Week 4: Complete // Apr 12th
Welcome to Week 4 of the Composition Challenge! 
Today's show will be the final didactic livestream of the series! Next week, we will reconvene to enjoy each other's music in the final watch party.
Click here to access the show!
In this livestream, I will not only walk you through all the steps of writing a short piece from beginning to end - I will also be composing in front of you, in real time!
Use this thread to submit the pieces you've been working on and any updates about your process.
See you in the stream!
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Hi everyone. This week has been quite challenging for me. I had lots of ideas that somehow didn´t want to work together. Yesterday morning, just before loosing my faith, I watched (and listened to) all your pieces, looking for inspiration. And it was like getting a shower. I felt refreshed and got to work again. I saw then that I had been trying to "reinvent the wheel" in the last week. I took a simple idea and squeezed it hard. This idea appeared in Jacob Wagner´s livestream, when he mentioned the typical 2nd interval in the music of Weiss (idiomatic to the baroque lute, and used also by De Visée, the Gaultiers, etc). So I decided to write a simple-diatonic-predictable piece, exploring the possibilities of that 2nd interval. This is the bacground fo my "Hommage to Weiss"( I was tempted to call it "Hommage to Blaise" for his amazing work). So I´m icredibly thankful to you all for sharing your music, and your comments.
P.S. Some of you commented on my piece last week , and for some reason Imwasn´t able to answer you, so I apologize. Ashley asked if I was inspired by Rodrigo´s "Tiento Antiguo". The fact is that I don´t even know the piece (shame on me), so surely I had some Happy Helpers whispering in my ears. Don´t we all?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1amMLyoQpyhTsj-ORWb3GoIUvrTlSW0L4/view?usp=sharing
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Igor beautiful. As well as the beautiful intervals you had a very nice melody to play with. It sounds very very good!!!
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Greetings
Thankyou Ashley another relaxed, inspiring and informative livestream. I am posting a video of a duet which I developed out of the lost study in week 1.
Apologies I haven't interacted much on the forum recently. Im figuring out my way of composing in little pockets amidst the world mayhem. A lot of my work is getting scribbled on manuscripts and little videos (as suggested on stream).
I have struggled with Sibelius in a technical sense. But the biggest challenge so far has been capturing the special moments whilst playing on the guitar and applying it onto notation. I play my idea to my family -they like it so I go and put it onto Sibelius - play it to them again and they say I haven't captured the magic . Both struggles I'm sure will resolve with practice.
I have been trying to do 2 other compositions - a piece where I have applied the a bit of villa lobos etude 1 RH pattern. And a theme and variations. Not sure if they will get finished over weekend though.
Loving everyones beautiful work your good humour and creativity.
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Jaime Zaldua your video is in private mode so we can't play it, please change it for unlisted if you want us to play it, and it won't be listed publicly on your YT channel.
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Blaise Laflamme thanks Blaise I’m a bit new to this
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Jaime Zaldua should be good to go now
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Jaime Zaldua no need to worry, I was in the same boat 2 months ago
Congrats for this beautiful duet with a nice spanish spirit. That'd be great if you can share the score you've done by hand or with sibelius. I'm with you when you say it's hard to transmit the magic through a score and notation and that's why, like you, providing a quick video, or audio, fill this gap. That's the magic of playing music and how creative someone is to tell a story out of the score in a way it'll touch people. -
Jaime Zaldua Bravo! I hear something like a distant echo of "Retrato Brasileiro" by Baden Powell and some Milonga - a stylistic that I really like!
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Jaime Zaldua
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Jaime Zaldua I envy your recording skills - they are absolutely beyond my reach ...
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Jaime Zaldua So great to hear a duet! Beautiful piece and good playing.
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Jaime Zaldua Great piece Jaime. I like it.
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Blaise Laflamme Again Thanks Blaise for your comments and reminding me I hadn't attached score. I saw your videos waw! talk of filling a gap your playing is fire! beautiful tone.
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Marek Tabisz Waw you have made my day! a distant echo of Baden Powell or Jorge Cardoso I love that! Made me so happy. Don't think I've played 'Retrato Brasileiro' but am going to find it now. Thanks Marek
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Jaime Zaldua excellent, i definitely hear the magic in this, plus extra kudos for making a duet video! it's beautiful :)
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Jaime Zaldua Very nice piece, Jaime. I even hear some Gismonti in there. Beautiful playing also. Phrasing, sound...Thank you!
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Jaime Zaldua beautiful!!! A touch of Milonga and a lot of magic!!!! You can add the magic in the score with the symbols for Rit, dolce, the angles... I tried with muse score and could not. Have to try again . Congratulations!!!!!
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Thank you to everyone's kind comments on my first version - this is the latest version of my 'Planter's Paradise. I've tried to take into account Ashley's comments on the original. I don't know how successful I've been. i think the bass line is slightly more interesting if nothing else. Hopefully post a video tomorrow.
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Derek congrats on getting another draft out! I still quite enjoy the different sonorities you explore in this work, keeping it interesting while still sticking to the right hand pattern.
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Derek Congratulations, Derek. Your bass line is more interesting indeed and you expanded those chromatic chords. Maybe you forgot to put the flat sign (b) in the last D notes in bar 25? Maybe you did it on purpose looking for a minor-maj 7 sound in that spot? Just in case...
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Igor Igor - thanks for this and you are correct I did forget to put the flat sign in! I've modified it again slightly after trying to play it through latest version posted
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Thanks for your suggestions Ashley! I didn't have much time this week to work on this Sketch, but got to fill out the texture and bass lines a bit. Please see the PDF score and a quick guitar audio (not perfect, but hope you'll get the idea) attached. Thanks!
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Barney Great work! and thanks for sharing the audio :)
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Barney The melody is so beautiful and I think your use of the dotted rhythm motive is perfect. Thanks for sharing, Barney.
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Barney that sounds great, it looks like you would have enjoyed the Marizapalos challenge
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Will be nice to see what folks have created. Thanks Ashley.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
