Klarinet Archive - Posting 000976.txt from 2000/10

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Repeats
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 04:01:24 -0400

In message <5626-39ED0066-1485@-----.org writes:
> The conversation about proper key signature and major vs. minor
> started me thinking about something else.
>
> The melody that I wrote for myself was primarily to exercise my own
> playing weaknesses -- triplets on the upbeat, crossing the break at
> inconvenient moments, exercising my little fingers, and so forth.
> But the truth is that I like my little melody, even though it's
> only 14 bars long. So how would I extend it if I wanted to attempt a
> complete piece of music? Where would I go with the theme? Or would I
> add a new theme and attempt to splice the two of them together? When do
> variations on the same theme become boring?
> For the last couple of days, I have been listening to a classics
> station (thank goodness for public broadcasting!!) with this question in
> mind. How do (did) world class composers handle this question?
> I am really surprised to notice how much thematic repetition there
> is in orchestral music. Same theme, repeated many times with different
> instrumentation and/or different harmony in the background.... but
> still, the same theme. What really drove this home to me today was
> Ravel's Pavanne for a Dead Princess. Beautiful music, enjoyable to
> hear, I wish I could write like that, but where does it go? Nowhere,
> IMO.
> I don't mean that all orchestral music is this way, but it's
> surprising how large a percentage of it is -- at least, how large a
> percentage of the music that gets played.
> This leads me to my final thought. If you're writing a solo for an
> instrument that can't play chords, then you can't coax extra bars out of
> instrumentation or harmony (except in the melody). Melody, which
> includes rhythm of course, is the only tool available.
> This gives me considerably more respect for Three Pieces for
> Clarinet Solo, and so forth. A frequent attitude is: "What skill! This
> composer managed an entire orchestra so well!" But perhaps it can be
> said just as easily: "Short on melody, so the composer took the easy way
> out and added instruments instead."
>
>
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>
Are you saying that when you listen to "Pavane pour une infante defunte"
you have no idea when it's going to end?
ROger S.

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