Major Vehicle For Music As Composers example essay topic

Music is the most intangible art form. You cannot grasp or hold it, as you can other art forms. It is there for a minute, and it vanishes as soon as the last chord fades away. The great works of music are timeless. They remain with us after all the instruments have been packed away and the players have all gone home, in our heads, playing over and over. We hear them everywhere from shopping malls to commercials, even after their composers have been dead for hundreds of years.

However, as technology grows and our lives get seemingly busier in this new millennium, the appreciation for this amazing art form has waned considerably. With digital synthesizers and greedy producers, the music that makes people feel their true existence has vanished. And I, being a devote musician, have grown up with the desire to recreate such music, to give people the chance to get swept off the dance floor and evoke great emotion. In order to do so, I am exploring the history of great musical pieces, so that the facts behind the composers' melodies, and their process in creating masterpieces will be as timeless as the music they made. I began exploring the musical world in second grade, when I begrudgingly started piano lessons following in my older sister's footsteps. What began as a struggle turned out to be an ongoing experience I find in both my exploration of piano and viola (started in 5th grade).

I am not a prodigal player, and whether I am a talented composer remains to be seen, but I find unexpected yet comforting roots among the musical world. With each day I learn more about various composers and get to know them and their styles. From Mozart's pure melodies, Beethoven's harmonies, to Chopin's ability to seamlessly modulate from key to key I find finesse, detail and ease. I am fascinated by their abilities to pull a melody out of thin air and embellish it.

I feel that I am not the only one gripped by the music composers create; the whole human race enjoys listening to music, whether it is classical, jazz, rap or one of the many other forms of music the world has to offer today. Music has always been an integral part of human life. Not only has it followed us throughout our history, but it has its own history. It has changed and morphed along with the times. I have challenged myself to provide a short history of the musical world and its affect on the world and myself.

Music composition has evolved and changed throughout human existence, becoming more sophisticated and complex, as our society has simultaneously become more advanced. Because of this, music is generally split up into five major groupings, based on the time in which the music was written, and the styles and techniques that were prevalent during that time in our history. Music written from the beginnings of civilization through the Renaissance is all grouped together under the heading of early music. This is the most diverse and widespread category, because it encompasses music from a variety of cultures and time periods that weren't necessarily in contact with each other, therefore, results were in different styles. However, it is in this music that western music has its roots.

From about the seventeenth century to halfway through the eighteenth century, what we now call Baroque music reigned. The Classical period lasted from the end of the Baroque period through about 1825. The music composed from 1825 to approximately 1900 is now known as Romantic music. During the twentieth century, music styles became much more diverse with the advent of electronics, and this music is generally called modern music (Stafford table of contents). It is impossible to know much about early music before the start of the Christian Church in 200 CE (Smith 52), because written records from before then are rare and hard to interpret (Rossi 7). However, it can be assumed that the earliest music was most likely the most simplistic, basic music - vocal and monophonic.

Monophonic music means that there is a single melodic line with nothing else going on (Smith 52). This would have been before any instruments had been invented, so the music would have been vocal. Eventually, with simple percussion instruments at first, instruments would evolve in many cultures. Archeologists have found simple whistles that are dated all the way back to the Old Stone Age (Rossi 3). This means that music was being created, composed if you will, since the dawn of humanity.

Unfortunately, although we have found some instruments, and pictures that were created on cave walls of how these instruments were played, we will never know what music came out of the instruments, since there are no records of that time. Similarly, not much is known about the music of ancient Greece, as only eleven fragmented melodies survive, out of what must have been thousands of songs (Rossi 7). However, the famous Grecian mathematician, Pythagoras, was the first to uncover the connection between math and the relation between pitches in music. He correctly identified the mathematical ratios between notes in an octave, fifth and fourth (Rossi 7). Also, the Greeks developed twelve modes to write pieces in. These modes were different scales based on the relationship between each note to the next.

Since then, it has been narrowed down to two modes, which we now call major and minor. This information has been the foundation of all Western music theory. Continuing on to around 200 CE when the Christian Church was founded and its monks began keeping accurate records of their time, music continued to evolve. These records, for the most part, have survived to the present. From these records, we know that songs called plainchant's were sung during their church services (Smith 39). Monks would copy these pieces out on to parchment, so copies of these pieces still exist.

