Classical Piece

Research

For composing my classical piece I wanted to research the different sub genres in classical music and learn about different composers and styles of playing, this will help me plan my piece by giving me more knowledge on classical music and how classical pieces are composed. I started my reasearch by looking through different websites about the different genres in classical music, I read through and found three different sub genres that intrested me they where , Symphony , Chamber Music and Concerto. Martina. “Classical Music Genres.” IMusician, 2024, imusician.pro/en/resources/blog/classical-music-genres.

Symphony

A Symphony is a Piece of music written for an orchestra, so it involves many different instruments and different parts to the piece. the intruments that are used are, Stringed instruments like violins, cellos, double basses. also woodwind and brass instruments are used. However piano is not common in a symphony it still can be used in it for example Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven cherkin, Georgii. “YouTube.” Youtu.be, 2012, youtu.be/Hu7hscHkfPw. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.

Chamber Music

Chamber music involves much less instruments than a Symphony, theres no more than 10 people / insruments involved. The genre Chamber music was used more in social settings instead of being performed on a stage, this means the music is much softer, quieter and less dramatic so it could be enjoyed in different social places. there isn't often solos in chamber music its very much a group performance with all the musicians.

Concerto

A concerto is a piece of music written for a small or big orchestra but has one instrument having a solo throughout the song. A lot of instruments are used as the solo instrument for example the violin, flute or cello but the most popular instrument used is the piano. The concerto style was a very popular choice for many famous composers like Mozart, Chopin, and Beethoven. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Concerto Summary | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, www.britannica.com/summary/concerto-music.

Planning

Using my research I have decided to write my classical piece in the style of Concerto. This is because I want the piano to be the main instrument so using the concerto style I can write piano solos in my piece. Writing a classical piece is difficult as its hard to get inspiration and ideas of where to start as u don't hear classical music much in this era, so I decided to listen to a few classical pieces to get some inspiration. For example I listened to Chopin's Waltz in C sharp minor, I liked how in the left hand Chopin used chords in the 3/4 time signature creating the waltz sound, but he didn't keep the same tempo through the whole song it sometimes became much faster, out of time or slowed down completely. this gave me inspiration for writing my piece so i started by playing different chord progressions in the 3/4 time signature until i found some chords that I liked. I chose for my left hand chords to be D minor - A major - G minor - A major. After playing the chord progression a few times I was happy with it and then needed to decide on what the right hand would play. normaly when composing a song I find a scale that goes around the chord progression, then using the scale I can write a piece thats in key. At first i chose the Dminor scale but after playing the chord progression and the scale together i decided that it was close but not the exact sound i was trying to get so instead i used the Dminor harmonic scale wich has a c sharp in it, this changes alot creating a almost Egyptian sound but then when played with the chord progression it creates a very easten european classical music sound wich I am aiming for. As i want my piece to be a Conerto the intruments that i want to make up the orchestra are violins, flutes, cello, double bass and horns. Even though there is alot of intruments involved i will make sure I compose piano solos into the piece creating the concerto style.

Classical Piece

classical final.mp3

This is my finished classical piece of music. Using my planning and research I managed to compose this piece, I took inspiration from Chopins waltz in C sharp minor, rousseau. “Chopin-Waltz c Sharp Minor.” Youtu.be, 2025, youtu.be/SUT_0c2QVzo. Accessed 19 May 2025. You are able to hear some similarities and where I got inspiration from at the 0:56 second mark during Chopin's Waltz and then throughout my whole composition you can hear that im also using staccato chords in my left hand but then playing legato in my right. I composed this classical piece in the concerto style, but instead of composing this track for a big orchestra I decided to only use a smaller amount of instruments for example, violins, flutes, cellos and the piano. When composing this piece I decided that I wanted different dynamic changes to make certain sections of the song sound more dramatic. For example during the first half of the song the melody is much softer and quiter creating a suspenseful build up to the second half of the composition wich sounds dramatic and the intruments are much louder.

When writing this composition I stuck to my plan of writing the song using the D minor harmonic sclae and i also used the chord pregression I planned on using, writing this composition in this particular scale gives the song a certain classical sound. Instead of my composition being peaceful and calming like Mozart's - Symphany 9, I wanted it to sound dramatic and have a dark estern european feeling to it like Marcus Joseph's - Choosing sides. Using the D minor harmonic scale defenitely helped me achive that goal.

Works Cited

Am4d3usM0z4rt. “Mozart. Symphony No.9.” Youtu.be, 2025, youtu.be/dh8LxxhGjfU?si=EG-qbBlR-TmSAfvo&t=257. Accessed 20 May 2025.

cherkin, Georgii. “YouTube.” Youtu.be, 2012, youtu.be/Hu7hscHkfPw. Accessed 13 Apr. 2025.

Joseph, Marcus . “Choosing Side.” Youtu.be, 2025, youtu.be/Z9DiD8g537M?si=702-GqL4Zv4AV36V&t=133. Accessed 20 May 2025.

Martina. “Classical Music Genres.” IMusician, 2024, imusician.pro/en/resources/blog/classical-music-genres.

Rousseau. “Chopin- Waltz c Sharp Minor.” Youtu.be, 2025, youtu.be/SUT_0c2QVzo?si=6k9r_gsULNwbMxqt. Accessed 11 May 2025.

rousseau. “Chopin-Waltz c Sharp Minor.” Youtu.be, 2025, youtu.be/SUT_0c2QVzo. Accessed 19 May 2025.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Concerto Summary | Britannica.” Www.britannica.com, www.britannica.com/summary/concerto-music.

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