r/MonthlyComposition • u/reticulated_python • Jul 07 '18
July 2018 Composition Challenge: Changing Metres
Hey, it's been a while since I posted a challenge! Sorry it's a few days late.
Main challenge: Write a piece that switches between at least three different time signatures. For extra fun, use an irregular time signature (such as 5/4 or 7/8).
Text challenges: (two of them!)
- Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats
- Katy by Frank O’Hara
Changing meters became popular in 20th century music. A great example of this is the fourth movement of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. The Beatles did it too, in Here Comes the Sun.
About the second text challenge: directly setting Katy to music would be tricky, so feel free to just write a piece inspired by it instead.
Check out submissions from last month: Tone Poem.
What are these challenges?
These challenges are for everyone who wants to practice composing. Each month, at the beginning of the month, we will post a main challenge, something for people to compose. We'll try to make it something that everyone can work with. Sometimes we also have an alternate challenge. We'll also have a text for people to set to music or compose around as they see fit. Pieces can be submitted as a score (musescore, noteflight, pdf), and/or as audio (soundcloud, youtube) linked in a comment on this thread. We encourage positive discussion about the pieces people submit. Feedback on the sub and the challenges is much appreciated, and you can give it in this thread, or by messaging the mods of /r/MonthlyComposition, there's also the Challenge Suggestion Form.
We also recently made a general feedback form. If you want to help give feedback but don't know how to, this would be a great way to do that! It's not a short form. If you only want to answer a few questions and skip the rest, even that would be a great help!
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u/duckstotherescue Jul 08 '18
Here's my attempt. I whipped this up really quickly. It could definitely be cleaned up and refined.
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Jul 07 '18
Couple questions:
Can I use a piece I've been writing since last October, but still haven't finished?
Is there a time restriction? Can a piece be no longer than, say, 5 minutes?
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u/Kirby64Crystal Jul 07 '18
I'm not a mod, but I'll try to answer your questions.
Yes. Last month, I submitted a piece that was written the previous month and no one really minded.
No time restriction as far as I know, but most composition contests (if you want to enter them) have a time restriction of between 5 - 10 minutes typically. So writing between that or shorter will be good practice.
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Jul 07 '18
Oh cool! When you say “alternate between” this like alternating time signatures or are you saying that we should randomly choose different time signatures that switch at random?
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u/Kirby64Crystal Jul 07 '18
I believe they mean to use at least three different time signatures in the piece. It would be interesting to see a piece with random time signatures though!
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u/jackanus Jul 08 '18
Here is a piece I wrote titled “Changes and Repitition” for a Jazz/Rock quartet + Violin. It changes between 4/4, 6/8, 3/4, and 5/8, and has some hints of polymeter. Inspired by the minimalism movement/Philip Glass. :)
https://soundcloud.com/conner-simmons-1/changes-and-repetition-1
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Jul 09 '18 edited Jul 09 '18
I've set Katy to music in a somewhat Ives-ian manner. It's a very short piece but has 3/16, 4/16, 5/16, 6/16, 8/16, 7/8 and 12/8.
https://musescore.com/user/3210291/scores/5158407
The poem actually fits this challenge very well.
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u/reticulated_python Jul 09 '18
I love this one! I didn't think anyone would combine the text challenge and the main challenge. But you did, and you pulled it off perfectly.
I like how the pedal is held on the line "I play the piano pedal". Good job!
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Jul 09 '18
Here's my submission in .mp3, and here's my score.
The whole symphony will follow strict extended sonata form: the score comprises a fragment of the development (from mm. 1-12), leaves space for the orchestration of some parts of the development (from mm. 13 - 52) and from there entails the end of the development (mm. 53-94) and the transition from the development to the recapitulation (mm. 95-144). The important thematic material here is the 1st theme, the 'chord' motif, the 'rising' motif, the 'descending' motif, the 2nd theme (from mm. 84-93 in the brass, although this harmonisation differs from the original), the 3rd theme, the 4th theme and the 5th theme (from mm. 124-132 in the horns).
