Week 1 - Prepare // Mar 22nd
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of the composition challenge! This is the place to discuss the Week 1 livestream and post your Week 1 assignments.
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream for help with the first section!
Week 1 assignment description:
Write one short "imitation" piece modeled off an etude by another composer of your choosing by using key elements found in the "model piece."
(For inspiration and some tricks on how to do this, watch the livestream above!)
If you want to describe your process (optional), feel free to use the following template.
- Etude you are imitating:
- Things you found easy:
- Things you found difficult:
- (Optional): a video of you performing it!
- (Optional:) questions
↓ Reply below with your assignments and questions! ↓
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Original piece: Giuliani study number 13 opus 50
What I found easy: It was a lot of fun so I could spend time at night doing it without noticing, my practice has suffered this week... I used a very easy study with an easy structure that I kept along with the rhythm and the coda. This made things easy.
What I found difficult: This was my first time doing anything like this or using musescore. Once I chose the piece all the melodies I came up with were very gloomy. Then I searched for different styles and changed the sense of the scale and once I had an idea, things were better. Although it is still gloomy :) . Although Musescore is quite intuitive, I spent more time than needed... I wanted to change the coda but could not think of anything...
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Enjoyed a lot! Nice, clean and very Giuglianic! And well played and recorded! Thanks for sharing with us!
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Emma so nice, Emma. Very Giuliani, you may give us more of Emma.
Sound is really great! -
Emma I like it Emma! Gloomy is one of my favorite musical moods. I would like to hear you branch out from the coda as well. Perhaps a revision if you have time?
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joosje yes! It has not changed much! I thought I was changing it more haha, next time...
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Debbie Yes I will try if I have time! thank you!
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Emma Well done Emma. Definitely very Giuliani - love it and great recording too!
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Emma good job! In measure 3 and 7 I hear something "Spanish" in style - bravo!
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Emma I actually really like the serious and moody character of your lost etude, and think you added some nice touches by inverting the bass-line. Thanks for submitting a recording too! Great work :)
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Emma brilliant
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Emma it feels so emotional, gloomy indeed, I really liked it.
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Hi there.
I´ve been so busy I haven´t even seen any of other people´s works. Looking forward to seeing what my fellow composers have done!
I´m sending today an etude based on Carcassi´s Op 26 nº3. I analysed it thoroughly and, in the end, took only the form as the basis for my piece. I´ve seen docens of students struggling with 3-4 vertical extension, so I decided to write a little piece to work on this specific subject.
It was dificult to mantain some harmonic interest throughout the piece. Can´t believe Carcassi did it so easily. My choice would have been to change some of the material in some bars, but Carcassi didn´t so I tried to come up with somethig "cool" even if I had to repeat notes all the time. I´ve taken material from Deep Purpple and Robert Johnson (the bluesman, not the lutenist) in order to build something harmonically consitent. I should keep working on the piece when I´m not so busy. I´ve written the tablature because some of my older students love classical guitar, but can´t read music. So, there it goes: analysis, piece and video.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EakjzLFXK8UPmaWj0JHSoKtOiVCTv2PU/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15kuc6BJwMkYYiLl0jf4FlUmVjMb3x4xk/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1boybt8-SYaYph-R8VpJmJrNQ4r669fsS/view?usp=sharing
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Igor
Nice! I am going to try to play it! And thanks for sharing your annotations as well!
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Igor Great job Igor!
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Igor Very nice, cohesive piece! Sometimes we do all the analysis work and thinking, but still end up with something new and it's a really great thing! You're exercising that composition muscle either way! Thanks for including a performance video too :)
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my newly revised score (last one Maybe)
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sorry revised again.
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Vilio Celli Great, thank you for sharing your updates! :)
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- Etude I am imitating: I love Brouwer so I decided to try Etude Simples no 5
- Things you found easy: it was really quite fun to try and imitate the piece it was easy to play. It was my first time using Sibelius and I really liked it. I didn’t add any dynamic markings because I am late to the game this week but the notation was pretty easy. Two things I couldn’t figure out with limited time: how to add a stem to the bass voice. Sibelius added the note but not the stem
How to show a barre. I added the score in case any Sibelius users have any tips. - Things you found difficult: what approach to take and how much to imitate. I decided to keep it straightforward. Some intervals between voices I kept the same and some I just improvised what I liked the sound of. I kept the rhythm almost identical to the original.
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Debbie well done! we can see Brower and Debbie too!
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Debbie Well done Debbie - definitely Brouweresque!
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Debbie Great Debbie! I like the idea of using different mode - very intersting version!
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Debbie thanks for sharing that performance video! And your exploration of new harmonies paired with Brouwer's rhythmic figures was probably really fun to work with, plus it sounds very good! Very nicely done :)
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Debbie at first I was going to imitate this etude, then I changed my mind. I'm happy for that decision, you did a really great job. And thanks for sharing a good quality video.
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Ashley (Ash) Lucero thanks Ash! It WAS fun!
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Gokce Turkmendag thanks Gokce! This is such a fun and quirky piece, isn’t it?
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
