Feedback Requested:

We would like to know if our two parts go together well. This means that we want to know if we used notes that sound good together. Also we want to know if skipping around with different notes sounds good with this piece. Should we change it to make our notes more of a step by step piece?

Jenny's and Molly's Original Composition

Get Sibelius Scorch

Hi Jenny and Molly:

Good job with this first assignment. You have done a nice job of working your two clarinets together.

You have followed the form of ABA however you have made the first section 5 measures and the other sections 4 measures each. It is more conventional for each section to be the same length in this form.

Most of your notes work well together. How do you feel about how the unison sections sound compared to the sections which are harmonized?

The skips that you have written sound fine and are not hard to play. Being as though they are not large skips, they do still flow along nicely. I would not be concerned about the skips at all.

I suggest that you see if you can address the length of the first A section and the unison passages and see what the result is. Put it back up and I will be happy to listen and get back to you.

Nice work and keep it up.

Bill, Teacher/Mentor/Composer

 

Hi Bill,

We realized when you wrote us back that when we sent it the first time that the repeat sign and first & second endings had gone away. Now we have a longer A section, and a B section with a little ending that we think fits good. We liked our unison parts, but tried adding some harmony to those parts. We think that all the notes sound good together too. Thank you for your help and here is our newest version!

Jenny and Molly

Feedback Requested:

Does the second part we added work? We had a hard time getting it to sound good. Is the repeat of the A section too long? We might make it just 4 measures long.
Thank you for your feedback.


First Revision of Composition



Hi Jenny and Molly,

This is a very lovely piece that you've written! Nice job! You have a sweet melody and most of the harmonies work well. I didn't notice that the repeat of the A section was too long. I think I would leave the length alone. Sometimes when we work hard on a piece, we hear it so much that it starts to sound boring. Then we think we should make it shorter. That happens to me too! However, when people are listeners, and not the composers, they want to hear things repeated .... especially if they like what they're hearing!

There are a few measures where the harmony could be improved. It is general practice to use parallel harmonies that are thirds or sixths (inversions of thirds). You've used parallel fifths in a few measures, and my guess is that those might be the measures that are troubling you. In the third and fourth measures, try raising the first note of measure 3 to a B instead of a G. Then follow the B with the same steps that you had originally. You could also try lowering the first note of measure 3 to an F, etc.

In measures 7 and 8, try starting and ending the harmonic run on F instead of G. This will give you sixths.

In measure 15, you can break up the thirds and sixths by having the lower part play four B flats. Then in measure 16, go back to thirds by starting on a D and descending. You can do the same thing with four B flats in measure 19 ... and if you do that, you might also want the first note of measure 20 to be an A. If you make these changes, you might also want to switch the last 2 beats of measure 20 so that the top part is playing C,C,F and the bottom is playing A,A,F.

There are lots of other possible harmonizations that would sound good, and if you have time you can experiment. I know it is getting close to the end of the school year ... so I hope you have time to try some of these suggestions and see what you think.

You've done a fine job with this piece. The melody is sweet and easy to remember. I look forward to your revisions and to hearing your future work! Have a great summer!

Peggy, Mentor


Dear Peggy,


This is our final piece of Come and Play with ME! We thank you for helping us improve our song. We had a lot of fun changing it to make it sound like a masterpiece. Molly and I played it at our school Spring Concert and I think a lot of people enjoyed it. People have told me that they thought it was great. Anyway thanks for helping us again and we look forward to maybe doing this again.

Sincerely, Jenny and Molly

Final Version of Composition



Hi Jenny and Molly,

Your final project sounds wonderful! It's nice to know that you enjoyed making changes to it. It must have been very exciting to play your piece in a concert. I hope to hear more of your work next year. Have a great summer!

Peggy, Mentor


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Come And Play With Me!
by Jenny and Molly

Three months ago our whole band class was assigned to make a composition piece to put on the website. It had to include these following things: 4/4 time, 12 measures or more, ABA form, using notes we can play, use at least two different kinds of note values, and we had to give our song a title. This song is supposed to represent two people playing and singing.