Canon Experiment

Hey, it's been a minute

I wanted to experiment writing something Canon-esque, drawing inspiration from Canon in D. It's written in ternary form, with the A section in Eb major, the B section in Bb major (with some minor moments) and returns back to Eb major for a repeated A section. It's very basic, and no where near performance ready, but I've been on this site for a while, but afraid of composing, so I guess this is my plunge lol. 

Upon review, I have noticed some technical errors, but this was just for fun and to get my feet wet and I just wanted to get some feedback.

Thank you

Hi @GospelPiano12,

I find the sound really nice! I just don't understand why it's called a canon though, since I don't find strict imitation in it😅.

5 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hi @GospelPiano12,

I find the sound really nice! I just don't understand why it's called a canon though, since I don't find strict imitation in it😅.

 

I called it a Canon because I was using Pachelbel's Canon in D chord progression (with some adjustments and inverting) for the first 4 bar phrase. His piece inspired my piece.

Edited January 8, 20233 yr by GospelPiano12

It does sound nice! But this resembles a prelude like piece rather than a canon!

35 minutes ago, Guardian25 said:

It does sound nice! But this resembles a prelude like piece rather than a canon!

 

would you mind explaining the difference between the two? I'm not sure what the differences are

19 minutes ago, GospelPiano12 said:

would you mind explaining the difference between the two? I'm not sure what the differences are

For a canon it means a piece with strict imitation throughout the whole piece. In canon in D there's voice imitating the previous passages, that's why it's called canon. In bach invention no.2 in c minor it's a canon:

https://www.google.com/search?q=bach+invention+2&oq=bach+invention+2&aqs=chrome.0.0i355i512j46i512j0i512l2j0i30l4.3643j0j7&client=ms-android-samsung-ga-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:f05c3d67,vid:S1KpiiCSxSM

A prelude is a freer form. You can see the 48 preludes in the WTC there are all sort of different preludes: learned, free, tocatta like, fugue, invention, etc. 

Henry

Hmmmm, thank you for elaborating

Hey there!  Glad to see you're still around doing music and hopefully learning how to notate your great gospel church hymns!

In this piece, since you have the flute part playing an octave above its range throughout the whole piece never going below the written D above middle C, you might as well give it to piccolo, since all they notes are well within the piccolos range.  

I think this is a nice and quaint little composition!  Not a bad piece of model writing although as you say there's some technical errors but I won't bore you nor myself with the details of those.  Thanks for sharing!

The "problem" is that this canon has hundreds or covers that have lost its essence and they are not canon anymore.

If you go to the original with 4 violins you will see.

Anyway is a good variation set.

9 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

Hey there!  Glad to see you're still around doing music and hopefully learning how to notate your great gospel church hymns!

In this piece, since you have the flute part playing an octave above its range throughout the whole piece never going below the written D above middle C, you might as well give it to piccolo, since all they notes are well within the piccolos range.  

I think this is a nice and quaint little composition!  Not a bad piece of model writing although as you say there's some technical errors but I won't bore you nor myself with the details of those.  Thanks for sharing!

 

Yes I am, taking theory and performance classes in college, so hopefully you'll see more of my pieces on here in the future.

Well as boring as they may be, if you wanted to elaborate, I would love to hear your thoughts and discuss them.

There are a few areas I'd like to improve upon, namely adding depth and variation to the violin accompaniment, by having some of the arpeggios descend on beat 3 instead of repeating ascending arpeggios.

Also,measures 13-16 sound a little...elementary to me. It doesn't sound as complex or thought out as the rest of the piece.

I'm also thinking about using this prelude as a base for a string trio and flute piece. Or even just making it into a string quartet piece and adding some counterpoint and refining it. If anyone has any suggestions or tips, please let me know. I am eager to learn.