Waltz (hexatonic augmented scale)

This is the scale here: C - D# - E - Fx - G# - B, which is a mix of C+ and B+.

Wow!  What an interesting and unique sound you get from this scale!  I like how the melodies throughout are basically emphasizing a B major sound while the harp accompaniment outlines a C augmented major 7th chord - a very interesting sound.  The orchestration is very good and often quite crunchy sounding in it's voicings especially in the woodwind section.  I do wonder why you sometimes offset certain of the notes in the melodies especially by a 16th note - is this a type of humanization?  Thanks for sharing!

I also think this is really really really nice! I find really impressive how you experiment with so many scales and you manage to use them really well for making nice pieces of music. I was wondering, how do you find out about all this scales and how to do you decide to experiment with them? I am interested in starting to learn more scales but I am not sure how to get started.

5 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Wow!  What an interesting and unique sound you get from this scale!  I like how the melodies throughout are basically emphasizing a B major sound while the harp accompaniment outlines a C augmented major 7th chord - a very interesting sound.  The orchestration is very good and often quite crunchy sounding in it's voicings especially in the woodwind section.  I do wonder why you sometimes offset certain of the notes in the melodies especially by a 16th note - is this a type of humanization?  Thanks for sharing!

 

Hi.

Thanks for listening.

In fact there are many different approaches for a scale like this one. You can emphasize a tonic or not, you can rely on the enharmonic feature of the augmented chords (C+ = E+ = Ab+), you can treat the piece as lineal (melodic, horizontal), you can take advantage of the possible chords that come out from the scale (C, Cm, C+, E, Em, E+, etc...), or even you can think that the basic scale (C, D#, E, G, Ab, B) is a Pitch Class Set (Prime Form (014589) and interval vector <303630>). The most important is to avoid any shadow of major/minor modes, that it, dominant-tonic progressions.

There is a moment when I use all the notes of the scale at the same time vertically, in a sort of pandiatonicism, that's the part that sounds crunchy, I think.

Regarding "I do wonder why you sometimes offset certain of the notes", if you talk about things like the one in the picture below, it's just a matter of texture and anticipation of the motif. 

1 hour ago, JorgeDavid said:

I also think this is really really really nice! I find really impressive how you experiment with so many scales and you manage to use them really well for making nice pieces of music. I was wondering, how do you find out about all this scales and how to do you decide to experiment with them? I am interested in starting to learn more scales but I am not sure how to get started.

 

Hi @JorgeDavid

It's a long story of searching for new sounds. I couldn't find many information about how to use effectively any scale. So I did my own reaserch, I studied and wrote my own method and conclusions and I wrote a little book with dozens of examples. The book is in Spanish, I'm preparing an English edition, but I don't know when it'll be finished.

He visto en tu perfil que eres español. Tengo un blog sobre armonía y composición donde estoy metiendo el contenido de este libro. O te lo puedo enviar tal cual, lo que quieras, no lo hice para ganar nada, solo para difundir.

Si te interesa escríbeme directamente a pistolilla@gmail.com 

Un saludo.

Very nice waltz 🙂

Enjoyed it.

Interesting and engaging. You know what you're doing so there's little need for me to comment on scoring, balance and rendering.

It seems just the right length for the material you use and comes over more as a concert waltz rather than something I'd hear in the ballroom. 

Is it likely to be part of a suite of pieces?

Superb, anyway.

8 hours ago, Quinn said:

Interesting and engaging. You know what you're doing so there's little need for me to comment on scoring, balance and rendering.

It seems just the right length for the material you use and comes over more as a concert waltz rather than something I'd hear in the ballroom. 

Is it likely to be part of a suite of pieces?

Superb, anyway.

 

Tahnks @Quinn

It was a challenge, that's why it's short.

I like to explore different sonorities.