String Quartet Piece

I wrote an arrangement of "The First Noel" for a string quartet

I started working on this piece thinking very SATB, very chordal - but as I worked on it, I tried to think of the harmonies in terms of "lines" instead of just chords and I played around with the ranges of the strings. 

- I am not the best at writing viola parts, so there are some missing sections - if you have any ideas for harmonies let me know

- I have looked at the score too long to notice any part-writing errors, so if you spot any, please point them out

- I plan to keep working on this, but I think this is a good length for the piece - not TOO long, but long enough for the music to move and expand

Hello @GospelPiano12,

@Beethoven is God gives a real great review on the Discord server so you guys can check it out!

I think you can use the tune for a variation piece, as in the second movement of Haydn's Emperor quartet and I think it will make good use of both the tune and stabilize the structure. You can feature each of the member of the string quartet to play the tune, instead of having just the first violin playing the melody most of the time and the viola near the end.

I agree that the arrangement is somewhat chordal and homorhythmic. I think varying the rhythmic pattern of the instruments will be great and it will fill up the gaps between phrases and crotchets and really move the piece. 

I actually think b.,25 a good contrast of textures. Maybe you can do the same thing for viola nad cello in some place.

I will prevent the parallel fifths in b.21 between first violin and cello.

Thx for sharing.

Henry

Nice piece. It's lacking a bit in variety (I personally also like variations to be bold and virtuosic), but the music itself does flow well.

I'd like to see some dynamics and articulation on the score; thinking about this will probably help you understand the "colours" of the music better.

To sort out this viola part: I think half of the problem is the second violin becomes so low all the time that the viola has no space to harmonise without jumping around randomly. What if you transposed the whole thing up to say G major, then took the cello part down an octave where possible? This would suddenly give you a much larger range for the viola, both making it more interesting to play and more effective to listen to. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for adding this into the Christmas music event!

6 hours ago, aMusicComposer said:

Nice piece. It's lacking a bit in variety (I personally also like variations to be bold and virtuosic), but the music itself does flow well.

I'd like to see some dynamics and articulation on the score; thinking about this will probably help you understand the "colours" of the music better.

To sort out this viola part: I think half of the problem is the second violin becomes so low all the time that the viola has no space to harmonise without jumping around randomly. What if you transposed the whole thing up to say G major, then took the cello part down an octave where possible? This would suddenly give you a much larger range for the viola, both making it more interesting to play and more effective to listen to. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for adding this into the Christmas music event!

 

That actually makes so much sense - I was stumped on how to add some more variety to the viola. Thank you

As for dynamics - this was more of a WIP when I posted it. I will post the updated version. 

Great work here!

Did you ever update this? I'm commenting on the one I hear, but let me know if you continue pursuing this. 

On 11/4/2023 at 1:10 AM, GospelPiano12 said:

I started working on this piece thinking very SATB, very chordal - but as I worked on it, I tried to think of the harmonies in terms of "lines" instead of just chords and I played around with the ranges of the strings. 

That's not necessarily bad, you thinking chordal with this. I'm sure you learned a lot with this piece, and being focused on, let's say the range, is really beneficial to your growth. Just think, you wrote a fun Christmas piece, and you now are more knowledgeable about the ranges of strings. Maybe write another piece... forget form. Write a string piece again, but this time think about another aspect. Maybe string technique for this one. It can still be chordal. 

I've found that when I'm thinking too much, it's really hard to write. Make more music, and just improve a little bit each time. You don't have to write a symphony next just because you're aware of string ranges more. You don't even have to add an instrument for your next piece; in fact, you could take one away. 

The First Noel is one I really enjoy, more so than a bunch of the more famous Christmas songs. I'm just saying you couldn't have done wrong with me for this piece, I really enjoyed it. 

Thanks for sharing this, it was fun and a pleasure to hear. 

Hi @GospelPiano12

I'm a little late to the party, but I when writing four part harmony like this I usually write the melody first in whatever voice it's going to be in, and then write an interesting bass line underneath in the bass voice.  Then I fill in the rest of the harmony in the middle (assuming you gave yourself enough space between the bass and melody - but even if you didn't you can still bring out the melody in a middle voice while harmonizing above by bringing it out in high relief with proper dynamics.  Those are my thoughts.  Thanks for sharing!