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Creative Outlaws Composition Description Sheet

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Creative Outlaws Composition Description Sheet

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Name: Allison
Statement of Artistic Intention:

I intend to compose a Romantic piece that reflects the emotional feelings and sentimentality resulting from a stagnant period, to a burst of process, innovation, and excitement. A Romantic piece best fit my composition because I wished to build on instinct and inspiration, rather than conformity and rigid rules. Hence, the majority of my stylistic traits will be devoted to emotional and/or dramatic expressiveness.

The story I fabricated in mind centralizes a person’s journey; the first phrase begins with a calm state of absorption and pondering ideas- so quiet and mellow that it is as if the person’s character is “sleeping.” The dominant components used are chords with moderate rhythm in 3/4 time, and quiet dynamics. The second phrase will, unexpectedly, follow a vibrant and energizing spirit- with such surges of joy and excitement that it portrays a great Eureka moment, as if the person has “awaken.” Crucial elements are fast rhythm in 4/4 time, with loud dynamic, staccato, and more vivacious polyphonic style. In the last bit, I reverted to the original style, but with slight variations on chords. The most impactful sense lies in the finishing phrase.

In the end, I believe that the center of my story- detailing a growth from stagnation to innovation- is the foremost ingredient to the song, and that a composer’s most personal thoughts and feelings are the ultimate artistic message.

Title of Composition: Rising
Instrumentation: Piano

Time Signature & Tempo: 3/4 and 4/4 collectively; with tempo from ppp, pp, p, mp to mf and f.

Key signature and chords: The use of C major; with chords:
+ C major
+ F major (2nd inversion)
+ B diminished
+ D minor
+ E major
+ G major

Description of Composers Style: I decided to focus on Beethoven's late style that, arguably, started the transition to the Romantic era. At this time, his compositions have become transformed to have a more meditative character, rather than heroic- aided by the language that have become further concentrated and abstract. Moreover, his treatment of forms has become more loose and free; for example, the string quartet of Op. 131 has an astonishing seven movements. Another characteristic of Beethoven’s late style is his continuing intention to blur dividing lines- generally involving manipulation of cadential progression or termination within a musical sentence; he utilized distinct interpenetration of movements as well- with many flexible tempo changes and an unrestrained sense of “stinct movement”. Besides, I will also make distinct Beethoven’s deliberate exertion of themes and motives- so they are used to their utmost potential. A particularly important feature in highlighting these is the composer’s use of polyphonic or contrapuntal texture. Hence, he is very skillful in weaving together two or more melodic lines that fits together harmonically. Other essential traits of his music can be said to have great energy and strength, dynamic, with a special sense of humor; yet almost never sentimental.

Form: The targeted form of my song is ternary form- following the structure of A-B-A'. It is consisted of three sections; with the third section being a varied repeat of the first. Also, the prevalent repetition is less predictable than binary form. To be specific, I have majorly focused on full sectional ternary form. Each section is harmonically complete, and can even be played independently; so all of them, for instance, are not ending in a half cadence. In my instrument, I can isolate and play any one section of my piece, and it won’t have the tendency to be forced into another section. Besides, my B section implements a contrasting mood to the A section; for example, when A section is weak and subdued, the B section will be upbeat and lively. In addition, the specified genre of my piece is bagatelle- that is, a short piece of instrumental music- characterized as light, smooth, unpretentious, and pleasant.

Motifs and development: A motif is a "small but recognizable music unit" that is a crucial component for any compositions. Essentially, I employed a pattern of short rhythmic ideas as a base for many sections; that is, the starting notes in both part A and B. However, because of differences in tempo and dynamic, they are separated into two ideas. In section A, the beginning 5 chords make up the basic motif; its purpose is to set up a gentle, bright mood through generating a slow pace and quiet dynamic. From there, the section continues to flow smoothly and lightly- a development characterized with varied chords, gradual layers of dynamic, to end in complete softness. It is aimed at expressing contentment and peace-in-mind, when relaxation outshines growth, like that of childhood or a tranquil sleep at night. Then, as section A progresses to B, the composition swiftly changes to an exciting, more lyrical and positive tone. With faster tempo, louder dynamic and the separation of chords with rapid notes, the audience emotionally feels and absorbs the cheerful, melodic expressiveness; therefore, they can make inferences about waking up, or visualizing a burst of energy to confidently face any task desired.

Any other composition devices used to create your composition:

·         Cadence:They are a “combination of chords that bring a section, a movement, or an entire piece to a close.” For establishing section A, I intended to use both perfect authentic cadence, where both the V and I chord are in root position; and imperfect authentic cadence, where it also ends with a V-I pattern, but including traits of different notes in the root of either chord and/or absence of the I chord capped by the tonic note. I chose these as a means of ending for their simplicity, practicality and feasible entrance into section B. Consideration for this part are both authentic cadence once more as explained above, and deceptive cadence- instructing to end in chords V and VI. This variation is attractive in that- they push for the audience to expect a peaceful ending- yet, in reality, the composition is left on a somewhat hanging, unresolved note. Finally, one of the most essential ways to use cadence is composing an ending phrase. The most suitable method here would be to use perfect authentic cadence- Hence in C major, the phrase will start with a G chord and neatly resolves with a C chord- so it creates an impactful ending that leaves the audience feeling satisfied.

