Finals, Performances, and Moving

The next two weeks are going to be grueling on me. On Tuesday, I have the performance of Silence! for mezzosoprano, oboe, horn, and violoncello. Next week I have several finals to take: musicianship: aural skills, piano skills, theory. To top those off, I will also be relocating for the Spring and Summer back to Indy to work to pay off the housing costs incurred by living on campus for the Fall Semester.

Needless to say, I've not had much time to post on here. I'm sure my readers FULLY understand. I'll be sure to post the audio from the performance once I have it.

Work and Published!!!

Two things for today:

1. I'm aiming to get a substantial dent in this final movement of my Piano Quartet and am going to go back and work on the final draft of the first and second movements (considerably beef up the piano part, work out the string parts, etc.) The third movement so far is turning out really good - I'm very happy with what I have so far!

2, I have a poem published online now!!! Here is the link: Thanksgiving Poem! Also, you can view my contributor page here: Jason A Woodruff !!!!

Working...

I've been taking a bit of a break from composition while letting my mind stew on a few ideas for the second movement. The first movement is largely done now with the exception of the articulations and perhaps beefing up the piano part. I'm not sure what I want to do yet for the 2nd movement - generally, I find slow movements to be easy to write. This one, on the other hand, has proven to be anything but. Stay posted! I will probably do a lot of the composition on Wendesday!!

FIRST DRAFT OF FIRST MOVEMENT COMPLETE!!!!!!

I'm so excited!!! I just completed the rough draft of my first movement of my Piano Quartet. Here are my notes from it:

The quartet uses three motives. The overall structure of this movement is a sonata-allegro, with brief coda. I figured I'd post this now to get comments before I show it to my teacher on Thursday. This is the work that I ended up losing 180 bars to a Finale crash! 

Structure:

Introduction:
Measures 1 - 14: Introduction: The introduction is quite tonal, I feel. I'm uncertain about it. It sounds like it fits - and it certainly introduces some of the material I use in the movement (albeit it in disguise.) 

Exposition: You'll notice that my exposition is rather short. I introduce both themes in what I consider to be a dramatic fashion. The first theme starts with a fugue like passage. The countersubjects here I really enjoy. 

Measures 15 - 32: Fugue. This is the first theme, presented in bars 15 - 16 of the viola. The countersubject immediately follows. I break with the fugal aspect of the idea around measure 26. 

Measures 33 - 82: This is the second theme. I wanted to go for something a lot more open for this idea - especially given the thickness of the fugal texture that preceded this. This theme, along with the first, will appear in the second and third movements - albeit it disguised. My manuscript of this section luckily had heavy notes. I'm probably only going to edit a few things here - as I'm quite happy with the overall quality of this section. A few things I will change, most likely, will be the addition of the articulations for the string trio. The third theme, which will appear prominently in the third and final movement, comes in at measure 43. I really like the theme itself. I might add a tad bit of harmony to the left hand in the piano - but, I'm not sure, I really like the nakedness of the motif.

Development:
Measures 83 - 148: The transitional passage at the end of the first theme is really the beginning of the development (starting at around measure 74.) For organizational reasons related to this thread, I decided to crop it up to 83 as the start of the development. In this section, I really go out there in terms of my usage of my three themes. Needless to say, I would call this part of the movement... pure madness (perhaps that gives you a little bit of how I felt today while writing this passage... ). That said, I don't think I will expand this. I am unsure of the final 4 - 8 bars of the development section. I'm not sure my transition there was as strong as I'd like it. I might delete what I have there and rewrite it tomorrow. 

Recapitulation:
Measure 149 - 217: Recapitulation. This recap is a verbatim recap. I'm not too happy with the first part of it after the transition back to it. What I plan to do to correct this is to instead of starting back with the viola... instead start with the violin in the upper register. The articulations for this and the exposition aren't entered yet - as I want to go through this part with a fine tooth comb to correct any playability issues with the string parts - as well as maybe beef the piano part up just a bit.

