Notation and Such

Hey Nichols Composers!

Just a review of what we did today:
-Presented works
-Talked about notation:

• Why is notation important? Because it helps composers communicate their intentions to the performers.
• What is there in a score? A representation of what is heard: pitches, rhythms, everyone's parts.
• We already know how to notate pitches and rhythms (since we all play music already). How do we notate other sounds and things that aren't typical? That's when we make up notation.

And this point wasn't brought up, but it could be helpful too: Sure, we talked about the very commonly used (x) notehead - but what do we do when we want to notate bigger musical gestures? For instance, if Joe wanted to notate a upward rising squeak, instead of a plain squeak - how can we notate that? That's when we can combine the X with other things (maybe a squiggly line that's falling downward ~~~~  <- kinda like this, but angled downward). Or in the case with Katie and her "guero" figure, we can have the swoopy line, but how do we notate the speed of the figure? That's when we add other things; maybe she can just use the stems of the notes, and make them 32nd notestems.

That's pretty much it!

Assignment: If you haven't already done so, please look for a piece on youtube. Then, write about the composer's intention (do some research - use Wikipedia or other online sources) - what inspired the composer? What did he or she want to communicate to the audience/listeners?

The piece DOESN'T have to be related to your emotion (in fact, I would be better if it wasn't).

After introducing the piece, please write about it - what do you hear? What musical gestures are there, or what compositional choices does the composer make, to help communicate his intentions (from the first part of the assignment)?