Some Inventions

Sometimes, just for fun and to develop imagination, with no compositional intention, I write inventions in different tonalities, as Bach taught us.

They're very short.

All very pleasant to listen to. They're short but the development in them regardless is really quite admirable. I like 14 the best, it flows the best in my opinion.

Cheers!

Really enjoyable little pieces. Developing short, fast-paced motifs is fun for the composer, and the results are quite fun to listen to. 14 and 16 were my favorites, I think because I felt they had the most of your personal sound in them. There are a couple of places (most noticeably in m. 14-15 of inv. 14) where the melodic rhythm confuses the beat in a way that feels out of place to me in a piece in this style.

Thanks!

I think this kind or little pieces should be done by everyone who wnts to be a "composer" or Composer... At least in the first weeks, months or years... In fact, I do it now and then for fun but it helps to improve the melodic variations and the modulation tools, too.

Delightful, and also a very good idea for an exercise. I think I'll try it out sometime soon.

All very nice. My favorite was #6. One thing a composer can experiment with is to alter the variations to a cantus firmus by offsetting it back and forth in time (usually by a quarter note) which will probably make it sound wrong in places. Especially wrong if there are modulations in the cantus firmus. This forces the composer to listen to it in a different way and to make adjustments in pitch in the variations to remain somewhat coherent so that you are not locked into a die hard canon. It's just an exercise to get a composer to think outside the box. Although there's nothing wrong by adhering to strict 18th century counterpoint in your studies.