String Quartet in C - 2nd and 3rd Movement

     Hi all, I have recently tried composing a string quartet and would appreciate any feedback on the slower second movement of the piece as well as the finale. I worry that they are too repetitive and I'm looking to develop them further. Also if someone could tell me how, I will upload pdfs of the score. Thanks!

Here are the scores

Hi there

A couple of things you could try for movement 2:

- watch enharmonics: for example, bar 5 violin is Db, it should be C# (part of A chord)

- the melody is always in the violin, maybe toss that to another instrument. Possibly give it some harmony using a counter melody or something (your other instruments are mainly playing block chords. 

- use slurs! It'll really help with your phrasing, as well as articulating the notes differently. Do you want any of this to sound legato?

Hope that helps! Feel free to share some insight for other composers here, they'd love to hear what you have to say, even if it's just a "hi, I don't know what to say other than I really enjoyed this."

Hi thank you for the response! 

As far as enharmonics - for some reason I thought the direction of the line, whether ascending or descending, determined which accidental to use. Could you clear this up for me?

I think for this movement, I am attached to the violin having the melody and the block chords behind it - for now at least!

I was very hesitant to add slurs and phrase markings because I don't play any string instruments myself but I've given it a shot in this updated score. Do these markings make sense?

I'll get on that with being active on the forum!

Thank you!

Here is the updated audio as well

15 hours ago, Mason M said:

As far as enharmonics - for some reason I thought the direction of the line, whether ascending or descending, determined which accidental to use. Could you clear this up for me?

It depends on what you're doing. How much theory background do you have? I would get familiar with all your major and minor scales, it'll really help.

You spell chords with sharps or flats depending on the scale, and the letters of the scale ALWAYS go in order. So in A major, you would NOT have A B Db D E F# G# A. See how I skipped the letter C? We don't want to do that. 

Now if you're talking about using chromaticism, or going to non-chord tones, or whatever else, what you say is true. You want to use flats going down, and sharps going up. HOWEVER, this is not the case with what I pointed out. Chord tones are different, and we'd want to revert back to our scales. 

This isn't always the case, but it's where I'd start out if I were you so you can keep track of what you're doing. Later on, you might use the Db depending on what the other notes around it are doing. 

Sure there are outlying examples of this that might be contradictory or confusing, but if you stick with this and practice that, the rest will begin to make more sense. My guess is you were viewing your music horizontally, but not vertically. Always watch to see what kind of harmony your melody is intertwined with to avoid clashes and such. 

15 hours ago, Mason M said:

I think for this movement, I am attached to the violin having the melody and the block chords behind it - for now at least!

👍

15 hours ago, Mason M said:

I was very hesitant to add slurs and phrase markings because I don't play any string instruments myself but I've given it a shot in this updated score. Do these markings make sense?

I'm not a string player myself, but I would rather have the music sound more like I want it to than to fear slurring wrong. I'd write your slurs, and if they're wrong, hey, you get to learn how to do them better from feedback or critique. 

The forum-god @chopin just made a video about slurs, you would probably find this useful. Especially check out the music by some dude named "Vince" on the video, he's my favorite.

Thanks!

On 1/20/2024 at 2:46 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

It depends on what you're doing. How much theory background do you have?

I have a little bit of theory background from a college course and I'm looking to build a portfolio to go back to school. I'm familiar with the scales from playing piano, however not as familiar as I'd like to be.

On 1/20/2024 at 2:46 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Now if you're talking about using chromaticism, or going to non-chord tones, or whatever else, what you say is true. You want to use flats going down, and sharps going up. HOWEVER, this is not the case with what I pointed out. Chord tones are different, and we'd want to revert back to our scales. 

This isn't always the case, but it's where I'd start out if I were you so you can keep track of what you're doing. Later on, you might use the Db depending on what the other notes around it are doing. 

Sure there are outlying examples of this that might be contradictory or confusing, but if you stick with this and practice that, the rest will begin to make more sense. My guess is you were viewing your music horizontally, but not vertically. Always watch to see what kind of harmony your melody is intertwined with to avoid clashes and such.

