Dance for Violin

I've been studying violin instrumentation for a bit, and the last resource I looked at was a video by Thomas Goss on unaccompanied violin scoring.

At the end of this lecture video, he asks the viewer to compose a 2-3 minute piece focused on lyricism and craft. This is what I came up with: my first attempt at violin scoring. The playback on my notation software is pretty crappy quality, so just to be clear, I mean the quadruple stops to be two successive double stops, favoring the top two notes. And the accelerando does not really stop at m. 39, that is just another inconsistency with my notation software. :/

I'm more of a strings kind of guy so I don't know much about the violin, but I have done a bit of research on it and from what I can tell the form is there.

Curious did you record this live?

No, I don't have access to a violin myself, I am not a violinist. This mp3 is a MIDI playback from Finale Songwriter 2012.

Ok.

Well in that case I think you are on the right track but some of notes in which sounded like chords almost struck me as a bit odd but I think the accelerando was done at a good pace, although despite the program being a bit offset with the score.

Overall I think it's a good start but need a bit more practice.

Welcome to the forums by the way.

Yeah, the software doesn't interpret chords on the solo violin stave as multiple stops, which irks me.

And thank you!

These stops/chords need to be rolled or marked differently. They're otherwise impossible. I know it was in the preface to the piece, but even a grace note double stop would be fine.

The slurs in here are also not logical. Really long with string crossings happening too often.

Musically, it's challenging because the line meanders so much rather than just stays complacent under one key. 

Just make sure it makes sense... a lot of problems that blur the intent of the piece.

Nice work. Here's some thoughts:

m.1-14:

As @Monarcheon mentioned, these bowing are pretty impractical. If it helps, imagine drawing a bow across a violin for the duration of the slur (or just ask any violinists you know to look it over). 

This musical phrase ends to early, it barely has time to develop before you switch tracks. I would at least add one more 3-eighths - dotted quarter to lead into the successive dotted quarters (I would also make it 3 sucessive dotted quarters as opposed to 4. This is supposed to be a dance, and I think the sudden halt in the triplet-feel for so long interrupts that feeling), and then put a repeat before m.15.

m.15-39:

I like this, it has a very nice flow to it. I do think you could add a little bit of alteration in the repeating notes of the slurred eights into sixteenths, for instance raising the final sixteenth in the pattern (rather than lowering it) to defy the listeners expectations and lead into the next musical phrase more smoothly. 

m.22 into 23 needs a smoother transition. The sudden change in rythym feels fairly awkward, and especially because this is a dance you need to ensure the rhythm is very solid and smoothly flows together.

I like the accelerando, it works very well.

m.40-49:

A good ending, fades out nicely with a pleasant restatement of the theme. I would add a small crescendo on the final three eight notes before the final chord though.

Thanks guys, I want to start working on a revised version of this. I came up with it impromptu one afternoon, and now I realize I definitely didn't pay much attention to the up-bow/down-bow nuances that I should have. @Monarcheon just to be clear, when you say grace note double stops, do you mean it would be easier to interpret if I wrote the bottom notes as grace and leave the top two as quarter notes?

28 minutes ago, Jacob Hall said:

Thanks guys, I want to start working on a revised version of this. I came up with it impromptu one afternoon, and now I realize I definitely didn't pay much attention to the up-bow/down-bow nuances that I should have. @Monarcheon just to be clear, when you say grace note double stops, do you mean it would be easier to interpret if I wrote the bottom notes as grace and leave the top two as quarter notes?

 

That's what I meant, but that's only because you said your program doesn't perform the playback correctly the way you have it written. Technically the way you have it written now is okay, but there is nothing wrong with altering it either.