How to Compose a Piece...

As a composer, I have often wondered how other composers begin writing a piece of music. As well as that, I have wondered - what is the right way to start writing a piece of music? Well, I suppose there is no right way and no wrong way, it is all down to the individual.
Similarly to writers, composers definitely understand the meaning of the phrase 'writer's block'. I suffer from this all the time. I even find that I can go for two or three months without picking up my manuscript pad or jotting my ideas into my computer. If you look through the 'Composing for Dummies' book you'll find hundreds of handy tips that will get you 'composing' in no time - (don't buy it!) Similarly, if you type 'how to compose a piece' into Google, the first site comes up with 'Tip no.1, it is crucial that your piece has an introduction, a middle section and a conclusion'. Every musician knows that this is completely misleading, as classical music has a number of different structures and forms.

When I begin to write a piece of music, it's usually because I've been sitting watching tv and heard something that I like in a film or tv score, or even because I've whistled the same phrase for days, and I can't get it out of my head - almost as if it's a sign to write it down. I used to always start a piece with a single note held for about eight bars. Now, not all of my pieces end up with this introduction, but I find it useful to pick a note, listen to it being held, and wait for something to come to mind. Sometimes I begin to hum a harmony, sometimes I get a rhythm going with my feet - and sometimes all I can do is stare at the music with no inspiration at all.

However, since I started composing choral music, I found that the most useful tool when composing is having a text. Some of the standard texts like 'ave maria', 'sanctus', 'ave verum corpus' and 'magnificat and nunc dimittis' are the ones I'm talking about. The reason they are so helpful is because it gives you half the music already, this is because of the emphasis that we put on words. For instance, the phrase 'ave maria, gratia plena' would be said: (a-ve ma-RI-a, GRA-ti-a PLE-na). This natural emphasis makes it easier to come up with a melody or a rhythm. The most basic melodic example would be:

Here, the accented syllables are represented by a change of note. As well as thinking up music in my head, I take a lot of inspiration from other composers and pieces that I like - not always being classical. However, I find that particular genres are useful when searching for inspiration in a particular aspect of the music. For example, I find film music to be the best thing to listen to for subtlety and harmony, for accurate settings of texts, I find the most useful music to be requiems or Magnificats and Nunc Dimittis' (although I strongly believe that you can pretty much find everything you need by listening to Bach!). 

The final way in which I find inspiration is by playing the piano or even the guitar. I find sitting down at the piano and playing endless chord progressions relaxing anyway, (maybe I'm one of few) but it leads you to places that you may not have thought of in your head. I would also say that other instruments would be helpful, however the piano and guitar are particularly good because they give you thick harmonies with multiple notes at a time, as well as an extremely wide range. Of course there are compositional processes for certain genres of classical music because they have to include the elements of the genre (e.g. minimalism must include repetition, addition, subtraction, cell displacement etc) but when starting off something of your own choice and style, finding the thing that gives you inspiration is all important.

I leave you with a variety of views about the subject from the pros:

'It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table' Johanne Brahms

'Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly you see more details of the house - the colour of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows. The notes are the bricks and the mortar of the house' Benjamin Britten

'If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all' John Cage

'Life is a lot like jazz... it's best when you improvise' George Gershwin

'Every great inspiration is but an experiment' Charles Ives

'A symphony must be like the world, it must contain everything' Gustav Mahler

'Ever since I began to compose, I have remained true to my starting principle: not to write a page because no matter what public, or what pretty girl wanted it to be thus or thus; but to write solely as I myself thought best, and as it gave me pleasure' Felix Medelssohn

Karl Jenkins - Now The Guns Have Stopped

Karl Jenkins
Born 1944

For most of his musical career, Karl Jenkins has been known as a jazz musician, playing (unusually) the oboe in a jazz quintet. As a classical composer, his breakthrough came with 'Adiemus'. I chose to write about Jenkins because of his latest work: 'The Peacemakers', which is dedicated to the great peacemakers of the world such as Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela. However, I still believe that 'The Armed Man' is his best work by far.

With it's full title of 'The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace' the choral work is dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis. A recent survey has shown that Jenkins' 'The Armed Man' is the most performed work by a living composer in the world today. I believe this to be because as well as being a work of genuine beauty and interest, the work is very accessible to musicians of all levels as the choral parts are not too challenging, and neither are the orchestral parts that accompany them. 

