Section C has been completed, in essence I took the main two melodies from the piano lines in section A (dun—dun—d-d-d-dun— if you’ve been listening along that might help pick out which part it is!). I fed these two melodies to the violin and clarinet, stretching them out by their rhythmic value, aiming to create a nice mournful, epic sound spoken about in my first post on this work.
Furthermore, these melodies continue the theme of rhythmic hocket which is present throughout “Hectic Jacaranda” by Damien Ricketson, and explored in numerous ways throughout my BABY STEPS (click to view an example).
Section B is built from am original rhythmic motif that has melody applied to the corresponding rhythms played by the violin and clarinet, whereas section C is built from the two main melodies in section A, with a new rhythmic sensibility applied and the hocket technique between the two lead instruments. This way, section C sounds as if it has one main melody instead of two competing or duelling parts as section B does, which was the intention for section B.
Oh yeah, I’ve also thrown in some more chords to break away from the monochromatic tonic and dominant harmonic landscape set up so far throughout. New chords introduced in section C are chord VI, IV and viio7. Props to Lewis Cornwell who has taught a lowly music 1 graduate to have a decent command of tonal music language and terminology.
TLDR = new chords in this section cause only two chords used so far and got boring.
The use of the hocket technique to separate the melodic instruments also relates to my model work “Hectic Jacaranda” by Damien Ricketson on another level. In this article (https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/sonic-beacons-in-the-pandemic-age), Damien speaks about the significance that the work carried given it’s creation and early existence occurring at the time of early Co-vid 19 becoming worldwide. This is expressed in the fact that the constant hocket does not allow the two instruments to play simultaneously, a metaphor for the music world during Co-vid. My musical response to this in section C of my work (yet untitled) stages a hocket between violin and clarinet to keep them separate in time, then as the note values become quicker in subsequent repeats of the phrase, the violin and clarinet finally unite and harmonise for the first time in the piece, a metaphor for musicians and people in general starting to reconnect in person in a post Co-vid and zoom meeting riddled world.
A performance of Hectic Jacaranda can be viewed here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSqvFHvDMGs). Damien also speaks of the performers being separated, and their ensemble communication and their entire musical experience being “mediated via technology” (video description). Anyone else try to stage a band rehearsal over zoom over the last two years? Yeah, those experiences and then some are reflected in Damien’s work.
Mitchell Davis Music Education Study Blog 2019-22 