...
I didnt originally intend to really DO anything, i was just "noodling". Normally, I set up an extremely "proper" counterpoint, giving the undermelody "equal billing" with respect to the overmelody. The upside of that, is I get a decent bass line more or less "automatically" out of it, something that pre-contrapuntal "seriously eluded me". The DOWNside is what you always described as "mathematical". It also made the melody(s) very abrupt, as in you could hear them start,stop,repeat, change.
harmonic lines "blur" multiple repeats of a proper counter melody and are a VERY effective tool, I am seeing. I cant wait to get more comfortable with them. But... I tried to capitalize on that good piano pice, and basically just "formula-d" out the same piece 3 times... all different, but too similar and not as good as the original. Total shite.
I was just noodling, so I gave the undermelody "half billing" and the overmelody was a lot stronger. kind of a "dance" between proper counterpoint and simple one-melody bubble-gum melody writing.
curiously, that worked wonders here. The stronger overmelody definitely cured something, and when it started getting "stale", I just erased the last few bars and started writing the new string melody "off the cuff". (something that usually doesnt work for me, but... a thin harmony line or embellishment here and there cured what ailed it...)
for all the 15-bar counterpoint melody's I try... that come out "eh"... this puppy was only 3 measures long, LMAO. (the basic melody its all based on) I saved the last measure (simple descension...) for closure/ending.
somewhere along the line, I realized I had insrument sections "calling out" and being "answered", another thing that previously eluded me.
Humm... I am going to have to start paying more attention to the overmelody from now on, at least based on this.
shortcomings: I thought the opening "horn melody" (or, hero horns as i called them, LMAO) lacked development. Curiously the strings developed into a complex thing that I had another first... 4 melodies all playing at once, and giving better results than the "sum of the parts".
PS - that was only possible by taking your advice to heart. Your always telling me to do suspensions... IE longer notes with shorter ones comning in and out. The LACK of "development" on the horns made them into a sort of "motif". The "movie in my head" that any piece i work on develops... I somehow see "conan" riding out while the hero theme plays... and i cant get it out of my head, LAMO
I am alays knocking "bubbl gum lines" in favor of mor techically complex contrapuntal lines... but... the BEST melodies (rockys thme... tc...) are always short, terse, to the point. There IS some counterpoint to this piece, but not nearly as much as i normally try to "force" into one.
half bubble gum, half counterpoint... might be a bettr "balance" between the two... each has its merits. Or, this was just a "fluke" for me, LMAO (could happen...lol)
PPS - I feel as if I have been crawling up a hill, these last 4 years. Running out of steam, threatening to die from exertion... a couple half decent pieces, coming one after another, I feel like I maybe hit the watershed moment, and am beginning to roll down the other side. Or maybe the blind pig gets the occasional acorn, who knows.
I am definitely getting more "confident" though. I feel a little bit more like I am actually starting to "compose" rather than just "fool around with music" for a hobby. MAN, I just got onto Garageband... theres this guy in Florida, USA. Hes got this one piece in the #1 spot on classical, for weeks now. Its good, dont get me wrong... but he can be unseated. I just KNOW it, LMAO... just a little more... just a little more, and I can GET him, lol.
I gotta give like 20 more "reviews" befor eI enter a contst there. Definitely will be classical, I WANT that guy so bad I can taste it, lol. Prolly will be this piece, unless something lse comes along better for me by then.
I am curious where my best piece "ranks" with the other amateur classical composers worldwide. As long as I dont come in dead last, I am happy. i feel like my "balls are dropping". I just CANT be the absoutely WORST in th world at classical, i dont think. Next to worst, sure... but I just cant be THE worst.
EH, I guess i could be dead last... LMAO
*shrugs* I'm getting excited, hee hee. I feel like a little kid that just learned how to throw a spiral pass properly.
