Frederic Gill

“It’s a huge…comment!” Lol. Thanks for the supportive and constructive feedback. I have inserted my comments inside brackets: “It's a huge improvement from the previous piece. The countersubject you've written is very melodious, and you've exploited its scalar nature and its rhythm very well for the rest of the piece.” [The original motive is longer than you thought. There is an important stretto in this #10 (see pic) and I cannot take full credit for the scalar line and the rhythm]. “ The harmony in your counterpoint is very apparent and well-constructed too: the first bar outlines descending thirds, and the second bar is a dominant chord. The issues regarding accented 8ves are also no longer there. You can refine your countersubject slightly though. All of the semiquavers in bar 4 should be raised by 1 pitch. This will both highlight the underlying dominant harmony, and also lead to the E in the following bar more smoothly. “ [yes it sounds better! I made this change to bar 4, 10 & 22. I have also changed some registers because it became too high or separated. Then I made a few adjustments in bar 10.17 and 12.83 (see v3m.mp3) ] “With this change, your solution will be perfectly acceptable, but a slightly more musically "interesting" solution will be to turn the beginning of bars 3 and 4 into 4-3 suspensions.” [The motive ‘forbids’ that change, I suppose. It could be possible at bar 3. For bar 4, on the other hand, I cannot have there a 4-3 suspension because the 3 doesn’t belong to the V chord. In fact there was a 4|7 at bar 4 in the original motive, but I cheated and replaced it with a 8|7 because I wanted a VI, not a iv or a ii° chord. Am I wrong? Should I bring back the 4 of aiv or ii°? ] [And for the 3 other points, I’ll look at it closely and rework my piece. Thanks a lot for this precious advice ;)]

Very nice. It is tasteful. Its easy to follow, even for a child. And that's a compliment! It's not like other composers who try too hard to be original and sophisticated, sacrificing fundamental qualities of music like accessibility and consistency. Sophistication is in the details and originality is a subjective concept, unlike authenticity.

Here is v3, an improvement to v2 of #10. I removed all accented P8ves, also some parallel 8ves and 5ths. And other little things. The changes are in RED on the score. The plot: The leading tone, being absent from the motive, takes its revenge in the counter-motives, sometimes in obstinate ways.

Thank you for this 1st positive feedback. It is comforting :) You make it clear about the accented P8ve. I had never seen anything negative on that in Goetschius books (So I blame him!). The proof is that I have accented P8ves EVERYWHERE! LOL. In the deleted piece (#20) I had one per bar! And in this one, I have about 9 among 24 bars. I will have to update many pieces! The original motive was given an 'allegro' tempo, which should be 125bpm. Ridiculously fast. So I chose 85bpm (moderato). If I had slowed it further downto 60bpm, I would have had a different, non-humorous approach to it. I will make corrections to this #10 and get back. See you!

Here's my beginner's non-academic point of view (for what it is worth): @Fermata's Fugue in D minor sounds flawless and tasteful. The given motive is very interesting. It is rich in complexity, and intriguing because it feels 'incomplete'. It calls for contrasting complements. Also, is it suitable for a fugue where it has to be frequently repeated? It would be nice as a theme for a long development with less imitation. That's my personnal impression.

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Thanks for the original score of the fugue. I will transcribe it and listen to it. And I’ll keep the page of themes for the future. Who knows if one day I'll be capable of composing good fugues, lol. If I may ultimately ask again: Do you have books or authors to recommend to me? Thanks.

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Hi Henry. (1) The book asked to start small invention exercises with one voice only... (2) about 4th#, look at my recent answer to Munchen. (3) Ok. it's a F:V7, but the D in upper voice make it ambiguous with a V9 or IV. Yes that's not very good. In the previous bar I have a F:I6-... so I would not go for a I64 as you suggest, unless the very motive prescribes it. (4) Yes, I forgot to put a '# 'on the previous C in lower voice for indicating my 'episodeless' modulation. Thanks for noticing me! (5) Can I ask to you as well what would you do with the 4th# in bar 3: a transient modulation (in every occurence of the motive, as I did) or an altered chord? Thanks for your feedback.