Hi composers!
Welcome to the Nichols Middle School Composition Club blog! This site will be used to post "assignments" (again, it won't be graded, but I definitely hope to give you feedback), notes from class, as well as some extra things that may be useful for you as you explore the realm of music composition on your own time.
Before our next session next week (Friday, April 19th): Please write a piece using found sounds (anything, not necessarily pitched, and are interesting in and of themselves) - minimum 30 seconds, maximum 2 minutes. Also, give the piece a title! (Take ownership of it - it's your piece!) If you can, try to use 3-5 different sounds (or more if you really want to).
Prepare to either perform the piece in class or bring a recording of the piece through e-mail, CD, USB Drive, etc.
Please also blog about the process. How did you go about composing this piece? Did any questions come up during the process? Any other thoughts or comments?
That's all for now! I look forward to working with all of you in the next few weeks!
Post-Script: Please also notate your piece. As for a specific kind of notation, don't worry about it for now. You can have written instructions, use made-up symbols, or draw it out (pictograms, graphs, etc.).
Let me know if you have any questions or if you need any help with ideas.
Has anyone else made a blog yet? Mine is http://kkbez5.blogspot.com/
ReplyDelete-Katie
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteI made a blog, too. Mine is nowis2000.blogspot.com/. I might do my musical composition with assorted pens and my guinea pigs's cage.
-Simon
Okay so I did my musical composition with the strings on the piano. I thought it would be cool because I'd be using a completely different part of an instrument. And the sound turned out really cool! But how should I notate it?
ReplyDeleteHey Katie,
DeleteI love the sounds of the strings inside the piano too!
Now, notation is kinda tricky because I know at times it could be very binding (more on this at our next meeting), and I know I kinda just threw you guys into the deep end of the pool without much instruction - I'm glad you're asking questions!
You could really do anything you'd like. Are you plucking specific pitches? (maybe you could put "pizz." above the notes to indicate "pizzicato" [plucked]) Will you be running your fingers over specific strings (maybe you can use a squiggly line: ~~~~)? Will you be doing anything with the pedals of the piano? What about muting the strings with your hands while you play the pitch using the keyboard (you can put a "+" above that note, perhaps)?
A lot of times composers of contemporary music just have to make up their own notation because traditionally composers only dealt with pitches and rhythm. Maybe, is there a way to successfully get an idea across? (what does the sound "look" like when it's on paper?) You can always attach a written description above the new notation, or you can have a separate page dedicated to it (kind of like the legend of a map, so to say).
Hope this somewhat helps!
P.S. You might want to check out a piece called "The Banshee" by Henry Cowell. He also plays around with the strings of the piano in his piece! There are pictures of the score on google images - maybe this would help you a bit with notational possibilities (key word: possibility; it doesn't always have to be done like this).