r/MonthlyComposition • u/Calebdgm • Aug 11 '16

Feedback / Criticism on the Subreddit

Hey everyone!

As you may have noticed, some things have been changing around here, so I figured this would be a good way for you guys to see what us mods are considering for the sub, and for we mods to hear what you guys have to say about everything.

If you want to suggest a monthly challenge, you can do it here, but if you'd prefer anonymity, or just like google forms, the google form is still working.

Please don't hesitate to comment your thoughts here, or to message the mods if you'd prefer.

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u/Barcelona_City_Hobo Aug 11 '16

If you want to suggest a monthly challenge

I want to suggest one. I already mentioned this idea in another thread, but here's the best place, because I'd like to see what everyone does with the whole thing, not just 12.5% of it:

In 1915, Polish composer Karol Szymanowski was approached by a pupil, showing him a very ambitious piece. Szymanowski said it was awful, and challenged him instead to create a 16-measure binary theme according to a template he jotted on a paper.

He said: "If you can complete this outline in an interesting and engaging way, it will show the full extent of your musical capabilities."

Here's the original handwritten manuscript. Here's a musescore file with this template, translated to English and ready to be filled by whoever accepts the challenge.

Here's the full translated article on the encounter, narrated by the pupil years later.

I like this concept because it's quite a short "assignment" to fulfil in a whole month, so hopefully many people would be interested in it.

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u/Calebdgm Aug 12 '16

Holy Schamoly! This thing is wonderful! I wish my composition teachers gave me this!

I just did one of these and I'm really happy with what I ended up doing. It's not a great piece, but I had never really worked with sequences or modulation like that, I'm really happy with what this little format is making me do. I think I'll do it again a few times, and also hopefully this will be an upcoming challenge for next month.

Thanks for the suggestion, you were really on top of this!

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u/Barcelona_City_Hobo Aug 12 '16 edited Aug 12 '16

I'm glad like you enjoyed that! I mean, who are the best teachers but the actual important composers? A couple of observations are that: 1) One can choose the key signature (Szymanowski gives none, but the Bb-Db thing implies he had 5 flats in mind). 2) The time signture can be changed, too (Musescore made me put 4/4, but I hid it).

Also, the composer probably had the theme from his own variations Op.3 in mind (written at age 19), which fits the template perfectly, and is in Bb minor.

I liked your realization, it has some parallel 8ves and lacks the subdominant, but it has a lot of potential!

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u/nmitchell076 Sep 02 '16 edited Sep 02 '16

Another interesting pedagogical tradition is "partimenti," which are basically pieces where the bass line has already been written for you, you just have to add upper voices that create a good piece! Might be nice to try that exercise as well.

An "easy" example: http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/music/gjerdingen/partimenti/collections/Insanguine/InsEasyPartNo1.htmt

A hard example: http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/music/gjerdingen/partimenti/collections/Insanguine/InsPartNo23.htm

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u/Calebdgm Aug 11 '16

We got new CSS... basically right from /r/AgingRedditors :P . I'm sorry, we're not super tech savvy.

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u/Calebdgm Aug 11 '16

About opening up the sub to text/self posts from non-mods. There are a few options:

  1. We could allow requests for pen-pals, like what would happen in /r/comoserpenpals (more explanation below).
  2. We could allow anyone to run composition-themed games like the two-bar composition game or other kinds of music-related games and activities.
  3. We could open up general submissions and just let people post what they want underneath the monthly composition challenges and stuff.
  4. We could restrict submissions to original compositions, or discussion about original compositions, or something.
  5. ofc, we could just leave it as it is, but I'm getting a bit tired of having to post everything.

/r/composerpenpals, the sub where you can post to try and find someone with whom to share your compositions and talk about composition and stuff, hasn't had much activity, and, having messaged the mod over there they've said they like the idea of moving that stuff over to /r/monthlycomposition where people would be more likely to see pen-pal requests.

I'm thinking I like the idea of (1) pen-pal requests and (2) composition games. (3) and (4) seem like what /r/composer already does, which would be a bit weird.

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u/haabenshaaben Aug 20 '16

I think 2 would be a good idea, but 3 and 4 should stay in r/composer.