Week No. 5
Earlier this week, I attempted to write something using 12-tone technique. 12-tone technique, if you don’t know, is a method developed by Arnold Schoenberg for composing music which organizes all 12 notes of a chromatic scale into a series of pitch classes, aiming to avoid tonality by treating all notes equally.
12-tone technique, ignores in harmonics and octaves—ex. C# is Db, not only that but it’s C#/Db not C#/Db3, or C%/Db4…etc. Graph below:
One rule Schoenberg deeply followed was to NOT repeat any note until you make a full cycle, keeping in mind “normal” order was clockwise. I did not follow this. I wrote a sort of intro going through two cycles starting on c# (simply because I wanted to go to the relative minor of E Major but this makes no difference since in 12-tone technique there is no tonality). I implied that c# was home by starting on c# and stopping on c#—c# meant a cycle was completed. As you can see at measure 93 when the first cycle is completed.
For the first cycle I wanted calmness in terms of rhythm, moving but moderately. The 2nd cycle is shorter just 5 measures long. The rhythm as much more active returning to calmness at the last sustained chord.
After playing with it a bit more I realized I was that perhaps I should just finish what I had since I really just need a few more measures to then begin the coda. I went back to my waltz and spent more time on it.
I decided to repeat the theme which had just happened but in the bass. I wanted this to feel like it may lead to something else exactly like a transitional phrase, if you follow the harmony we go dim ii-VI-v-v-ii-VI-v-V-V7. We don’t resolve because we go back to the refrain and it’s V7-III or V7/vi-I in E Major. For the coda, I simply changed the approach to the ending phrase with A-A#-B in the melody. Descending to diatonically to G# before jumping down to E and and ascending to F#—looping that and ending with a gorgeous E chord voices with a campanella between the treble strings.
The total time of the piece is just under 6 min at 5min and 50 seconds.
SEE YA NEXT WEEK WITH AN UPDATE ON THE COVER ART!
