Klarinet Archive - Posting 000328.txt from 2002/06

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bill & Neil's Excellent Adventure
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 18:37:50 -0400

> Neil, just for the record, I enjoy what I hear so far. I hope that I
> can keep up with you, and I'm looking forward to trying.

I'm not sure of what you mean about "keeping up" but, despite your chosen
title for the piece, this is still just a game, albeit a challenging one.
I stand to gain a lot actually -- I can already see that I'm going to have
to pull out the ol' Aldwell/Schachter theory text just to keep the harmonies
interesting and lend some direction to the piece. The nature of the game
as we've defined it is according to a very different type of interaction
from the one that Tony described. Tony's game has all of the players on
the same level of discourse, while in this game you and I will *never* be
on the same level of discourse, but always parallel. I won't write any
clarinet music in reponse to your contributions, and you won't write any
piano music in response to mine. In that sense, I feel somewhat ham-
strung, because I already have an urge to respond to your opening mel-
odic measure with further melodic material of my own.

I wrote:

> ...this will all be on sight, with as much help as I can garner from
> my inner ear

You responded:

> Every person works their own way, of course, but I couldn't survive
> without a music program.

Writing the piano part purely by sight is not by choice, I assure you! :-)
If I had a keyboard at my disposal, and/or music writing/playing software,
I would happily use them. Even though I can't play piano, it would still
be nice to sound the chords and test the quality of my voice leading. In-
stead, I have to arpeggiate the chords with my voice or in my head, as well
as mentally retain the sound of harmonic changes while studying individual
voices. Having not done this stuff in over a decade, some cobwebs have
formed in my inner ear. My relative pitch, sight singing, and dictation
skills never really faded, but I still have to remind myself that this is
a piano part, not a four-part Bach chorale. So far, I've failed in that
respect, and I'm not sure if there's anything I can do about it, i.e.,
I don't really know how to write idiomatically for the piano, and un-
dergraduate theory voice leading exercises are a poor substitute for
training in composition.

You asked:

> Concerning the B voice in measure 1:
>
> <><> D/2 (middle line of bass staff), G/8, F-natural/8, a leap down to
> G/4 (bottom space)
>
> Is "bottom space" a typo? Did you intend bottom *line*? Or some
> other note besides G?

Yes, it was a typo. It's a G, bottom line.

Okay, so here's a recap of the first measure of piano music, followed
by the completed second measure (which is not nearly as interesting as
the first -- it's hard to concentrate at work):

Measure 1
---------

S: A/2 (second space from bottom in treble staff), followed by four de-
scending 16ths on beat 3: D (fourth line up), C, B, G. Fourth beat:
B/4 (middle line).

A: F#/2 below the soprano A/2, G/4 on beat 3. Fourth beat: eighth-note
triplet F-natural, E, F-natural.

T: D/2 above middle C, B/4 immediately below that, G/4 immed. below that.

B: D/2 (middle line of bass staff), G/8, F-natural/8, a leap down to
G/4 (bottom line).

Measure 2
---------

S: C/4 (middle space treble staff, changed from a half-note originally), G/8 above,
F/8 below that, F/4 (same note), F/4 (same note).

A: E/2 (bottom line treble staff, changed from a G originally), A/4 above that,
F/4 (bottom space treble staff).

T: G/4 (top space bass staff, changed from a half-note originally), C/8 above,
followed by D/16, C/16, then C/4, then A/4 below.

B: C/4 (second space up), E/4 immed. above, F/4, down to C/8, B/8.

Measure 3
---------

S: C (third space up treble staff, duration not specified).

A: E (bottom line treble staff)

T: A (top line bass staff)

B: A (bottom space bass staff)

<Neil reaches out and hands the pencil back to Bill...>

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