Documentation Project

Proposal:
To document my creative process during the composition of a new piece, from initial
ideas to the final product, with a focus on use of appropriate instrumentation, use of
technically adept musical language and how my idea develops from the initial
sketch to the final piece.

Shadows
For large ensemble.
For my first piece of the academic year, I wanted to produce something of significant
scope, both in terms of its musical expression and in terms of the instrumental forces
used and effectiveness. During my undergraduate on the BEd Course, in my final year
I produced a piece for a similar size of ensemble to limited success. There were a
number of issues associated with writing for an ensemble of this size the first time
around which I wanted to reflect upon and avoid / improve upon this time. Upon
reflection, and looking back at previous scores these issues were;
1) A lack of deeper understanding of the timbral capabilities of the instruments.
2) Inexperience in writing music for larger forces and how to orchestrate these
effectively.
3) A limited understanding of the music I wanted to write, and some
trepidation about finding my compositional voice.
In order to remedy the first of these issues, before putting pen to paper, I
conducted research into the various instruments I wished to use and some of their
extended techniques in orchestration books and youtube videos of players
demonstrating these. (Adler, 2002:61) I found the Adler Orchestration book most
useful in this endeavor as not only does it contain useful facts regarding the

physical capabilities of the instruments range and timbre, but also its colour
within different areas of its pitch range. (See Example 1, Flute)

Example 1: Flute

After conducting this research, and making copious scans and notes of the
relevant material I was fairly confident I could make some interesting use of the
instrumental forces.
The second issue to remedy was trickier to get a hold of, and was almost an
inherent problem which can only get better with trial and error, time, research and
practice. Once again, I turned my attention to orchestration books and documents
to at least increase my on paper knowledge before attempting to write the piece,
as well as listening to many pieces to gain ideas about effective orchestration,
from Stravinskys Symphony of Psalms through to modern works by my
contemporaries here at the conservatoire and beyond.
The third trepidation which I had playing on my mind before writing on the piece,
after some reflection and discussions with my composition tutor (Rory Boyle) I
concluded was simply to do with a lack of experience and confidence in my work
and that this could only be remedied with hard work, perseverance and reflection

in the long term. This lack of confidence and understanding about my own
musical output could also be aided by exposure to greater varieties of music by
different composers and musicians in order to put myself within the context of the
canon.

Beginning Shadows
Bearing in mind my perceived issues from a previous attempt at writing for this
style of ensemble, I embarked with this piece with trepidation. The first major
decision to be made with regards to the piece was essentially,
What do I want it to be?
The answer to that question, I could not quite put my finger on, nor could I find a
suitable stimulus. After some reflection by way of thinking of various concepts
and ideas, eliminating some which I considered not to be practical or have enough
weight to them, I thought I should just put pen to paper and see what I can come
up with, and if any of it would be coherent. I knew I wanted to begin with a very
calm, almost serene beginning and something which my tutor Rory had suggested
was to experiment with the timbres of the different instruments working together
in pairs or threes to develop interesting harmony and texture. Bearing this in mind,
I set forth, beginning with an almost ostinato on the vibraphone using purely the
white notes to create a sugary harmonic language flirting between semitones
rotating around an A as the bass note of the chord (although not in the bass
register). (See example 2)

Example 2.

In order to bulk up the harmony and create an insipid feeling of tension

seeping into the harmony, I used the wind instruments in various combinations
oozing into the piece and gradually introducing sharps and flats. (See example 3)

Example 3.

After making the addition of the wind instruments to the beginning sections
harmony, it became apparent that this was not an extremely engaging section of
the piece, so to add more interesting timbres and demonstrate more craft I took
to doubling some of the woodwind and vibraphones key entries on the acoustic
guitar which I had taken the decision to have slightly amplified, making its sound
carry more across the ensemble. (See example 4)

Example 4.
I felt at this point, that the piece was settling into somewhat of an easy
listening category, which is not exactly the effect I was aiming for. I then
took the decision that something needed to happen to unsettle the steady
forward motion and fairly pleasant harmony in the piece. The solution
appeared to be the addition of the string sections interruptions to the flow.
This I believe creates significant interest and creates a sense of building
towards a point particularly when the piano joins in providing a dissonant
chordal part to underline and emphasize the string interruptions (See
example 5)

Example 5.

