When Less is More - another Grade 5 Theory Composition Case Study

It's that time of year when the British ABRSM theory exams are looming - there are about 3 weeks to go and students are knuckling down everywhere. One of the hardest questions to self-assess is, of course, the composition question. I spend a lot of time working with students specifically on composition guidance, and from time to time readers of the website send in their answers to the question in the practice test on mymusictheory.

You can read about another student's answer to the same question at http://musictheorydigest.blogspot.com/2010/02/grade-v-composition-example.html

This is the example I was sent today:

I would award 8 marks out of 15 for this. Here's a breakdown:

1. Length & Balance 1½/2
2. Neatness 1/1
3. Notation Accuracy 1½/2
4. Performance Directions 1/2
5. Suitability to Instrument 1/1
6. Sequencing 0/2
7. Cadence points 1/2
8. Overall impact 1/3

Total 8/15


1. The piece is the right length - 8 bars, and you've balanced up the incomplete first bar correctly in the last bar. However, there is a lack of balance within the piece. It's better to assume that 8 bars are divided into two halves of exactly the same length, and create two phrases (a question phrase and an answer phrase) of 4 bars each. This is really just one long phrase of 8 bars.

2. Exceptionally neat - nice work.

3. Two points, which are VERY common mistakes in students' work! 

Firstly, barlines are dictated by notes, not by the end of the staff. In the 2nd and 3rd lines, you've drawn the barlines at the far right hand side of the staff. In fact you need to draw them close after the last note you've written. It doesn't matter if there is a space after the barline (it's not very neat, but it's correct). If you really want to have your barlines at the end of the staff, then you have to carefully plan the notes you're writing so that the last note you write is at the end of the line. 

Secondly, notes need to have the correct amount of space left after them. After a quaver (8th note) you need a very small space, bigger for crotchets, bigger again for minims. Spacing is relative. Notice how in the printed 1st bar, the dotted crotchet has quite a lot of white space after it before the next quaver is written. Leaving the right amount of space is an important visual clue for the performer regarding the rhythm. In bar 6, for example, you leave hardly any space at all after the minim D, but then a big space after the quaver rest.

4. Well, there are certainly a lot of them! But, (and this is an important point), it really does feel like you put your hand in a bucket of dynamics and then threw a handful at the music ;o) Dynamics MUST make musical sense. In bar 3, you write a P. Bar 4 contains no markings, so we must assume it's the same - P. The first beat of bar 5, suddenly, is F. There doesn't seem to be any logical reason for this - there's no crescendo, and it's not a new phrase. If you change the dynamic SO drastically, a new phrase would seem logical, but then again it's not a good place for a new phrase.... In bar 6 you've written a decrescendo which apparently should be played through a rest (can you make a rest even quieter?!) and the mP marking should be aligned with the actual note to give it a solid meaning. You've written Allegro as a tempo, so one crotchet is going to whizz by very fast - there is not enough time to have a diminuendo on just one crotchet. Bar 8 has a similar problem.

Phrase marks need to clearly end on one note, and a new phrase mark starts on the next note. You've written your phrase marks so that the end and then start on the same note.

5. Fine. It would suit a very flamboyant type of violinist!

6. This is the real weakness of the piece. You've tried to show off your (very good) knowledge of things like triplets, ornaments and syncopation. But in doing so, you've written a piece which has no connecting factors. The title of this post is "Less is More" and that really is the case in grade five theory composition. Don't feel that you need to include everything you know about! 

When you begin a composition, you need to look carefully at the given opening, and decide what are the characteristic features of it. This means looking at what type of intervals the music is built on (does it move by step or in leaps, what kind of leaps?), what kind of rhythms it uses (dotted, or syncopated, or whatever), and does it have any other striking features (in the dynamics, phrasing or articulation, for example). Then, you need to make sure that you keep those characteristic features in the music for the whole composition, so that there is a feeling of continuity. Obviously you can't just repeat what's there note for note - you need to make small changes so that the music is new, but connected. This can be something as simple as writing the same melody as the first bar, but with every note shifted up a step in the scale, for example.

In your melody, I couldn't find any examples of sequencing - of re-using bits of melody or rhythm in this way - every bar seems to be an invention of something new. It's really a fundemental part of the composition question and something worth working on.