However, since modern music notation, which denotes the pitch of the note and the time it is to be held for, was not invented until around 1225 CE (Rossi 13), the copies of the pieces only show the basic shape of the melody. These were monophonic, vocal pieces that were sung in unison. Often known as Gregorian chants, they were the main form of music until about the fourteenth century and the rise of polyphonic music. Polyphonic music is music that has more than one line going on simultaneously, or more than one line being sung at once. The lines are often equally important to the melody of the song, with no line more prominent than the others (Smith 52). Composers such as Guillaume de Mac haut began experimenting with this new style, and eventually began coming up with the laws that have been the building block of western music theory for years.

European composers gradually accepted the idea of the modern twelve note octave, and the harmonies that these notes created when put together different ways. Music continued along in the Polyphonic style through the age of the Renaissance, but grew to be longer and much more complex (Smith 43). Instruments became more advanced, and allowed music to become more difficult. This provided the foundations for the following Baroque era of music. The Baroque era began roughly in 1600. Music from this era became much more elaborate and decorated with trills and complex harmonies than any previous music, although it typically had a single focus throughout the whole piece.

Counterpoint, an important technique of balancing out two or more melodies against one another, began to develop. Masters of the Baroque style include Handel, Bach and Vivaldi (Smith 35). The Baroque style of music eventually became too decorated and complicated for people to understand, and in 1750, a new era of music began - the Classical era. During this period, composers stressed simplicity and clearness as opposed to the elegance and ornamentation of Baroque composers. Music became homophonic, with one melody line, and lines below it providing harmonies (Smith 52).

It was written in strict forms such as the four-movement symphony, and composers would never violate these forms. Famous composers of this era include Mozart, Hadyn and Clementi (Smith 53). Another important development that occurred around this time was the emergence of the string quartet as we know it today, with two violins, a viola and a cello. String quartets continued to be a major vehicle for music as composers moved toward a new style, known as Romanticism, in the early nineteenth century.

Beethoven is often credited with bridging the gap between Classical and Romantic music. Beethoven based his music on the Classical forms, such as the minuet and symphony, perfected by Mozart and Hadyn, but he infused the music with his own very intense emotions, ranging from love and longing, to anger and rage. I have had experience playing and listening to his music all my life. The infamous opening chords of the first movement of his Fifth Symphony (but-duh-duh-dum mm) booming ly suggest grim resolution, but Beethoven also weaves in glimmers of hope, signifying inner turmoil and conflict, throughout the rest of that first movement. When I play his Moonlight Sonata, the entrancing chords speak of heart-wrenching longing and bitterness. His Ninth Symphony, which arguably is his greatest achievement, broke all tradition by adding a chorus and solo singers, showed that the rules that Classical composers worked by did not have to apply to music any longer.

The Romantic period of music is characterized by emotional, free form pieces that conveyed a feeling and was often unpredictable, unlike the previous Classical music. Romantic music composers employed intense melodies, and contrasts between volume, tempo and themes to express their emotions. Famous Romantic composers include Chopin, Debussy, Wagner, Schubert and Schumann (Smith 43). Program music, which is music that literally tells a story, came in the vogue during this period (Smith 41). The Romantic style of composition ended with the advance of the twentieth century. During the twentieth century, musical styles branched out in a variety of paths and styles.

The main progression for the classical music world came from Arthur Schoenburg in the 1920's. Up until then, all Western style music was tonal, meaning it had a specific key, either major or minor. A key basically organizes the music for the listener and provides a home base for the harmonies. "Schoenburg basically threw all the Western ideas about harmony and tonality out the window, and made up his own rules from scratch", said Dr. Thomas Read, a UVM music history professor who composes pieces, often in the style that Schoenburg originated.

Schoenburg came up with a process for writing called serialism, or twelve-tone music. Instead of basing music on a major or minor scale, which are eight notes long, he based his music on all twelve notes in an octave. He would write whole compositions on a pre-selected arrangement of notes from the twelve tones (Read). In addition to Schoenburg's shocking atonal works, many other styles came along during the twentieth century. Composers tried everything from neo-classicism (going back to 18th century simplistic ideals) to minimalism in the 1970's (repeating a simple chord progression over and over) (Read). All in all, twentieth century music is very eclectic because composers have so much music history to draw on, and music theory has advanced to a highly evolved state.

