Automatic French Horn

Certainly! I've added it to my IMSLP, along with my previous trombone quartet studies. You can find it at https://imslp.org/wiki/Trombone_Quartet_Studies_(Dvorsky%2C_Calvin)

Today's study is a chorale for trombone quartet. Continuing from my previous study, this piece is an exercise is my compositional process. It began from the small idea seen in measures 1-3. The development comes entirely from improvising on this idea, and without any planning for how it develops.

The result has the piece progressing with far less symmetry than I normally would write. Despite the consistent motivic material, several ideas are seen only once. However, I find the overall flow of the piece to still work, with the unique ideas now creating interest through their spontaneity and fleeting nature. The ensemble is also a little bit lopsided, with 3rd hardly having much to do, and 1st just holding an F for half the piece.

The part ordering actually created an emergent property that I find quite compelling; the bass was the only part available for the melody, but also the only part I would let play below the staff (I know most tenors *can*, but the bass is still the most comfortable down there). This made it so that the bass had to give up the melody at the mp, as it was needed for the low Eb. While the MIDI playback doesn't do it justice, I can imagine that with live players, this will create an interesting tension as the 1st player seems to "steal" the melody, right as the phrase resolves. This could have happened again at the end, but I deliberately voiced the final chord "out of order" so that the 3rd could resolve its melody itself.

Today's piece is a study on my own compositional process. In my most recent semester at university, I've been working on finding a new process for how I write music. In the past, I've been very analytical, writing with focus and planning ahead, usually for complex contrapuntal ideas, but I've found that the music itself often becomes dry and meaningless, with little to no nuance.

Instead, I've been trying to develop writing from the other extreme; with no planning ahead at all, instead letting the music guide me in how it should continue, or if it needs to continue at all.

This study was written with that process. Elements such as the tonal centre change, melody, harmonics, and the ending just came about in their respective moments, as what I felt to be the most natural way to continue what had come before. As such, there was no backtracking in this writing, adjusting anything that came before. My older style likely would have done this, in an effort to make the piece more symmetrical or proportioned, but today I chose not to, as the spontaneity of how it exists is not only a feature, but an integral support for how its development works.

Today's study is an experiment in the toccata style. The manuals play a technical interlocking pattern, while the pedals lead melodically. As someone who is not very skilled at keyboard instruments, I can't exactly say how difficult/demanding/practical this piece is. Each staff seems playable on its own, but I can't say how it would be to put together.

I had been weary of the louder stops when I first started writing for organ, but today I decided to lean into it, and feature the trumpets. I found they have a nice blend with the mutation stops, creating a very rich sound. The registration on the swell combines the mutations with viola/vox celeste, which I found creates a very interesting timbre, with a haziness that fits the wavy ostinato well.

The layers of the texture swap in the second half of the piece, and the pedals take on the ostinato. This part would probably have been better in the LH, but the particular registration earlier made it difficult for me to find a way to get this timbre on that manual. Oh well. The ending is corny but I couldn't think of anything else. Oh well.

Today's study combines some of the harmonic ideas I've been interested in lately, to explore a hazy texture.

The first main idea I used is major harmony (usually with added 9ths) with the b6 in the bass. Nearly every sonority here is based on this. I find these chords seem to "float" as the upper structure isn't related to the bass note, but isn't so disconnected as to sound too dissonant. The root and fifth of the major chord can be heard as the major 3rd and 7th over the bass, making it a kind of augmented major 7th chord.

The second idea is the melodic doublings. I've done plenty of these as parallel doublings, which I like using to alter the timbre of a melody, but here I used diatonic doublings instead. What I have found is instead of supporting the melody, these doublings can obscure it when they are used just one scale step away from the melody.

At the climax of the piece, however, these two approaches to doubling are both used. The "central" melody exists on the outer voices (Violin II.2 and Cello 2), with a doubling at the fifth in the middle to reinforce it. These solid doublings are designed to prevent the main line from being too obscured. Then, doublings a step inward from these outer voices were added, such that the melody is doubled by step on both sides. Since the other doublings work to bring clarity to the main melody, these lines don't obscure it much, but do add a similar sense of haziness by means of "colouring" the melody instead.

The goal of today's study was to write a harmonic piece with a single monophonic instrument. My process began by construcing a foundation in three part harmony. I then explored ways to express all three parts in the flute, while also aiming to keep the flute part cohesive and melodic.

