Project 2

Research point – Variable Metre introduced by German Composer Boris Blacher.

Born in a Russian-speaking community in the Manchurin Town of Niuzhuang in China in 1902. In 1919, after 5 years in China and additional time, he moved to Harbin. In 1924 he dropped his studies in Archiquecture and Mathematics and studied music composition with Friedrich Ernst Koch. Dueto accusations on writing degenerate music he lost his teaching post at the Dresden Conservatory. He later because director of the Music Academy of Berlin becoming one of the most influential composers of his time.

In 1947, he created his most popular orchestral work “Orchestral Variations on a Theme by Paganini”.  Then, he began to use modified serial techniques in his works and he even wrote electronic music. Blacher’s style took something from Stravinsky’s instrumental pungency and the anti-Romantic clarity of Milhaud; Berg and Bartók were other early influences. He also experimented with rhythm, devising what he called ‘variable metres’, inspired by Schoenberg’s note-rows, expanding and contracting to bring metrical variety to the works where he used them, such as his Piano Concerto No 2 (1952) and the Orchester-Ornament (1953) (Boosey & Hawkes, 2012)

Schoenberg talks about “change in metre” as a tool for changing the rhythm but says it is “seldom usable within a music piece” (Schoenberg, 1967). Blacher uses patters based on arithmetic/mathematical progressions of the metre that produces an effect of expansion/compression. The structures used in his 7 studios for Piano Ornamente are explained by Sitsky (2002).

Source: Sitsky L., Music of the Twentieth-Century, Avant-Garde,

Blacher brought along a conceptual change from the traditional notion of form and texture to a new idea of constantly moving, elastic shape. He chose to displace the centre of attention from harmony to rythm (Taher, 2009). As a consequence of Blachers used of variable metres, the succession of metrical units is frequently systematic. In many of his compositions, the degree of systematization of the metrical structure is strictly methodical to the point of absolute predictability. Blacher said that changes in metre intendify the formal characterisitics of a musical work. Nevertheless,  the procedure of expansion and contraction that is evident in the arrangement of metres is also present in the disposition of the durational units of other hierarchical levels (i.e. rhythmic patterns and hypermetrical sequences) and even more, in the pitch structure, which provide a unique sense of movement to his compositions. Creating an elastic effect through space (growing or contracting vertical space) that is mainly accomplished by the disposition of the pitches in register and the behaviour of the textural layers. Therefore, he creates effect of horizontal and vertical elasticity (idea of a single constantly stretching or contracting object, creating an elastic shape, over traditional concepts of successive sections and texture).

Metric Row and Metric Row and its Retrograde (Taher C. (2009))

Metrical Structure of Movement I in Duet for Flute and Piano 1973 (Taher, 2009)

We look at 7 bars per sub-row:

• First 6 bars are in 4/4 (48 quavers notes), next bar is 3/8 (3 quavers) -> 51 quavers.
• Next 5 bars are 4/4 (40 quavers) and then 2 bars 3/8 (6 quavers): 46 quavers
• Next 4 bars are 4/4 (32 quavers) and next 3 bars 3/8 (9 quavers): 41 quavers
• …We are reducing 5 quavers every 7 bars. Then starts expanding again. Sub row 6 is longer like a repetition of the mirror image. 

Overall Key Points in Rhythm Part 1 of Composing Music 1

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.

Project 1

This Folder relates to the Project 1 of Composing Music 1 - 4 contrasting short pieces in which you demonstrate the characters of some untuned percurssion instruments. Each piece should be 8-16 bars long. Below there are some of the points I considered when writing these short pieces.

Execution day

For each of these exercises I’ve always started with a graphical idea that I wanted to associate with the music. This helps me define certain tempo, mood and time signature. This little piece has three parts. The first 3 bars is the walking of the person that is going to be executed using a crescendo, the next 3 bars represent his awareness of the situation going from p to f and the last 3 bars the execution itself.

It uses an Andante tempo at 60 quarter notes per minute and a 2/4 time signature to fit well with the mood of the walking sequence.

The side drum also fits well with the purpose of the music. I’ve used some tremolos which are very common in side drum. 

Whispering Dance

Although the piece is for untuned percussion I wrote it with a melodic line in mind, which actually has developed further as I wrote this.

I chose a compound time 6/8 which fits well with a fluid "rounded" dance. During the middle section, the music changes its focus from the dance itself to the whispering of the two people who are dancing together for which I also shift to a time signature 2/4 to portray this change in the focus of the music. This is an interesting concept similar to that of filming when we look at the sequence from different angles and I suppose that it is a common technique in writing for films (I need to read more on this or wait until Music Composition 2!). By changing the time signature we can easily move the focus and change the mood of the music.

Wood blocks were chosen due to their short percussive sound and their dry timbre which fit well with the music rhythm (the silences between the two quavers during the second bar in the 6/8 and following bars) giving a staccato effect that goes back into the 3 rounder sound of the 3 quavers.

Once finished, I decided to add double voices to reinforce the accents on the 6/8 parts according to the dance (I’ve marked them on the music sheet even if not needed).

Accompaniment 1

I started the 3^rd exercise with the idea of merging two independent rhythms using two different voices. Sibelius has very useful features to deal with more than 1 voice (up to 4) in the same stave which allows you to include rests for each of the voices, swap the voices around if you insert one voice in the wrong position, etc.

The initial idea for voice 1 comes from the Tango rhythm in Flamenco which is done in a 4/4 time with accents in beats 1 and 3 and I have done variations around it.

The second voice is very simple and moves around beats 2 and 4 with the purpose of filling the silence in voice 1 in beat 4 and add a bit of variety.

The tremolo effect is alternated between the both voices using the one for voice 2 only when there is a quarter note rest in voice 1 which gives an interesting pattern which is not muddy. In this case I chose the bongos … just because I love their timbre and they are sometimes used in Flamenco.

I found that the technique of combining two independent rhythms is very useful to quickly create interesting rhythms in an easier way than if you try to build the piece as a single rhythm line with two pitches.

African Rhythm

I set out this exercise with the idea of transcribing a finger typing rhythm that I generally practise when I’m bored waiting for the metro. The idea was to play with some upbeats and triplets (demisemiquaver triplets) which I hadn’t touched so far!

By using the Congas it kind of goes into an African rhythm mood … not that I know much about African rhythms J.

It took me a while to transcribe the only beat of the first bar (upbeat).

It’s divided into 3 sections (3 lines below) with the middle section portraying the idea of an interlude on the dance while lines 1 and 3 (similar ones) have a clear dancing mode using the demisemiquaver upbeats.

The video below shows these 4 little compositions:

Composing Music 1 at OCA

I'll be using this blog as a learning log for the course "Composing Music 1" i'm taking at OCA.
After having gone through all my paperwork with OCA (student card for discounts :-), student profile, forum, etc) I've just spent a couple of days going through basic music theory on music notation on rythm (chapters 1,3 and 5 of The AB guide to Music Theory by Eric Taylor). I've mainly revised how to group notes and rests as a function of their duration and time signature as well as when to use ties vs. dots. However, I've also come across some new terms I was not familiar with such as "duplets" for compound time signatures (similar to triplets in simple time signatures) and other irregular divisions for simple and compound time values.
(I) I'll make sure I'll play with irregular division on the percurssion compositions of the chapter 1.

I have also adquired Sibelius 6 and therefore ... now i'm ready to start reading through the projects and exercises of part 1 on the course.

bye now!