Turning Points
Midway through the first term, I reached a major moment of reflection and
realization which was to completely change my perception of the piece and
therefore, its direction.
I had been looking back on the direction the piece was going, and listening to
its smooth, yet unsettling progression from a simple vibraphone ostinato coupled
with woodwind harmony, and string / piano interruptions and reflecting on the
pieces mood, direction and purpose. It occurred to me from listening, that the
piece had this sense of stalking or being followed. The stalking however was
not that of a violent, aggressive genuinely fear inducing stalker but more subtle,
creeping and constant creating a sense of looming. From this reflection, I
developed the idea that the piece is about shadows, our eternal stalkers;
wherever there is light, there are shadows. This idea provided me with significant
stimulus to continue with the piece but to take it in a new direction, using this
metaphor of shadows. I wanted the piece to reach points where the shadows
became almost overwhelming, confusing and disorientating for the listener.
The section from bars 42 61, are the intended swell of the shadows, using
varied rhythmic ideas and pushing the harmony in new directions I hoped to
create this overwhelming idea of the shadow becoming too distressing, reaching a
point at which the metaphorical person would close their eyes from fear of them.
(See full score).
In addition to this desire to take the piece in a new, more violent, almost
overwhelming direction I had recently attended a woodwind department lunchtime
concert which premiered several new works by both students and a member of staff.
This concert highlighted to me something which I had gradually overlooked more and
more as I settled into writing the piece, the element I had overlooked being the great
timbral capabilities of the woodwind instruments in their extreme registers. I was
therefore keen to utilise this realization in my new, more aggressive passages to come.
As a result of this reflection and realisation I decided to integrate these timbres into
the section from bar 114 to the end, particularly with the flute switching to piccolo

and playing a lot of the material at the top of the register to produce that piercing tone,
highlighting the mood of the section. (See Example 6).

(Example 6)
Another point of interest for me when writing the piece was being forced to
consider the practicalities of writing a piece which one day may be performed by life
musicians, as opposed to a computer rendering of the notes. One particular practically
which I had to address after consultation with Rory was that of appropriate inclusion
of dynamics. A little explanation is perhaps required in order to illustrate what exactly
I mean by appropriate inclusion of dynamics. Before writing this piece, or indeed
beginning the Masters degree, it had not occurred to me that players would often need
reminding of what dynamic they are meant to be playing at. The inclusion of
dynamics had to me coming from a pianistic background seemed merely like an
activation switch, ie once you were activated to play piano you would continue to
play piano until otherwise instructed. After discussions with Rory about this point, he
suggested that I bare in mind the following:
a) It is better to be safe than sorry
b) You can often be caught out when the players have a page turn, or are in the
midst of a busy section with a lot going on, and they can forget.
c) The conductor particularly will be turning pages very regularly and will be
dealing with the overall dynamic structure of the piece in both rehearsals and
performances, and the more reminders and indications you can provide the
conductor the more likely you are to receive a successful performance of your
work.
Baring this in mind, I spent a lot of time going through the piece and adding extra
dynamic indications and reminders which is advice I will definitely take forward
into any other work I produce in the future. (See example 6)

Example 6

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As this was my first piece of the year, after what was essentially a year away from
composition, I found that my musical grammar was not necessarily up to scratch.
The scoring of the ensemble piece is generally good with some interesting texutres
and colours, although he is well aware that there is a considerable amount of tidying
up required before the score is presented.
After discussing this with Rory, we concluded that I would have to go through
the piece bar by bar to correct things such as incorrect enharmonics and poorly
notated rhythms. Example 7 is from two of my brief notes during a lesson. (See
example 7)

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Example 7.

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Example 7 shows how my understanding of notation, and the practical implications of

such demands on players may at some stages be highly difficult to play, as a result of
this feedback I edited the bass trombone section to be less busy and allow the
players more time to prepare the very deep bass notes. (Example 8)

Example 8.
This was quite a daunting task to go through for a thirty nine page score,
however after going through it with a fine tooth comb (and I am sure there will be
more to fix pre-submission in term three) I feel I have learned a great deal about truly
correct musical notation. In order to evidence this toothcombing I have included in
the complete score.

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Conclusion
Overall, I found the writing of this piece to be somewhat of a watershed
moment in my compositional development. Having learned much about notational
issues, the practicalities of writing music for live players, making a piece functional
and easier to rehearse and finally, about structuring my work in a coherent way. The
skills I learned during the development of this piece are already standing me in good
stead with the pieces I am currently working on.
Having to document the development of the piece in this way, by
keeping a log of its progress, issues and successes has been of benefit to my
development as a composer. I would argue, however, that as a composer, I am
constantly evaluating everything I do to decide whether it is good enough to make
the cut, whether it is musically effective and whether it is practically functional.

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Bibliography
Adler, Samuel 2002 The Study of Orchestration
Audio Link to Shadows
https://soundcloud.com/michael-mceneny/shadows

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