Last weeks comments

   Writing for concert band has been a very interesting experience so far. Previously I had only written something as large as six performers, so the jump to a full band was pretty daunting. One thing I found very interesting was that your mind set doesn't necessarily change because there are so many more parts. I discovered that everything sounded much better when you thought as if writing for a smaller group because no matter how many parts there are there are still only melody, and accompaniment.

   Last week, what I played in class was a very rough kinda sketch of what I really wanted, that being said all the  comments helped bring my piece to where it is now, which I am extremely happy with. One comment was to have more rhythmic features in the brass that don't have the melody. So i went ahead and added some rhythm, and it really added to the piece, also I am using the rhythm as a kind of theme or motif. Another comment was about having the melody line and stuff in the french horn, and even though I really like the sound of horn I moved the melody and counter-melody to other instruments, which I am equally as happy with especially if it will be played much more accurately.

Week 2

Some of the comments this week were similar, so I've kinda compressed them a little bit.

A comment that came up a few times was that of giving a glimpse of things to come, both melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically. This was due to my piece changing very suddenly without much warning.
I will definitely run with this idea, as it is a great comment, and I feel very comfortable finding a way to incorporate this suggestion. I feel that it would add a lot to my piece.

Another comment was having the cluster chords more spread out so that we don't hear huge dissonance but you can tell something funny is on the go. This was already something I had looked at doing, However i had difficulty finding anywhere that it would work and still be remotely playable. Often times when they occur the right hand is doing a fairly quick melody of its own, and your left hand is only so wide, I am not sure that i could fit this suggestion in, however it is still a great comment that i will keep in mind when continuing work on this piece.

Another was that it ends kind of suddenly. This I was completely aware of, but these were the ideas i had, I am not opposed to extending ideas/sections which are already in the piece.

First comments of work in progress piece.

One comment was good development of my motif:

This was very encouraging as that was definitely my goal for this piece, and I wanted to make sure every note can relate back to that one motif.

The harmony is repetitive, and I should explore other harmonies or scales:

This was the only thing about this piece I knew I did not really like. After hearing the comments today I think that I am going to keep the repetition for the first eight bars, to establish my motif strongly. Then when the triplet section starts I and going to add some accidentals gradually to slowly move to another scale, like a wholetone scale, or an octatonic scale. I feel that still will be a solution to the expectedness the piece has now.