The assignment reserves a portion of the task to reflections about the compositional process and presentation. We have been asked to assess critically how the completed assignment responds to the assessment criteria below. I will give a few thoughts on this as I await for feedback from my tutor.

This was not an easy assignment to complete and it took a bit longer than I had anticipated to complete and send in for feedback to my tutor. I was not immediately inspired by the original material that we were provided, so it took some time and reflection to try and compose around the ideas presented. Although I had sketched out a plan after having looked at the source material, I very quickly deviated from this plan as the composition was going somewhere else. The idea to have contrasting sections was kept; however, rather than planning it ahead as a contrasting development section I had a real desire to deviate briefly from the variable metre of the source material.

I think this assignment follows well from some of the pieces written for percussion small ensembles that I did in projects 2 and 3. As these are the first compositions that I do strictly for percussion, I can notice a stylistic progression from the early exercises to this assignment. I do not want to abandon writing for percussion as I’ve enjoyed diving into some of the percussion repertoire available and getting the opportunity to write for this setting.

This is the first assignment that I submit with a formal score for assessment, so I have tried to make a few special technical considerations to ensure that the score is up to standard. Most of the other work I’ve done for the course has been in the form of short exercises, where this was more easily managed. I read a tip about looking at the individual parts for every instrument to ensure that the inputs on the master score are well reflected in the parts and that ideas are communicated efficiently.

I am thinking I could better communicate the way that I want the individual instruments to be played. I have relied too much on the playback from Sibelius and that has been a constant source of frustration. In a way, it’s an incredible reference to have so readily available, but you develop a tendency to hear the piece through the MIDI interpretation rather than how it might be performed with an ensemble. One of the most interesting things I will take with me from this is the incredibly detailed notations of Ginastera and Chávez, and I feel like I could have a done a lot better in taking that on board to my own composition.

One thing I will correct after receiving feedback is to include cues and stage directions to better reflect the relationship between the composition and the choreography. I think the composition is too far removed from the idea of a planned dance sequence and a story, but doing it retroactively might betray the original brief slightly. However, this will make the finished product more relatable to the brief, even if it was not composed that way.