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Begin by choosing a 'model' composition.
This model should be a piece of music which you admire. Even better if it is a piece you know well because you have studied, played or sung it before.
This model should be similar to the piece of music you hope to compose. It should have similar performing forces and stylistic features.
This model should be for small forces: normally between one and five instrumental or vocal lines.
Most importantly, this model should be tonally and/or harmonically complex: the highest scoring A level compositions submitted by Tiffin students have included prominent dissonance and chromaticism.
This model may come from western art or jazz traditions/genres. (The harmonic simplicity of models from pop genres usually make them unsuitable).
Consequently, this model will, most likely, be a piece of 20th Century, late 19th Century or 21st Century harmonically complex music.
You will borrow material from this model composition, especially harmonic and textural material, to compose your own piece.
Therefore you must bring with you to EVERY COMPOSITION LESSON/CLINIC a PRINTED SCORE OF YOUR MODEL COMPOSITION. No model composition: no progress.
The following works, some used successfully by former A-level students, are examples of suitable model compositions:
Solo Piano Models
Solo Piano Models
Bartok 3 Hungarian Folksongs
Bartok 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs
Berg Piano Sonata
Copland Cat and Mouse
Copland Passacaglia
Debussy Estampes
Debussy Preludes
Gershwin 3 Preludes
Gershwin An American in Paris for Piano
Gershwin Promenade for Piano
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue for Solo Piano
Gershwin Song Arrangements for Piano
Poulenc 10 Improvisations
Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin
Stravinsky Firebird for Piano
Villa Lobos Homage a Chopin
Solo Voice Models
Solo Voice Models
Berg 4 Songs
Debussy 2 Romances
Debussy 4 Melodies
Debussy 12 Songs
Debussy Nuit d’etoiles
Gurney Five Elizabethan Songs
Holst Vedic Hymns
Honegger 6 Poemes Appollinaire
Poulenc 5 Poemes Max Jacob
Ravel 3 Poemes Mallarme
Schoenberg 4 Lieder
Vaughan Williams 5 Mystical Songs
String Models
String Models
Bartok Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta
Bartok String Quartet 1
Berg Violin Concerto
Debussy String Quartet in G minor
Debussy Violin Sonata
Honegger Cello Sonata
Ives Violin Sonata 4
Kodaly String Quartet 1
Ravel String Quartet
Ravel Violin Sonata
Schoenberg String Quartet 1
Stravinsky 3 Pieces for String Quartet
Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending (Vln Pno)
Villa Lobos String Quartet 1
Weill String Quartet
Woodwind Models
Woodwind Models
Bernstein Clarinet Sonata
Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie (Clarinet)
Finzi Five Bagatelles (Clarinet)
Finzi Oboe Quintet
Honegger Concerto da Camera (Fl CA Pno)
Honegger Romance (Flute)
Honegger Sonatine (Clarinet)
Poulenc Clarinet Sonata
Poulenc Flute Sonata
Poulenc Oboe Sonata
Prokofiev Flute Sonata
Prokofiev Quintet (Ob Cl Vln Vla Db)
Stravinsky Histoire du Soldat (Cl Vln Pno)
Brass Models
Brass Models
Enescu Legende (Trumpet)
Guilmant Morceau de Symphonique (Trombone)
Hindemith Trombone Sonata
Hindemith Trumpet Sonata
Ibert Impromptu (Trumpet)
Poulenc Elegie (Horn)
Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto
Choral Models
Choral Models
Debussy 3 Chansons de Charles Orleans
Hindemith Mass
Howells Like As The Hart
Howells Requiem
Poulenc 4 Christmas Motets
Poulenc 4 Lent Motets
Poulenc Mass in G major
Schoenberg Friede auf Erden
Vaughan Williams Lord Thou Has Been Our Refuge
Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor
Vaughan Williams Three Shakespeare Songs
Jazz Influenced Models
Jazz Influenced Models
Use these with caution: lead sheets must be paired with fully notated models
Afro Blue Santamaria 22
All My Tomorrows, Cahn/Van Heusen 28
All The Things You Are, Bill Evans
Alone Together Schwartz 32
Angel Eyes, Dennis 37
Anthropology, Bud Powell
Armageddon, Wayne Shorter 43
Autumn In New York, Vernon Duke 46
Autumn Leaves, Chick Corea
Beautiful Love, Bill Evans
Beauty And The Beast, Wayne Shorter 53
Bewitched, Rodgers and Hart 56
Big Nick, John Coltrane 57
Black Orpheus, Luiz Bonfa 62
Blue In Green, Miles Davis 66
Blue Room, Rodgers and Hart 68
Blues for Alice, Charlie Parker 70
Jazz Influenced Models
Jazz Influenced Models
Use these with caution: lead sheets must be paired with fully notated models
Body and Soul, Green 72
Ceora, Lee Morgan 86
Con Alma, Dizzie Gillespie 102
Conception, George Shearing 103
Confirmation, Charlie Parker 105
Countdown, John Coltrane 110
Crescent, John Coltrane 112
Crystal Silence, Chick Corea 113
Displacement, Bill Evans
It Might As Well Be Spring, Brad Mehldau
Gershwin 3 Preludes
Gershwin An American in Paris for Piano
Gershwin Promenade for Piano
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue for Solo Piano
Gershwin Song Arrangements for Piano
Gershwin The Man I Love for Piano
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