Crossroad, A Habanera for Trumpet and Piano

Hi,

Several years ago, I wrote the piece “Crossroad” (I wanted to indicate the point where I started writing something different), but the score as well as some of the music was in a terrible state. Recently, I have made a revised version, which I am posting here.

 There are still some items which could be improved, but I think that the piece is now something which is closer in line with my original idea. But I would like to point out the following issues:

l) The rhythm is maybe not exactly that of an original Habanera. I have decided on a short duration (a staccatissimo) on the second beat of the 2/4 measures. However, the sound of these beats should not be lifted too much, otherwise it will become boring.

2) In bars 21,22,25,26,29,30 as well as 55, I had a notation problem with the trumpet voice. I tried to write quadruplets, but the software did not accept my suggestions. However, it is important that the rhythm is played the way as in the sound file. I would appreciate if someone can help me to get a better notation.

3) The trumpet part may be quite challenging (for example the high notes in 29-30). Do you think that it is playable?

4) The cadenza-like part (bar 62-74) is a bit “wild”. I recorded it from a separate improvisation on my piano, and then tried to mirror it in a score. Of course, alternative cadenzas would also be possible. But it is important to observe that the purpose of this cadenza is to get a pronounced distance between the first part of the piece and the repetition, which starts in bar 78.

5) Otherwise, I am quite happy with it. There may be some additional score issues (e.g. enharmonic spelling errors), and I would be very grateful if you can suggest me corrections.

Hello @panta rei!

Nice Habanera!  I've noticed that you really gravitate towards writing pieces with a set accompaniment pattern that stays the same throughout the whole duration of a piece (with some variation of course).  I think the trumpet part is fine and doesn't go too high.  High concert C is probably easier to hit on a C Trumpet like you have here than a high D would be on a Bb Trumpet, but they are still well within the expected competency for both types of Trumpet.  About the quadruplets:  usually, in Musescore, for me to accomplish the kinds of quadruplets you want here, I would first merge the duration over which I want the quadruplets to take up (the rest).  Then I'd hit Ctrl - 4 and the rest would be split up into 4 equal parts.  In order to merge the rests so they're all contained in one rest, I'd select them all and hit Delete.  I don't know if that helps and what program you might be writing this in.  Thanks for sharing!

Hello Peter.

Thanks a lot for your reply. I was not sure about the upper range of the trumpet,( I know very little of this instrument) and I am glad to learn that the high C is not a problem. I am sorry for not mentioning my software notation program (it is Sibelius). But finally I managed to convert to quadruplets. It escaped my attention that there is a special plug-in file, which allowed me to make the changes. Thanks anyway for your help! (I have now uploaded the revised version of the score).

My way of writing changes periodically. The last two pieces were in the way you described, but I have some other things which are quite different in form.

And again, thanks a lot for your feedback and your help.