Ascendance of the Soul

This is my work called "Ascendance of the Soul." It is for an A Capella Choir. I wrote the text as well as the music. I have just graduated high school, and I am going to college in the fall to study music composition.

It is roughly six minutes long. There are eight short movements. The main recurring musical theme is the beginning of the "Vocalise: Prelude," sung on a 'la', which is heard three times throughout the piece, in different variations. The main textual theme is the Ascendance of the Soul into heaven after death. It is a good piece to be sung in a concert setting. I had a group sing this at a concert not long ago. Sadly, we didn't get the chance to record it, but here is a MIDI file and a Finale file.

I entered this piece into a competition for young composers a while back, but I have yet to hear anything about the results.

Feel free to ask questions, and any critiques or suggestions are appreciated. I will use them constructively.

Thank you,

-Adam

Ascendance.MID

Ascendance.MUS

This was very beautiful work - my favorite movement was "Heaven Calls".

Do you intend there to be a pause between each movement, or is everything played through from beginning to end? Just wondering.

Also, I would suggest being a bit more adventurous in regards to rhythms and using suspension. For example, I think that the finale could be much more interesting and beautiful if you put some suspensions in there, like where one part holds thier note a beat longer then resolves instead of the whole choir moving in unison. This can create some really beautiful effects and might give a better sense of resolve since it is a peaceful ending. I felt like the rhythms were too monotonous in some places, mostly in the vocalises. I think some different effects, like a syncopation here or there or perhaps a few triplets might help these sections out a lot.

This was very nice work, hope you do well in that competition!

Thanks! I appreciate the suggestions. The answer to your question is that I intend for there to be a short pause between the movements, maybe a second or two. That's why it's written all together, and not in separate pieces. I don't want long pauses between movements, since they're so short.

-Adam

I'll have to agree with Nightscape. This was a gorgeous piece, and every movement of it was great.

Some suggestions: Just look over your score, and check the number of beats in each measure. Some of your measures will have a 1/2 note in 4/4 time but no 1/2 rest (i.e. mm 40). Other than notation slip ups (such as the modulate as much as I'd hoped. This could also add to the monotony that Nightscape talked about. Though I do agree with him in the rhythm idea.

The text itself was very nice, and I enjoyed reading/listening to it very much.

Thanks for sharing this amazing piece!

Adam,

You

Hmmm... looks like I've got some work to do... I think some of the things you are saying are true, leightwing. It's true that everyone who looks at the work seems to like "Heaven Calls" more than any other movement... You're actually the first person to give the work such a full and detailed critique! Thanks! A few things, though...

The theme beginning at measure 48 is simply a staccato variation of the first Vocalise theme, heard at the very beginning of the piece. If some of the harmonies in that section sound 'bad', then do they sound bad when they are heard legato at the beginning of the piece also? At the beginning of that movement (Vocalise: Prelude II), I was trying to partially transcribe the first theme in staccato. Are you saying that I should change my harmonies in THAT movement, or whenever that part is heard throughout the piece, in whatever variation?

I know that the "I V I V I V..." in the "Quickly, Quickly" movement can sound repetitive and boring... I admit that I composed that section in more of a hurry than I should have. That section was conceived in my mind to excite the audience and impress them with the speed. I also admit that sometimes, I think more about the things that "would sound cool" than the text or the form sometimes... I am very much inclined to put on a show with a composition... That's just me...

I didn't put an A-MEN at the end for one big reason (and believe me, I thought about it a lot)... It didn't fit! The last movement is a Vocalise, unlike the other movements with Amens.... 'la la la la la la -AMEN' just didn't seem appropriate for some reason... perhaps it might if you think of the A-MEN as a conclusion to the piece as a whole, but it just didn't sound right to me...

Thanks for the comments, and any more are appreciated!

-Adam

beautiful work!

Heaven calls was also my favorite movement.

I liked your deceptive cadences a lot.

