February 2018 Composition Challenge: Unresolved
Main Challenge: Avoid resolution as long as you can or until the end of the piece. This can mean
- using [deceptive cadences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadence_(music\)#Interrupted_(deceptive\)_cadence), or other methods of phrase extension (to give you unusually long phrases),
- or you can just avoid the use of the tonic chord at the ends of phrases, giving phrase endings an unresolved feel.
- Or avoid resolving the melody by instead resting on chord extensions (i.e. the 9th, 11th, or 13th note of the chord) instead of the more stable chord tones (i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7).
- Or you can get creative with another way to leave things unresolved in your piece until the finish.
Text challenge: She Walks in Beauty, by Lord Byron (George Gordon)
She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes; Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!
Highlights to check out from last month's remix challenge:
- u/duckstotherescue wrote a really cool adaptation of a piece, with a groovy orchestration (drumset, etc.). Here's their post, here's the musescore.
- u/stalwartian did a really fantastic arrangement of a polka by u/chopinrocks. Here's Stalwartian's post.
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. Pieces can be submitted as a score (musescore, noteflight, pdf), and/or as audio (soundcloud, youtube). 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.
Posted Feb 5, 2018, 4:05 PM UTC
Here's a piece in A major that tries to avoid perfect cadences for very long stretches, while remaining in a Romantic language. It'll be publicly posted on Valentine's day.
I've interpreted the general mood of the poem as constant yearning, unfulfilled desire, always restless... So there are many times where the local tonic is presented as a 6/4 chord, and modulating several times with aug6^th enharmonies.
Here's a guide to all the unresolved cadences of the piece.
Intro (stable)
The piece opens in diatonic A^maj.
m.4: Half cadence.
m.9: Perfect cadence.
m.10: V7/IV at m.11.
1st stanza (unstable)
m.12: F^maj in 1^st inversion instead of expected D^maj chord. The tonic of A is systematically avoided. No perfect cadences.
m.12-13: Cadencial move towards A^min. Thwarted. Leads instead to A^7 chord.
m.14-15: Cadencial move towards G^min. Thwarted. Leads instead to Eb^maj chord.
m.16-17: Cadencial move towards Bb^maj. Thwarted. Leads instead to Gb^7 chord in 1^st inversion
m.18-19: Cadencial move towards Bb^maj. Thwarted. Leads instead to A^maj^6/4 chord (through aug6^th enharmony)
m.20-23: Passage in the global tonic but under dominant pedal.
m.23-24: Weak cadence in C^maj. (IV in between).
m.24-25: Attempt at stronger cadence in C^min. Thwarted. Leads instead to C^min chord in 1^st inversion.
m.26-27: End of the stanza. Finally a cadence in A^min
2nd stanza (unstable)
m.32-39: Key of A^min, bass mostly on the dominant note.
m.40-43: Key of Bb^maj is reached through aug6^th instead of perfect cadence, bass mostly on the dominant.
m.44-46: Key of G^maj is reached through aug6^th instead of perfect cadence, bass mostly on the dominant.
m.47-53: Key of A^min is reached through aug6^th. instead of perfect cadence, bass mostly on the dominant.
3rd stanza (unstable)
m.54-61: Like stanza 1.
m.62-67: This time the key of A^maj and the dominant pedal stay, until we finally get the perfect cadence in the home key.
Coda (eventually becoming stable again)
m.69-71: Another cadence on A^maj is attempted, but leads to F^maj chord in 1^st inversion instead. Tonicization in B^bmaj, return to key of A^maj though aug6^th.
m.72-76: Another cadence on A^maj is attempted, is disrupted in the same manner, digression is longer and more intense, return to key of A^maj though aug6^th.
m.77-end: A^maj^6/4 chord is reached, cadencial formula ensues. End.
Really cool piece! I have a question though. I'm not a pianist, so this may be rather stupid, but what's the advantage of having three staves instead of two? I think I saw this once before in Liszt's Transcendental Etude, and I didn't understand the function there either. Wouldn't you normally just notate that additional line as another voice on the same staff?
It can help if you switch octaves often: 4 staves
A funnier version
holy shit thats amazing. I should get those chord-sticks...
It's for the sake of clarity. The top and bottom staves are to be played by the right hand. If I used a single staff, there would be many clef changes, and I'd like the two voices to be visually distinct. This technique is quite prevalent on piano, just check Scriabin's late sonatas or Debussy's preludes.
There are also cello pieces with 2 staves (Dutilleux, 3 Strophes Sur Le Nom de Sacher), as well as for guitar (Bogdanovic, Little Café Suite).
I like your use of the word "thwarted". Also the fact that it's part of such a meticulous analysis of your piece. Really cool to see!
really cool
Thanks pal!