# Wind Trio in G Major for two Flutes and Bassoon



## JorgeDav (Apr 9, 2020)

Hello everyone!

This is a wind trio I recently composed. It is inspired by the first movement of Bach's trio BWV 1039 since it follows the same form. It is my first trio and first time composing for winds so any feedback, suggestion or comment is welcome.

Thank you and hope you like it!


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## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

Wow Jorge, this is excellent! Not only is the part writing and counterpoint really good but theres also a high degree of contrapuntual clarity and its not muddled at all. Its very chirpy and happy too, we always need more uplifting music in the world.


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## Enthalpy (Apr 15, 2020)

Around bar 30, the bassoon has fast articulations on low notes, which I find seriously difficult, certainly more difficult than both flute scores, and much more difficult than the rest of the bassoon score. Hopefully a better bassoonist can give his opinion here. Since bassoonists are scarce, I feel this difficulty in the score would better be levelled out.

You might also provide a cello voice as an alternative to the bassoon. Or a bass clarinet, a tuba, a euphonium... Software makes this very easy, and you'd be played more often. Fitting your piece better, the bass clarinet would provide neat articulations, while bassoonists make them round on low notes, what your synthesizer doesn't reproduce.

Whether alternatives voices 1 and 2 should exist for oboes, clarinets, cornets, violins, glockenspiels...? Oboes and cornets limit the range. My general feeling is that software makes it quite simple, so the composer should propose alternative instruments before individual musicians do it anyway.


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## JorgeDav (Apr 9, 2020)

GucciManeIsTheNewWebern said:


> Wow Jorge, this is excellent! Not only is the part writing and counterpoint really good but theres also a high degree of contrapuntual clarity and its not muddled at all. Its very chirpy and happy too, we always need more uplifting music in the world.


I am really glad you liked it! I corrected a few errors, like changing it to 4/4 or changing that awful final cadence at the end (I just wanted to post it online so I was lazy to work out a proper ending) but ,since I cannot edit the post, it will stay in this version here . It is indeed a quite happy piece and I think it turned out like that without me being aware of it while I was composing it hahaha. Thanks for commenting!


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## JorgeDav (Apr 9, 2020)

Enthalpy said:


> Around bar 30, the bassoon has fast articulations on low notes, which I find seriously difficult, certainly more difficult than both flute scores, and much more difficult than the rest of the bassoon score. Hopefully a better bassoonist can give his opinion here. Since bassoonists are scarce, I feel this difficulty in the score would better be levelled out.
> 
> You might also provide a cello voice as an alternative to the bassoon. Or a bass clarinet, a tuba, a euphonium... Software makes this very easy, and you'd be played more often. Fitting your piece better, the bass clarinet would provide neat articulations, while bassoonists make them round on low notes, what your synthesizer doesn't reproduce.
> 
> Whether alternatives voices 1 and 2 should exist for oboes, clarinets, cornets, violins, glockenspiels...? Oboes and cornets limit the range. My general feeling is that software makes it quite simple, so the composer should propose alternative instruments before individual musicians do it anyway.


Thanks for pointing out about those articulations in the low notes. I am not sure how fast the oboe can be played in the lowest range. I understand playing sixteenth notes at around 120 bpm was possible, particularly if the notes were only a few (like in this case) but I am not sure. Does the difficulty come from the fast tonguing or from the fast fingering? If it comes from the fast tonguing, would it help to have some notes slurred then?

However, it could perfectly be played by a Cello, and flute-cello combination is actually quite common, I think. All in all, the three voices could be played by any three instruments that fit the range, since all three voices consist of a single melodic line. It is not hard to imagine a rendition with for two violins and the cello, for example. Overall, I agree with the alternative instruments idea.


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## Enthalpy (Apr 15, 2020)

Fast tonguing is the difficulty at low bassoon notes because the air column doesn't start vibrating so easily. At higher notes it's easy. Slurs would help, higher notes even more so. But even if low notes are longer or slurred, their beginning and end are round, which may not fit your piece.

I really wish you get advice from a better bassoonist. German systems work better on low notes, my instrument is in very bad condition, and I've been playing for 10 months only.

Also, a good bassoonist may answer "quite playable", but your bassoon voice is much more difficult than both flute voices. This limits the opportunities to be played. Flute students can play the voices after few years, while the bassoon voice demands a seriously good and seasoned student, or maybe it's just unreasonable.

Adapting the score would solve that, if the fast articulations are like one octave higher.

The bass clarinet doesn't have this limit. Articulations are crisp on low notes too, and cleaner than on a cello. Even the contrabass clarinet offers neat articulation over the whole ambitus. They are the best working woodwinds. I believe, but am not sure, that a bass clarinettist with instrument is easier to find than a bassoonist.


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## neofite (Feb 19, 2017)

Very nice. Pleasant to the ear and seems very well crafted, at least based on my limited knowledge of music composition. I would look forward to hearing other pieces that you have composed.


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## JorgeDav (Apr 9, 2020)

Enthalpy said:


> Fast tonguing is the difficulty at low bassoon notes because the air column doesn't start vibrating so easily. At higher notes it's easy. Slurs would help, higher notes even more so. But even if low notes are longer or slurred, their beginning and end are round, which may not fit your piece.
> 
> I really wish you get advice from a better bassoonist. German systems work better on low notes, my instrument is in very bad condition, and I've been playing for 10 months only.
> 
> ...


Oh! Thank you so much for pointing those things out! I have been checking out bassoon tutorials and master classes and I think you might be right. It would probably be possible but hard. With slurred notes it might be easier, the sound might be somewhat round but I think it would actually work. However, I will take a look into the hardest parts to see what I can do. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, it is not like anyone is planning to perform the piece.

I am not sure I would like how the sound of a bass clarinet would fit in the whole, so, in the worst case, i guess changing it for a cello would work. Thank you for all the info! Thanks to this things is that I learn about the instruments little by little!


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## JorgeDav (Apr 9, 2020)

neofite said:


> Very nice. Pleasant to the ear and seems very well crafted, at least based on my limited knowledge of music composition. I would look forward to hearing other pieces that you have composed.


Thank you so much for the comment and I am glad you liked it!  I am quite new in composing and I spend most of my free time studying instead of composing, so I only have a few pieces on my youtube channel. I will try to keep them comming more often in the future!


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## Enthalpy (Apr 15, 2020)

In the bassoon voice, only some 32[SUP]nd[/SUP] are doubtful, all 16[SUP]th[/SUP] are playable, though some would sound rounded. Again, I wish better bassoonists with German system give their opinion.

Bars 8, 27, 29, 31, 40, 62, 63 are badly difficult for me on my instrument. I consider this much more difficult than the flute voices. Though, as flautists are plentiful, a bassoon voice should be easier than the flute voice, so your music gets played more often. A slur would make bars 8, 40 easy, but it's not the same music.

Bar 30 is impossible for me on my instrument.

Bars 25, 57, 59, 61 are easy.

So my impression is that some fine-tuning is necessary, but very little will suffice.

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Whether a bass clarinet fits is the composer's decision. Hear Sebastián Tozzola (...not everyone sounds like him!)
7 pasos - Courante - Gigue - Gigue​Notice the neat articulation even on low notes. When playing with flutes, the bass clarinet needs a moderate forte, so it keeps a nice round sound. The instruments with written C cover the bassoon's range.

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The bassoon and cello read the same scores exactly, so the composer's burden almost limits to add "or cello" on the score's header. But the cello reaches down to C only, needing to shift your score. Never mind, the flutes can play higher.


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