Assignment Four: Dragonfly

Working on this assignment was a lot of fun, and proved to be an exciting combination of creativity and technique. I approached the project in a way where I could explore the use of the traditional techniques of imitation, inversion, augmentation and diminution but apply them very freely, in a piece that isn't reminiscent of a work by J.S. Bach. It was quite clear in my own mind that this wasn't an attempt to imitate or represent a Bach two-part invention or fugue; such an attempt would be futile, and not desirable. (If someone wanted to hear a Bach-like piece, that could just listen to some Bach!).

Excerpt from Dragonfly

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Ultimately, I used some of the ideas from my brainstorming session, and shelved others as the compositional process progressed. Key details of the work are as follows:

Title: Dragonfly

Time Signature: 5/8

Key: D Dorian / A Minor / C Major / A Major

Instrumentation: Flute and Dulcimer

The title of the piece was not decided from the outset. Once the initial section was in place, the imagery I was getting from the music was that of a dragonfly flitting around a pond on a quiet, hot, summer's day. This imagery then gave me direction for the rest of the piece.

At the very start of the assignment I was sure I wanted an exotic, maybe Far Eastern flavour to the music, inspired to a large extent by Tan Dun's piano music Eight Memories in Watercolour. The calm, ethereal, pastoral sound to much of that music was something I wanted to capture as the overal feel in my own piece. The subject in my work was my own creation, but partly inspired by that in Bach's Two-Part Invention No.2 in terms of it starting on a rest, giving a more off-beat feel, and giving scope for swapping out the rest for a tied note as a possible later development.

My choice of the D Dorian scale was due to its exotic, slightly vague sound which matched my ideas for the character of the piece, and which also would prove straightforward to move to traditional keys when I wanted to change up the sound.

The overall structure of the piece is that of four contrasting sections, with a type of modified recapitulation of the first section slotted in between the third and fourth sections. I wanted to depict the journey undertaken by the dragonfly, and hence didn't want too much direct repetition of material, instead relying on the use of contrapuntal devices to act as the adhesion which keeps the whole piece together.

Score Analysis

Section One (Tranquillo)

Bars 1-4: The flute states the subject. From bar three the dulcimer imitates the subject but an octave lower.

Bars 5-8: The flute restates the subject, this time a fourth lower. In bar 6 the dulcimer plays an ascending 'octave and fifth' pattern interspersed by rests, then begins the imitation of the subject again, a fourth lower than its original statement.

Bars 9-11: The flute plays a truncated version of the subject in inversion and in an ascending sequence. The dulcimer plays a three note figure derived from the middle part of the subject in a descending sequence.

Bars 12-13: The flute plays the truncated, inverted subject but this time also transformed by augmentation. The dulcimer plays an ascending sequence based on notes 3,4 and 5 of the original subject.

Bars 14-18: The flute takes over the ascending three-note sequence from the dulcimer. The dulcimer takes over the augmented subject fragment, but not inverted. Bar 18 is a completely silent bar, marking the end of the first section.

Section Two

Bars 19-24: A new pastoral melody is introduced by the flute over a tonic pedal played by the dulcimer.

Bars 25-30: The music modulates to A minor. The flute plays a melody loosely based on the five quavers at the end of the original subject. The dulcimer plays the truncated version of the subject first heard in the flute in bar 9, alternating between this original form and a type of retrograde-inversion.

Bars 31-32: The flute plays a version of the first part of the subject twice, the second time a 9th lower. The dulcimer plays a counter-melody, the rhythm of which is based on the middle and end parts of the subject.

Bars 33-36: The flute plays a descending scale-like passage finishing on E, the dominant of the key in force, marking the end of the section but with a restless quality (a type of imperfect cadence is implied). The dulcimer uses the rhythm of the first part of the subject, moving in contrary-motion to the flute. Bar 36 is completely silent.

Section Three (Meno Mosso)

Bars 37-40: The music is back in D Dorian mode. The flute plays the second half of the subject in its original form, imitated by the dulcimer an octave lower.

Bars 41-44: The music brightens somewhat with a move to C major. The flute plays a partially inverted form of its previous passage, which is then imitated at the same pitch by the dulcimer.

Bars 45-48: The flute plays a truncated version of the original subject, in the new key and in a descending sequence, while the dulcimer plays a pattern derived from its material in bars 5 and 6 of the piece.

Bars 49-54: A descending stretto begins (overlapping statements of the subject). A poco rit marks the end of the section.

Modified Recapitulation

Bars 55-62: This is a repeat of bars 9-16.

Bars 63-64: The flute plays a rapidly ascending sequence based on notes 3,4 and 5 of the original subject and subsequently heard elsewhere in the piece. The dulcimer plays notes derived from the augmented subject heard in the flute part in bars 12-13 and 58-59.

