Task: The task is to sketch out a compositional plan for the assignment at the end of Part One. This should be a single substantial composition of between 2 and 3 minutes duration.
Starting Material
The basis for the composition in Assignment 1 is an unfinished ballet for percussion. This will form the principal idea for the composition so it’s worth looking at in some detail. The material provided is made up of the following:
Theme/Cue: "enter a group of demons" Instrumentation: Triangle, Cymbals, Tambourine, Snare Drum, and Bass Drum Meter: - Variable: Measure: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Meter: 2/4 2/4 5/8 3/8 6/8 5/8 3/8 4/8 3/8 4/8 6/8 5/8 3/8 6/8 Tempo: Vivace ¼ note = 156
The most striking thing here is the variable metre, which forms what could be considered the thematic material. Noticing that the pattern appears to repeat after m.11, I will consider m. 3-11 to form the A-theme (A1) and m. 12-20 to be the potential repetition of theme A with a small variation (A2). I would like to include additional instrumentation in this piece as both a challenge and to expand the palette of colours and textures available, therefore section A2 would be a good place to introduce them.
Storyboard
The only stage direction provided is “Enter a group of demons”, and although the task encourages the composer to be constantly mindful of the movement of the dancers on stage. Given the short duration of the piece, it’s a personal decision of taste not to give such detailed and frequent narrative instructions on the score so as to not fall into the realm of program music.
However, brief stage instructions and cues can be provided in the score to represent turning points within the dance sequence. A rough outline might look like this:
1. Enter a group of Demons (A1, exposition) 2. Additional demons enter the stage (A2, variation on exposition) 3. Dispersal of demons on stage, leaving three imps to themselves (B1, contrasting development) 4. Overlap and interchange between characters (B1 and A2 in conversation) 5. Expel characters and systematically until the end (A3?)
Development
This is a very fast moving piece with changes in metre that do not imply much of a repeating pattern. I would very much like to keep the tempo of the piece for the duration of the composition, but follow on from the previous projects where the illusion of constant time was distorted by the note groupings (duplets, triplets, tuplets, etc.) and spacing between notes.
I would imagine a short but contrasting B section to follow through from the rapid exposition of sections A1 and A2. There would be no change in tempo indicated, but the instrumentation would decrease to a minimum with a lot of room to expose this developed section. Depending on the length of it, section B could be brought back again ahead of a climax ending with a variation on A1/A2.
Thoughts
The initial content of this piece and the tempo at which it moves tells me that I might struggle with the times allocated and will need to carefully consider what’s written in order to expose the right elements. For example, one of my worries is that I will not have enough content within a development section before I have to bring back repeating themes and fall short again in the duration of the piece.
Because this is a dance routine involving an ensemble of characters on stage, I would want each section to be developed enough so as to bring out what the relationship of the characters/dancers on stage is, even if the duration of the piece is rather short. I believe this can be done and I will try and make it the focus of the composition. Rather than tell a detailed story in 15 second increments, I’ll look to develop something that will leave different groups on stage well represented.