Posts Tagged ‘string orchestra’

Serenade in C Major

February 17th, 2008

Inspired by an Eric Whitacre I sang in choir, this piece bleeds one chord into another. Read the rest of this entry »

Serenade in F Minor

February 11th, 2008

Revolving around only one pitch set (F, G, A-flat) which is transposed throughout the piece, this serenade might be the pinnacle of consistent composing and artistic expression in my serenade writing.

Serenade in Fm rendered through EWQL Orchestral Gold:

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Serenade in E Minor

February 6th, 2008

Simple. Emotive. Powerful. This piece really hams it up in the violins, lets the violas moan, and even gives the basses a melodic line. Throughout the piece, pizz accents are used interspersed with the flowing melody to keep momentum going. Read the rest of this entry »

Serenade in G Major

February 24th, 2007

A combination of the third movement of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth symphony and an oddly metered rock song I wrote, this piece aims to be less serious and somber than the other serenades I’ve written. Written in just one day, I think that the basic, repetitive form and strong contrasts between sections make the piece highly successful. Read the rest of this entry »

Serenade in E Major

February 12th, 2007

I focused on motivic dissonances with this piece. Beginning with a very bright E major harmony, non-key tones are quickly introduced. The first accidentals which sneak in create borrowed and added note chords, which certainly stand out, but do not yet create the real tension. By analyzing and duplicating the dissonances within these borrowed and added note chords, I was able to gradually sneak completely out of E major modalities in the middle of melodic phrases. Read the rest of this entry »

Serenade in A-flat Major

December 16th, 2006

This quartet begins in A-flat major and quickly adds dissonance. The slight dissonance creates new chord voicings which are used through the rest of the piece. Read the rest of this entry »

Serenade in D Minor

December 12th, 2006

This piece focuses on voices entering in rounds. The entire opening 4 measure statement is repeated by each section of the string orchestra as they enter. The round eventually breaks, but call and response techniques still are used throughout. Read the rest of this entry »

Serenade in B Minor

December 2nd, 2006

This piece is a chaconne. I created an eight bar chord progression and simply worked on a few layers of melody to put on top. In the middle of this piece, the chord progression itself becomes the focus, as the viola part highlights the dissonances within the chords on top of downbeat pizz from the other sections. This piece features an “anti-climax,” that is, it reduces down to almost nothing in the middle rather than building towards a dramatic climax. Read the rest of this entry »

Serenade in C Minor

November 16th, 2006

This is the first of my string serenades, originally inspired by Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings. This piece inverts the Dvorak motif for the primary source material. Read the rest of this entry »