I have been studying modern music theory for roughly three years, accompanying my studying of the piano and viola. However, I learned that to compose music, you need to know a lot more than what notes are in a certain key. Basically, the foundations of tonal music are the eight note major and minor scales. All major scales have a half step between the third and fourth tones, and the seventh and eighth tones, whereas minor scales have a half step between the second and third tones, and the sixth and seventh tones. These rules apply to all scales, no matter what key it is in.

There are twelve major scales, one for each note, A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G and G#/Ab. Each major scale has a relative minor scale, which starts on a different note, but uses the same progression of notes. Once you pick a key for a composition, there are many internal relationships between the notes in a scale. Composers often use chords, or a few (three or four) notes to be played at the same time, to show off these relationships in the best light. Each chord in a scale has a certain name and use in that scale.

The most important chords in a scale are the chords on the first, fourth, fifth, and seventh tones, and they are the ones that are most commonly used. The chord on the first note is called the tonic. In the case of a major scale, this is a major, or happy, sounding chord. It is the home base of the piece, which often starts and ends on some variation of this chord.

The fourth and the fifth chords are also major chords. The fourth is called the subdominant chord and the fifth is called the dominant chord. They add variety and interest to tonal pieces. The seventh chord is called the leading tone, and it sounds very unresolved, like it is asking a question. It is minor, and your ear wants it to resolve into, or be answered by, the tonic chord, which is very useful in a piece of music.

One group of instruments that these chords adapt to very nicely is the string quartet. As stated above, string quartets consist of two violins, one viola, and one cello. They are easy to compose for because, with the range of instruments and pitches that the instruments can play, the chords are easy to hear. Because of this, I decided to compose a piece for string quartet. Also, they have a long history, and much music has been written for them. This helps me because I can listen to many styles of music written in string quartets to get ideas, see what works on string quartets, and get inspiration.

The first violin carries the majority of the melody, with its high range of the G below middle C up to the A 3 octaves above middle C. The violin is very brilliant sounding, and well suited to the melody (Hurd 339). The other three instruments provide harmony for the first violin, although it is common for the viola and cello to have solos as well. The viola's range of one octave below middle C, through a little more than 2 octaves above middle C, is not always suited to the melody, but its rich, dark tone makes it more intriguing than a violin alone (Hurd 339). The cello has the lowest range of all the instruments in a string quartet, from two octaves below C, to two octaves above middle C. The cello is louder and smoother sounding than the viola and the violin (Hurd 82). Occasionally, the second violin will solo, although it mainly provides harmony along with the viola and cello. "String quartets were the most prominent form of music from about 1750 all the way into the early 1900's", reflects Troy Peters, the director of the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, and avid musician, conductor and composer.

This is because the four distinct lines - soprano, alto, tenor and bass - allow the composer to write complicated compositions that had a lot of depth. In addition, since only four instrumentalists are required for a performance, it is relatively easy to get the music out to the public. Orchestral symphonies are much more of a risk because they require more people and more money. So if they were not well received, it was a much bigger blow than if a string quartet was not well received. In fact, many wealthy families permanently employed a string quartet for private performances in their houses (Peters). String quartets are traditionally composed in Sonata Form, which is considered to be one of the most important forms ever.

Sonata Form consists of three major sections. It starts out with the exposition, which introduces the main theme, and the contrasting theme. The middle is called the development, where the two themes are contrasted and developed. It concludes with a recapitulation, where the two themes are repeated from the beginning, perhaps with more drama and volume for the ending. On paper, this sounds very cut and dry, and easy to do. However, in reality, it is a lot more complex than it sounds.

Eric Neilson, a local Vermont composer, says that a lot of planning goes into his pieces before he ever writes a single note down. He likes to play around with a melody or rhythm on his piano for a while, sometimes up to a week, until he feels comfortable enough with it to write a piece. He says that by trying the material out first, it saves him time later, because he knows the intricacies of what he is writing, and it gives him an abundance of ideas about where to go with the music, so he doesn't get stuck with writer's block in the middle of writing a piece. Troy Peters goes about his composition in a very different way. He has a file on his computer of snippets of melodies and groupings of chords that have struck him as being interesting at one point or another. Whenever he finds himself thinking of new melodies and songs, he puts them in this file, and when he gets a commission for a piece, he goes to his file and picks one of his melodies.

