Dawn

Originally Posted by robinjessome

Don't sweat it. It's tough for even the most well-thought and adventurous 'modern' piece to beat something with a beautiful and lyrical MELODY. As this piece will develop, I expect you could easily expand on the harmonic content. This is only the beginning, right?

Also, this is what you wrote. If you're happy with it, and are confident and proud of it, then nobody can tell you otherwise. You won't please everyone - it's not possible.

Have you played this for your professor(s) yet?

No and I won't get chance to. I primarily work from home as none of our university computers have Sibelius on them (unless they are the studio ones.) The first time they will see it will be in score form (no recording) on Monday.

It is only because I have study week this week that I am able to work on this - I'll have to get all my reading for next week done on over the weekend

I wasn't going to put another update on here until I had finished but I am slightly unsure about section 3.

Section 1/2 have been quite melodic and in Eb major so for Section 3, I wanted to break loose from that key and this is what I came up with.

The violin is still melodic but not so much as before and the piano alternates between chordal movement and arpeggio movement. It travels through Ab, F and A majors.

The section isn't yet finished as you can hear there are a couple of chords which need working on and the phrasing needs work (at the mo its all piano). And I might extend it to explore another key ... but I need some opinions on the section so far. It sounds like it belongs but doesn't and I am not sure if I am 100% convinced it works.

No score as it is such a mess.

Dawn Updated @ Acid Planet

Ok guys, I have tried. I have but I am not happy with this piece at all.

I have reading to do for Monday which I haven't even looked at, I have a flat which is a giant mess and to top it all off now mice from next's door loft have managed to get into my flat.

I have stared and worked and tinkered and I feel like I am getting nowhere. Yet if I give up this will be the second compositional workshop deadline in as many months which have gone by without a submission and my university won't be involved in another one this term.

I don't want to give up but I feel so mentally drained - I have spent the better part of the last 3 days solely working on this piece. I have escaped my flat when I have needed to like I did this morning but its not helping.

This is what I have got ...

Dawn @ AcidPlanet

No score (and the very last chord shouldn't be there)

Basically I have played about with the tonal centers and put at times the piano in a different key to the violin for the third section but I don't know, it just doesn't feel right.

Maybe you could take a break from it for a while, and then come back to it. That would give you an opportunity to come back to it refreshed and with new ideas.

Originally Posted by JairCrawford

Maybe you could take a break from it for a while, and then come back to it. That would give you an opportunity to come back to it refreshed and with new ideas.

Even if I forget to whole getting it bound - its still due Monday and I still have 3 chapters to read and 2 hours worth of listen for a lecture on Monday.

Being stressed out always saps my creativity.

The piano is too static because all it's doing is playing block chords on strong beats. Make it more polyphonic, break up the texture a bit. More on that later.

So I have been playing Poker on facebook - on my laptop which doesn't have anything to do with composition work and I have been thinking.

It would be soo stupid of me to just throw away the first minute and a bit of Dawn which is so pretty and beautiful. But I seriously don't know how to continue it. I am very unhappy with section three and I feel like deleting that whole section but that would mean a whole day's work wasted.

My brief doesn't state anything but "up to 8 minutes" so I have a world of possibilties and now zero time.

So I am in two mindsets. The first wants to plow on and try and get it done. The second is leave it be and get on with the reading and listening and mice-removal, forget about the workshop and return to Dawn again at a later date.

So its Sunday 22:06 - I haven't yet done my reading or my listening for my first lectures of the term tomorrow nor do I have a score I can submit.

I am quite upset over it because the first day or so of work seemed to go good and I had a promising piece which I was quite proud of. Until Friday, this work seemed had been the most enjoyment piece I have written and I thought that on completion would have been lethal in the hands of the violinist in question.

However, it isn't to be. I don't have mental energy or any energy to pull an all night for this piece even though it was very important to me to complete. But I am already tired and going to my lectures and falling asleep in them is going to be worst than not being prepared for it.

I do want to thank the people who did offer help. I know I probably don't sound grateful to you because I am quite bitter about not completing the piece at the moment. It was my own fault for not checking when the deadline was and therefore leaving writing the piece until the last moment.

I don't know what will become of Dawn. I hope I don't save it away and never look on it again but I can't, at this time, forsee a future of it when I can't figure how to continue it.

Time to move on though.