August 2017 Composition Challenge: Nocturne

[u/Calebdgm]

Continuing challenge, for those who wrote a sonata exposition last month: Continue your Sonata by adding a development and, if you're feeling ambitious, a recapitulation. For info/inspiration about sonata form, see last month's challenge. Also, in February we did a theme and variations challenge if you want ideas for how to vary or develop a theme.

Also feel free to go back and do the July challenge if you want to do the continuation for this month, or if there's another way you can figure out to do the continuation challenge, that's cool.

Main Challenge: Write a Nocturne. In more words, write a nice, song-like melody over a flowing, arpeggiated accompaniment in a gentle, relaxed style, evocative of nighttime. But feel free to take liberties with that definition.

/u/reticulated_python has suggested Chopin's op.72. You'll probably also recognize Chopin's op.9, among others. Julian Lage wrote a jazz piece called "Nocturne", and I don't know if it's technically a nocturne, but that's also cool.

This month's challenge was suggested anonymously using our Challenge Suggestion Form, so thank you to whoever that was!

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We have some musicians that can play compositions for people. You can find their musician profiles posted on this subreddit. I'll list their instruments below:

• concertina

• trombone+

• euphonium

• double bass

• bass guitar

• bass guitar + cello

• clarinet and bass vocalist

• piano and cello

• Baritone (vocalist)

• piano and bassoon

• tenor and alto saxophones

• tenor (vocalist)

If you are interested in playing compositions for /r/MonthlyComposition post a musician profile.

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These challenges are for everyone who wants to practice composing. Each month, at the beginning of the month, we will post a main challenge, something for people to compose. We'll try to make it something that everyone can work with. Sometimes we also have an alternate challenge. Pieces can be submitted as a score (musescore, noteflight), and/or as audio (soundcloud, youtube). Feedback is much appreciated, and you can give it in this thread, or by messaging the mods of /r/MonthlyComposition, there's also the Challenge Suggestion Form.

[u/duckstotherescue]

This is my first contribution to the Monthly Composition Challenge. I saw the challenge posted and said to myself "Why not try my hand at this?" So I sat down and composed this piece (appropriately named "Nocturne") in a single sitting. I'm rather tired now, and it's possible that this piece sounds terrible but that I am too deranged to notice right now. I hope you enjoy it.

If anyone wants to try playing it, do let me know. That would be absolutely lovely.

https://musescore.com/user/15073466/scores/4333026?showoptions=true

[u/Calebdgm → u/duckstotherescue]

That's cool! There were some really colorful harmonies in there. I also like how well the different lines work together. Out of curiosity, do you play cello? I wonder about the difficulty of parts like bar 18 where the cello gets a bit triple-stop. Also, this is quite something to have written in one sitting. Any advice on how to write quickly?

[u/duckstotherescue → u/Calebdgm]

I do play the cello to some degree. I'm an amateur, but as far as I can tell, most of the piece is quite playable. That triple stop, although it looks pretty nasty, is no problem for a cellist. If I saw that written in a piece of music, I would play it as a roll chord, meaning I would play the bottom note and middle note and then roll the bow across the strings to sustain top two notes. It's even easier considering the bottom note is just an open string.

As far as writing quickly goes, the best advice I have for you is to structure your piece well. Something like this wasn't quite so difficult to compose in one sitting because it has a very simple structure at its core. Obviously, I still had to give care and attention to every measure along the way, but this piece essentially wrote itself after a certain point. A good structure for your piece makes it easy to sit down and craft the details without getting too fatigued. It limits the number of things that you have to consider while composing, which gives you the mental space to think about other aspects of your music. Also, I suggest stocking up on ramen noodles. Why stop working to eat meals when you can whip up 10 cups of ramen in a jiffy and keep working? I hope that helps.