Assignment 1

Part 1

For the project, I would mainly try to stick to my initial idea, rewriting and rearranging Classical music for a Jazz music ensemble. Even though, it is suggested, that I should work on one longer piece and a few smaller ones, I would prefer, if possible to work on several small pieces lasting from 3 to 5 minutes. This way, I would be able to address a wider range of Classical music, and also rearrange them in contrasting styles of Jazz music.

In case it’s necessary to do a larger piece, I would probably use a movement of a piano sonata to rewrite as a solo Jazz piano piece, including several different styles within one piece. Writing it for piano only, would fit really well with the project I’m doing for Contextual Studies, but also relate to the first project of this course, considering my strengths and weaknesses.This piece would then co-exist with a few pieces (probably around 4-6) written for the band arrangement mentioned below.

If I can stick to using smaller pieces only, I would be able to use the following instruments: Drums, Bass, Piano, Guitar, Trumpet, Saxophone and two female singers. I won’t be using all instruments for all the pieces and will try to consider a suitable order of the pieces, to create some variety. This will also be achieved by writing in different Jazz-styles, I’m considering New Orleans, Chicago, Swing, Latin Jazz as well as several blues forms. As mentioned above, each piece will take 3 to 5 minutes, (I’d use up to 10 pieces), possibly longer in case solo sections take longer.

For the choice of the Classical music, I would like to mainly (but not exclusively) choose more well-known pieces. The aim here, is to use certain motifs for the audience to recognise. Nonetheless, I will also use some lesser known pieces. Obviously, I won’t use all of the pieces listed below, but it will provide me with a restricted amount to choose from. The pieces I considered using so far are the following:  

  • Bolero by Maurice Ravel
  • Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel
  • March of the dwarfs, by Edvard Grieg
  • Moonlight Sonata 1st movement by L.v.Beethoven
  • Prelude in D minor, BWV 851 by J.S. Bach;
  • Queen of the Night Aria, by W.A. Mozart
  • Raindrop prelude by Frederic Chopin
  • Radetzky March by Johann Strauss
  • Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner
  • Symphony No. 5, first movement by L.v. Beethoven
  • The entertainer, by Scott Joplin
  • The four Seasons “Winter”, by Antonio Vivaldi
  • Waltz No. 2 by Dimitri Shostakovich

For the larger piano piece, I would consider using one of the following pieces:

  • Piano Sonata No. 5 in C minor, 1st movement by L.v Beethoven
  • Raindrop prelude by Frederic Chopin
  • Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement, or 3rd movement by L.v Beethoven

With both of the ideas above, I think, that I will probably fill more time than half an hour with the compositions, as I already had a rather larger amount of ideas within the beginning. If this is the case, I will try (with feedback) to pick the best ones out with a presentation at the end.

In terms of presentation, I thought of using three different types for each piece. Even though Sibelius isn’t ideal for playbacks, I would want the performers to have a rough idea of the pieces I’m writing. Thus, I thought of writing almost everything out in notated form, (possibly with a few exceptions e.g. chords for guitar) and send a complete version with all instruments, as well as a separated solo version for each instrument to the corresponding player.

As mentioned within a previous course project, especially with Jazz, I find it hugely important to only give the performers some outlines of the music I want to have performed. Over the past few years, I discovered that the genre itself developed into something that’s meant to be entertaining for the musicians as well as the audience.

Secondly, I would rearrange the scores to give the players more freedom to improvise, using a mixture of slash notation and “real” notes, or specific rhythm that I want to be played in a certain way.

The last part would be to make a recording of the pieces once they’re being played. Depending on what’s best for submission, I would send just one, two or all three versions of the pieces. In case of the larger piano piece, as I will be playing and recording it myself, I will only send in the reworked notation outline (again, with room for improvisations), as well as a recording and, if needed, the original version of the piece.

Over the course, I will have to do some thorough research about using microphones for different instruments and voices correctly, in order to get presentable results for the submission. Furthermore, I will have to have a closer look at notations for drum – sets and the wind instruments mentioned above, as these are the only instruments I haven’t played myself yet.

One of the most important things will also be to listen to a variety of Jazz music, if possible I will also try to attend to some live events and take some notes in my Listening Log.

As I will be writing for an electrical bass and an electrical guitar, a further thing to consider would be changing tone colours with different pedals. As I come from a more classical background, using mainly acoustic instruments, I would be really interested in finding out more about pedals, how they work and how they can be used in an efficient way to support my pieces.  

In terms of a timeline, I would like to start rehearsals as well as recordings at the beginning months of next year. Therefore, even though I know some changes might still occur, I would roughly try to stick to the timeline I created in a previous exercise.

  • Month 1: Start unit (June/July 2023)
    • Month 2: Planning/Practical work (thinking about which styles and which pieces I want to use)
    • Month 3: Assignment 1 (end of September 2023)/Practical Work (Writing some sketches and listening to a few pieces related to my work)
    • Month 4: Feedback/Continue Practical work & Listening Log entries
    • Month 5: Submission of a few minor pieces, Assignment 2 (End of November 2023)
    • Month 6: Feedback/ Continue practical work
    • Month 7: Star the first few rehearsals/Finish sketches, Assignment 3 (End of January 2024)
    • Month 8: Feedback, Rehearsals, complete all sketches, create order of pieces, and looking out for possibilities to perform on stage.
    • Month 9: Rehearsals, possible corrections in notations for the performers. Assignment 4, (End of March 2024)
    • Month 10: Rehearsals
    • Month 11: Rehearsals, if possible, recordings of finished pieces.
    • Month 12: Feedback, Rehearsals, final polish on the pieces. Assignment 5, (End of June 2024)
    • Month 13, 14/15: Rehearsals and live event.

Part 2:

As I already had an almost clearly defined idea at the beginning of this course part, I found it sometimes slightly challenging to work through it. Especially for the tasks, where I had to consider completely new layouts for the project. Nonetheless, this also helped me creating a more objective view of my initial idea and seeing it in a wider context, which led to a few adaptions.

Furthermore, thinking through the realisation of the project in such detail, I came up with a few possible obstacles as well as certain areas to explore further, such as using and understanding pedals and microphones. Considering the strengths and weaknesses I wrote down at the beginning of the course, I think that the idea for this project will definitely support my strengths but also be able to support and improve some weaknesses.

As mentioned within the project, throughout the course I especially enjoyed working on arrangements as well as writing for piano, or smaller ensembles, therefore I’ll be looking forward to be working on rearranging the pieces mentioned above, but also to have a closer look at some technical aspects.