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Guidelines for composing
Dr Trevor Pearce is a composer and lecturer in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium. Here he discusses the guidelines for composition.
First Phase
Second Phase
Third Phase
This tutorial is intended primarily for Music 2 Core Composition which has a maximum time limit of 2 minutes but can also be applied to Music 2 Elective Composition (3 minutes) and Music Extension Composition (2 pieces/movements with a combined time of 6 minutes).
Tasks are provided for motivic construction, aspects of pitch, harmonic development and planning as well as consideration of the use expressive techniques such as dynamics, tone colour and articulation.
Guidelines are presented for the three main phases of composition including pre-compositional development of ideas, assembling the composition, and revision and preparation of the final draft.
First Phase
Pre-compositional development of ideas
This section highlights the importance of having an underlying compositional idea and shows the following steps involved in the compositional process.
Pitch and harmonic considerations
Motivic development
Rhythmic processes
Instrumentation and choice of ensemble
Expressive devices
Form and planning models
The importance of an underlying compositional idea
Perhaps the most important aspect to consider in the lead up to composing a work is the question of what the piece will be about or what the impetus for the composition to exist is. This question deserves some thought because composing the work could become a struggle without a clear idea of its underlying musical intent.
Once the underlying idea is sorted out, the decision making process becomes clearer because having a reference point makes it easier to decide what the content will be and what extraneous material can be edited out.
The underlying idea for a piece may be just about anything, but it’s easier if it is something relevant to the person undertaking the task. Examples include ritual and dance in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, a homage to the holocaust in Schoenberg’s Survivor from Warsaw, or the white culture’s engagement with aspects of a new land in Peter Sculthorpe’s Mangrove and Kakadu.
It could concern memory, illusion and reality or the exploration of conflict. It could involve a response to a stimulus such as a poetic image, another piece of music, an aspect of nature such as the subtle changing of light or the evocation of an image such as Ross Edwards’ Mountain Village in a Clearing Mist. It could be a response to an aspect of one’s daily life such as the mechanistic experience of a factory production line. It could be involved with a process such as synthesis - bringing things together, or with emergence- letting an idea emerge from obscurity into clarity. It may be about interpreting personalities in a group and the attempts to communicate.
Whatever it is, it helps if there is something to refer to because composing is about communication and sound can be a powerful metaphor for this. Composing is also about making decisions and if there is clear intent the work will be more coherent and focused.
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