Overall Key Points in Rhythm Part
1 of Composing Music 1 (Checklist & Exploratory Focus)
After finishing project 1 I have
decided to have a quick look to the full material in the course book in Part 1
before continuing in detail with each of the projects in Part 1. Being quite
new to music composition I can see there are quite a few interesting concepts
in Part 1 that I can start playing with as I go throughout all projects. Below
is a quick list of key concepts/focus to keep in mind as I wrote more music or
comment on music in my listening log:
-
Composition Structure, idea, setting:
Consider concepts such as visual/emotional ideas, mood, tempo (metronome
marks), time signature (explore single and compound and variable metre
introduced by Blacher) and structure before starting to write music by defining
different sections with a function with an approx. time to fit overall length. Allow
enough time to establish patterns in the listerner’s mind that are memorable
before disrupting or change them. Typical pattern (A/B-C-B/A-Closing (A or B or
C)).
-
Tempo & Dynamics: Indications of
speed (quickly/slowly) and dynamics (loudly, softly, cresc., etc) (expression
text and lines), accents, etc are extremely important even while structuring
the composition and the same piece can become a lot better by spending the
right time on these elements.
-
Instrument Selection: Choose
instruments based on their timbre depending on the type of music that is being
written (metallic/wooden/membrane for percussion and additionally strings and
wind instruments for melodies). Each instrument has a different timbre because
the sound wave is more complex than just a perfect sinusoidal waves and has a compounded
textures. Watch out notation of rests on a music sheet if instruments have long
resonance.
-
Adornments: Tremolos, acciaccatura,
appoggiatura and other adornments depending on instrument.
-
About the Composition Itself.
o
Keep each piece focus on a single theme for it
to feel structural balance.
o
Melodic or Rhythm lines can create an
interesting conversation, one of them have the function to accompany the other
one or both to accompany a melodic line (combining two rhythms into one can be
very easy and effective)
o
Better short and interesting than long and
boring.