For this project I was asked to create a perpetual round for four groups of triads. Those rounds could either be for a small instrumental group, or for singers. Whilst writing those pieces, I always followed the same pattern : I wrote down the given triads and separated it for several voices. Those given triads I then divided and spread out staggered. Sometimes I added a new chord (mostly 7th chords) to make the piece sound more interesting. This project is furthermore my first one, where I had the opportunity to add a text to my compositions. I’m not very experienced at thinking of my own words and found it especially difficult due to English not being my first language. Having listened to several other rounds, I realized, that I can address any subject of my choice, even when it ends up being a bit bawdy.
When I started reading through this project, I thought it would be rather difficult to write a perpetual round myself. It took me a while to understand that it is basically just a separation of chords played one after another (when just one voice is singing), which therefore sound consonant again, when being played or sung together. This simplicity surprised me, I therefore really enjoyed working on this project.
For the first round I had the following triads given :
Those two triads I separated for three voices. I tried to mainly stick to only F and C, but allowed myself to also include a C-7th-chord, which is normally resolved back into a F-chord.
Having thought of a text, I had to adjust the number and duration of several notes a little bit. It may not be the most inspiring text, but it’s a simple idea for a content which ironically came to my mind first thing, as I was sitting in a kitchen whilst writing this piece.
It is structured as most of the other pieces, which I added to my listening log: The first round is sung by just one voice and when the second round starts, the other two voices join in, each one after the fourth bar of the voice above.
The triads for the second round where the following : 
A simple I-IV-V-I cadence, separated looking like this : 
Unlike the first piece, this one has the same rhythm pattern in every bar, (except for the very last note in the first voice). It is also written for instruments instead of singers, in this case for a piano and a saxophone.
For the third round I had the following triads to start with :
Separated :
Written for three voices with added text. (Seeing that the triads build a minor cadence, I wanted to make the text a bit more serious as well). To be honest, the subject I’ve chosen may seem a bit excessive and dark, but it was, for some reason, the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about a “dark” subject, that would fit to a minor-piece.
The fourth round I wrote for a string trio.
Given triads are : 
Separated :
And the finished version :
Dianas Learning Log 