GAGDE Mvmt #1 - Infection!

This is the first movement of a piece which will consist of 2 full movements and a (very) short interlude. The other two sections are nearly complete.

Harmony: it utilizes tetrachordal pitch collections that are "infected" by minor 2nds. Listen for these infections! They perhaps the most interesting aspect.

Thematicism: The primary theme is heard throughout all of the piece in some way. It is altered to fit the different harmonies.

Texture: The piece is for two vocalists and one pianist. Usually the vocalists are pitted against the pianist, but occasionally more minimal textures arise and all three work together. Sometimes, the pianist splits between supporting the vocalists and also playing contrasting material in a different register.

I have attempted to use the harmonic infections to also introduce new rhythmic ideas.

I think the flow of the piece is a real achievement for me. I feel as though I tend to keep one step ahead of the listener, but I hope you could all tell me whether or not that is true. I utilize a rather linear approach to form, hoping that the theme will keep it coherent, but perhaps I could make the piece more reflexive.

Performance: I think the piece will be challenging to perform, but the two vocalists that I have talked to have told me that they will definitely be able to do it with some practice. It will be performed in May! Unfortunately, I was having a lot of trouble with the dynamics in sibellius, so I would appreciate it if you looked at the score while listening to the soundclick file.

Let me know if anyone has any more questions! I have been working on this for a couple of months and I would love some feedback!

Click the file labeled "GAGDE"

GAGDE.sib

GAGDE.pdf

GAGDE.mid

Awesome, a really cool piece. I just think choir kids can't count...... :glare:

I think you did a good job and I really have nothing to say that I noticed.

See if you can get it recorded. Let me know how the performance went.

Hi there, an interesting piece but I think there are quite a lot of difficulties for both pianist and singer. Sadly, most of these difficulties arise from poor musical grammar particularly regarding intervals of pitches. For instance at bar 143, the harmony looks rather dissonant because of the combination of sharps and flats but actually, the voices are just singing a suspended chord and the piano chords are in fact quite rich. Why you have written them the way you have I do not know, but I suspect it is inexperience. The piano part should simply be written A flat in the bass with D flat and B flat in the right hand, the voices should all be playing flats, G# and A # has no grammatical purpose there.

Unfortunately your piece is littered with this kind of problem so I would advise you go through and work out the intervals as this will really help the singers. It will throw them to read the interval E flat to G # like it would throw any player even though technically it is just a perfect fourth.

The piano part does not look all the pianistic either and rhythmically it is going to be very difficult to bring together unless you have really strong performers prepared to spend a good amount of time on the work.

Saying that, may is still not too far (although I have a premiere in may too and know it is creeping up fast!)

My advice is to tidy up the score before giving the music to the players.

All the best

Thanks for the comments, both of you.

Actually, I haven't proofread the piece yet. That is my last step. ALL of the sharps and flats in the piece are a result of the tetrachords that I established before writing the actual piece. In order to not confuse myself, I have left the combination of flats and sharps, which of course I am aware would look quite confusing to a performer. I am a performer myself, so this comes as no surprise to me. Basically, I'm not concerned with readability at this stage.

In terms of the piano part lacking a pianistic quality, that was part of my goal. I chose to eschew normal playing patterns as often as possible. I want the piano to lose it's identity as a piano and become a part of the ensemble in a different way. Having said this, I think you are right to say that it will be difficult. Luckily, I have found a great and ambitious local pianist to perform the piece, and I am fairly confident that she will be able to tackle it.

Thanks for the advice. Once it is proofread, I'll let you know.

Interesting points their Justin. I am always aware of my notation even when I am composing, so that proof reading for me becomes a way of checking that everything is correct. I would advise this practice personally because it means you are aware of the harmonies you are writing. Its fine to base your work on tetrachords or any other system but there is still a fundamental law of grammar which you should maintain from the moment you begin composition.

I was curious about your comment about making the piano sound less like a piano? If that was your intention then I can think of many other ways you could do that in terms of exploitation of range and technique. As it stands, it strikes me as a fairly normal piano part written badly.

If you want the piano to have a certain effect then maybe you could explore extended te4chniques and use the lower register to create an ominous texture to the voices.

Sorry to be critical but I am in general to all music, especially my own.!:)