Today's study is an exercise in texture and rhythm for piano. Both hands are very active, yet independant, as the right hand plays a consistent 4:3 polyrhythm over the left hand.

Today's study continues my exploration of the colourful possibilities of the woodwind quintet.

The upper parts layer three instances of the same ostinato at different pitch levels and timings. The goal here was to create a "cloud" of colour without sounding too hazy. The three parts weave in and out from each other, reaching their melodic peaks (accented with grace notes) at different times. Below, the bassoon plays a melody, which is doubled by the horn at a major ninth above, to add a colouristic effect to the bassoon's already rich timbre.

Today's study explores an alternation between major and minor harmony of the same root. In the past I have always found this sound to be dramatic (like Also Sprach Zarathustra) or mysterious, due to its chromatic nature. However, I discovered that by adding the perfect 4th over the root, in addition to the root and fifth, I find that a lot of the drama and mystery disappear behind the tension and colour found in both add4 chords.

From there, I used this pattern as a background layer, and had the trumpets trade melodies overtop. These melodies were designed to work diatonically over either third, resulting in only using the root, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth of a major scale. This resultant set is a pentatonic scale, which led to a considerable amount of melodic freedom, though I did choose to emphasise several suspended chord shapes, to match the shape made by the three static tones of the accompaniment.

Today's study is a meditative piece for celesta. Somewhat continuing from my previous piece for celesta in study no. 127, this study is meant to blur the feeling of time, though with a very different approach.

The ostinato in the left hand has two functions. Firstly, sustaining each key in such a low register is designed to cause the pitch space to become hazy. Meanwhile, the steady rhythm is designed to draw the listener's ear away from it, as after only a few repititions, it becomes uninteresting to listen to, helping it recede into the background, as if out of a camera's focus.

The melody layer is designed to be hazy as well, through some melodic doublings. Beginning with parallel fourths, it develops to parallel diatonic clusters, where I aim to create ambiguity as to which layer is the melody, and which are only doublings.

Today's study is a harmonic exercise, focusing on major seconds and major sevenths. My writing began with the four-note chord seen at the start, where two clarinets play a major second, and both notes are echoed a major seventh higher in the flutes. The resulting four pitches are octave-equivalent to a chromatic cluster, but I find this voicing to be remarkably less dissonant.

Study for harp today, my main goal was to write something I found expressive. It began with the two chords in the right hand, and the tension between them caused by the C natural and C flat. Next came the melody, where my note choices were very deliberate; wanting the tension found in the G flat against the C chord, and G natural against the C flat chord.

For the rhythm, I wanted to subdivide the half notes into two beats, but with a slowdown on every second beat, as if the harpist is waiting a moment longer before the next half note. The quintuplet rhythm came to be my solution, as it let me write in these uneven pauses directly.

Today's study is an exercise in harmony. My goal today was to write colourful and expressive four-part harmonies, while avoiding tonality and diatonicism.

The melodies came first, and I designed these lines to feature chromaticism, and to use series of notes that do not fit into any diatonic scale. I also wanted to keep these lines as expressive as possible, and avoid sounding like there is no structure whatsoever. I found that using sequences helped with this, as the symmetry in the melody helps the ear understand what is happening, even as the melody itself avoids any clear key area.

The harmony came second. For most sections of this study, I began by writing a counter-melody (usually in the cello), while trying to follow the same principles that the main melody has. Then, once two voices were in place, I filled in the harmony by adding notes I thought would be "colourful" against the notes I already had, while also matching the mood I wanted on each chord. From there, I aimed to keep the voice leading smooth (or matching the melody line) which I found helped keep the flow of harmony from ever sounding too unstructered.

Today's study is an experiment in timbre. The piece is written as a duet between the trombone and tuba, where the trumpets and horn add colourations to the trombone's sound, by doubling its melody at various transpositions.

It begins with the horn doubling up an octave, but as the piece develops, other transpositions are used, such as the fifth and major third, not unlike common mutation stops on pipe organs (though not in these octaves). However, I also use other transpositions, not to alter the harmony, but to emulate certain common colour tones. More specifically, the melody can be seen doubled at the major 9th, major 6th, and major 7th.

When using mutation stops on pipe organs, the non-octave doublings are always done in high registers, to play the exact pitches of overtones of the 8' pipes, which helps them sound like colourations, and not new notes. Due to the limited range of these instruments, this was not possible here (especially the major 7th, being the 15th harmonic). My solution was to have these parts play significantly quiter than the trombone, in an effort to "hide" behind the trombone, bringing little attention to themselves while still affecting the overall timbre.

