Divertimento and Variations for String Quartet

5 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

We kinda knew that already but the reason why I said "supposedly the brightest" is because these things can very often be subjective and some members on here have stated that to them even Lydian can sound pretty dark.

 

What even is "brightness" or "darkness"? they're just terms we created to describe how certain sounds make us feel, and of course feeling is subjective. 

That's a neat piece! The developing variation aspect is interesting.

In terms of instrumental writing, I'm not sure of some things, though. At measure 184, the first violin has a tremolo in the lower voice (implying up+down bows or at least some interrupted bowing), and the upper voice is slurred (implying a single bow stroke). The shifts between pizz. and arco (and vice-versa) seem possible, but they won't be a piece of cake. Be especialy careful with the ones from pizz to arco. Too many fast changes between pizz and arco are more typical of virtuoso writing.

I also noticed you have many arpeggios in stacks of 5ths. I understand you're trying to take advantage of the natural tuning of the isntruments, but these aren't that easy when there are no open strings. For example, violins and violas can't play a triple stop with 2 perfect 5ths (you can probably force things and use a "barre chord", but it won't sound very in tune). Cellos can, but it's a bit awkward. They aren't impossible if the notes aren't simultaneous, but it's not that natural (despite what it seems). The "natural" chord voicings in strings are 6ths, not 5ths.

Keep composing!

16 hours ago, Snake_Cake said:

That's a neat piece! The developing variation aspect is interesting.

Thanks!

16 hours ago, Snake_Cake said:

In terms of instrumental writing, I'm not sure of some things, though. At measure 184, the first violin has a tremolo in the lower voice (implying up+down bows or at least some interrupted bowing), and the upper voice is slurred (implying a single bow stroke).

You're right there - I totally neglected that aspect of the technique when writing the part.  I was just worried about the violinist being able to execute that double stop.

16 hours ago, Snake_Cake said:

The shifts between pizz. and arco (and vice-versa) seem possible, but they won't be a piece of cake. Be especialy careful with the ones from pizz to arco. Too many fast changes between pizz and arco are more typical of virtuoso writing.

Are you referring to the possibility of using left hand pizzicato as a virtuoso technique?  I guess I am being a little too demanding of the performers in that last variation but technically the parts are still possible ... 😕

16 hours ago, Snake_Cake said:

I also noticed you have many arpeggios in stacks of 5ths. I understand you're trying to take advantage of the natural tuning of the isntruments, but these aren't that easy when there are no open strings. For example, violins and violas can't play a triple stop with 2 perfect 5ths (you can probably force things and use a "barre chord", but it won't sound very in tune). Cellos can, but it's a bit awkward. They aren't impossible if the notes aren't simultaneous, but it's not that natural (despite what it seems). The "natural" chord voicings in strings are 6ths, not 5ths.

Are you a string player?  You seem very knowledgeable about string techniques.  I do understand that in order for most of the string instrument family (except the contrabass since it's not tuned in 5ths) to play a stack of fifths as a double, triple or quadruple stop they would have to use the same finger like you said (I am just getting the hang of "barre" chords on guitar myself).  However, I chose the open 5ths for purely musical reasons and like you said - they're not simultaneous so barring anything shouldn't be necessary.  Actually I'm writing a guitar piece (I don't know if I'll publish it as I am just kinda teaching myself how to play guitar while composing for it) which uses a sudden capo on the 3rd fret to make it possible to play a G pendiatonic whole-tone scale-chord (since there's 6 strings I figured it should be possible to play all the notes of the whole-tone scale at once LoL).

Thanks for your keen observations!  May I ask what your name means?  I googled it and apparently there's lots of people on the internet who try to make "snake cakes" LoL.  Where did this come from???

It's an interesting piece! Do take note that the pizz-arco changes cannot be instantaneous for fast passages so some time needs to be factored in. I like how you explored the modes and the very interesting modulations. I felt that maybe the theme could be made a little more interesting, but I really do like the second variation, and the way that the momentum is built up throughout the piece and the contrast between the more musically lively and calm sections. 

On 4/24/2021 at 9:39 PM, Joshua Ng said:

It's an interesting piece!

Thanks!

On 4/24/2021 at 9:39 PM, Joshua Ng said:

Do take note that the pizz-arco changes cannot be instantaneous for fast passages so some time needs to be factored in.

I am wondering how difficult it would be for the players to use left-hand pizzicato just before a quick change back to arco?

On 4/24/2021 at 9:39 PM, Joshua Ng said:

I like how you explored the modes and the very interesting modulations. I felt that maybe the theme could be made a little more interesting, but I really do like the second variation, and the way that the momentum is built up throughout the piece and the contrast between the more musically lively and calm sections.

Thank you!

1 hour ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

am wondering how difficult it would be for the players to use left-hand pizzicato just before a quick change back to arco

I think one general rule of thumb is to try to make the left hand pizz descending in nature especially on the same string. It is hard for the same finger pressing down on the fingerboard to be the one plucking the string. Hence, it would be much preferred if the finger that was held down to play the previous note was the finger that plucked the current note. Of course, open string left hand pizzicato is much easier for the performer