Most of the works included in the mass are set to typical Latin texts such as the 'Sanctus' and the 'Benedictus'. However, there are some sections in which the text is not typically religious, but instead relates more to the theme of war that is so prominent in the mass. One work in which this is particularly effective is the soprano solo, 'Now The Guns Have Stopped'. The text reads:

Silent, so silent now, now the guns have stopped. I have survived all, I who knew I would not.

But now you are not here. I shall go home alone; and must try to live life as before

And hide my grief. For you, my dearest friend, who should be with me now, not cold too soon,

And in your grave, alone.

This piece comes after the complete madness of the movement, 'Torches'. In contrast to the rest of the mass, the piece starts with slow and wistful held notes from the upper strings. In the introduction, the harmonies and rising suspensions of the strings create a chilling atmosphere that represents that of a battle. Interestingly, the strings come to a halt at 1.16 to reflect the words, 'silent, so silent now'. Jenkins even reflects the surprise in the speaker's voice on the words 'stopped' and 'not' by using unexpected chord changes. I believe this piece to be undeniably beautiful, as its haunting and suspenseful harmonies really reflect the true loss and grief portrayed already in the text. 

What has become of classical music?

This post may seem extremely cynical compared to my others, however after looking at the classical music charts, listening to 'Classic FM' and hearing 'classical music' played in the waiting room of my GP, I felt it was time to say something about what has become of society's perception of the classical music genre.
At my age, it is rare to find a peer that is at all interested in classical music (unless of course you're at an Eton Choral course or play in an orhcestra). Why is this? What has become of classical music in today's society? It seems to me that classical music is only truly appreciated by an exclusive section of society. Perhaps it is this exclusivity and snobbery that puts others off having a listen to it in the first place. Of course it is much too harsh to say that classical music is unpopular, for instance there are far more people listening to Beethoven than there were when he was alive, however when you compare it to the popularity of other popular genres, it is fighting a losing battle.
If you look at the top ten pieces in (what are wrongly called)  'The Classical Music Charts', you won't find any great pioneers such as Bach, Chopin or Stravinsky. Instead, the list consists of Katherine Jenkins, Sarah Brightman and even Celine Dion. (Yes, Celine Dion).

Here are reasons that I believe disable classical music from being spread properly throughout society, particularly to the younger generations:

1. Saturation - Pop, drum and bass, grime and club music seems to be pumped out of every single speaker that exists in public areas, whether they be in shopping mall changing rooms or the toilets in Starbucks. 
2. Gullibility - People my age seem to have the idea that being 'cool' is all important, and that classical music is 'uncool' - whatever that means...
3. Celebrity Obsession - The new reason as to why music sells seems to be because it is 'sung' (auto-tuned) by a model, reality tv show judge, drug addict or in Chris Brown's case: a wife-beater. 
4. Attention Span - Obviously starting off with something as endless as the Bach Motets would bore anyone to shreds - but it seems that to keep people interested in what they're listening to, there has to be a combination of a beat, some 'oohs' and 'ahs', a monotonous verse and a chorus built of the same phrase repeated over and over again. 
5. Modern Classical Music - Like all of the arts, modern classical music seems to be constantly trying to invent something new, something interesting. Because of this constant need for creating something different, recent music (Ives and Cage as examples) seems to be more complicated and experimental, and less accessible to the younger audience. 

But whose fault is it that classical music is not (in my opinion) as popular as it should be? Is it the fact that composers simply don't make their music accessible enough to both a musically educated and uneducated audience, or is it the lack of willingness from other listeners? 

These are some of the reasons I love contemporary composers such as Eric Whitacre and Karl Jenkins. Eric Whitacre has an enormous fan base of all ages (particularly younger people) because his music is much more accessible, and Karl Jenkins provides education for less educated musicians by writing pieces such as 'The Armed Man' and 'The Peacemakers' with appealing orchestrations and relatively easy parts.

As a composer, I hope to write music that is more accessible to a wider audience - but will always wonder if classical music is doomed to be as 'uncool' as everyone says it is.

Philip Glass - The Hours

Philip Glass
Born 1937

Some say he is overrated, and some say he is a genius. Despite the enormous amount of criticism that he receives, in my opinion, Philip Glass is one of a kind. His work is often described as minimalism, although Glass himself despises this and would rather be described as a composer of 'music with repetitive structures'. Most of his early music supports the controversy that he is a minimalist, however his more recent work is much more developed in style, and breaks down the boundaries of minimalism to create something very different.

