Oboe Concerto

Good Evening All,

I've set out to write an oboe concerto, but I wrote this fragment and realized that I don't know how to write a concerto...any advice/tips?

Also, please don't come at me for the notation...it's giving 6/4, but I'm just in the beginning stages of brain storming

Hey @GospelPiano12!

I think starting out with a really simple phrase like this is a great way to start!  In my own experience, I've always relied on being able to come up with variations of the main melodic idea that my piece is based on, and in the case of a concerto type of piece, virtuosic variations.  Even if your ultimate form isn't going to be a theme and variations, being able to pre-compose various different versions of your main theme will get you far in terms of giving you the ideas you need to put the piece together.  So, what you have here is a really great simple idea that you can easily subject to virtuosic variations by inserting notes in between the melody notes you already have:

This could also potentially lead to the formation of ostinati or repeating accompanimental figures which can give your piece some rhythmic drive!  Also, since you're writing a concerto for a wind instrument, it's important to remember to give your soloist choice places to breathe.  Most of my own concerto type works have been for piano and orchestra.  I've written things for Violin and Piano or Violin and Harpsichord, but they were short (and the former, microtonal).  I think you can, if you want, use this thread as a place to bounce your ideas off of the community as you make progress.  If you're comfortable I can make suggestions like this periodically.  I always have more ideas for more variations!  Like they said in the movie "Blazing Saddles" - "My mind is a .. a raging torrent!  Flooded with rivulets of thought .. cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives!"  LoL

I like this idea! I will definitely start exploring these variations you've mentioned.

16 minutes ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

I think you can, if you want, use this thread as a place to bounce your ideas off of the community as you make progress.

I think this would be great!! Especially as I start thinking about instrumentation and voicing and color.

17 minutes ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

If you're comfortable I can make suggestions like this periodically.

Of course, your suggestions are always welcome. Thank you.

Seems like I have a lot of work on my hands lol

Some harmony ideas

Edited the melody a bit for some more interest and movement 

20 hours ago, GospelPiano12 said:

Edited the melody a bit for some more interest and movement 

I think what with the way you changed the melody it now makes more sense to treat the melody as if it was an acephalic phrase.

Counting the first measure as the beginning of the phrase, instead of just a pick-up note makes your phrases 14 measures long, with clear markers separating it out into 2 measure fragments (mostly).  I think it makes more sense to look at it that way rather than as if the first F was a pick-up note.

7 hours ago, PeterthePapercomPoser said:

acephalic phrase

I've never heard of that term before lol, is that a good thing?

3 hours ago, GospelPiano12 said:

I've never heard of that term before lol, is that a good thing?

It's neither good nor bad - or at least it depends on what you want to do with it.  It's just a characteristic.

Hmmm, so how do I treat it as an "acephalic" vs a regular/other phrase type @PeterthePapercomPoser? Just wanting some more clarification

2 minutes ago, GospelPiano12 said:

Hmmm, so how do I treat it as an "acephalic" vs a regular/other phrase type @PeterthePapercomPoser? Just wanting some more clarification

The phrase starts before the melody comes in so the beginning of the phrase is just the beginning of your first bar rather than starting the phrase on bar 2 as if the F in bar 1 was a pick-up.  So the phrase might start with some kind of accompanimental pattern with the first two beats being a space in which melodically nothing happens (until the F comes in).

Oh okay, now I understand - brain fart moment lol

The F is the beginning of the melodic material, but since I have two empty beats before that, I can fill up that space. Couldn't I also just get rid of the rests and make that measure an anacrusis? 

--> was thinking of having some strings and F. Horn play a countermelody + harmony as the theme comes in. I've never even attempted writing a counter melody before, so that should be fun.

2 minutes ago, GospelPiano12 said:

Couldn't I also just get rid of the rests and make that measure an anacrusis?

Yeah - a pick-up and an anacrusis are just different names for the same thing.  If you made that first F an anacrusis then your phrase would be 13 measures long though.

Ahhh ok, so leave it and have it stay as 14

I'll need to do some research on concerto structure and what is technically challenging for the obo so that I don't make this too easy to play or boring