I have long been interested in writing music that conveys a static moment in time. For the longest time however, I have really struggled to actually achieve this. While a static moment in time is characterized by a mood, and music is innately excellent at providing a mood, music also innately exists across time, and this has led to my inability to write music like this.

However, after yesterday's piece, and some more studying of music that uses these kinds of rhythms, I found that this rhythmic complexity can actually pave a path towards this "timeless" music. Inspired by some works by Michael Finnissy, I found that the combination of these many different rhythms can sort of "gently overwhelm" my ability to find a pulse, so my hearing gives up on it, and simply lets the notes flow across. However, since each individual line still has its own underlying pulse, it never comes across as being random, and so all the structure is still there to support the piece.

This study has each "voice" stay in a consistent meter, rather than being truly free-flowing. The "tenor" voice follows the written pulse, the alto voice is slightly faster, in a 4:3 ratio to the tenor, while the bass mirrors that ratio with a 3:2 against the tenor (and 9:8 against the alto). Lastly, the soprano doubles the tenor, with a delay of one sixteenth note, and pitched an octave and a fourth higher, as if an echo of the higher frequencies.

The result has the voices phasing in and out from each other, with some rhythmic unisons, near-misses, and complete misses. The soprano being a simple delay from the tenor also guarantees that all four voices can never line up, and that the alto/bass can only ever line up or match with one of soprano/tenor at a time.

Today's study focuses on some complex tuplet rhythms. I hadn't seen much reason to write like this in the past, since I believed they add complexity for the performers, but not to the audience. So, I figured there was little reason to do it if other, more readable rhythms could provide a nearly identical experience to the listener.

However, after a discussion with my friend Kat Farn, I came to realize that the struggle of reading these rhythms creates a musical effect of its own. In a large ensemble setting, having the entire orchestra actually play these correctly is a fool's errand, and so these rhythms become a way to add an intentional layer of imprecision. The struggle of the players tangebly affects how they play, and the cacophony of rhythmic near-misses can create the sound of the texture falling apart, which is precisely the idea I aimed to convey today.

The harmony of this study comes mostly from the harmonic series on Ab, leading to the emphasis on the 11th harmonic, between D and D flat, and later the 13th, with F half-flat. The only exception is the 7th harmonic. In the 24-EDO space I was working in, there isn't a great approximation for it (like there is for the 11th and 13th) so instead I opted to use G half-flat, to create a perfect fifth with the 11th harmonic. This adds a slight imperfection to the harmonic design, making it go from a perfectly balanced harmonic chord to an unusual sonority of intervals uncommon to the ear of anyone accostomed to 12-EDO music.

I chose this inital chord since I wanted that immense, resonant sound that only the harmonic series can provide. I then continued using it, since its resonance becomes a stark contrast to the messy and unpredictable rhythms, especially as the resonance leaves once the basses move to G half-flat and beyond. I find the effect created by this contrast to be quite striking, and definitely something I want to explore again.

Today's study is an exercise in counterpoint, using the organ trio texture, as recommended by Kat Farn (https://youtube.com/@thekathal?si=2Wd2OZjTJqqmxHPo). I have talked numerous times about my appreciation for three part harmony, but I have mostly used it in either chorale or melody+accompaniment textures. So, it seemed like a good exercise to try to apply my three-voice style to contrapuntal writing.

The other main idea I wanted to study today was writing melodies that were clear, consonant, and with direction, while avoiding creating a tonal centre. Most of the time, these melodies don't cleanly exist in any diatonic space. I found that this worked well with my harmonic style for three voices, as its nature and emphasis on voice-leading often leads to sudden, yet smooth motions in and out of various diatonic spaces.

Texturally, this study wound up being quite high-energy, with a franticness that I think suits the counterpoint. I employed some common contrapuntal tropes, such as call-and-response, shuffling the parts between the three voices, and combining voices for some 2 against 1 textures.

The uneven meter of this study also led to another contrapuntal idea; the different voices layer different meters on top of each other. This can be seen clearly in m7-10, where the 5/8 melody line is paired against a 6/8 pattern in the other voices. This occurs again at m23, where the background are in 2/4, and m26 where the pedals move to 7/8, while the left hand also adds back the 6/8 layer, still under the 5/8 of the melody.