July 11, 200718 yr Hey y'all, thought I'd share a short motet I whipped together for a concert this coming fall. It's based on a Catholic exorcism prayer to which I added a couple of lines. I was going for something resolute and lively, a good "make 'em sit down and shut up" piece for the beginning of a concert. I mainly wanted to write something that would stretch my counterpoint and polymodal chromatic writing, so this is more of a choral etude, if you will. It's in a pretty rudimentary prelude-invention-recapitulation (ABA) form, and it's focused around a B minor tonality (B has a nice thick sound, which works well for declamatory music like this, I find). You'll hear three motifs: the Gloria rhythm, the "Crux Sancta..." phrase, and the "Vade Retro..." phrase, the latter two being the blocks from which I build the counterpoint in the invention section. Comments and suggestions welcome. I can't seem to find my Adobe Acrobat CD's, so I can't put together a PDF at the moment. The .mus file is Finale '05. exorcism-ro.MUS
August 2, 200718 yr The music, was great. It seems like you have some experience with choral writing. It would be relatively easy for people to find their notes with hte intervals you have in there, even though the rhythms are a little tricky, but nice work... Although, honestly, do you think that an exorcism prayer is the right text? If someone knew what it was, it might get a little cotroversial.
August 3, 200718 yr interesting piece, the only thing i would watch out for is some voice crossing between the alto and tenor at the beginning of your "A" sections, measure two of those particular sections, other than that it was ok, i'm not a choral expert so i can't comment too in depth, i'm sure you'll get someone else who knows all that lingo stuff.
August 3, 200718 yr my apologies oboehazzard,my theory professors were rather anal about the voice crossing back in the day... and how did you know my name was kendall? :)
August 4, 200718 yr Author The music, was great. It seems like you have some experience with choral writing. It would be relatively easy for people to find their notes with hte intervals you have in there, even though the rhythms are a little tricky, but nice work...Although, honestly, do you think that an exorcism prayer is the right text? If someone knew what it was, it might get a little cotroversial. Thank you (all) for your kind words. Also, I think the text is quite right for the music I wrote (and vice versa, as they depend on each other), and I've got no issue going there, if you will (if you'd like to know why I feel so, PM me and I'll explain). As for the voice crossing/doubling, I find that some degree of crossing adds a bit of variety and keeps lines more singable--I do agree that it should be used cautiously, and I will keep that in mind as I continue my choral work. I am somewhat experienced in writing for choir (and polyphony in general), but there's always room for improvement... I'm a counterpoint junkie, what can I say?
August 5, 200718 yr What is this polymodal chromatic writing you speak of? I like your style in this piece very much. I would really like to know more about your harmonic procedures; they are very colorful.
August 9, 200718 yr Author Polymodal chromaticism is Bela Bartok's term for chromatically shifting between modes while keeping a somewhat constant tonal center. A picardy third is the simplest example. Bartok's preferred modes to shift between were lydian and phrygian, as that puts all twelve notes at your disposal. As with any technique, there's a certain amount of requisite finesse to make it sound well. As for my harmonic procedures, a lot of what I do is a synthesis of my formal training in Jazz harmony and Common Practice, along with my own study of twentieth century harmony and stile antico counterpoint (read Persichetti's "Twentieth Century Harmony" and the Fux book--those are by far the best primers in those styles). I'd definitely cite Poulenc, Ravel, and Stravinsky as my top three influences in this respect. My usual goal when writing is to achieve a "cool" sound temperature without it becoming blues, if that likening works for you, but I change the "temperature" to suit the piece. In cool music, I like to work with primarily consonant intervals and only the amount of tension needed to drive the piece forward. Close-set polychords are out of the question, of course. In hot music, I work more with rhythm and subdivision in addition to using more mode shifts. Mostly I try to make a fresh, new sound that the audience will be able to grasp while still being sophisticated to a degree. I'm not a fan of flaunting avant-garde techniques that one needs a DMA and a week alone with the score to understand, but I do like inventing new sounds and using old ones in refreshing ways.
August 10, 200718 yr my apologies oboehazzard,my theory professors were rather anal about the voice crossing back in the day... and how did you know my name was kendall? :P Well, I honestly didn't think anyone would name their child Jazzy, so I took a chance. lmao ;)
August 10, 200718 yr hey my parents grew up in the 70's (as I can assume most other people's parents on this site) so who knows what they were doing back in the day, and if you look at what some of the big shots in hollywood name their children, jazzy would be a compliment. :D
