# Is this a good movement structure for my suite?



## caters (Aug 2, 2018)

I have been working on this Weather Music suite for a while now and I think I have decided on a good movement structure. Here is the overview of the movements.
*
First movement
*
Here I'm aiming for a warm feeling, like a sunny day kind of warmth. So far, I have decided on string quartet + piano for the instrumentation.

*Characteristics

Warmth of the sound(which I think primarily comes from my choice of having a string quartet in this movement)
Harmony is in ternary form
Melody is improvised and doesn't follow a specific form
Moderate tempo(which adds to the warmth of the sound)
Ends with a Plagal cadence(I'm aiming for a bit of finality but not total finality, thus the Plagal cadence)

Key

G major*
*
Second movement*

I'm thinking of having this movement represent windy weather. As such, a flute piano duet makes sense for this movement. And it will probably have these characteristics:

*Characteristics

Allegro tempo
Tension
Minor key?
Melody that sounds a bit chaotic on its own
Harmonic grounding to the melodic chaos

Key

D minor?

Third movement*

This movement, I am thinking of having represent cloudy weather. It makes sense if the second movement is to represent windy weather. As for instrumentation, I have no idea. I'm thinking of having these characteristics to it:

*Characteristics

Andante or Adagio tempo, not sure yet
Perhaps end on a diminished 7th to lead smoothly into the Storm movement?
More reserved dynamically speaking(forte becomes a rare dynamic in this movement)

Key

G minor?

Fourth movement*

This is the movement I started working on first and I plan for this to be the most intense movement of the suite. That's right, this is the Storm movement of my suite. I decided on piano solo for this movement. I figured that since the pianist has rarely gone solo so far in the suite, that it should have its own movement to shine. As a result of this, here are the characteristics that I decided on:

*Characteristics

Scalar passages with leaps
Fast octaves
Forte becomes more of a default than an exception
Presto tempo
More diminished 7th chords
Quite a bit of staccato*

Overall, this will be the most Beethovenian of all the movements.

*Key

C minor*

Here, I would have a calmer sounding interlude after the storm, not really it's own movement

*Fifth movement*

This I'm thinking of having represent snow. Maybe not the most logical but it will still bring some happiness after the Storm movement. This is where I'm thinking of having flute + string quartet in terms of instrumentation. The pianist is probably going to need a break after the Storm movement

*Characteristics

Lots of staccato
Overall higher sound(this is why I thought of adding the flute here)
Allegro? Andante? Moderato?

Key

Bb major

Sixth movement*

I'm not sure what instrumentation to use here but it would be more mellow than the Storm movement for obvious reasons. Here are the characteristics it would have since it is a representation of rain:

*Characteristics

Slower tempo
Minor key
Staccato
Very few diminished harmonies
More sad than intense

Key

E minor most likely*

*Seventh movement*

This I plan on having feel very happy after the more emotional movements, like a rainbow. I also plan on having all the instruments that have had a role in the suite play in this final movement.

*Characteristics

Most likely the longest movement
Might be in sonata form
Ends with a perfect cadence to give a sense of total finality

Key

G major*

What do you think of my movement structure? Any adjustments that you would make to the movement structure?


----------



## E Cristobal Poveda (Jul 12, 2017)

Do you have any melodies at all?
There's no sample provided so there's no way to know whether this has any substance or is just mindless sketching


----------



## caters (Aug 2, 2018)

E Cristobal Poveda said:


> Do you have any melodies at all?
> There's no sample provided so there's no way to know whether this has any substance or is just mindless sketching


Yes, of course I have melodies. So this isn't mindless sketching. I mean, how often do you come across music without any melody? Outside of maybe WTC I Prelude in C major, pretty rarely, right? None of the movements are complete so far but if you want, you can listen to what I have so far of my Storm movement here:

https://musescore.com/user/50070/scores/5611423


----------



## E Cristobal Poveda (Jul 12, 2017)

It seems far too orderly to properly portray a thunderstorm. I would also prefer richer harmonies, as the current arrangement feels much too sparse for a solo piece.


----------



## caters (Aug 2, 2018)

E Cristobal Poveda said:


> It seems far too orderly to properly portray a thunderstorm. I would also prefer richer harmonies, as the current arrangement feels much too sparse for a solo piece.


Really? I thought the rhythmic syncopation + staccato + unpredictable return to regular rhythm + turbulent feel from the octaves would make it sound chaotic enough without going full on 12 tone serialism type of chaos. 12 tone serialism just is not my thing. No type of atonality is my thing. Even if I were to use a 12 tone row, I would probably give some harmonic grounding to it so that the chaos is only melodic in nature and it isn't severely dissonant with unresolved tritones and other unresolved dissonances.

And while on the topic of harmonies, I do use rich harmonies when it gets to the chords representing the thunder, including diminished 7ths. And I listened to several stormy pieces and one thing they all had in common was octaves or fast tremolos giving the same feel as octaves. So naturally, I decided on the piece being octave heavy.


----------



## E Cristobal Poveda (Jul 12, 2017)

There's plenty room to go more chaotic even in conservative tonality.
The problem with the classical style is that it utterly fails in conveying much emotion at all.


----------