7. The final cadence is clearly a perfect cadence. I'm not sure where the "middle" of your piece is supposed to be, so I can't find a cadence there either!

8. You might think I'm a bit harsh only giving 1 point here. I can see that you've worked really, really hard and have tried to gain a lot of marks in this question, so I think you might be a bit disappointed with what I've given you. You are obviously a talented musician, hard-working and I would put money on you being a pretty good violin player yourself, am I right? I think you are throwing your energy in the wrong direction in this question - keep in your mind that this is a theory exam - not a practical. Your composition needs to demonstrate that you understand the principals of balance, sequencing, and underlying structure. If you were going shopping for a violin and played what you wrote in order to test the instrument, I think it would be perfectly appropriate - some bits of scales, arpeggios, big dynamic range and so on. But as a self-contained piece of music, it lacks the glue to hold it together. It leaves the listener feeling rather unsatisfied and wondering if that was really the "piece" or just the "warm-up" before the real piece begins.

Don't be discouraged, You show a LOT of potential. Read up on how to structure a composition and keep working at it!

Video about Composing

A friend of mine shared this video with me today - and I'm passing it on to you. It's about composition - in the real world rather than in exams! Robert John Godfrey explains in simple terms how to ask a question in music, and how music mirrors they way we speak. It's entrancing.

.
Robert John Godfrey is a British composer. Read his Wikiepedia page here

Grade V Composition - An Example

Grade 5 Music Theory Composition Question (ABRSM)

www.mymusictheory.com has a free grade five theory exam which you can do online as revision for the big day. Of course, the most difficult part to mark on your own at home is the composition. How can you know how well you've done?

One of our readers, Ming, recently sent me in his composition from the free test and asked me to take a look. Ming's answer is quite typical of a lot of music students - lots of good points but also a few things which he could work on to get a few more points in the exam.

Here's the opening of the composition which he had to complete in 8 bars:







And here's Ming's answer (sorry it's so small!)








I would award 8.5 marks out of 15 for this. Here's a breakdown:

1. Length & Balance ½/2
2. Neatness 1/1
3. Notation Accuracy 2/2
4. Performance Directions 1½ /2
5. Suitability to Instrument 1/1
6. Sequencing ½/2
7. Cadence points 1/2
8. Overall impact 1/3

Total 8½ /15


1. You need to write eight complete bars. There is an upbeat of one crotchet, so in fact your composition is 8¼ bars long, instead of 8. You should write two phrases that are exactly the same length, (including the upbeat). The first phrase will end on the third beat of bar 4, and the second phrase should start on the fourth beat of bar 4. The last bar should only have 3 crotchet beats in it, to make up for the one crotchet bar at the start.

2. Very neat and easy to read – well done!

3. No mistakes – well done!

4. You included markings for tempo and dynamics which work ok, and you also included breathing marks – that’s all good. For full marks you also need to include articulation markings (for all wind and brass instruments) – you need to show the player whether each note should be struck clearly with the tongue (tongued) or played smoothly without any tongue movement (legato). You could also show more advanced articulation symbols such as staccato or tenuto, but these are optional. You must show the general (tongued/legato) articulation markings, though.

5. Fine.

6. I can see you’ve tried to re-use the rhythm from the first 4 bars, but in fact you’ve copied the rhythm exactly, instead of adapting it a little. You need to create bars 3 & 4 by basing them on bars 1 and 2 (similar but not the same), then create bars 5-8 by basing them on bars 1-4.
The melody doesn’t seem to be sequenced at all, except for in bar 5 (sequence of bar 1). Both the rhythm and the melody need to be sequenced – for the rhythm, make small changes and for the melody, move the phrase up or down on the stave but keep the intervals between the notes more or less the same. A lot of what you’ve written doesn’t seem to be connected to anything else – for example, the semibreve in the middle of the piece (this feels like the piece has stopped!). Semibreves are ok at the end, but avoid them in the middle!

7. Cadence points should exist at the end of the first and second phrases. Your first phrase ends on an imperfect cadence – that’s good. The second phrase is not clear though. At the end of bar 7 you wrote F sharp then G – which chord would you play with those two notes? (A leap of a 7th is never a good idea anyway – stick to smaller intervals).

