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Guidelines for composing
Motivic development
The motif, a device widely used in musical compositions, may be defined as a particular combination of interval and rhythm. It can also exist as a purely rhythmic motivic construction as well.
A motif can be as short as two to three pitches (For example Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Movement I) or stretched over 4-5 bars or more.
One main issue with motivic composition is repetition as there is often a tendency to merely repeat the motif, perhaps transposing it or changing the instrumentation. However, the motif provides many more possibilities for transformation which may then be reworked into the musical composition to create contrast, add counterpoint or dialogue, or to vary the texture.
A motivic phrase can be developed by forming the idea into two parts or shorter phrases known as an antecedent and consequent, (or call and response or a question and answer) as shown in Example 3 below.
Example 3: motif showing antecedent/consequent construction
Task 5
Compose a 10 bar passage for solo clarinet which consists of an antecedent phrase (call) complemented by a consequent phrase (response)
From an original motif, four basic versions can be derived:
- the original itself
- the retrograde (original played backwards)
- the inversion (original inverted or turned upside down)
- the retrograde of inversion (the inversion played backwards).
This is illustrated in Example 4
Example 4:
Task 6
Using the motivic phrase you composed in Task 5, derive its retrograde, inversion and retrograde inversion forms. Be prepared to make creative adaptations if the nature of the intervals in a mode doesn’t allow for exact inversions (eg. in Pelog, Hirajoshi and Blues scales)
Once this process is complete these four versions of the motif can be drawn on freely to form the basis of larger phrases within sections of the composition.
Task 7
Compose a 24 bar section of a piece by drawing from the motivic ideas generated so far. Be selective rather than trying to use every version. You may want to structure the passage to enhance overall cohesion eg ABA, (8+8+8 bars) where ‘A' is a variant of the opening phrase ‘A’. You may also consider other processes to work with the motif such as fragmenting it into smaller units, contracting or extending it, adding new material or repeating parts of the phrase.
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