Polytonal Excursion

This is a really old piece that I dug out of my archives and decided to finish.  It is an exercise in how to turn a really banal and repetitive melody into (hopefully) something more interesting through polytonal harmonization.  Also, there's lots of cross-relations but I tried to keep them tasteful.  I decided to keep some traditional cadences intact despite the polytonal context.  Needless to say, this is a bit rough around the edges and might qualify as more of an experimental orchestral sketch than an actual piece LoL.  Let me know if you like it or not.  I welcome your critiques, suggestions or just observations.  Thanks for listening!

Now this is a piece based on a motif. Note that I categorize this slightly differently than motive which I feel is a more deliberate theme that doesn't necessarily have to recur so often, or doesn't require a strict pattern. Anyway, this melody is short enough to qualify as a motif and it's certainly recurring throughout. Moving on, even if you categorize this piece as experimental, it can also be a study due to how organized, focused it is. I'm trying to pick out the new parts for fun.

At around 1:55, the tension and release is well done. I feel this perhaps qualifies as one of the new part you worked on (let me know if I'm right? lol). You then expand on that idea at around 2:36. This is really very good.

I think that at around 0:38 seconds in through 0:50 seconds, this part just feels slightly too repetitive. But then you follow it up with some really great writing immediately afterwards. I'm not sure if I'm hearing the old Peter transition to the new Peter here.

2:22 through 2:35 is actually almost the same passage as 0:38 to 0:50, but it's done in a much more interesting way...again, new Peter?

But in general, while most of the piece is actually repetitive, it's done in a way that is enjoyable to listen to, and I think that people can learn from this (sorta like a motif study perhaps).

One thing to note is that the score needs to be landscape or tabloid when you are doing orchestral works, just so that its easier to follow along. It should not read like a piano score.

Thanks @chopin for your review!  So everything up to 2:05 is old - after that point (the first 2nd ending) I tried to finish the piece by essentially furnishing a B section of a rounded binary form.

11 minutes ago, chopin said:

But in general, while most of the piece is actually repetitive, it's done in a way that is enjoyable to listen to, and I think that people can learn from this (sorta like a motif study perhaps).

Thank you!  In the B section (which I thought of as kind of a mini-development) I tried to set the motifs in the keys of the axis system (C, Eb, F#, A).

12 minutes ago, chopin said:

One thing to note is that the score needs to be landscape or tabloid when you are doing orchestral works, just so that its easier to follow along. It should not read like a piano score.

This is not a common practice afaik in orchestral scores, since this many instruments would have a really hard time fitting on the short length of the page.  But if printed out the score would usually be viewed two pages at a time if that makes a difference.

Hey Peter,

I really like this and I think you have achieved your goal to turns "a really banal and repetitive melody into something more interesting through polytonal harmonization." I really enjoy the repetitiveness and banality of the theme, since this makes the underlying polytonal harmony much more interesting than if the motives themselves are already complicated and you will have to not only analyze the polytonality but also the development of the themes and motives. I say this because I conceive this work as a dance and I think the repetitiveness is actually a great decision. Maybe you can just change the instrumentation slightly with the same lines to add varieties for both the repeated section of b.1-40 and b.43-67. In the first section C major is taking the lead and the flat key chords are subordinating to it. I am thinking maybe you can reverse the role and have the melody in flat keys (which you did) and C major as the subordinate chords. Or the second section the main melody is in minor with the C major constantly contradicting the "sadness" underneath the melody. But this is an enjoyable funny piece! Thx for sharing!

Henry

Really easy to listen to. Here in the UK it would be classed as "light music" and is entirely successful at that - probably playable at sight for performers in that arena. It's the kind of music one might find backing an activities sequence in a documentary - light hearted, enough dissonance lift it out of the banal, a buoyant rhythm. Easy-going energy.

Very little to say about it otherwise. One of those pieces that should be used in a multi-media context. Nice rendering. Shows how something lieft on the back-burner can be given new life!

I Love "quirky" ... very pleasant to listen to and a bit of fun!  Sometimes less - is more.

Do I hear a bit of Bernstein/Broadway here? 

Mark

jesus christ YOU JUST NEEDED DECENT SOUNDS ALL YOUR WORK SOUNDS AMAZING now that I can hear it!!!  I would have used that minor 4 to go back to the 1 but you did something that opened my ears a bit. This uses so much amazing theory (I assume, lol). It reminds me of Gershwin but like a bit stoned and more contemplative

I would submit some of these scores to be performed tbh

This piece would have been great to use in our dream competition! I think your particular use of polytonality made for a very dream like piece, one that made me feel like the boundaries of reality and dream were blurred, each coloring the other to create a murky illusion of a fair or amusement park that's possibly not being experienced in the real world. 

I like how you favored a more consonant flavor, giving the harmony a blurry jazz hue instead of harsh dissonance I'm used to when hearing polyharmony and the like. Again, the musescore sounds are great here. 

This piece has a catchiness that lingers after listening, I really enjoyed this music a lot. Thanks for sharing! 

Hi, I missed this piece, but I find it amazing in terms of concept and orchestration.