This reflection corresponds to Composing Music – Assignment 3

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.

For this assignment we were tasked to write a short piece for a woodwind trio of our choice, in a polyphonic style and following a guiding structure. The first issue I had in approaching this task was to define to myself what I wanted to get out of a polyphonic piece. In other words, what did I want to explore with this exercise that I hadn’t done before and what, or who, did I want it to sound like? Surprisingly, this last question troubled me throughout the entire writing process and I realize that perhaps this was not the best question to be asking: the question is, at best, rhetorical and, at worst, counterproductive because the ending aim of this task was to follow the instructions set out and to compose with some level of grace and exploration. In the end, having been guided by what, or like who, I thought the work should sound like was a major hurdle.

I wrote a very basic outline for the piece, as set out in the instructions:

F# minor - A major - E# dim - F# minor

Having decided on those chords at the start, listening to the final product reveals very quickly that this plan is not what is finally on the page. What ended up happening was the development of two distinct sections A and B, and then a recapitulation and development of A’. The distinctness of the sections is less related to any particular change in tonality and more to do with a thematic change and, more importantly I think, a change in the role that the moving lines play within the individual sections. In particular, section B has clear defined roles for the movement of the lines of all three instruments and has less to do with true counterpoint than rhythmic and harmonic development, which are more evident. There is some basic theme imitation happening in section B, with offset beginnings on weak beats that always make for interesting listening. This may warrant a re-write to correspond with the exercise brief more closely.

Part of the reason, I think, why it was hard to stick to the structure proposed by the exercise is that I mistook the instructions to mean that, for example, if the beginning of the piece required you to move within the original triad until you reached a suitable time to change, then that meant that little or no harmonic development was to take place in this section. This is something that I should have clarified with my tutor very early on in the process, as part of the harmonic anarchy that resulted from the piece is largely due to wanting my assumptions about the exercise to not be correct. I would imagine that an approach for this exercise would be to actually change keys towards the new triad, to fully demarcate that a change in harmony had happened, but that seemed a bit too on the nose and there would be subtler ways to go about this. As such, I will wait for some initial feedback on this exercise to find out about what approach to take, so this may warrant a re-write.

I wish I had done some more research into ways of developing polyphonic texture, however I’m glad I tried this assignment without many clear rules in mind. I feel like the unit delved into some polyphonic styles (overwhelmingly in vocal music), but it didn’t go too deep into techniques that are common in writing polyphony (for example, what’s the best way to imitate a theme?). I think this assignment took a while to finish in part due to the real lack of knowledge, from my part obviously, about this style of composing. I will note to develop this part of my skillset by writing more, analyzing more works, and diving into the literature about this topic. However, having done this assignment through a lot of trial and experimentation, I relied on my own ear and taste to guide the writing and that’s not without some merit.

Technical Considerations

Something that I hope to review before submitting this assignment for assessment is to focus on the articulation for woodwinds. While this exercise was, for me, largely focused on the music itself, the fact that a piece such as this one would be played by musicians would mean that articulation instructions could be beneficial in the final score. As it stands, the guiding factor for the articulations has been the playback of the software, which as I had mentioned in the assignment 2 reflection, I was trying to stop relying on playback for the software which can be a bit misleading.

I have done a few listening entries on pieces where the composer made a tremendous effort in instructing the musician how to interpret individual notes and passages while taking great care to have some continuity throughout the piece regarding the markings and symbols used. I think I have relied on the exaggerated MIDI playback for these decisions, but doing further research into articulation markings and how these can be interpreted across a range of instruments would be very helpful. This further highlights the need to continually investigate and delve further into the different instrument classes to become more familiar with the way these instruments can be played.