Although Glass writes for a number of different genres such as chamber instruments and operas, his film music is perhaps what he is most famous for. He started writing for film in 1982 for the film 'Koyaanisqatsi' however his most famous scores are for 'The Truman Show' (1998) - of which he only composed part of the score, 'The Hours' (2002) and 'Notes on a Scandal' (2006). Notice how each of these films have deep psychological turmoil within the characters - something which Glass' music represents perfectly. 'The Truman Show' is a particularly good example of the incredible skill Glass has for piano writing. The famous cue, 'Truman Sleeps' is very effective, as the solo piano creates circles of hypnotic harmonies to mimic Truman as he sleeps, and reflects the underlying tragedy of the film.

In my opinion, his best score is for 'The Hours'. As a film that follows the lives of three women who all suffer from psychological confusion and pain, there couldn't have been a better person to compose the score. One cue in particular which captures the essence of the entire score is the introductory passage titled, 'Morning Passages'. This is heard as we watch each of the three main characters wake up and start their day. When analysing the score, there is an incredible amount of detail which - because of it's subtlety - is typical of Glass when trying to recreate human emotions in music. First of all, this cue is definitely not minimalistic as the phrases - or cells - are constantly changing, whereas if we look at previous works of Glass such as his opera 'Satyagraha', there are scenes in which the music would stay the same for about ten or fifteen minutes at a time.

Similarly to 'Truman Sleeps' the cue is written mainly for solo piano, with the addition of strings for a deeper tone. For most of the cue, Glass plays with the same cell, and changes it usually about every or every other bar. His harmony is not that of more classical modulations, but instead he tends to create more lyrical and chromatic harmonies. This is accompanied by an extremely chromatic piano right hand as well. As the music starts, in the third and sixth bar, the music pauses to reflect the contemplative nature of the women that we are watching on the screen. As well as this, the strings enter in octaves on long, held chromatic notes. Despite the fact most critics refer to Glass' music as 'classical', we can actually see a lot of classical influences in the score that date back even to J.S.Bach. His influences of Bach can be heard in his unexpected and intricate use of harmony. We can even see influences of Beethoven in his piano triplets, and Mozart with his occasional use of rotary octaves in the right hand. Glass even adds in clever touches such as a trill in the piano as the women's alarm clocks go off. For the most part, the tonality of the cue is minor, and, although it may seem extremely ominous compared to what is going on on-screen, (e.g. three women brushing their hair and washing their faces in the mirror) this shows how Glass' scores are wonderful at pointing out the underlying problems of the characters.

Despite the fact the rest of the score has little variation, I think it is extremely effective because despite the fact that Glass rarely uses melodies and instead creates suspense in his harmonies, this creates more of an atmosphere in the film. After all, a good film score should not be noticeable and not intrusive.

Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D minor

Yes, I have already posted about Bach - but no amount of posts can express the sheer genius of his music. For this post, I wanted to blog about a piece that is close to my heart, the double violin concerto in D minor (the 1st movement in particular). Interestingly, I first heard this piece only a few years ago when installing a piece of composing software called 'Sibelius' onto my computer. The software allows eager young composers to notate their work digitally, with plenty of other functions such as playback and editing tools. As well as this, the software comes with example compositions, often the classics of great composers. My demo gave me Beethoven's 'Fur Elise', Chopin's 'Minute Waltz' and Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D minor. The amazing thing about listening to the piece for the first time on this software also allowed me to watch the score as it was being played, which really emphasised the serious complexity of the eight different intertwining parts.

As I am mainly a pianist, I had always dreamed of being able to play the concerto on the violin, but sadly I never had the skills to do it justice. However, I have no passed my grade 8 violin, and I am currently learning the first movement of the concerto to play as a duet with my teacher: Yana Burova. Of course, it is very intimidating playing it with her because she is an incredibly talented violinist - but it is still satisfying to be able to perform a piece that you have listened to about a thousand times! I hope to be performing the piece in a couple of months, but until then (as I'm sure any musicians reading this will know) I will only be playing it incredibly slowly...

So for now I can only share it through YouTube, but luckily I managed to find a video of the work that is accompanied by a scrolling bar-graph score. This way, the colour coded parts show how complicated the polyphony is, and create something quite artistic to watch as well!

Henryk Gorecki - Sorrowful Songs

Henryk Gorecki
(1933 - 2010)

Gorecki was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music, and became a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde movement. His music covers a variety of styles, but tends towards harmonic and rhythmic simplicity. His earlier works were influenced by the serialist style of Boulez and other composers at the time. Gorecki's work was not always well-recieved, e.g. in 1967 his 'Refrain' was critiqued, 'players can bang and blow and scrape repeated notes as they wish, but the experiment might have been better conducted in private!'

