Assignment Five: Song Without Words

Title: Song Without Words

Time Signature: 6/8

Key: B Natural Minor / D Major

Instrumentation: Piano


As a pianist I was very much looking forward to composing this short piece for piano. As is usually the case, I used some of the ideas from my brainstorming session, but not others. I think it's important not to use too many different ideas within the same piece, especially one of only 3 minutes in length in order to provide cohesiveness within the piece as a whole.

One thing I was sure of though was that I wanted to write the piece in a natural minor key (otherwise known as the aeolian mode). This would give the piece a more 'modern' and unusual sound, while still allowing me to fulfill the brief of following the circle of fifths chord progression.

I wanted to create a flowing and lyrical, but poigniant, melody, similar in style to the piano transcriptions of Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu's scores for the Final Fantasy series of video games. Other inspirations included Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi, British composer Christopher Norton (who wrote the popular Microjazz series of piano tutor books) and German romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn who himself wrote many Songs Without Words.

The piece has a rough form of ABACAD. Recurring motif's from the A section interspersed with new ideas create a cohesive but interesting framework.

I make extensive use of extended harmonies; 7ths, 11ths and 13ths are frequently used, both as chords and broken chord accompaniments. I also use altered chords at a few key points in the music.

Excerpt from Song Without Words

Download Audio File       Download Complete Score

Score Analysis

Bars 1-4: A mostly unaccompanied left hand serves as an introduction in the key of B natural minor.

Bars 5-11: A sort of pre-theme, alternating between chords I and IV, before ending on chord V, which creates a perfect cadence with chord I at the start of the main theme in bar 12.

Bars 12-26: The main theme of the piece, repeated twice times with slight modifications, including the use of duplets. The chord progression here over eight bars utilises both an interrupted and a perfect cadence as follows: I - IV - V - VI, I - IV - V - I.

Bars 27-39: The dominant harmony at bar 26 is now prolonged for 14 bars, in contrast to the quick cadential resolution at bars 18-19. Interest is maintained over the static harmony with an increasingly active left hand rhythm, shapely dynamics and use of the Arabic scale in an improvisationary style.

Bars 40-54: There is now a repeat of the pre-theme and main theme, but with an unexpected modulation to the relative major, by using the dominant of the new key at bar 46, forming a perfect cadence to the new tonic chord at bar 47. This key change gives a feeling of optimism in a thus-far bleak soundscape.

Bars 55-65: At bar 55 chord VI of D major is used, which is also chord I of the original key of B minor. This brings us back to the minor mode, where the harmony rises by step through chords V, VI and VII, before being interrupted by chord II, instead of the expected resolution to chord I. The chord type used here is a C13; the C is naturalled to remove the tritone and to give a pleasant major sound. After the pause, it is followed by chord VII (A9) in two different voicings, then chord I (B11#9). Here the chord VII is functioning as dominant, creating a perfect cadence.

Bars 66-73: The introductory material from the beginning of the piece returns, this time repeated to make eight bars in total.

Bars 74-83: The last notes of bar 73 lead back into D major this final section, essentially a coda. These bars consist of stepwise semiquaver runs over I - V harmony, followed by a slowing down of the melodic movement over I - IV - V harmony.

Bars 84-86: Chord V from the previous four bars resolves to chord I, with hands in contrary motion. The movement is abruptly but softly interrupted with a staccato quaver in bar 86.

Bars 87-89: After five beats rest in bar 86, the piece ends on an elaborated perfect cadence. The first chord is III7 (F#m7), functioning as dominant as it contains the notes of the dominant triad. This is then followed by another dominant chord - V13 (A13). To complete the cadence there is a simple resolution to the tonic triad.
 

Meeting The Assessment Criteria

 

Technical Presentation

Many of the presentation type issues noted by my tutor in the last assignment (such as the sibelius 7 plugin not converting to sibelius 6, and inconsistent use of octave transpositions) weren't relevant here as my score didn't include them. My main 'tool' for presentation of the score was my knowledge of piano music. I also made use of Sibelius 7's 'magnetic layout' function to keep objects on the score from colliding, and also made an adjustment to staff size as I thought the initial 6 systems per page was too crowded.

Compositional Skills

In this assignment I feel I have met the requirements of the brief, but taken them in a slightly different direction by introducing modulations to and from the key of B natural minor. This allowed me to produce the sound I wanted while still following traditional chord progressions. I also incorporated elements found in earlier exercises, such as a lingering on the dominant. Other times I used 'fragments' of the chord cycle, for example moving repeatedly between chords I and IV. The brief suggested not to produce a perfect cadence until the very end of the work, but instead I used them several times, to end phrases and to modulate, as is usual.

I was also careful with my voice leading, for example where the parts travel in similar motion I generally strive for intervals such as thirds and sixths. Melodic shape is important also, and I feel my piece uses a good amount of the piano's range. There are some very large intervals, especially in the left hand parts. The performer would be expected to pedal this piece in legato style throughout in order to smoothly produce these intervals, as per the instruction con ped at the beginning.

Dynamics are used throughout the piece to help shape the mood, and articulation is used sparingly; this piece is to be performed mostly legato cantabile, with just a single staccato and a handful of accents so as not to jarre with the overal feel of the music. 

My piece follows a loose but identifiable structure, and I reuse existing motifs as well as introduce new ideas throughout. This makes sure the music sounds cohesive as a whole, rather than a scattering of random ideas. Where repetition is used however I have been careful to make subtle alterations to pitch and especially rhythm to keep the listener interested.

Creativity

As already stated, my main aim here was to run with the brief, but interprete it creatively. I very much enjoy pieces written using the modal system, and its something I've done in previous assignments. Here I chose the Aolean mode, otherwise known as natural minor. This allowed me to create a less ordinary sound, but it was still straightforward to keep to a traditional chord progression and make use of cadences as well as modulate freely to the relative major with which it has all notes in common.

Extended harmonies play a huge part in this piece, and all my ideas revolved around them. Broken chords in the left hand are almost always 9ths, 11ths and 13ths, and extended harmony also allowed me to decorate cadences, with extended chord VII and III acting as chord V.

The piece has distinct changes of mood, made possible with modulations between the minor and major, the use of an unsual scale (Arabic) and the various changes of dynamic and tempo.

Stylistic Awareness

A raft of composers came to mind when brainstorming this assignment. I wanted a similar feel to the works of Einaudi, but with less repetitiveness, such as those works by Uematsu. Mendelssohn wrote many Songs Without Words, and his Hunting Song provided inspiration for the semiquaver runs on the last page. Norton's Microjazz series has pieces written in many different styles (not just jazz), and he frequently employs the modes. The pieces from his Microjazz books are of a similar style and length to the brief of this assignment, so they made a good reference.

Ultimately however it mostly came down to my own experience as a pianist. Although I've never composed for piano before, I am aware of some common patterns and styles used, so I had a bank of experience to draw on. The piano is an instrument I'll compose for a lot in the future, mainly as I'm able to perform it myself!