Bars 65-67: The flute plays a descending A harmonic minor scale, while the dulcimer plays repeated A's interspersed with rests. The music slows to signal the end of the section.

Section Four (Lento)

Bars 68-69: The flute plays the subject, returning to D Dorian mode, but this time in retrograde. Simultaneously the dulcimer plays the original subject, an exact reiteration of it's first appearance in bar 3.

Bars 70-71: The flute repeats the retrograde subject, this time an octave lower and the second bar of the subject coming before the first. The dulcimer plays the same material, but in the original retrograde order first heard in the flute in bars 68-69.

Bars 72-74: The flute plays a slightly modified retrograde subject, The dulcimer first plays an ascending/descending quaver figure based on its first few notes in the meno mosso section, followed by the 'octave and fifth' pattern first heard in bar 6.

Bar 75: The flute plays a descending figure loosely based on the subject notes of bar 2. The dulcimer plays a portion of the retrograde subject.

Bars 76-80: The flute plays a truncated version of the original subject three times, each iteration stepping down a note, and the first two times terminated with a high staccato note, taken from a similar idea in bars 45-48. The dulcimer also plays a truncated version of the subject, each time terminated with an ascending quaver pattern rather than a descending pattern as in the original. The music in these bars has a gentle quality, hinting at what is to come in the closing bars.

Bars 81-84: There is a definite modulation to A major, and the music takes on a blissful quality, the imagery that of the dragonfly finally coming to rest on the hot summer's day, emphasised to the performers with the direction 'molto dolce e niente' - very sweetly, and fading to a whisper. The flute plays an inverted version of the dulcimer's material in bar 72, followed by two long notes which hold back the the final four quicker notes arriving at the tonic A. The dulcimer plays material related to that in bars 24 and 25, then plays the rhythm from the subject in contrary motion to the flute's ascending quavers. The final bar for both instruments is tied from the previous bar, and ends on a pause.

Meeting The Assessment Criteria

Technical Presentation

In my previous assignment my tutor remarked that my progress in the presentation of my scores is excellent, and each assignment (and exercise) I try to take the things I learned previously and apply them going forward. I feel that the presentation of this score is good, with the addition of a title page adding an extra touch. Something my tutor mentioned in an early assignment was that checking each individual part-score was a good way of finding errors and generally checking the accuracy and level of presentation. This is something that I found particularly helpful in this assignment when dealing with two individual melodic lines.

Compositional Skills

For this assignment I decided to experiment with modes, something I've been looking at in the theory textbook 'Contemporary Music Theory Level One' by Mark Harrison, and also the 'Popular Music Theory' series of books that accompany the LCM Exams syllabus in pop theory. Even though the course doesn't strictly deal with traditional Western harmony until the next part of the course, I decided to use my knowledge of music theory to experiment with some basic modulations into major and minor keys which would help to add contrast and colour throughout the music. I feel that this has been successful in bringing the ideas I had in my mind to life.

I enjoy writing for the flute, and decided to pursue this further in assignment four. For the second instrument I felt the dulcimer was my best choice, as its ethereal sound matched my vision for the piece, and it was also allow me to gain some further experience writing for tuned percussion. Judging by my research into modern dulcimers, there doesn't appear to be a standard size or range for the instrument, and they are generally custom-made. An instrument advertised as 'extended range' would be needed to perform this piece.

In this piece I have devised a memorable subject, then manipulated it with many of the contrapuntal devices available including imitation, inversion, augmentation and retrograde. I believe that my use of these devices has allowed me to create a variety of contrasting material with a unifying theme. 

Creativity

What I have attempted to do with my piece Dragonfly is to create music with a traditional foundation but with a contemporary veneer. The last thing I wanted to do was to try to imitate Bach's work, and instead used the contrapuntal devices to create a contemporary sounding work where the technique is not the obvious focus as it is in say a fugue or invention. The focal point of my piece is its character and pastoral sound, and the devices are simply used to construct the material.

The choice of Dorian mode for my piece was a direct result of what I wanted it to sound like from a creative standpoint. This mode offers a slightly vague, non-commited sound which I think is representative of the flight of the dragonfly.

Dragonfly exhibits a variety of contrasting dynamics representing the creature's varied journey, along with tempo changes marking the different sections within the work. The articulation has many roles in the piece, firstly to make a more interesting subject, but also to mark the irregular time signature.

Stylistic Awareness

An obvious reference point for this assignment was the inventions and fugues of J.S. Bach. Looking at these works, especially the inventions gave me an idea of how Bach was able to manipulate the subject, and gave me ideas for my own piece. As mentioned at the beginning of this post, a big influence on the overall sound of Dragonfly was Tan Dun, most known as the composer of the soundtrack to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but also composer of Eight Memories in Watercolour for piano. Those pieces have a very pastoral sound which is immediately appealing to me and I wanted to incorporate that soundscape in some way in my own work.