I have a quick question.

who do you study music theory and composition with?

by the way, congrats for your graduation...

and what school are you going next year?

greetings

I studied at a place called the Rennaissance Center in Dickson, TN. I doubt you've heard of it, but for what it's worth, I studied with a guy named Jeff Martin out at the Center. He's a cool guy, and he can play almost anything on the piano... He's also very knowledgeable about theory and composition, and he helped me TREMENDOUSLY to get to where I am right now... He didn't help me on this one as much, though, because I had already stopped taking lessons before I really got finished with it. I wrote this almost entirely on my own, with little help from anyone.

...and I'm going to Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. It's a small school, without the HUGE classes full of people. I'm happy about that!

-Adam

Good for you . I am going to Sunny Purchase in New York majoring in composition.

greetings.

Adam,

This is a substantial work into which you have put a lot of time and effort. And it shows. Great job! You have a good sense of timing overall -- I didn't feel as if any movement was over too soon, or conversely, went on for too long. You have a good sense of the ranges of the voices as well, and listening through it I didn't see anything in the parts that struck me as un-singable or unnecessarily difficult to sing.

I disagree strongly with Leightwing on one thing. I do not think this piece has too much textless music. Rather, I think that the textless sections serve as a good balance to the sacred movements. It is a device of form, and you are aware you used it, and I like it. Yes, it is always important to consider your performers and director when writing a piece, but never at the expense of your own personal vision of what the piece is.

That said, I will make one suggestion regarding the la-la's. Must every individual syllable have a la on it? What if for some of the faster or more lyrical moving lines you had the choir sing a la on the first note, and then just hold out an 'ah' vowel for the following few notes? This is an idea I would encourage you to play around with at least a little bit, because it has the potential of adding a lot more freshness and excitement to the interlude sections.

Let's take a look at a couple of specific sections, starting with "Vocalise: Prelude III." To my ear, the rhythmic simplicity of this section does not sound pleasing. You are in a moderate tempo, and for a rather long time you have the bass and tenor hammering away in quarter notes while the altos and sopranos sing in half notes. Why the stark division of note values? After about two bars of exactly the same rhythmic content, the ear begins to grow tired, despite the fact that your harmonies are changing. (This isn't minimalism, after all! :P ) Why not combine both quarters and halves in the different lines of the different parts? In general, you want rhythm to always be living and developing, to be something that makes your singers excited to sing the lines you have written for them. This is a massive issue in choral writing and something that takes years upon years to develop (I sure haven't figured it out as of yet) so don't feel discouraged in thinking that you have to write rhythmic perfection on par with a Palestrina Mass or a Bruckner Gradual.

One more thing for now. Take a look at bar 143 in the tenor, the last two quarter notes. The harmony there is D7, with the tenors holding the C, which is the seventh. Now in a dominant seventh chord, the seventh is the note that holds the most tension in it and serves to propel the harmony to the next chord. Therefore, it sounds wrong to my ear when you move off the C to a B, which isn't a part of the D major sonority, and then jump up a third to the D for the next note. In moving to the B, you do two things: lose the tension of the dominant seventh, and make for awkward voice leading (my ear expected that line to continue to go downwards). Now this is just one example -- I encourage you to go through every line of your piece with this sort of fine-toothed comb, and compare what each part is singing with the general harmony at the moment. Most of your voice leading is well-written, but there are still several moments of opportunities for improvement.

Let me know if anything I mentioned is unclear.

And again, great job with this piece!

Thank you very much! I agree with the things you said about where it could use work. I probably should have spent more time perfecting it than I did, but I only had a short while to finish it, because I was already planning on having it performed at my senior concert at the Rennaissance Center even shortly before it was finished. I had a short time after that to revise it for the competition, and this is the version that ended up being submitted there. I can already see that my chances of winning anything are slim, but that's OK. I'll have another chance every year until I'm 30 (the age cutoff). After all, the competition is held anually at Austin Peay State University, the college I'm going to be attending. I'll certainly take what you said into account and revise the piece accordingly. Thanks!

