony, I believe that contrast is the single most important essence to a good quartet. A good quartet needs a lot of contrast, to keep the quartet interesting to the ear and creates variety in sound. No one instrument should overpower the others in the melody and relegate the other instruments to a form of accompaniment for the entire piece. Playing some of the accompaniment parts personally before, it can be rather dull for them and it creates a dull effect where there's not much dialogue or antiphony between the instruments. One often overlooked way to create contrast is through the texture of the quartet. However, I disagree with the notion that counterpoint should be used at all times and to avoid parallel motion or chorale-like melodies at all costs. While counterpoint is very good at creating unique quartets and is key to a good quartet, when used correctly, parallel motion or monophonic themes across all instruments can elevate a quartet to another level (especially in a climax of a piece). It should be used sporadically at key moments during a piece, to highlight a certain motif or theme, or contrast an otherwise fully polyphonic section, one example of this brilliantly done is the opening of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue. There are many ways to create contrast, and after studying many quartets I realised that every composer has a unique way of creating that sense of contrast in their pieces. It's important to find one's preferred method to develop contrasts in their quartet.

2. Make more use of multiple stops. Double stops is a great way to add challenge and a unique texture to a quartet. However, it may be daunting for composers who have never dealt with strings. For this, I would advise that (90%) double stops with intervals 8ve or less in a chord are playable (the occasional 10th is possible but not for prolonged periods), and for triple/quadruple stops, try to stick to 5th or 6th intervals between individual notes to be safe. The exception to these rules is always the open string. As string players do not need to place their left hand fingers down when playing open strings, any interval that can use the open strings tend to be much easier for a string player to manage and allows for greater intervals between notes. 

3. (Good) transitioning is much harder than meets the eye. For myself, I started composing more than a year ago. Still, even with my prior experience with string instruments and repertoire, it took me >20 tries across 7-8 different pieces to get transitions to a decent state. (I was working on string orchestra pieces back then, similar to the quartet) Even now, I wouldn't call myself a good composer in transitions and I still frequently struggle with transitions. The main difficulty of transitioning especially in a string quartet is not so much like orchestral or solo pieces, where you can find a pivot chord and modulate quickly without a hitch. Rather, it is because of the string quartet's unique nature where frequent contrasts in the music are required and the counterpoint across different instruments that makes it hard. Trying to bridge a very loud, climatic section with a very soft, intimate section within the span of a few bars is very daunting in string quartet writing. If anyone is interested, I can make an entirely separate post just on transitioning and some methods I have picked up through prior work on string writing. 

4. Don't be afraid to cross registers. Some composers who are new to quartet writing often view the string quartet as SATB writing for strings. While this has some merit, this is not entirely true. String quartet writing is very fluid in the fact that there are many styles. In romantic and 20th century string quartets, it is very common for the registers of different instruments to continuously cross over one another to create variety and effect. Any instrument, even the cello at times, can take the highest register out of the 4 instruments at any given point of a quartet. (This is why many quartets let the cello play up to even D7 or two octaves above middle C frequently!) Don't hesitate to try crossing the registers of the different instruments over, and a good place to start would be with the viola and cello alternating registers. 

5. Practice makes perfect. This is especially apparent for string quartet. No matter how much analysis of famous quartets, the best way to compose a good quartet is through prior practice. It took me many tries to at least reach a decent level in string writing. Try practicing across a wide range of styles and genres of the string quartet

6. Lastly, string quartet is not a dead medium. This was actually a view held by many late Romantic/Impressionistic composers, who felt that String Quartet was a dead medium where not much new styles or forms can be pioneered and all possible iterations and styles have been exhausted. This is why many of such composers (Debussy or Ravel) composed only one quartet. However, this was clearly proven otherwise when 20th century composers turned the medium on its head and pioneered an entirely new way to compose the string quartet. Some composers now have the same view as the Late Romantic composers. However, string quartet is one of the most flexible and versatile mediums of classical music to date. It differs so greatly, from the classical quartets of Mozart and Haydn, to the Romantic Quartets of Mendelssohn and Dvorak, to the 20th Century Quartets of Shostakovich and Gliere. There is still so much more to discover for the string quartet and there are many examples where one-of-a-kind quartets have been produced. Let me just name an example: Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor was very eye-opening for me. It is a very unique string quartet that focuses on the resonance of the open strings of string instruments and the virtuosity of its players. It is very intricate and heavily utilises double stops throughout its piece, to the point where even the original publisher rejected it for having too many double stops. However, it was indeed playable and it gave rise to a new form of string quartet, with its lyrical, fast-moving melodies and its sonorous sound, yet filled many sharp contrasts. I would suggest to anyone who is bored of string quartets to listen to this, and possibly gain inspiration. Such a unique thinking of the quartet has not been thoroughly explored yet and I urge others to explore the resonance of open strings in string quartet as sort of a challenge to anyone composing future string quartets haha (link to Grieg's string quartet: https://youtu.be/OM9hdCpdcqc )

That concludes my rather lengthy post on the string quartet, let me know if anyone wants me to delve into other parts of the string quartet.

Happy composing!