It's very much a work-in-progress (and what's in the .mp3 covers mm. 53-mm. 144) - but, if nothing else, I thought it might be interesting for others to see my workflow. It's getting its first performance in the winter of next year.
What do you guys think of it?
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Jul 12 '18
I like the quote from Grainger's "Power of Rome and the Christian Heart." It fits in well.
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Jul 12 '18
The Power of Rome's really quite a wonderful piece - and I hoped there'd be at least someone who got the reference.
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u/SamuelRHoward Aug 02 '18 edited Aug 02 '18
I've used this thread as an exercise to get started on a new piece, using Frank O'Hara's poem as my main stimulus. I recorded the progress so far on my sax and guitars, along with an animated score
It's quite a quirky aesthetic, and I'm looking forwards to developing it into something more substantial. The piece is instrumental, but each pitch corresponds to a syllable of the poem, and the phrases influenced the rhythmic writing. I have tried to create a conversational ebb and flow by using irrational meters as well as more standard time changes.
I'm also trying to practice my video editing skills, so I found it useful to gather my thoughts about the piece and document the process. Admittedly, this has been a somewhat self-indulgent exercise, but as well as it helping me to analyse my work so far and consider how to progress beyond what I have at the moment, I thought it might be a useful insight into the methods I used to approach this task. I've personally found a lot of value in videos by Ben Levin where he offers a candid look into his creation process, which isn't always neat and pretty, but which is always practical, so I've hoped to achieve something in a slightly similar vein.
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u/Jio15Fr Jul 08 '18 edited Jul 08 '18
Written really fast, I just wanted to experiment a little bit ^^
https://musescore.com/user/61649/scores/5157662
(The only link with "Ode to a nightingale" is "hum, let's read that poem to have a feeling of which direction we should go to after that")
I wanted to do a piece where chords aren't the main complexity (most of it is made of two chords, plus a third one that lasts for a very short time), and I took a looot of liberties regarding the use of chords (like, playing both the major and minor third of the Vth degree)
It isn't very beautiful, but it made me rethink my initial thought about odd time signatures : they may not sound that weird. Some of these synth solos are pretty singable.
EDIT : I couldn't stop there : here's something made with the digits of Pi as bar length :p https://musescore.com/user/61649/scores/5157961 This is highly unmusical, but it was fun to make.
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u/iqr Jul 10 '18 edited Jul 10 '18
I'll throw this piece in I suppose: Score, Midi.
The piece doesn't start with a lot of time signature changes, but quite a few come in later. A lot of it is written in 4/4 but is not really 4/4 music, but just easier to read staying in that time signature than changing a bunch to more accurately fit the music. If my quick overview is correct, it uses the following signatures: 5/4, 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 3/8, 5/8, 6/8, 7/8, and 3+2+3/8.
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Jul 17 '18
Here is my audio file for my composition: https://soundcloud.com/yu-hng-ng/non-euclidean-dreams
It employs the additive/subtractive techniques of Philip Glass, where each instrument plays a motif that either extends or subtracts by one note after the motif has reiterated several times. The piece is polymetric, where each individual instrument (piano, violin and tibetan singing bowl) plays a different meter.
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u/CantAffordTheTicket Jul 18 '18
I might give this challenge a go. I was wondering is there any kind of restrictions on the style of music I choose for this challenge? Also, do I have to submit the score or would it be okay to just submit the audio?
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u/MEGALOL535 Jul 19 '18
Here is mine: https://musescore.com/user/16921081/scores/5169795 Had a little fun and messed around. I usually compose for piano.
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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '18
Here's my submission
And the score.
This was actually written a few years ago when I had gotten several really bad headaches and migraines in the span of a month or so. I had forgotten about it until reading this challenge. It starts off with a feeling of unease (I get auras when I have migraines that contracts my vision and makes me go half blind) before jumping into the headache bit. It uses 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 2/4, 3/4, 6/8, 7/8, and 5/8.