Lesson with Morivou

With this class, we are going to work with Marivou how to start and finish a composition -the process of composition.

Before we begin I would like to say something about the teaching of composition. As you might be already aware, there is not a way of composing. Composers always chose their own way of doing things. However, there are some things that are worth to know which have been proved to work over the centuries. Such as the form of the piece, the harmonic progressions etc. In my first class at the university, the teacher told us that you have to know the rules in order to brake them. That was the first time that I heard this golden rule and it stuck to my brain until now. In this class, I am not going to force you to believe on something that I do. There are some things that you have to realize yourself because those things are that you will never be forced to learn. (I don't know if that makes sense!) Anyway, my english is not as powerfull as I would have liked it to be so from time to time I might have some difficulties expressing myself completely.

Let's get back to composition. As I told you, there is not one way of composing. I can only assist you to find your own way of doing things. I will be likely to try and show you an example of how I do it but that might or might not make any sense to you. In any case you will get a clear idea on how to start from scratch and finish a composition.

Ok enough talk, lets start !

We are going to start to write a piece immediately. For solo flute.
How about this? for your first assignement, find a piano, sit and try to come up with some themes. you can use whichever scale you like, It could be a 12-tone melody or modal, anything!. Find a melody that you will like. Don't try to finish up things quickly, write only sketches of 2-3 bars. It really is up to you.
Let me be more specific. Write 2 contrasting themes. They don't necessarily have to be complete, we have all the time in the world, we will be able to work on them later. Just find 2 contrasting themes. And see you in next class..

Ok, so here are my melodies. I am not sure if this is exactly what you wanted, but this is what I came up with. And, my name is spelled Morivou, if you could either change that or not, you don't have to.

I see that I spelled your name right. Where have you seen it wrong ?

Ok, First of all let me tell you my first impressions on your work. Why are the repeat marks and all the unnecessary detail at this stage? You really don't need them right now. It's always good to separate the compositional progress into sections. That's how I do anyway and it helps me concentrate better to the each section. The only reason I suggest you this because it makes it easier to compose and concentrate.

Now, within these themes of yours I want you to choose the one that you will like so that it will be the main theme or you could call it theme 1 or whatever really. It always helps me figure out the piece in advance if I limit myself to a limited number of materials. My materials would look somthing like this:

Melodic Materials: theme1 and theme2
Various transformations of theme1 and theme2
Rhythmic ideas (not always)
Form of the piece
Instrumentation
Lenght

When I limit myself with these and decide in advance the form, the length and the themes I would use, the rest is just technical knowledge and time. It would be wise if you decide each of these factors now and we would have the backbone of our piece.

Lets get back to your themes. as I said before, choose two contrasting themes from your "set of themes" and only post those in your next post. also consider the form, the lenght and any other idea that you would like to do with your piece.

When we have a clearer vision of the piece it will be much easier and be more fun for you to work on it.

Ok... Well I was thinking of writing a little chamber piece. Maybe a Concerto for Strings and Solo Piano. I have always wanted to write one of those.

However, I was wondering if I could write the themes in the Cello instrumentation because if that is the piece I am going to write I want to write the themes in the right register. What I am trying to say is, one theme in one instrument sounds completely different in another, right?

And, form-wise... If we were going for multi-movement, I would suggest the first movement should be Sonata form. Not strict, but I usually do really well with sonata form. I like writing that way but very modern. (which, of course is my era)

A concerto was actually not in my mind at this stage. We really need to focus on melodic/motivic development instead of all the other issues we will face writing the concerto. Writing for a solo instrument teaches a lot. It forces you to concentrate on melodic development since you don't have any other issues to worry about such as accompaniment and orchestration. I certainly don't want to force you into doing this but I strongly suggest we do a solo instrument. After doing that we will move on to chamber works and eventually to concerto.

Oh, I see. That works for me! You are the teacher, just guide and I will follow. But, in that case... can we still do cello?

Cello? hmm...I would normally say no since cello is not a monophonic instrument but since I am letting you down on the concerto thing, I'll say go on with cello.

Thx... I will have the themes posted in about 15 minutes.

Here. Cello themes 1 and 2.

Sorry for the long delay, as I just told Steve, I was very busy lately and also I didn't had an internet connection for a week.

I am afraid I will have to ask you to work a little more with this. Right now It sounds like you have composed the C major scale. It also looks like you haven't worked much on this.

Please work more on this.