8. The composition doesn’t make a really good impact because of the lack of sequencing and the weak final cadence. It doesn’t sound like it’s glued together with anything, it’s all a bit meandering. On the plus side, your notation is really good and the piece does have a feel of being almost balanced, despite being the wrong length! It’s not a bad effort at all.

How to Compose a Melody - Tips for Grade 5 Theory of Music

Lots of my online students need a bit of help when it comes to composing a melody in the Grade Five Music Theory Exam (ABRSM syllabus).

My last post was a list of tips that will get you a few extra points, whatever you've composed, but this post is a bit more technical - how to actually write a good tune.

Creating a good melody is all about sequencing - taking bits of melody and rhythm, and changing them in small ways to make music which feels "glued together", rather than just a lot of random notes! The techniques of sequencing are explained in more detail over at mymusictheory.com . This post is really sequencing in action - a real life example of how we can the opening notes given to us in the composition question, and use them as inspiration for the rest of the melody.

I'm not going to put any any performance directions or phrasing on to these melodies - so you can focus on the melody and rhythm only. The choice of instrument for this question is trumpet or clarinet, and all the melodies would work on either instrument. The task is to compose an 8-bar composition, made up of two 4-bar phrases, based on the given opening.

Below each worked example, you'll see a short commentary of what was going on in my head while I was composing them.

This is the opening we're going to work with:

Here's our first go:

From the first bar, we’ve taken the crotchet/rest/crotchet/rest rhythm, and from bar 2 we’ve taken a minim tied to 4 quavers which move along the scale.

To finish the first phrase, we’ve sequenced the first and second bar, but moved the notes up by one degree of the scale. This finishes the first phrase. The cadence is V – I.

To make the second phrase, we’ve re-used the rhythm in bar 5, and inverted the melody to make bar 8. In bar 9, we’ve got almost the same as bar 2, but introduced a crotchet rest as we’ve got lots of crotchet rests in the piece, and the melody is now 2 degrees of the scale higher than in bar 2. The cadence is again V-I.

Here's a second possible answer:

This time we’ve decided to put the piece into C minor instead of Eb major.

Bar 3 is like bar 1, but is one degree of the scale lower. Bar 4 is like bar 1, but is 6 degrees of the scale lower. The B natural gives us a cadence onto a chord of G major, which is V in C minor. This completes the first phrase.

To make the second phrase, we’ve kept the rhythm if bar one, but changed the interval to a 5^th. This isn’t a new interval in the piece – there’s a perfect 5^th betweeen bars 2 and 3, and a diminished 5^th between bars 3 and 4. Then we’ve worked on the scale motif by extending it slightly in bars 6 and 7, and the piece ends with with another perfect interval.

Here's a final way to write this composition:

This one is in C minor too. We sequenced bar 1 by changing the direction of the melody to make bar 3, but kept the interval as a third. We worked on the thirds again in bar 4, with G-Eb then Eb-C both falling thirds. We added an F# to make it more interesting. The cadence would be IV in bar 3, then V-I in bar 4.

In bar 5 we’ve kept the rhythm of bar 1, but the rise up a 4^th to the C is a new interval. It sounds good because it’s using the notes of the C minor arpeggio, and so does bar 1, so there is a clear link there. Bar 6 is a sequence of bar 2, starting on the 6^th note of the scale instead of the 2^nd, and moving in the opposite direction, bar 7 is a sequence of bar 5 but starts a 4^th lower, and bar 8 is a sequence of bar 4 – the Eb to D motif is a strong mirror of the G to F# motif in bar 4. The cadence would be V in bar 7, and I in bar 8.

Hopefully that's given you a few ideas of ways to manipulate the opening notes of the composition question and to create something which sounds good and gets you lots of points! Don't forget there are 15 points at stake for the composing a melody for instruments question in the Grade Five Theory of Music Exam.

10 Ways to Get More Marks in the Grade 5 Theory Composition Question

As the date for the ABRSM music theory exams approaches (5th March 2009), I'm sure a lot of you are starting to panic a bit, and are looking for some quick tips. Luckily, there are quite a few things you can easily do to grab a few more marks here and there.

