Clarinet Sonatina in C

Here is a minimal piece I wrote for my girlfriend. She is a clarinetist, hence the instrumentation. When we get back to school I'll surprise her with it and hopefully soon I'll put up a recording of us playing the piece.

It's extremely minimal. It plays with one melodic fragment at a time, placing it in different spots of the static beat, playing with the accents and phrasing, all the stuff that MIDI doesn't bother with. If you know Terry Riley's 'In C', then you'll see that this piece has been heavily influenced by his.

Enjoy. ;)

I don't feel particularly qualified to comment but I think it wouldn't hurt to present my views on your piece from my perspective.

I can best describe how I felt about this piece visually, with the attached picture which is how I felt while listening to it.

Verbally, I have no real complaints about it musically, but I have to wonder about minimalism (if this is a good example) because I had a lot of trouble appreciating this. I am very open-minded musically and have nothing against minimalism by far I merely wish to ask what exactly the motivation or...well anything behind a piece such as this one is?

It seems to me to just drone on and on (and on and ON) without actually saying anything or going anywhere. Perhaps that's the idea? I think maybe more explanation might make me understand it better but from a completely unbiased perspective I found your piece to be boring.

The harmony is interesting and gives a cool feel, piano was a little fast at one point but not too much trouble and the whole thing sort of had me bouncing slightly from side to side. It seems to remind me of those mind-numbingly long train rides where your brain sort of fazes out into a little happy place.

But anyways, that's what I think, don't take it the wrong way or anything please. Good work! ;)

Well, see, the thing is...I don't think this piece is that compositionally 'strong' or 'wellcrafted' or anything. I just like it. :happy: It does something to me that I can't describe. Something that only the best of minimalism can do to me. Like In C, or Short Ride in a Fast Machine, by Adams. It stirs me up inside, makes me feel anxious or more calm, or something. I dunno. but it's the effect that I was going for, and the fact that I got that effect make me proud of the piece.

Well, yes, it does drone on. But that's the point. Minimalism doesn't appeal to everyone, after all. But thanks for giving it a listen. ;)

Anyone else have any thoughts?

I just like it. It does something to me that I can't describe.

Ok, THAT I can relate to. If you were only going for the effect of the piece then you've certainly succeeded and very good job.

Sorry I just don't have much experiece with minimalism so I was judging based on my perspective.

Interesting piece, Nickhoven. I'm not really sure what to say in terms of comments, since I really respect what you have done so far. Right from the beginning, with your 3.5 beat units in the clarinet and 4 beats in the piano, I was drawn in by your rhythmic and melodic processes. I really like your structure, with the end material being sort of a retrograde inversion of the beginning. The polyrhythms starting in measure 117 are also quite amazing, definatly the climax of the piece.

The one comment I have is that, seeing how extremely minimal this is, you could perhaps be even more cheap with your melodic material. The introduction of the new idea in measure 31, for example, I didn't really like. If I were composing this, one of the things I would try for (even though I am sure my final result would not be as excellent as this) would be to stick to developing one melodic line the entire way and make the second half exactly the retrograde inversion of the first, except for maybe moving the clarinet's part to the piano and some of the piano part to the clarinet in the second half.

Excellent work!