Done!!!

I finally finished the cliche assignment!
After adding all of the required information and editing the piece is finished. Tomorrow i'll get the score bound and the parts all ready in final copy format.

After everything I finally decided on what I think to be a great title. "Melancholy" I think it really sums it up and adds to the funeral march feeling of the piece.

I have really enjoyed the composition 3100 class. It was a wonderful learning experience and I look forward to continuing this semster in 4100!

-Jill

Today my cliche piece was performed in class, and it went quite well. Many thanks to Jon and Stephen for their wonderful sightreading skills. After hearing the piece those that didn't originally know my cliche, couldn't seem to figure it out but once I told them what it was, it became clear that it was indeed there, disguised in the slow tempo the Beethoven's fifth figure was really drawn out, and kind of distorted I guess.
I knew when I went to class that I still had a few things like dynamics and articulations left to complete, but I still received some great feedback!
- the dotted quarter triplets could be switched for just quarternotes, I totally agree and did make the change, its a lot easier to read this way.
- the bell like tones that i played on the syncopated horn part were good, make sure to notate them in the score
- complete some enharmonic changes so that parts are a little easier to read. I definitely agree, and they will be changed
- the instruments worked well together...I was very happy about that!
- the piece kind of resembled a funeral march...also a great comment as this is kind of what I was going for!

Overall I am very happy with this piece, all it needs now is a title and the finishing touches!

-Jill

Composers Block?!

While attempting to come up with ideas for my cliche piece, I seemed to encounter road block after road block. I just couldn't think! Nothing seemed to work for me! I sat in front of my computer for hours tinkering at Sibelius without any luck. From there I would move to the piano and try to figure out something, anything that sounded remotely good, well at least to my ears, but alas I couldn't figure anything out. Eventually after a tedious amount of work I came up with a few lines but still nothing concrete. Talk about frustrating!
Composition is a very interesting process to say the least. It's so amazing that something's can take no time at all and just appear in my head, while other times its as bad as pulling teeth!

To my relief I finally came up with something I could really work with.

Maybe it becomes easier with experience...well here's hoping!

Assignment #2

For the second assignment we had to take a cliche and recontextulize it. There are so many different options that can be used! Everybody in the class did such a great job with their compositions and the recital was great, but i didn't want to use the same cliche as anyone else.
After thinking it over I finally decided on using the opening theme from Beethoven's fifth. It's so well known that it could be difficult really changing it up, but I know that there is a lot of potential to create a great piece.
The instrumentation for the piece was an easy choice. I went with brass, originally considering a quartet, trumpet, horn, trombone & tuba, but then opted for a trio of just horn, trombone & tuba. From experience I know that these particular instruments work well together and blend in a very effective fashion.

-Jill