Welcome to 2019!

Welcome to my advanced composition students! I look forward to working with you this term.

At the end of this morning's class, I played an example of a short, character piece for piano and flute in which all chords were classifiable as "poly-harmonies," which means the superimposition of different tonal harmonies to produce a non-tonal (i.e., post-tonal) result.

Be aware that some chord superimpositions do not produce a non-tonal sonority, however. For example, if you superimpose an F chord over a G chord, the result is a G¹¹ chord, not a new, post-tonal sonority. If you want to try writing a piece using poly-harmonies, make sure the resulting chord is not classifiable as an existing tonal harmony, and, more importantly, make sure that a chord that might possibly be classifiable as an existing harmony does not function or progress in the way that chord would in tonal music.

One of the most famous examples of poly-harmonies is the so-called "Petroushka Chord," in which F# major and C major triads are superimposed; this was the starting point of the piece played in this morning's class.

If this topic interests you, check out the three blog posts I wrote on Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas; each has audio examples and score examples to follow:

Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (1)
Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (2)
Post-Tonal Harmony Ideas (3) – This is the post that contains the piece played in this morning's class.

Finally, although this next link takes you to one of the posts I wrote on a different topic (ostinatos), it has examples of a related topic – bitonality – from The Rite of Spring: Ostinatos; making a lot from a little (2. Rite of Spring). This too may interest you.

If you read any of the above blog posts and find them interesting, please leave a comment in the "Post a comment" section below (you have to be signed-in to your Google account in order to post comments).

Composition Issues (4)

[From a 9-part handout for my introductory composition class.]

4. The pros and cons of development
(pro) Do not abandon your babies! • Think of your musical ideas as your children (or, if that is too mind-boggling, your pets!). It is your job to help them grow and develop; be a responsible parent/custodian/pet-owner!	(con) Don't let ideas overstay their welcome! • Not all musical ideas need to be developed to their maximum potential. In fact NO idea ever needs to be developed to its maximum potential; there's no such thing! If there were, it would bore your audience to tears! There needs to be a balance between the familiar and unfamiliar. (See below for more on this:)
• Growth is of fundamental importance to the European classical music tradition. It is essential to extend, develop, or otherwise 'grow' your musical ideas throughout the course of a composition.	• Is growth of equal importance to other musical traditions? Can a long(-ish) composition that totally disregards the growth principle be considered to be good?
• How to grow: After you have identified musical ideas you have created and labeled them (idea 1, idea 2, (2.1, 2.2 for variants) etc.), try to extend them. There are many, many ways to do this (see next entry), but the starting point is to want your ideas to grow. Yes, just like the How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? joke… (For those unfamiliar with this joke, the answer is: Just one, but the lightbulb has to really want to change.)	• (i) Composers all limit the growth of any idea, probably because to do otherwise would make compositions sound like pointless academic exercises. (ii) Consider Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Is it a model of economy of means? If not, is it "bad?" (HINT: No. It is good.) What about Mozart's Pno. Cto. #21? What about "A Day in the Life" by Lennon McCartney? The "woke up, got out of bed…" section has nothing to do with any previous or subsequent idea… is the song therefore bad? (HINT: No. It is good.)