Later in his career, Gorecki moved away from his original experimental and modernist style to adopt a more romantic and traditional style of composition. From this, he seemed to completely abandon the dissonance, serialism and sonorism that had brought him early recognition as he attempted to simplify his work. As well as the more traditional and romantic elements of his music, he began to favour large, slow gestures and the repetition of small motifs. This lead some critics to describe his new form of music as minimalistic.

Gorecki's most famous piece is The Symphony No.3 - also known as 'The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'. The work is a symphony in three movements composed in 1976. This is a good example of the transition between the two main styles of music that Gorecki explored. In each of the three movements, a solo soprano sings a different text. The first movement has a text about Mary, mother of Jesus. The second text is based on a message written on the wall of a Gestapo cell during WWII, and the third is a Silesian folk song of a mother searching for her son who has been killed in the Silesian uprisings. With the first and third movements written from the perspective of a parent who has lost a child and the second written from the perspective of a child separated from their parent, the main themes of the symphony are clearly expressed as motherhood and separation during the war. The symphony was actually dedicated to Gorecki's wife, and represented no particular historical event, however he said his main aim was to achieve a sense of there being a crucial bond between mother and child.

The lack of harmonic variation and its reliance on repetition marks the symphony as Gorecki's move towards holy minimalism. Because of the emotional and religious aspects of the works that he produced at this time, Gorecki was often compared to other modernist composers who began to experiment with radical and simplified musical textures such as Arvo Part and John Tavener. Interestingly, the comparison of these composers seems to be complete coincidence, as none of them admit to having had any common influences on their music.

My favourite of the three movements is the second. The text translates as 'No mother, do not weep, most chaste queen of heaven support me always.' My reason for this is the beautiful opening of the piece played by the upper strings, and the extreme contrast of the lower orchestra when we hear the entrance of the solo soprano (sung in an extremely low tessitura) at 1.02. As well as this, the middle of the piece creates a huge, gradual climax (beginning at 3.31) after which fades into the introduction of the piece as the soprano mimics the repeating motif of the strings (5.20). Fitting in with the description of the piece being a work of holy minimalism, it is the simplicity of this work that makes the contrasted moments very effective, and almost heart-breaking.

If you like this, then you'll love...

For this post, I thought I would create a 'suggestions' section that takes several types of classical music, and suggests some of the best composers of that genre - hopefully creating an 'if you like this, then you'll love...' post. I was inspired to do this because of a blogger called John kingdon, who came across some of the pieces I wrote about and had previously wondered: what is it called? or who it was composed by? Hopefully, this will be equally as informative, however please feel free to request any other unmentioned genres that you may be interested in.

The Best of British

Patrick Hawes, who I mentioned before in an earlier post, is a relatively new composer. His music is mainly influenced by his love of romantic and renaissance music, which is obvious through his use of rich, romantic textures in his orchestral writing. Hawes is most famous for his Highgrove Suite (a work that I have previously posted about) and I strongly recommend it for anyone who loves luxuriously beautiful orchestral music.

Now onto the more prominent and well-known English composers - Frederick Delius (1863 - 1934). A critic once wrote that 'Delius belongs to no school, follows no tradition and is like no other composer in the form, content or style of his music'. Despite this, Delius had many influences to create his style of classical music including Wagner and Grieg. My favourite work of his is 'The Walk to the Paradise Garden'. The tenderness of the opening, hesistant entry of the oboe and longing string harmonies are enough to transport anybody to paradise.

Sir Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934) is most famous for his 'Pomp and Circumstance March' played annually at the BBC Proms. Despite that and other great orchestral works - such as his two symphonies - in my opinion, his best work has to be 'Great is the Lord' written for choir and organ. The opening is wonderfully patriotic, as we hear basses, tenors and altos singing the first theme together contrasted with the beautiful four-part harmonies of the sopranos and altos. This is a truly theatrical piece, with many different moments of patriotism, romance and fear.

Finally, this composer is one that I am not particularly familiar with, however have known this piece for years and always thought it was lovely. My final choice is Paul Reade (1943 - 1997). As well as composing his own works, Reade also worked as a television composer and even a repetiteur at the English National Opera. A piece of his that I have always loved is a movement from his Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite titled 'Prelude' for Clarinet and piano. The reason that I love this piece so much is because it is extremely simple and equally as effective. Reade writes so beautifully for the clarinet; an instrument that is already very expressive. 

