12 Tone Music Composition: Darkness Before DawnIntroduction: Meeting Requirements Presented by the Identified Key Stakeholders
Musical composition is the main design form I was exposed to in high school as a student of a performing arts program. Like most design, composition also follows a process and structure. It is important to identify the objectives you are trying to meet, the constraints that limit you, and the people that will be listening to your piece of music (stakeholders). This piece in particular, Darkness Before Dawn, was my final composition as a music major in high school. The assignment was to write a 12 tone composition for three instruments: clarinet, cello, and piano. This requires using all the notes in an octave, meaning taking semi-tone steps from one note to the same note an octave above it (i.e. C, C#, D, D#...B). 12 tone music is categorized as contemporary, which is another way of saying it's extremely dissonant. When composing a 12 tone piece, one begins by formulating their own personal 12 tone scale by taking the 12 notes in an octave and scrambling them into a new sequence. This new scale can now be manipulated by the composer to form a piece. Before starting my composition, I knew that it was going to be difficult to compose something that was pleasing to the ear for everyone. We had been listening and analyzing 12 tone music all year in preparation for our final assignment, so I was well aware of the dissonance and unorthodox techniques that came with this type of music. I started by identifying my different audiences (stakeholders): my composition teacher (the head of the music program), my classmates, the musicians that would play the piece when it was completed, and finally myself as the composer (designer). Realizing that my teacher enjoys dissonance because he identifies it as taking risks as a composer, but also taking into account that my classmates are all classically trained and are privy to the consonant sounding major and minor scales used in most music, I devised a plan of action. I wanted to meet all requirements presented in the assignment, but also address the needs of the various stakeholders I identified in the previous paragraph. I decided to focus on design for reducing dissonance, design for diversity in musical parts, and design for contrast between sections. After creating my tone row, I decided to split it into three sections. I chose to place the different sections of my tone row in different instrumental parts, and stagger the parts, so that the sections would not be played at the same time. This reduced the amount of dissonance greatly, and introduced an element of diversity and conversation between the three instruments that met the requirements set out by my teacher. I met the needs of my classmates by transitioning into a section of my piece that consisted of a more consonant set of notes, which added a lot of contrast between the two main sections of my piece meeting another requirement set by my teacher. |
Music Composition and the Design Process Composing when limited by various constraints, such as the type of scale you are allowed to use, and the instruments you are required to use poses many obstacles for a composer in their quest to please the listener. Ultimately a composer's goal is to design a piece of music that will properly relay their musical intentions to the listener while creating a pleasing experience for them too. This is much like an engineer's desire to meet the needs of the user with the product that they design. To meet the needs of the various stakeholders I identified in the previous section, I went through several iterations of my design process. I developed a motive (concept) that would be my main melody and determined whether it suited the instruments set out by the assignment (design brief). I manipulated that first motive with various musical techniques and applied those variations to the instruments. Although a melody may sound nice with a certain instrument, it does not mean that it will sound the same with the other instruments. It is important to consider the strengths and limitations that come with the different instruments that are being composed for. Several motives were developed at first for the different instruments. Later on these motives were found to be incompatible with one another or they did not suit the instrument they had been written for. The conceptual phase of the composition consisted of a repetitive process of ideation, determining whether the motives developed were suitable for the instrument in question (compatibility test according to constraints), experimenting with the various attributes of each instrument (looking at the problem from different angles), and refining the concepts conceived in the ideation step. This was definitely a cyclical process in terms of this particular design project. While composing this piece I would develop an initial motive based on the tone row I had constructed, then I would tailor it according to the constraints posed by each instrument. After playing with the motive for quite some time, the concept in question would reach its limits in its ability to meet the given requirements. This either meant that it did not sufficiently satisfy the requirements of the assignment (the initial design brief), or it failed in its ability to properly communicate my intentions as a composer (designer). As a result, I would begin the process again, until I had developed a motive that would satisfy the needs of the key stakeholders I had identified with the initial design brief and myself as the designer. Reflection This specific artifact taught me a lot about designing within the constraints of the medium, and how to utilize the assigned medium's strengths and to not just try to force my own vision. Different instruments have specific ranges and capabilities that are unique to them. For example, the piano is often used to accompany other instruments, but it has a wide range and is very good at transitioning from one section of the piece to another. The clarinet has multiple ranges, but its volume capacities differ based on those ranges, so a composer must take those into account when assigning dynamics to the clarinet part. I've learned not to work against the constraints, but to let them guide me in the realization of a solution. Composition File
|