·         Expressive techniques: It is the specific techniques to guide a composition’s performance. Since I am focusing on impact, the ones I use will be relating to tempo, style, and articulation.

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I constructed the starting of section B- with first planning ideas for the lower staff. The main target I focused on was to compose the entire section to be exciting, playful, and filled with joy- as opposed to section A. To start with, in keeping the same consistency, I composed the lower staff to still be based on C major chords, but with slight variations. For refining texture, I implemented the idea of an upper voice, and a lower voice. Specifically, the upper voice contains the rhythm intended to weave through the base sound of the lower voice. In addition, I used staccato in the upper voice to elaborate on tempo. Then, for the right-hand, I secured one sequence- composed of successions of two quavers and a crotchet. The only problem I encountered was with the way to organize the rhythms and notes in each bar. Hence, I added a “pickup” bar intended to start the sequence with a time signature of 1/4; then adjust to the time signatures of 4/4. I also needed to constitute the dynamic ranges- so mp (mezzo-piano) was selected and a bit of crescendo. Nonetheless, since I lack further details, I aim to develop more sequences for portraying pure excitement from success and innovation.

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On this day, I worked on developing sequences from my former parts in B. As per routine, I first composed the left- hand sequences- and kept the ideas of varying voices. With the lower voices, I thought to, with each succeeding phrase, have a basis note that is (regarding both semitone and tone) above the former one. I created these so that bar 2 to 4 forms one phrase of their own. Particularly, in bar 3, I more firmly built texture and expressed riveting joy through, for the first time, using semiquavers in a sequence. Not only that, my highlights on dynamic is the gradually volume increase in bar 1, and a sudden change in the last bar- with forte (loud). Yet, one particular problem I faced was with staccato movement- the confusion was how to structure these staccato types. In the end, I chose to only have the starting sequence with staccato in the upper voice, while the others are exempted.

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I have established the opening sequence of my composition. Since my desired opening style is to be light and mellow, I have first set the dynamic to be piano (p). Furthermore, I used the C major chords listed above to create a monotonous rhythm in the lower staff- aiding the melody in the upper staff. I had constructed the notes from the lower staff (or left hand side) which were largely basic- such as C major chords and B diminished- yet was still effective in conveying the smooth, dream-like mood in the story. Then I could fit notes, or chords, accordingly to the upper staff (or right hand). For this, there are clear parts for each melody phrase; for instance, from bar 1 to 4 is a single idea; then another is expressed from bar 5 to 8. At the time, however, I was troubled that my piece seemingly didn’t have substantial layering of texture, and couldn’t make great use of dynamics and rhythm. Finally, I solved the problem by adding crescendos, decrescendos, and slurs for clearly distinguishing each musical phrase. I also included the expression “Andante” which meant means moderately slow. Besides, the ending phrase of my melody line was only composed of singular notes, but was effective in creating an absolutely quiet (pp) sense of resolution. Having finished section A, I aim to start on composing for section B, by first building a foundation that largely contrasts with the former parts.

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I created the second main phrase- acting as a melody- accompanying the former one in section B. First of all, I composed the chords of the lower staff based on E major chord, with slight expressions on increasing and decreasing dynamics. As for the upper staff, I took into account the former upward movements of notes in the first phrase, and made downwards movements of notes for this one accordingly.

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I carried out my objective of completing section B. As usual, the lower staff is first created, and with the same frame as the base- but I decided on a progression of chords. I was careful with dividing parts as well- for instance, bar 3 to bar 6 is one complete phrase. Furthermore, in bar 2, fermata was used to highlight the ending of one phrase. Afterwards, I return the melody to the original one, but with adjustments so it will lead to a resolution. Thus, in the 6th bar below, my ending note is G , and the accompanying left-hand notes are chords. Also, I used crescendo to amplify the tension (since it is a climax) that resolves in the final bar.

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Here, I concluded the A’ section- which serves as the finale for my composition. In creating a variation for the beginning, I brought back the time signature 3/4 and pinpointed mezzo-forte (mf) to initiate the descent in dynamics. The crucial element in the lower staff is the prevailing C major chords, with slurs for grouping individual phrases. The first phrase (from bar 1 to bar 4) also has a descent in dynamics to piano (p). As for the upper staff, I created a melody with chords of C major as well, but slightly differentiate from the beginning section. However, with just creating alternative forms of the starting, I struggled to compose a definite resolution. The strong emotions and conviction I wanted to convey ought to be expressed through a loud, striking phrase. Hence, I used crescendos and decrescendos, and forte (f) as well throughout the important ending. I found my answer in creating cadences- or slightly less complicated versions of it. In creating impact, I repeated notes with a succession of quavers and crotchets, then ending with fermata.