Assignment Three: A Fantastical Tone Poem

The ability to take a succession of triads and create independent melodies from them is intriguing, and is something I've very much enjoyed exploring. I hadn't realised the number of ways that independent melodies can be utilised; I've experimented with three in this part of the course - rounds, descants and polyphony and I know that I've barely scratched the surface of what's possible with this medium. Luckily I get to travel a little further down this road as Part Four of the course deals with counterpoint. Even though counterpoint was used most extensively in the baroque era, later composers were often well trained in it, notably Gustav Mahler, a master of counterpoint who used it in his symphonies.

Excerpt from A Fantastical Tone Poem

Download Audio File     Download Complete Score

Score Description

I begin the piece with the main unifying theme being stated by the flute in bar 1, supported by semibreves in the clarinet and bassoon. From bar 2 the flute continues the theme in a descending sequence, while the clarinet picks up the theme, creating a round-type effect with the flute, the notes a sixth apart. In bar three the clarinet states a new, simpler, melodic idea, and in bar 5 the flute plays a staccato arpeggiated pattern. These three melodic and rhythmic ideas form the basis of the piece, in varying guises.

In bar 11, starting with the bassoon the instruments each state a shortened version of the theme, rising with a crescendo until with a firm forte all three instruments play the fragment together, and finally a semiquaver pattern in contrary motion between the flute and bassoon ends the movement at the Neapolitan Sixth chord.

The music then takes a much slower, more melancholy feel. The flute begins with an augmented and inverted version of the opening theme, the clarinet joining a bar later, and the bassoon a bar after that. The piece then takes the form of a round, the dissonance formed between the accented passing note E in one voice and the harmony note D in the other two voices being the main focus of the movement. Occasionally here one of the voices has a louder dynamic of mezzo forte to add a little shape to the texture.  After an altered ending to conclude the round, the music gently arrives at the Dominant Seventh chord.

The music then takes a turn for the quicker, being even livelier than the opening movement. The shortened descending theme returns again, each instrument taking a turn to state it. From bar 36 this short thematic fragment gets split between the instruments, partly stated in one, but finished in another. By bar 42 all instruments are playing in rhythmic unison again, and after a suspended chord  V7 the piece ends at chord I, but with the E flat raised by a semitone to E natural, creating a tierce de Picardie. 

Reflection

It took some time to garner musical inspiration for this assignment, but the advice to limit the number of melodic ideas gave me focus and a direction to work in. Looking through my book of Bach’s Two-Part Inventions was helpful in helping me to see how much could be done with a limited set of material. Seeing Bach’s use of arpeggios in one voice while the other was more rhythmically active was a particular feature which I carried forward into my own composition.

The contrapuntal keyboard works of J.S. Bach, such as the Inventions & Sinfonias and The Well-Tempered Clavier have long been favourites of mine, and I enjoyed listening to the independent melodic lines that are each equally of interest, a concept that I have tried to infuse into my own piece. I realised that it would be possible to create a contrapuntal piece where a single voice appeared to dominate, and I wanted to avoid this, but at the same time I was careful not to make all three voices equally as busy at the same time. 

Other, non-contrapuntal works have also provided elements of inspiration for this assignment. Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique was a large part of the inspiration for the overall odd vibe of my piece, as was his technique of splitting a melody between different instruments. This is something I’ve also heard in contemporary music, such as in Lost Not Forgotten by progressive rock band Dream Theater.

 

Meeting the Assessment Criteria

Technical Presentation

My tutor always gives very handy score presentation tips as part of the assignment feedback, which I then take forward into the next assignment. Something I’ve noticed is that the Sibelius software doesn’t always pick the best ways to present certain information, so I’m beginning to identify where I can let Sibelius handle things, and when I should make manual adjustments. I feel that this assignment is cleanly presented and is according to notational norms.

Compositional Skills

I have attempted to utilise my knowledge of harmony in this assignment, building my melodies around the prevailing chord in order to avoid meandering lines. The chord progression I chose is much used, but I enhanced this a little with the addition of an altered chord and a seventh chord. I took my tutors advice on board and utilised a limited number of ideas, but presented them in different ways, including inverting them, augmenting them, truncating them and building sequences. This recycling of material provides consistency through the work, even through the changing moods. My writing is all within the ranges possible for the instruments concerned, and I have used a range of suitable articulations.

Creativity

Expressing my creativity upon the requirements laid out in the brief is what I enjoy the most about this course. It would be easy when writing a polyphonic piece such as this to end up with just a continuous stream of notes, but instead I wanted to create contrast and interest within the work, using the chords as ‘markers’ between the sections. I feel this has also given much-needed structure to the piece. Another major creative aspect of the piece, mentioned previously was that of having two instruments each playing half of a single melodic fragment. This creates an interesting timbral effect which I think really enhances the end of the piece. The minor tonality brightened up on the final chord by the tierce de Picardie is another attempt at conveying the unexpected, and surprising the listener.   

Stylistic Awareness

I have listened to and played many of Bach’s contrapuntal keyboard pieces and these formed the technical basis for my own piece, in particular his manipulation of an initial theme. My creative ideas were a combination of my own ‘storytelling’ (in the style of a tone poem), and ideas from others works; Berlioz and Dream Theater, mentioned previously, are from opposite ends of the time and style spectrum, but both influenced my work for this assignment.

I have some knowledge of Bach chorales due to studying them for music theory exams, and these were a great help in inspiring my use of melodic decoration in my piece. I also borrowed Bach’s use of pauses at the end of each phrase of his chorales (which also often marked a modulation). I likewise used pauses to mark the ends of my sections of ‘micro-movements’.