Codetta:
Measures 217 - Ending: This codetta is short and most likely will be expanded. I'm thinking of expanding the last 4 bars which constitute the ending of the piece. I might make a return back to the introductory material - just to ensure a bit more of a sense of closeness. I'm very picky of my openings.. perhaps I should be especially picky this work of the ending of the movements as well.

So, the above illustrates in depth my thoughts on the movement. Now, I'd like your thoughts. This piece has so far taken me about 3 weeks to write - and given that Finale crashed on me Sunday and I was left with only the introduction to this movement, I had to rewrite a lot of this from my notes, manuscript, and brain - needless to say, I almost gave up on this. But I think I have an amazing start to this piano quartet. I'm hoping I get some good reviews so far.

Piano Quartet

So, I've decided to work on a piano quartet for a competition. I have a few good ideas - two motives - and a good start. I am thinking this will be a massive work - not fully got the overall structure down. The work so far makes extensive use of fugal textures, something that I am strongly drawn to. I will post when finished.

String Quartet Finished!!!

I am very happy to announce that I have finished my very FIRST string quartet!!!!  It took me about a month to write and presented some very difficult obstacles.  The work was written for the Young Composers August Competition.  The object was to utilize the theme to the hymn 'A Mighty Fortress'.  I'm so happy to have it finished!!!  Link below!

String Quartet

Piano Trio no. 3

So, in keeping with my focus to enter the Barlow Competition this year, I have started work on my 3rd Piano Trio.  This trio is a bit of a departure from my previous work in the genre.  The first piano trio was firmly rooted in tonality, the second trio was firmly rooted in serialism, this trio takes both and runs with it.  The material and inspiration comes from the events that have occurred to me in the past month.  Namely, the passing of my father.  The first and second movements are finished and can be found on the young composers music forum (links provided below). Leave comments please!

Piano Trio no. 3

Barlow Prize

Despite having the flu the past few days, I've started work on the second of a set of three piano trios I hope to finish this year.  The best of the 3, I plan to submit to the Barlow Prize this year.  The prize calls for a work for Piano Trio that displays the highest standards of artistry.  We'll see what I can do!

Early Piano Trio

So, I was going over some of my older works and came across this piece I wrote about 2 years ago.  This was my first piano trio.  At the time, I was very much into romantic classicism - and I think that that comes through in this work.  This was a very personal work to me at the time as well.  Hope you guys enjoy!

Piano Trio no. 1

Piano Trio no. 2 is DONE!!!!!

Finally!  After three hectic day's of composition - and nearly driving my self crazy staring at the notation program - I finally have the entire Piano Trio finished.  I'm very proud of this work overall - my first large scale serial work!  Enjoy!!


Piano Trio no. 2

Piano Trio Nearly Complete

I've been working like crazy the past 3 days on this Piano Trio.  The First and Second movements are complete.  I feel, however, that the 3rd movement will be the crowning gem of this work.  The first two movements were mere warm ups to what I've done in the 3rd movement.  I don't know, this piece (much like my last trio) resonates deeply with me.  The emotive qualities are everywhere through out it.  In the final movement, which I have now 160 measures of, I even put my name in nomenclature - designing a row for it.  The personal nature of the three instruments assists in making this work personal to me in many ways.  I'll post the finished work here on the blog as well on young composers.

Piano Trio no. 2

Well, I've started work on a 3 movement piano trio that is my first major serial work. I've completed two movements and am currently working on the third and final movement. The piece utilizes 2 rows (and their various permutations.) Despite being serialistic music, I actually rather enjoy what I've created so far - it has a unique, ethereal quality to it. Enjoy the first two movements!

Piano Trio no. 2

Bridal Processionals Completed!!

I am so excited!! Tonight I finished the third and final processional. Now I have a complete set of 3 processionals for my friend to chose from!!! If anyone is interested in listening to these pieces or ANY of my current works, here is the link:

http://www.youngcomposers.com/pg/Music/jawoodruff

Just click music above where it say's my name! Let me know if you like any!