Here's a list of things you can do to maximise your points in the "composing a melody for instruments" question. These tips aren't about how to actually compose a melody - if you need some help with the composition side of things, pop over to mymusictheory.com and read up the lessons on composing.

These two lessons are a good place to start:

General Tips

Composing a Melody for Instruments

This list will hopefully score you a few extra points by making sure you've covered everything you need to include. Remember it's not just the tune - it's about being neat, accurate and adding useful and meaningful directions for the performer. The ABRSM does give marks for being tidy - so that's where we'll start! (The links will take you to relevant lessons on mymusictheory.com for more info.) There are 15 points at stake in the composition question - that's more than the difference between a merit and a distinction!

10 Tips for Composition Success!

1)Use a ruler. Barlines, note stems and beams should all be drawn with a ruler, and not one that you've nervously chewed the edges off... Try it next time you write some notes, and see what a difference it makes.

2)Dynamics.  Think out your dynamics - don't just chuck a few in randomly! Look at each and every note and check that the player will know what dynamic you want him/her to play. It's especially important to put a starting and ending dynamic. If you use a hairpin, put a dynamic (like FF) at the end so that the player understands how much of a dim/cresc. you want. Examples of illogical dynamics - writing a P, followed by a Dim, followed by a P, or writing an MF, followed by another MF, with nothing in between.

3)Spacing of Notes. The first note in each bar should be quite close to the barline. The space to the right of each note depends on what kind of note it is - the longer the note, the bigger the space. A semibreve (whole note) should have a nice long space after it, before the next barline.

4)Barlines. End your piece with a double barline. You're handwriting music, not printing it, so don't worry if your bars don't fit neatly up to the end of the printed stave; it doesn't matter if you have a bit of stave left over with nothing on it. But don't draw barlines at the right hand edge of the stave unless that's where the bar finishes- if your last bar is half-way along the stave, that's where you drawn your barline!

5)Phrasing. Whatever instrument you're writing for, you need to think about phrasing marks. It's better to choose an instrument you're familiar with, if possible. Phrasing marks which make the music interesting are the best kind of course. But if you really don't know what else to do with them, put a long one over the whole first phrase, and another over the second.

6)Tempo. Always indicate the speed of your piece at the beginning of the melody, above the stave, using an accepted Italian, German or French term. (You can also use a metronome marking, if you prefer). Don't mess around with trying to change tempo in the middle of the piece - 8 bars is too short! It's often a nice touch to put a ritenuto at the end of the piece - if you choose to do so, don't start it too late. Students often put a rit. on a final dotted minim, for example. How can you slow down just one note?! 

7)Articulation. If you write for a wind instrument, you need to include some articulation markings ("articulation" means "attack of the note"). The long phrase marks mentioned in 5 will tell a wind player to play "legato" (all in one breath), but no markings at all mean they will "tongue" every note, which sounds quite jagged and makes a clarinettist tired (well, me anyway!) You can make the music a bit more interesting by adding some staccato or tenuto signs - but don't go wild, less is more. You should also put in a small comma (above the stave), to show the player where to breathe. The best place for this is between the first and second phrases. 

8)Bowing. If you write for a string instrument, you might want to include bowing marks. Be sparing, and only put them in if you understand how bowing works. Bowing phrase marks are essential - a curved phrase mark over each group of notes you expect to be played with one sweep of the bow. If you don't play a string instrument, don't choose to write for one - there will always be an alternative.

9)Expression. Again, less is more. One well-chosen term at the beginning of the piece is better than peppering your composition with foreign words! Remember that you should already have a tempo term, so choose something that complements it. Expression terms should be written under the stave.

10) Check your work! Go back and count the notes in each bar, making sure you haven't mis-calculated somewhere. If the piece started with an anacrusis (or "up-beat"), the last bar should make up the missing beats. E.g a piece in 4/4 time starts with a single crotchet, so the last bar would have 3 crotchets. Your piece should have 8 complete bars in total - so that might mean 7 whole bars plus 2 incomplete bars.

Good luck to all of you facing E-day on March 5th! And thanks to my online students for providing me with some inspiration for writing this post!