Unit 9
 
 
History of Notation
Step 1
Take notes on the following resources
A.  Mensural Notation
B.  Odhecaton
C.  Capturing Music
D.  Rameau Treatise of Harmony
E.  From Neumes to Notes
 
Step 2

  • Provide a brief description of this Neume Notation; observations, patterns, etc. The chant chart shows you the different forms of notation, all the way from the 9th and 10th centuries, to how they developed into the 11th and 13th centuries, and how they evolved into the notation of the present day. If we look at the earliest times on the chart, the 9th & 10th centuries have squiggly lines and scribbles to mark out different types of notes. It's only when you get to the 11th-13th centuries that we begin seeing quadrilateral shapes in place of lines and dots. 

  • Describe differences between Medieval Notation Neumes & Modern Notation Notes used to notate the same song in terms of shapes, lines and colors. In the medieval version of "sumer is icumen in," we see that there are square shapes representing notes. The bar lines and staffs are red, with red writing underneath the words. There are no measure bars or any indications of a meter. Everything seems to be kept in tempo by phrasing of the words. The key signature is on a different place on the staff (which has six bar lines!). The version that was transcribed in modern notation is much clearer about everything; you can see that the meter is in 12/8 and it's in the key of F major/D flat minor. 

  • Create a musical phrase using Medieval Notation on the template found in this Manuscript. Done :)

 

 

Modern Composition Proposal

Step 1

 

Step 2

  • Describe each of the following aspects of your proposed composition

  1. Instrumentation/Performing Forces. French Horn, Cello, and Piano. 

  2. Meter. 9/8 for most of it, I think. 

  3. Key Signature. E Harmonic Minor. 

  4. Tempo. 90 bpm.

  5. Dynamics. Crescendos into the new phrases. 

  6. Song Form. Moving into a binary AB form? 

  7. Numbers of Measures. TBD

  8. Chord Progressions. All of them. 

  9. Cadences. All of them. 

  10. Texture(s). All of them. 

  11. Title. All of them :) 

 

Step 3

  • Answer the following questions regarding your compositional proposal

  1. What is it you hope to accomplish? I hope to get something that's not that bad for an actual ensemble to play. 

  2. Does this project relate to any of your Benchmark Goals? Yes--I have a firmer understanding on the way some music works, and I'm excited to now put them into practice. 

  3. What concepts will need additional research or review? I think I'll need to look a bit more at secondary dominants and ways to modulate. 

  4. How will you sequence this process? What will you do first, second, third, etc.? I am going to start with the melody and build the parts at the same time, and later go back and make necessary changes. I guess I'm gonna learn as I'm doing it. 

  5. How will you know it is a success? I will feel a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling (that's my ego getting gratification :)).

 

 

Composition Presentation & Reflection

Step 1

  • Provide a screen shot and an audio file 

 

Step 2

  • Answer the following reflective questions

  1. Describe the skills/knowledge you needed to complete this assignment that you learned/refined as a result of taking this class. I had to learn a lot more about phrasing and dynamics. It was really interesting learning more about Finale with Neil (lots of tips and tricks that I'm going to use in the future. 

  2. Describe the resource/information that was most helpful to completing this composition. The most helpful thing on this was going to Neil and Julie for some outside opinions. I learnt about finishing phrases and the combination of different instruments. 

  3. How close was your final product in relation to your initial proposal? If things changed, why/how? A LOT of stuff changed--my dynamics and tempo changed entirely. I changed my form--went more binary. I had to change the key change and make it less... official of a key change. 

  4. Comment on your time management for this project. I think I was really snappy! I spent over ten hours over the weekend tweaking and re-scoring my piece. 

  5. What was the greatest benefit of your learning experience for this composition? The biggest take-away that I have is how I need to finish phrasing for certain instruments and how to structure that with subdividing and how a line fits in the piece. 

  6. What was the greatest challenge of your learning experience for this composition? I struggled with implementing everything from my theory class into this. A lot of places were composed purely by what sounded nice, rather than analyzing the theory bits of it. 

  7. Were there any aspects of your outcome that were surprising or unexpected? I was surprised how quickly I started off with a melody line, and how quickly it took off to have a life of its own. 

  8. How would you approach the compositional process differently if you had another opportunity to learn in this manner? I think I would start off the same, and get a first draft and just play with it until I want to delete it and start over again :). I would, again, go back to the Freeberns and have different eyes and ears on my piece. I would take a different approach in the sense that I would analyze something and look at the lines in relation to each other. 

  9. Describe the kind of composition you would pursue if given another opportunity to do so. I would definitely like to change it up and do something in a major key. I would implement something with a lot of secondary dominants, and have the piece have a more fugue-like feel. 

 

Step 3

 

Step 4

  • Pair and Share your composition 

1.  Who was your partner? My partners were Alea and Jack. 

2.  Describe their composition. Any surprises or take aways? I really liked Alea's chord inversions--her usage of cadences made it sound like it was going to resolve every five measures, and it really didn't. It sounded really smooth and the flow really made sense to the title of the song. Jack's wasn't finished yet, but I noticed he had a lot of really nice secondary dominants. The voice parts blended really nicely into each other, and I loved that there was so much going on that would be later echoed in some other voice part.  

3.  What feedback/response did you receive about your composition? I was told that it was much better than my first draft (yup), and that it had a really dramatic element to it. There were some really rapid piano riffs that weren't expected, and the "key change" to F harmonic minor was really nice and big :)