Klarinet Archive - Posting 000151.txt from 2002/09

From: w8wright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Writing your own (was: [kl] Duke Ellington)
Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 11:38:51 -0400

<><> Lelia Loban wrote:
[on my computer] I could even delete all the places to breathe

<heh!> My anecdote:

I had written a duet in 3/4 time in which the bottom line was mostly a
progression of triads that were spread out into individual 1/8-notes.
But then, because of what the upper line was doing, I decided that the
piece should be in 4/4 time instead.

Rather than rewriting the bottom line to match, I thought it might be
interesting if the first note of each 'triad' did not fall on the beat.
That is, the emphasis on the beat of each 4/4 measure could not coincide
with the first note of an otherwise obvious triad.... and then I added
some inversions as well.

The result was that, to the performer's eye, the 'triad nature' of the
bottom line had disappeared and there were a number of unexpected leaps
in the middle of measures, etc.

I really liked the sound of the final result, and so I brought it to a
lesson and asked my teacher to play it with me. Her eye leapt to the
'triads' and she quickly pointed out that "As a courtesy to the
performer, you should do something in order that the bottom line reads
more easily. Unless your name is Stravinsky, most musicians will put
this aside rather than trying to play it and actually listening to it."

It was the only time that I ever felt a flash of anger at my teacher.
I actually had to struggle to keep smiling.

It would not have bothered me if she had disliked the sound of it. In
fact, after she had struggled through it, she raised her eyebrows and
told me "This isn't too bad, but as I said, nobody will want to play it,
Bill." So I reminded myself (silently, of course) about my many
postings here on the Klarinet list that the performer is not the
composer's slave, and I moved on.

I continue to enjoy the effect however, and I still do it on my computer
when nobody else is listening.

Cheers,
Bill

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