Klarinet Archive - Posting 000432.txt from 2000/09

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Beginning and ending on the tonic
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 17:11:28 -0400

<><> Dan Leeson wrote:
I'm curious. Why is this question important to you?

My instructor has encouraged me to improvise occasionally as part of
my practice -- loosen up, relax, just finger something and listen to it
without giving any thought as to what the result may be -- strive for
musicality no matter what comes out.
It happened that I stumbled across a few lines that I liked, and so
I wrote them down chromatically and looked more closely at them. What
key & time signature should I put on them? What would they sound like
if I doubled the tempo? Should the first few notes be treated as pickup
notes, or do they define the tonic, dominant, etc? What dynamics did I
play without thinking? Were they the best dynamics? And so forth?

Most of these questions lead eventually to a basic question: what
is the tonic of these lines in the first place? How do I identify what
the tonic is? How much of a sin is it not to begin/end on the tonic?

My thanks to you and Ed Lacy and Michael Holmes for your comments,

-Bill

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