Piano

For this section, I found it particularly difficult to narrow down my list of suggestions, and, unforntunately they aren't particularly varied (as I am completely biased towards more romantic music) however, if you like any of these, then you'll love the others. My absolute favourite piano composer has to be Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918). His use of parallel chords, bitonality and unexpected modulations are what make his music so gloriously colourful. As I previously posted, my favourite of his piano works is his Children's Suite that he wrote for his daughter. Although being one of the easier of the suite, 'Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum' is definitely the most exciting! 

Second to Debussy, I chose Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943). As a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, Rachmaninoff is widely considered to be one of the greatest pianists in history, and as a composer, one of the greatest romanticists. I chose, 'Elegie Op.3 No.1' because I recently learnt it to play at a school recital. As an elegie, it is extremely touching and particularly interesting because it moves through the different stages of grief such as denial, anger and acceptance. These are represented by Rachmaninoff's choice of tonality, tempo, texture and dynamic marking.

Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) was (like Rachmaninoff) a composer, pianist and conductor. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the Neudeutsche Schule (new German school), and is noted for his invention of the symphonic poem. His piano works were particularly beautiful, and my favourite is his 'Consolation in D'. The sheer range of this piece is spectacular considering the wonderful blend that Liszt achieves, and despite it being a rather simple melody with a repetitive left hand, the mood he creates is enchanting.

A capella

A capella is defined as 'solo or group singing without instrumental sound'. This is by far my favourite (and youngest) category, as nearly half of my classical music collection is a capella. My first choice of composer is Eric Whitacre (Born 1970). Having already posted about 'The City and the Sea', I thought I would choose something more true to his well-known style: 'Sleep'. Whitacre came up with the idea for a virtual choir in 2009 after watching a video sent in from a fan singing one of his choral works. Now in the process of making the third, his second triumph was with 'Sleep'.  So here it is. 

Paul Mealor (Born 1975) is a Welsh composer who is described as 'one of the most important composers to have emerged from Welsh choral music since William Mathias'. As a relatively new composer, he has been made famous by writing 'Wherever You Are' a song compiled from letters written by military wives. However, in my opinion, this does not show off his talent. His setting of 'Ave Maria' is - in every way - more beautiful and interesting.

I came across Will Todd (Born 1970) when learning his piece 'My Lord Has Come' for my school choir's annual carol service. As well as being a composer, he is a sucessful jazz pianist and regularly performs in his own trio. 'My Lord Has Come' is unexpectedly difficult for even a professional choir to sing. At first glance, it is completely innocent, with only two melodies and the tonality staying completely diatonic. However, its held notes and melody sung in octaves by sopranos and tenors (the two most unreliable sections when it comes to intonation) makes it devilishly difficult to keep in the same key by the time you've reached the end. In spite of this, it is truly lovely to listen to.

Film

Film music is definitely a passion of mine. The first film score that sparked my interest was 'Edward Scissorhands' written by Danny Elfman (Born 1953). Elfman is best known for writing The Simpsons themetune as well as his long-time collaboration with director Tim Burton. The score for 'Edward Scissorhands' is truly magical, and also has the classic dark and sinister twist of Elfman's scores, achieved with voiceless choir, unusual orchestration and glittering percussion. One scene in particular is cleverly written, as Elfman blurs between scenes through the use of a diegetic pivot note that mimics the sound of a can opener. Watch here.

Danny Elfman always said that his greatest influence was Bernard Herrmann (1911 - 1975). Herrmann was also made famous by a long-term collaboration with a certain director: Alfred Hitchcock. Despite the fact Herrmann worked with a number of talented directors, he was also known for his stubborn attitude, 'I have the final say, or I don't do the music!' His most successful scores are the 'shower scene' from Psycho, and his legendary score for Vertigo (1958). The 'scene d'amour' is beautifully written, as the constant suspensions in strings rising higher and higher through a ten minute scene with no dialogue creates the perfect haunting atmosphere that represents the obsession of the main character, Scottie. 

Hans Zimmer (Born 1957) is a German film composer and music producer. Having composed for over a hundred films, his most successful have been The Lion King, Gladiator and most recently, Inception. I found the score for Inception fascinating, as the main theme is in fact a slowed down version of the piece played diegetically in the film, 'Je Ne Regrette Rien' sung by Edith Piaf. If you listen carefully, you can hear the repeated bass line of the French song come through in the 2 note brass motif.