-Adam

I had a short time after that to revise it for the competition, and this is the version that ended up being submitted there. I can already see that my chances of winning anything are slim, but that's OK. I'll have another chance every year until I'm 30 (the age cutoff).

My friend, try not to place too much stock in those competitions. Past teachers have warned me that those things end up being more like crap shoots than objective indicators of compositional talent. I have known so many young composers who submit brilliant pieces to competitions, only to be rejected and beat out by someone who writes in an incredibly atonal (and to my ear irrelevant) style.

Keep on writing, and if a competition comes along, send something in, but pay little attention to those things. It will do you much better in the long run.

I disagree strongly with Leightwing on one thing. I do not think this piece has too much textless music. Rather, I think that the textless sections serve as a good balance to the sacred movements. It is a device of form, and you are aware you used it, and I like it. Yes, it is always important to consider your performers and director when writing a piece, but never at the expense of your own personal vision of what the piece is.[/b]

Just for the record, I'd like it to be known that I'm standing my ground on this matter, and strongly disagree with aerlinndan. Unless it is used as an 'effect', la-la's wear thin very easily. Outside of the madrigal idiom, I can't think of a single piece in the standard repertoire that uses la-la's with any regularity - and certainly not in a sacred text. La-la's are used in madrigals like "Fair Phyllis" and "Sing We and Chant It" and other such light fare, and as such, its use alludes to this history. The use of La-la

My friend, try not to place too much stock in those competitions. Past teachers have warned me that those things end up being more like crap shoots than objective indicators of compositional talent. I have known so many young composers who submit brilliant pieces to competitions, only to be rejected and beat out by someone who writes in an incredibly atonal (and to my ear irrelevant) style.

Keep on writing, and if a competition comes along, send something in, but pay little attention to those things. It will do you much better in the long run.

[/b]

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. I certainly try not to get discouraged too easily, anyway, but knowing that certainly helps... and I do agree that some of this entirely atonal music is irrelevant, and yet I hear some people talk about how "genius" the music is and how "talented" the composers are who write in that style, but I just can't hear any genius or talent in most of it (not to offend anyone, that's just my opinion). It sounds largely random to me. Perhaps my ear just isn't as accustomed to it as some are... Atonality has its place, for sure, but that's another discussion. It's just not my style, nor my idea of enjoyable music.

-Adam

Leightwing, I give you props for being one of the only people around here that can strongly disagree with someone in a civilized way.

We actually agree more than I first thought. I do agree that Adam's use of a 'la' on each individual syllable gives the piece too lighthearted and flippant a feel, and that is why I suggested a reworking of the consonants and vowels of the textless part.

But I still disagree that textless choral music is a copout. :-) The ability to set text is an important skill, but certainly not necessary to any legitimate piece of music.

One more thing for now. Take a look at bar 143 in the tenor, the last two quarter notes. The harmony there is D7, with the tenors holding the C, which is the seventh. Now in a dominant seventh chord, the seventh is the note that holds the most tension in it and serves to propel the harmony to the next chord. Therefore, it sounds wrong to my ear when you move off the C to a B, which isn't a part of the D major sonority, and then jump up a third to the D for the next note. In moving to the B, you do two things: lose the tension of the dominant seventh, and make for awkward voice leading (my ear expected that line to continue to go downwards). Now this is just one example -- I encourage you to go through every line of your piece with this sort of fine-toothed comb, and compare what each part is singing with the general harmony at the moment. Most of your voice leading is well-written, but there are still several moments of opportunities for improvement.

Ok maybe this will prove to be a good theory lesson because this has never been my forte. Isn't the leading (the seventh tone or degree of a scale that is a half tone below the tonic).. So the leading tone of the D major sonority is a C# not a C natural? If it is then the B, in the context of the root being G major is justified? Even if we look at it as a dominant seventh the seventh is always three semitones above the fifth. So how do you come to C natural being the leading tone to the D major sonority... It is just the seventh of the D major sonority. Just a thought...