When composing my melodies, I found it quite difficult to get to grips with the concept of working purely on instinct; major and minor scales have certain 'tendency' tones which must be handled carefully in order to avoid strong, unwanted dissonances. The scales explored in this section gave a certain freedom from these constraints, but at the same time this lack of direction was very challenging in the sense of creating an interesting short melody.
I used each of the main woodwind instruments at least once during this exercise (aside from the saxophone; an accidental oversight on my part!) I tried to give each melody its own unique character, and used a variety of dynamics, articulation and extended techniques for expressive effect. I was also keenly aware of the melody contour, and gave this suitable peaks and troughs where deemed necessary. The order of the melodies below is as they appear in the course materials, and isn't representative of the order of composition.
For this piece I wanted to showcase the agility and intricacy of the oboe, so made much use of semiquaver runs and triplets. There is a short build-up at the start of the melody, with the initial six-beat tied note, then two semiquavers temporarily halted by a quaver, before the quick, flowing and scalic motion begins proper. The second phrase begins as a rhythmic imitation of the first, before a 'long pause' disrupts the flow, allowing for a surprise ending. This melody shows the strange sound-world offered by the whole-tone scale, with only the very ending offering a glimmer of traditional tonality.
This is another dexterous piece, this time for flute. I used alternating triplets at the beginning with mixed articulation, and a descending-thirds pattern in the second half of the melody. I feel the unusual and unique sound of the whole-tone scale is well represented here.
I really enjoy the warm sound of the flutes lower register, and wanted to make good use of it in this melody. The first four bars essentially showcase the scale's qualities, after which I take a diversion to a short, articulate two-note pattern which is then extrapolated to a three and then four-note repeated pattern, increasing in speed and volume, until slowing and quieting at the very end. This scale (and thus melody) does have a very Eastern European colour to it, and strangely, being the major variant (I suspect due to the major triad implied when starting on the first note) it has a very minor sounding quality.
For this melody I borrowed a rhythmic fragment from Debussy's Syrinx. This 'dotted quaver, two semiquavers, quaver' motif forms the basis of the entire melody, but goes in a completely different direction to Debussy's work. The short, interesting rhythm, combined with the irregular time signature gives for a light, nimble, and jaunty tune, and incidentally is one of my favourites in the collection. Strangely, this minor version of the East European melody sounds more major than the major version! I feel the tone colour of the clarinet really suits this scale across the whole of the instrument's register, and it's something I may decide to develop for assignment two.
This is my other favourite melody, written for the tenor recorder as I wanted the deeper, more lush sound of this instrument as opposed to a higher pitched member of the recorder family. This is a great sounding scale, and worked nicely in conjunction with the 'breathy' sound of the recorder. There is not a great mix of articulation in this melody, but I'm very happy with the placement of the staccatos as I feel this really gives the tune character, and the irregular placement keeps the listener guessing. The final two-bar semiquaver run is another defining feature of the melody, and really puts across the qualities of the scale to the listener.
This piece initially started out as a quicker, more comedic melody, which is often what the bassoon is utilised for. I was unhappy with the result, and scrapped the work, deciding to take a completely new direction, exploring the flowing melodic capabilities of the bassoon, along with its agility. The first phrase of the piece makes an undulating downward journey of the scale, within which I use quintuplets to break the regularity of the time signature and give some shape to the passage. After a lengthy pause, I contrast the second phrase as a vivo section; more articulate and at a substantially faster tempo, the melody gradually rising back to the original pitch. This version of the Middle Eastern scale, beginning on the semitone seems more sombre than its counterpart, but this may be more to do with my instrument choice and scoring. Further work with the two scales would clarify this better.
For this composition I revisited the flute. The sound of the nine-note scales reminded me very much of the whole-tone scales; it's a very strange sound with which I find difficult to create a pleasing melody. This composition is at a quick tempo, in an irregular time signature (as creating a pleasing-sounding melody was difficult, I opted to try for rhythmic creativity). Combinations of triplets and dotted rhythms are used to explore the range of the scale. One feature of this scale that stood out to me was the chromaticism of the end of the scale, contrasting with the traditional tonality of the beginning of the scale. To avoid making the melody sound as if it were in a major key, I focused most of the composition at the chromatic end, with the last two bars adding a brighter, contrasting element of tonality. Finally, as a side-project I wanted to explore the use of extended instrumental techniques, and on the two middle C's of the first line, and the final two notes at the end of the melody, the cross-head notes instruct the player to use flutter-tongue. I used the effect sparingly in this work, although I certainly want to make more use of it's unique sound in future work.
I wanted to preserve the triple-time feel of this melody, and rhythmically it is much simpler than the other melodies. Like the first nine-note melody I composed, it is tonally much different to what people are used to, and creating a 'nice' sounding melody was very difficult; I decided to embrace this fact and make my melody take on a more disjunct progression instead of a flowing, lyrical one. The very final bar, after a short chromatic descent, perhaps hints at a 7-8 in G Major, although this is obviously an illusion in order to give a positive and familiar 'last impression' to the listener!
Any time I've seen chromaticism in a composition (which is often), it is always for a very short period of time, with the longest being perhaps a chromatic ascending or descending run. Even though I have every possible note at my disposal for this melody, this created two immediate problems in my mind: firstly, how to make it interesting, and secondly how to preserve the chromatic quality of the scale - choosing the notes of the F Major scale for example would be counter-productive for this exercise. I finally decided that preserving the chromatic character was the most important goal, and I begin the melody with an ascent of an octave to provide context for the rest of the melody. I then move to a much lower register and use a forwards and backwards motion with semiquavers in The Flight of the Bumblebee style to gradually re-ascend, eventually using longer notes and staccatos to create a suitable ending.
Reflection
Now that I have completed my nine short melodies using these mostly unfamiliar scales I can reflect on what I've learnt in the process. I found it difficult to start with a scale, and then construct an idea; I usually found that the idea that formed in my head wouldn't work with the scale at hand. I also found it difficult to not have musical 'rules' to follow, but this was equally liberating, allowing me to focus on the creative aspect. I know that with more time I could improve and expand each and every one of the above melodies, but the next task or in this case assignment is always waiting. I've found this project very useful as a type of 'brainstorm', where composing a few bars allows me to analyse the colour and character of a scale, and to see in which circumstances it is best utilised.
I often found myself struggling for an initial idea. In one of the melodies, a rhythmic fragment from Syrinx provided the catalyst for the rest of the melody. I have lots of music books here at home, and it only later occurred to me that sifting through any one of these would have produced the necessary spark to get the ball rolling. On the upside, I did produce some creative rhythms in several of the melodies that I am pleased with.
The melodies above were so short that having a plan in place was unnecessary. I will certainly be drafting a strong outline for my assignment piece, as this helped a lot with assignment one. Now that my melodic tool-box is somewhat larger, the next step will be considering which I can use to best effect for the assignment.
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