This makes a lot of sense. I was more focused on writing sounds I found interesting than the chords I was constructing. Are there any clashes that stick out to you?  

On 1/20/2024 at 2:46 PM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

I'm not a string player myself, but I would rather have the music sound more like I want it to than to fear slurring wrong. I'd write your slurs, and if they're wrong, hey, you get to learn how to do them better from feedback or critique. 

The forum-god @chopin just made a video about slurs, you would probably find this useful. Especially check out the music by some dude named "Vince" on the video, he's my favorite.

This video is fantastic! Thank you @chopin! I am left wondering how many notes and how far an interval string players can accomplish in a single bowstroke. 

I'm also curious what you make of the third movement. That one is intentionally staccato overall and a little bit more contrapuntal.

Thanks again!  

On 1/21/2024 at 3:56 PM, Mason M said:

I'm also curious what you make of the third movement.

It's very cool! You have some nice syncopations which are always fun. The tossing around of themes and motifs was great, it all helps keep the listener engaged too. Nice work!

14 hours ago, Thatguy v2.0 said:

It's very cool! You have some nice syncopations which are always fun. The tossing around of themes and motifs was great, it all helps keep the listener engaged too. Nice work!

Thanks a lot! 

Hi @Mason M,

So where is the 1st movement?

I like the serene and chorale quality of the 2nd movement. As @Thatguy v2.0points out the enharmonic issue I won’t repeat haha. I just personally feel like the ending a bit abrupt since the triplet figure since it’s only used twice before in b.12 and 14. Maybe you can build up the climax with more preparation to it!

I like the energy of movement 3! One thing I notice is that you never use slur in the whole movement. Do you intend to use non legatos and staccatos throughout the whole movement? A nice try of fugato in b.59, I think you can slightly develop it more! The enharmonic issue here is more apparent and beware of the accidentals! The Eb should be D sharp. Even if the melody is falling it doesn’t mean a flat must be used!

Great effort of writing the multi movement string quartet! Thx for sharing and joining us!

P.S.

On 1/21/2024 at 3:46 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

Especially check out the music by some dude named "Vince" on the video, he's my favorite.

Who is this guy? I don’t know him and I only know that guy. Though I am sure he is some kind of handsome boy!

Henry

Hi @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu,

1 hour ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

So where is the 1st movement?

I'm not sure why I didn't include it but here you go! In this one I tried to follow sonata form. 

1 hour ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I like the serene and chorale quality of the 2nd movement. As @Thatguy v2.0points out the enharmonic issue I won’t repeat haha. I just personally feel like the ending a bit abrupt since the triplet figure since it’s only used twice before in b.12 and 14. Maybe you can build up the climax with more preparation to it!

Thank you! I'm still a little bit confused about the enharmonics so I'm going to do some analysis to figure out exactly what I wrote. I could definitely play more with the triplet figure! The idea was to have some sort of announcement of the third movement's arrival. 

1 hour ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

I like the energy of movement 3! One thing I notice is that you never use slur in the whole movement. Do you intend to use non legatos and staccatos throughout the whole movement? A nice try of fugato in b.59, I think you can slightly develop it more! The enharmonic issue here is more apparent and beware of the accidentals! The Eb should be D sharp. Even if the melody is falling it doesn’t mean a flat must be used!

Thanks again! Of all of them, I find myself listening back to the third movement the most. To be honest, I forgot slurs existed before @Thatguy v2.0 pointed out their absence! I've since added them to all of the movements. Attached is an updated score for the finale. I was afraid of the fugato from the moment I started it and found a quick exit haha. Do you have any pointers as far as developing it further?

6 hours ago, Mason M said:

I was afraid of the fugato from the moment I started it and found a quick exit haha. Do you have any pointers as far as developing it further?

In your fugal there are four subject entries, the first one in A minor and the last three in E minor. Usually the third one will also be in A minor since it’s the tonic at that time. It really depends how long you want the fugato to be, and you can definitely include entries in different keys if you want to. Adding episodes between entries will be great too!

6 hours ago, Mason M said:

I'm not sure why I didn't include it but here you go! In this one I tried to follow sonata form. 

Will take a look into that late!

Henry