# Composing Advice



## Aussie7 (Feb 12, 2015)

Hi everyone,

First of all I apologise if I have posted this in the wrong section (I'm new to the forum.)

I am currently completing a project on composing music based on that of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras and was wondering if anyone here may be able to offer some advice as to how I should go about writing my composition. Are there any particular aspects of each era that I should try and include, or is there any particular process I should follow when beginning my composition? I also hope that you don't mind of any answers are included in my final folio.

Thanks Very Much.


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## Aussie7 (Feb 12, 2015)

Also, are there any particular forms that would be best to use?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Aussie7 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> First of all I apologise if I have posted this in the wrong section (I'm new to the forum.)
> 
> ...


O Lord.
Perhaps you should listen to some Schnittke and call it a day.

In any case, welcome to the Forum.


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## Fagotterdammerung (Jan 15, 2015)

Theme and variations seems an easy route to go, with the harmony and musical texture supplying the era references. It's relatively easy to write in pastiche, imitating certain periods: it's originality that's hard.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Aussie7 said:


> I am currently completing a project on composing music based on that of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras and was wondering if anyone here may be able to offer some advice as to how I should go about writing my composition. Are there any particular aspects of each era that I should try and include, or is there any particular process I should follow when beginning my composition?


This reads to me like you have a nice concept and ambition, but nary one tool and near to no hope of completing such a task. It is not wildly ambitious, but ambitious.

That you need to ask about forms, characteristic harmonies and procedures of any one era sounds like you do not know near enough to start without soon getting crushed beneath the size and weight of such a project. I.e. if you need to ask the questions you have asked, it is more than likely you are not near ready to start writing such a piece.

Some people with little to no training do have quite a canny ability to recognize harmonies and other signal traits of an era, particular melodic contours, the type of harmonization, what modes, etc. If you have that ability, then of course, _listen to a lot of music from each period._ Please know that straight-ahead facsimiles of older styles are great for academic exercises, and you can learn much from doing them (they are, all along the way, typical assignments in the progression of learning music theory) and there will be at least part of a general audience who will find that a 'neat enough' accomplishment that such a piece may gain some praise, but nothing so exactly like is ever considered much more than a well-written student-like exercises.

I would simply remind yourself or ask yourself "what have I already written?" -- and be honest when answering that question, then assess again the scope of this idea you would like to realize.

It sure sounds to me like it is far too much for you to yet deal with, bring to an end, and have it be in any way successful. I would suggest a short piece, written "as you can," without its being a model of anything, or conversely, an equally short piece as an essay in any one of those styles, after having listened to music of the period and looked at some scores.

Best regards.


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## Aussie7 (Feb 12, 2015)

Thanks for your answers. I know now that the task is perhaps a little to hard, but unfortunately it is too late for me to change or refine my subject. I am a high school student and this is a project that is assessed based on the research that I conduct, not really the quality of my final composition (its not being marked by a music teacher, rather a P.E one.) My goal is really just to write a short, nice-sounding piece, with some features that I will be able to identify as having being used throughout these eras. 

Thanks again.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Aussie7 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> First of all I apologise if I have posted this in the wrong section (I'm new to the forum.)
> 
> ...


Go with your heart, write beautiful accessible music. Look at what prodigy Alma Deutscher is doing.

The Classical sonata is wonderful.


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## pianolearnerstride (Dec 17, 2014)

Fagotterdammerung said:


> Theme and variations seems an easy route to go, with the harmony and musical texture supplying the era references. It's relatively easy to write in pastiche, imitating certain periods: it's originality that's hard.


I agree with this. I'd do a piano piece with 4 variations... 1 for renaissance, 1 for baroque, 1 for classical and 1 for romantic. Maybe 5 variations... the first being a neutral variation just stating the melody plainly.

Just go with the characteristics you found in each era...

Listen to some keyboard compositions from each era... come up with an original melody... and see how that melody might have been played and expanded on in each era...

Also, listen to theme and variations examples. (say the mozart twinkle twinkle little star variations).

Some basic ideas (not based on any serious research, so take with a grain of salt)...

Renaissance music: modal, contrapuntal
Baroque music: tonal (we have modulations of key, chord changes), contrapuntal
Classical music: tonal, homophonic (background chords with accompanying melody, strict rhythmic form)
Romantic music: tonal, homophonic, like classical but with longer melodies, more rubato... more rhythmic freedom, more legato, more use of sustain pedal


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Pianolearnerstride's response is practical advice, well worth consideration.

I want to suggest that you listen to some Variation pieces if you are unfamiliar with the form, and to recommend a piece which may be new to you, the _The Variations on a Nursery Tune_, Op. 25, for piano and orchestra by Ernő Dohnányi. It is subtitled _For the enjoyment of humorous people and for the annoyance of others._ Written in 1914, it treats the theme of the French nursery song :"_Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman_," more familiar perhaps as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". This is the same tune Mozart wrote variations on (K. 265/300e).






The Dohnányi plays games with Romantic music, mimicking various composers and their works. One could do this with a set of variations spanning the musical eras, imitating the styles of some classic composers such as Josquin des Prez from the Renaissance, Bach or Vivaldi from the Baroque, Mozart or Haydn from the classical, Chopin or Liszt from the Romantic.

But familiarize yourself with some of the great Variations sets: Bach's Goldberg Variations, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Haydn. Liszt and Rachmaninoff have sets of variations for piano. There are many out there.

One thing you'll notice right away is that the variations tend to alternate in terms of tempo and mood. You probably don't want two slow variations together, or two fast ones. You might want to alternate major and minor keys. The Renaissance variation, as suggested already, could well be modal. If you started with a Gregorian chant theme, you could even stretch back to the pre-Renaissance days for your theme. Rendering the chant into a twelve-tone row could well end a composition nicely in the 20th century.

When I suggested you listen to Schnittke, I was suggesting that if you do not know the music of this modern Russian composer, you may profit yourself in hearing it. No one incorporates various styles and musical eras into single pieces as well as Schnittke. With his symphonies you never quite know what you will get; he parades through musical styles with an alacrity that is stunning. The guy knows the history of his art.

A composer-to-be should know that history, too.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Could you compose something atonal? Thanks .


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

ArtMusic said:


> Go with your heart, write beautiful accessible music. Look at what prodigy Alma Deutscher is doing.
> 
> The Classical sonata is wonderful.


Dude, one does not 'go with one's heart and write beautiful "accessible" music' for an assignment with very specific requirements as to the musical traits the assignment requires be within the piece... at least if the OP wants a passing grade.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Lots of excellent suggestions here. I have just one little thing to add: Unless you are sure of your teacher's sense of humor, don't pick a theme like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". He could think you are jerking his chain.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Ukko said:


> Lots of excellent suggestions here. I have just one little thing to add: Unless you are sure of your teacher's sense of humor, don't pick a theme like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". He could think you are jerking his chain.


If you're good, the theme is the least important, just as in Mozart's set of variations on that ^^^ tune, Beethoven's on a bland waltz by the publisher Diabelli, or... Peter Heidrich's _Happy Birthday Variations._


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