Thanks for taking a look at it.
I'll try to address all of your points:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Qccowboy
Hi Mark, I'm sorry for the delay in responding. (I hurt my back and have been on pain medication... not the best time to be examining orchestration exercises).
OK, first off, the range of your horns is perfectly fine.
On the other hand, if you're following common practice rules, there are a
few issues:
1 beat 2, there's parallel 5ths between horn 1 and 4.
2 beat 3, horn 1, the G is the 7th of the chord... it remains unresolved?
3 still beat 3, horn 1, the F and D... what are those notes? non-chord tones that are neither prepared nor resolved? the problem with them is they are 2nds on either side of the E in horn 2. So, in common practice harmony, they are unprepared, and unresolved dissonances. Not good, generally. They also make a nice little cluster: C-D-E-F#-G.
4 If beat 3 were rather a V7 chord in 3rd inversion (horn 2 would play a D, horn 4 plays the 7th, which would have no resolution on the next beat.. the 7th would become the root of IV) then we could analyse that horn 1 part as being a passing note on the first 8th, then two chord tones (the F# and the D).
5 Your analysis of the 2nd measure doesn't quite add up either..
Horn 3, second beat... that B? That whole second beat wants to be a I7 chord. Not a great choice, mind you, since the 7th would not resolve.
Be careful not to confuse counterpoint figurations (like measure 1, beat 3) with legitimate 4-part harmony passing note figures.
6 OK, that was all about the harmony. Just looking at the horn parts while ignoring the harmony, the part layout is good, though I might have avoided putting horn 3 above horn 1 for so long.
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1: Didn't notice them, thanks.
2: I've taken a liking to the sound of non-dominant seventh chords that aren't necessarily prepared or resolved, I like the little surprise you get
I know that this is considered a mistake in common practice harmony, but as we're not in the 18th century anymore I don't think it's too much of a problem.
3: These were just random passing notes, I agree it certainly wasn't the greatest choice, I just liked the double neighbour note type thing.
4: I like that - emmended.
5: I did have I7 on the 2nd beat, must've accidently deleted that when I moved the chords down as they got in the way of the pianoissimo. As for the lack of resolution, see point 2
6: Would it be a good idea to have horn 1 playing what horn 3 had in measure 2, and vice versa?
Thanks very much for looking at it, I appreciate it
PS - Attached is a revised version after reading your comments