Question for composers
Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:25 am
Not sure if this is the appropriate section of the forum to post this, but I'd like ask other composers for an opinion or ruling on what I fear might be a silly question.
When composing, I often find myself having to decide what to keep and what to discard, such as writing two versions of a section. Usually I play both, until beginning to favor one. My wife suggests I keep the "six" and use the "half-dozen as seed for another piece. But then I'd have a lot of unfinished pieces. Presently I am laboring between two versions of a 32 bar flamenco guitar tremelo section that to my ear sound equally acceptable. The part is in 3/4 time. In version 1 below, the chord structure is symmetrical. Version 2 is amorphous but appeals equally to my ear.
I suppose the idea that I describe was born out of my training to write music in measure lengths divisible by at least four, such as 32 bars, 48 bars, etc. Is there a rule that in 3/4 time chords need to be resolved on, say, the first of each 2, 4 or 8 measures? I visualize the first measure as on the "left," the second on of the right...hence the feel of starting on measures with uneven numbers (first measure of every two, four or eight) and resolving the chord structure on the same. Both versions in the section end the identically. For example, in the key of Bm (natural)...
VERSION 1:
Bm - Bm - A - A7 -
D - D - D - D -
A - A7 - D - D -
A - A - D - D -
D - D - A - C#dim7 -
D - D - D - D -
D - D - D - D -
A - A7 - G - F# -
VERSION 2:
Bm - Bm - A - A7 -
D - D - D - A -
A7 - D - D - A -
A - D - D - D -
D - A - C#dim7 - D
D - D - D - D -
D - D - A - A7 -
Bm - G - G - F# -
Pardon the question if abecedarian.
When composing, I often find myself having to decide what to keep and what to discard, such as writing two versions of a section. Usually I play both, until beginning to favor one. My wife suggests I keep the "six" and use the "half-dozen as seed for another piece. But then I'd have a lot of unfinished pieces. Presently I am laboring between two versions of a 32 bar flamenco guitar tremelo section that to my ear sound equally acceptable. The part is in 3/4 time. In version 1 below, the chord structure is symmetrical. Version 2 is amorphous but appeals equally to my ear.
I suppose the idea that I describe was born out of my training to write music in measure lengths divisible by at least four, such as 32 bars, 48 bars, etc. Is there a rule that in 3/4 time chords need to be resolved on, say, the first of each 2, 4 or 8 measures? I visualize the first measure as on the "left," the second on of the right...hence the feel of starting on measures with uneven numbers (first measure of every two, four or eight) and resolving the chord structure on the same. Both versions in the section end the identically. For example, in the key of Bm (natural)...
VERSION 1:
Bm - Bm - A - A7 -
D - D - D - D -
A - A7 - D - D -
A - A - D - D -
D - D - A - C#dim7 -
D - D - D - D -
D - D - D - D -
A - A7 - G - F# -
VERSION 2:
Bm - Bm - A - A7 -
D - D - D - A -
A7 - D - D - A -
A - D - D - D -
D - A - C#dim7 - D
D - D - D - D -
D - D - A - A7 -
Bm - G - G - F# -
Pardon the question if abecedarian.