Clarinet/Guitar Duet

Here is what I have done so far on a clarinet/guitar duet - what I am not sure about is what to do next. I am open to suggestions for ways to

1) making the accompaniment more interesting

2) expand the piece

3) make a sensible overall structure

happybirthday_mozart.mid

Thanks

2_5D.mid

First off, fix the guitar part. Why did you write it so high? It is relly awkward to play and if someone gave that to me, I would throw it away. It is terribly annoying to play that high. Everything must be played around the 12 fret. It wold be much better if you merely lowered it an octave.

A neat piece, fun to listen and i think you can make it evem more fun if you made the guitar play a richer accompaniment, with a few arpeggios maybe (at phrase ends possiably), some up rising laufs, or a maybe something else, try whatever you can think of! But i would advise you if you change anything, to keep the guitar part not complicated, as the clarinet is very easy to play and the complex accompaniment could make it sound weird.

And i found high guitar annoying too, so i used a programme lower it down an octave, and im pretty much cirtan it doesn't change a thing.

I cannot advise you how to expan this piece, as it sounds pretty compleated already...

And be sure to continue composing!

First, the melody is really lovely - remininscent (to me) of an Italian folk song style, but you are right, the accompaniment doesn't really do it justice; I think it needs something lighter, perhaps with an answering rhythm (ie the guitar is fairly static/chordal during the lyrical parts of the clarinet, and then 'answers' the clarinet with a variation of the clarinet's theme, or its own during the gaps); am I making sense?

A small thing, you are making the clarinet do a lot of work in the region Eb-Ab (in the key of C, looks like F-Bb on a Bb clarinet) above middle C, this is probably the least expressive part of the clarinet's range, and given the lyrical nature of your melody you're not doing it justice there; the rang above that is probably best for 'singing' type melodies, but the lower register (down to Eb below middle C) is also enormously expressive - make use of the clarinet's ability to jump registers smoothly (it's one of the best instruments at this) and vary the pitch of the melody.

Also - is it deliberately written in 4/4 when the music seems to be crying out for 3/4? Not necessarily a problem, 3/4 melodies written over 4/4 accompaniments can be very effective in some circumstances, but I'm not sure this is one.

In terms of expanding the piece, I think you want to think up another similar theme for the clarinet, (perhaps in another register and mood) and start crossing them over, perhaps getting a bit of 'hardness' into the accompaniment. Give the main theme to the guitar for a bit too, perhaps variated a bit to take advantage of the guitar's chordal abilities, with lower-register clarinet accompaniment would be lovely I think. Do return to your main theme however, it's too nice not to make the most of.

These are just my ideas of course - you can ignore them all at your will, it's your piece after all.

Hope that's helpful in some way.

Let us hear what you make of it.

Adam

A small thing, you are making the clarinet do a lot of work in the region Eb-Ab (in the key of C, looks like F-Bb on a Bb clarinet) above middle C, this is probably the least expressive part of the clarinet's range, and given the lyrical nature of your melody you're not doing it justice there; the rang above that is probably best for 'singing' type melodies, but the lower register (down to Eb below middle C) is also enormously expressive - make use of the clarinet's ability to jump registers smoothly (it's one of the best instruments at this) and vary the pitch of the melody.

Adam

However, it is a duet with an instrument is doing very little. In a duet both instruments should be used as much as possible. In this case the clarinet should be taking advantage of! The guitar is playing the accompainment, so it can do it lote more and become more expressive.

However, it is a duet with an instrument is doing very little.

That guitar piece is not suited for beginners. It is too high and too awkward so even if this was written for a beginner, it wouldn't be suited for one.