1st piano piece done

I just finished my first piano piece for the project.Well, when I say it's done, it's "pretty much" done. It's got a beginning and an ending, and hopefully I won't have to change much else in between! I called it "Cascade" because of the continuous descending triplet motion. I added a lot since my first sketch, such as more melodic material, a more concentrated harmonic progression and some alterations to the rhythm content. I'm fairly happy with it, I've played all of it on piano as I composed, but I'll have to wait until I give it to my performer to really hear the real thing.
So now I have to get started on my next piece! I think it's going to based on some of Bartok's works, and I have a pretty good idea of the character. The title "Thief" really comes to mind when I picture it in my head! So hopefully I can produce what I was on paper!

So this is my first post for 4100!
The first composition project is writing 3 short pieces for piano. So far I've been tossing around a couple ideas back and forth, trying to decide which ideas to use for my pieces. I started to work on one using a triplet motive with a harmonic progression like Bach's first prelude from the WTC. I've yet to finish it, and right now I am trying to find different ways to alter the rhythmic motion and incorporate some melody lines. I think I have thought of everything I'm going to do, I just need to put them to paper.

Looking back at this past semester, I think I have come a long way in how I think about composing music. In September, I hadn't composed much of anything at all, so all of this has been a new and unfamiliar world. When we were assigned the first project, I honestly had no idea how to go about any of it, especially since it was supposed to be atonal with no tonal inflections or ANYTHING. It was like jumping in uncomfortable water. I started a couple of ideas that eventually went nowhere, but finally settled on an idea of a programmatic piece about creation, life, and destruction. It soon started to become more natural and the ideas seemed to come to me more often and it was easier to put my ideas onto music.
The second project but me into even more unknown waters. I had no idea how to set a poem to music or write for a vocalist. This, and the added instruments, really put more pressure on me, but I started out with a solid idea for the music, and was able to start writing effectively right away. I wanted to write a piece with a fast tempo, which was fine and dandy, but I soon realized that in order to write a piece that is supposed to be 3-5 minutes, you must write a lot more music then, say, a slow piece with the same time limit. So I found myself spending many hours in the wee morning trying to write page after page. It only turned out to be 17 pages, but that seemed like a lot for a schmuck like me who is so new to this composing thing. In the end, I was able to write some pretty amusing and interesting moments, and I was very pleased with the end result.
I now understand why we were bound by the world of atonality for these two projects. Had we been given the option of using standard tonality, I think that most of us would have ended up taking that road. But by limiting yourself just to tonality, which all of us should understand, and are quite comfortable with, we would not have given our self the opportunity to experiment with atonality. So by forcing ourselves to use only atonality we, or at least I, have now developed a new opinion, or appreciation to writing in that style, and I will continue to do so, which I probably would not had I not done it for these two projects.
I've really become a much more confident and inspired composer and now have even more drive and ambition to continue experimenting down that road. (I know that sounds corny)
I also think that everyone in the class has improved a lot as well! It's crazy to see how they've grown and developed with their compositions, and it's only been one semester!
I had a lot of fun this semester! A lot of work, definitely my busiest course, but the most satisfying.

So I passed in my composition yesterday, and I gotta say, I was very pleased with the way it all turned out in the end. I didn't have to spend half as much time editing this score as compared to the last piece. While I was composing this current piece, I made articulation and phrase markings as I went, and I didn't have to spend as much time determining where things were going to go. I am very happy with the performance, and I am also happy about my editing. I tried to be as specific as I could be with my directions and markings, so I think my ideas and thoughts are clear and easy to understand.

OK! Since my last post I've completed my composition and presented it in class. For some reason I didn't really get very much feed back on the last two times I presented in class, which sucks, cause I would have liked to have heard more constructive comments and suggestions. Maybe it was because I was usually always the last one to present, and people were just antsy to get out of class. Maybe not. But whatever comments I did get were helpful, so thanks for that!

Tonight was the concert and I think it went over very very well. I feel very happy and complete with the composition. I put in a lot.....A LOT of work to get this done in time. There were many all nighters at the music building until almost dawn and very little hours of sleep some nights, but it seems to have been worth it.
I went with the "circus" theme, with a lot of unequal and unexpected time changes. I put in a few different characters, each portraying a slightly different type of circus music, and most times different instruments presenting them. My vocal line for the most part followed no pattern whatsoever to give it a more absurd and risky feel.

I want to thank my performers for an amazing job, and I really couldn't have done it without them! All of them are just as, and probably more, busy as I am at this time of the semester, but they really pulled through for me, and I'm really appreciative of that.
The concert itself went over very well too! It was no where near as long as the last concert. I believe that it was only an hour and a half tonight, which is just right and pretty amazing for a concert with as much music and stage changes as we had. We also had a fantastic audience show up, and that really adds to the excitement and showmanship of a performance.

All in all, I'm very happy with the way my piece turned out. I now look forward to all of the editing and final copy work I have to do now...yay...
Great job everyone! I could really hear a big step forward in everyone's writing!

Last friday I presented some ideas I had thought of for my vocal piece. It involves the use of a couple atonal chords with a tonal one in the middle and the rhythm is a confused waltz like feel. It seemed to go over fairly well with everyone, so that's good to hear! So far this week I've set some of the lyrics to it, and it seems to be going along nicely, but not quick enough! Concert is soooooo soon! I plan on completing it this weekend so that I can give it to my performers to practice and schedule some rehearsals. I'm trying to think of a new section but right now I'm drawing a blank, hopefully tomorrow the class will give me some good ideas.
Back to composing!

So I've recently presented most of the rhythms for my poem that I'm going to set to music. I'm setting "Constantly Risking Absurdity" and I think that my rhythms for the most part are going good. As for my instrumentation, I'm between piano, cello, and violin or tuba trombone and trumpet. Since the poem compares the risks of being a poet to a tightrope walker I want to give a "circus-ie" feel, with unstable rhythms and motion to portray an unbalanced feeling of walking on a wire.
Those are my ideas so far, I present some music on friday and we'll see how that goes!