This way, he has many starts of pieces waiting for him when he needs them. Composers are eager to try new styles to enhance their finished compositions. Dr. Thomas Read says that he has tried the above styles, and basically every other style there is out there. One that he likes a lot is the serial approach pioneered by Schoenberg in the 1920's. Like Troy Peters, he finds that computer technology helps him write his pieces, which is able to instantly play back what he is writing.

But, he warns against becoming too dependent on technology. He feels that anyone can write a moderately sounding piece with the technology out there today, and that isn't really composing without knowing the theory and history behind what you are writing. To write my own piece, I took advice from each one, and took it from there. Since it was my first time composing anything, I basically started just playing around on my piano. At first it sounded like pieces I know and enjoy, and I was combining snippets of each piece together into a huge conglomeration. As I kept going, however, I started to improvise on the pieces I knew, and creating variations on the harmonies.

I would vary the tempo, and the dynamics or rhythm of the piece. Soon enough, my tinklings began to sound very different than the familiar pieces I started with. They were still in the same style, but I was coming up with different melodies and rhythms. Finally, I settled on melody that really interested me. It was playful and happy, and had an interesting rhythm. I tried to come up with a second melody that complemented it, so that I would be able to follow Sonata form, but this proved to be too hard for me on my first composition.

I ended up doing something that isn't as complicated but still sounds really neat. Using an idea that has been used by composers from Mozart to Wagner, I created variations on the melody, flipping it upside down and backwards to create a whole song. Once I had created all of the variations on the melody, I created simple harmonies using my knowledge of chord theory. Finally, I keyed in my song to the computer program Midi, and was able to listen to what I had come up with. Since this was my first attempt at composition, I was emulating the styles of composers that I was familiar with and that I admire. I have played a number of interesting pieces by J.S. Bach that have using the same variations that I used in my piece for example.

As Troy Peters said, "When someone starts composing, they don't immediately have their own voice. You can tell when you listen to their compositions - I think this person listens to Rachmaninoff, I think this person listens to Brahms, I think this person listens to Radiohead - whatever, you don't immediately develop your own style". I was a little discouraged about what Dr. Read had to say on the subject, which was that no one develops their own personal style until they are at least 35, but I can understand where he is coming from. The only people who develop their own personal styles as children are child prodigies and geniuses, such as Mozart, who are rare, while the rest of us struggle along, using trial and error to see what works and sounds good. Mr. Neilson was more encouraging.

He said that he helps composition students see what kinds of stylistic elements they repeat over and over in their pieces, because that helps clue them in to their own style. As I went through this process of composing my own piece, I realized how much work composition really is. If you want to do a good job, you have to be willing to put in a lot of work perfecting all the nuances of the harmony and making sure your piece flows in a logical order. Mr. Neilson's last comment didn't make a big impression on me during the interview, but now looking back, it really rings true with me. He said, "It may take a little bit of time to get started, but don't get discouraged... I don't know anyone who doesn't have valid compositional ideas that sound great with a bit of work and fine-tuning.

If it is something that you " ve always wanted to do, go for it. As I once remarked to composition teacher of mine 'Everybody knows that you can't really earn a living composing,' to which he replied, 'yeah, but you know, it's not a bad way to starve to death. ' " People have been composing for centuries, and they have never made a lot of money doing so. Mozart, arguably the best composer ever, often had to hold benefit recitals for himself (Smith 17).

Today many composers considered composing a hobby, not their career or primary job. All in all, composition is not something you do for the money. Composers create music because they love it. They have music in their head that they need to express and get out to the public. After trying composition myself, I have a greater appreciation for all of the work and time that goes into it. I can't see myself having a career in it, but I really enjoyed it, and would love to keep it up as a hobby, just as I would love to continue teaching and playing piano as I get older.

This project has left me with the accomplishment of creating music from scratch, and with a great appreciation for all of the composers today, and the great masters from the past. They are amazing individuals with amazing talent, and the music that they write is incredible.