May 2022: Composition
Yep, trying this again. Not that it went too badly last time, but ultimately I might as well not have this skill at all, if it takes me the better part of a month to actually write something. I think this should be a series of semi-regular composition projects, until I can get a first draft out in one or two sittings. Kinda like my sketches or essays. Well, essays without sources anyway. I would like to ramp up my goal for this month from the last one, but in all honesty, I'm not convinced I can. I'm just very slow. Some of this is because of my podcast habit, which I suppose is detrimental to a lot of things, not just thinking actively about music, but maybe I can use this goal to kick the habit as well.
Week 1:
Well, this time went a bit smoother than last time, surprisingly. I found this small phase on the piano, which now that I've composed an accompaniment to it, utilizes the same intervals as the Rondo from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8, though not for very long. Well, I'm not commercializing this, and I hope good Ludwig doesn't mind me borrowing the phrase. That's usually quite a lot to start a melody. I also counted the metrum the same, so this took over a lot of the composing for me.
In my head I wanted a rhythmic beat running under the melody, maybe because after the rhythmic nightmare last time around, I focused a little much on the metric this time. This was going to be something very rapid this time around, so even though technically this is counted in fourths, what I would've otherwise put into drums, I wrote as eights, along with some harmony-work to make this sound not terrible.
I'm still not quite sure about the second violin. It turned out somewhat difficult to layer the strings with a second motif. I'm debating bumping it down for some parts, and maybe inserting a counter-point, since that works well with the equal half-measure structure this melody turned out with, though that can go in later iterations, after the B-part.
The piano is very much relegated to the rhythm section this time around, so the right hand is already kinda doing the counter-point. It could be a little livelier, though I'm not sure how wild I wanna go there. I can't yet tell how much would be appropriate, though so far this is looking to be a high-tension melody, so sooner or later a little pomposity might not be out of place. That might also be something for later iterations.
This piece is also still "Untitled 1", which I would like to change before this goes live, but so far I'm coming short.
Week 2:
Turns out, continuing the melody at this stage isn't as clear cut as I thought it'd be. I went for repetition of the melody in a fugue between the violins. I want to transition the piano part into something more flowy for this section, since while the rhythmic section in the first page does its job decently well, I think some complexity is sorely needed here. The longer I think about the theme though, the more I am tempted to add another string section. For now however, I'm missing a B-part, and I'll be on vacation next week, meaning my time-table is probably out of my hands now
Week 3:
The aforementioned flowy section probably should transition into a B-part, because otherwise this piece is lacking structure. I'm guessing if I didn't put in a B-part, it'd work decently for aleatoric music, since I've not managed to shake the melody, and so far there hasn't been any signs of harmony changes either.
Week 4:
So on the last day of May, I managed to finish this up. I've been pretty happy with the A-part, so I put it as a reprise, but shifted the key slightly, then gave it an ending. That's the change of harmony in there, and now I can picture is less easily as aleatoric, though of course it could still be, technically. Looking back at the first section I composed, I think it's a little harsh, considering how very much more aethereal it turned out for the most part. Especially the B-Part, which shifted the melody between the different parts more actively. For that part, I inverted most of the melodic parts, put the harmony in the right hand piano, and the rhythm section into the first violin. Just one problem left: It's still named "Untitled 1". I really don't want to name it that. I did however not think about what this piece is supposed to conjure, apart from just being not terrible to listen to, so it'll have to do for now. However, I'm very open to suggestions on this one. Maybe this is a good opportunity to try out the comments feature? Either way, should I change the title, I'll add a little paragraph, or maybe a footnote to this essay.