question
Compose a musical piece following the structure of a minuet
Ending the first section of exercises is a new piece, building off the knowledge from the previous exercises, without using any of the pieces from them. This was much more difficult than the previous exercises, because I had the least guidance – I had no idea what a minuet was.
So. A minuet is a musical form originating in the Baroque period, in 3/4 time. It’s built up of repeating sections, in its original form a simple AABB pattern, where the second section is generally of equal or longer length.
Since Baroque minuets were originally meant to accompany a dance, they were generally built from a steady quarter beat base rhythm, over which an eighth note melody is played.
X:1
T:fig. 1
K:F
M: 3/4
L:1/8
V:T clef=treble
V:B clef=bass
[V:T] AC'FC'GC' | AC'BC'GC' |]
[V:B] F,2A,,2F,,2 | F,,2G,,2E,,2 |]
Later minuets became more complex, taking on a ternary structure, ABA.
But in these cases, the A and B sections are more or less entire Baroque minuets of their own, with the second contrasting the first, and the final part being played de capo – that is, the composing parts are played only once.
Thus, a more accurate representation of the minuet form would be AABB CCDD AB.
I had a few false starts with this one. But eventually I settled on starting with a simple chord progression as the rhythm – going with an i-v-BVII-IV chord progression in the key of A minor.
X:1
T:A rhythm
K:F
M: 3/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=120
V:B clef=bass
[V:B] F,,A,,D, | E,,A,,C, | E,,G,,C, | D,,G,,B,, |]
Over this, I built a simple melody, trying (somewhat) to stick to notes that were part of a chord.
X:1
T:A section
K:F
M: 3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
V:T clef=treble
V:B clef=bass
[V:T] F'A'G'F'C'E' | D'2E'2F'2 | G'1/2A'1/2B'1/2G'1/2 A'F'G'E' | D'2E'2F'2 :|]
[V:B] F,,2A,,2D,2 | E,,2A,,2C,2 | E,,2G,,2C,2 | D,,2G,,2B,,2 :|]
Then for the B section, I decided to go for 8 measures – the first 4, the rhythm used the same chords, but a falling instead of a rising arpeggio, and then in a different order for the second 4 bars. I wrote a melody that I think contrasted the A section.
X:1
T:B section
K:F
M: 3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
V:T clef=treble
V:B clef=bass
[V:T] D'AC'GBF | D'AC'GBF | C'G A1/2B1/2C' B2 | G1/2A1/2B A2A2 | D'AC'GAF | A2B2G2 | D'1/2E'1/2 D'1/2C'1/2 BAGF | G1/2A1/2B D'1/2E'1/2F' G'1/2F'1/2E' :|]
[V:B] D,2A,,2F,,2 | C,2A,,2E,,2 | C,2G,,2E,,2 | B,,2G,,2D,,2 | A,,2F,,2D,2 | A,,2E,,2C,2 | G,,2E,,2C,2 | G,,2D,,2B,,2 :|]
Next are the next 2 repeating sections, C & D. They’re meant to contrast A & B, and usually have a “softer, more lyrical feel” but I don’t know what I’m doing.
C is my favorite section of the piece. It’s very simple, but a really nice contrast to prior sections.
X:1
T:C section
K:F
M: 3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
V:T clef=treble
V:B clef=bass
[V:T] F'2A'2G'2 | F'2C'2E'2 | D'4E'2- | E'2 F'4 :|]
[V:B] D,,6 | A,,6 | C,,6 | G,,6 :|]
For the rhythm, I just took the base note of each chord, and stretched out the first 2 measures of section A to double time.
And finally, with the D section, I sped things up again. For the first 4 measures, I took the falling rhythm of the B chords and did them in half time, twice each. Then stuck with the falling arpeggio but with quarter notes for the second 4.
The melody, however, takes the falling phrase from B and stretches it out for the first 4 measures, then … I don’t know, I just placed notes ‘til they felt right.
X:1
T:D section
K:F
M: 3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
V:T clef=treble
V:B clef=bass
[V:T] D'2A2C'2 | G2B2F2 | D'2A2C'2 | G2B2F2 | GA B1/2C'1/2 A1/2B1/2 AF | A2 B1/2C'1/2 A1/2B1/2 G2 | D'1/2E'1/2 D'1/2C'1/2 BA D'1/2E'1/2 D'1/2C'1/2 | BA D'1/2E'1/2 F' G'1/2F'1/2 E :|]
[V:B] D,A,,F,, D,A,,F,, | C,A,,E,, C,A,,E,, | C,G,,E,, C,G,,E,, | B,,G,,D,, B,,G,,D,, | D,2A,,2F,,2 | C,2A,,2E,,2 | C,2G,,2E,,2 | B,,2G,,2D,,2 :|]
So, putting it all together:
X:1
T:etude 1.4 – minuet
K:F
M: 3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=120
V:T clef=treble
V:B clef=bass
P:A
[V:T] F'A'G'F'C'E' | D'2E'2F'2 | G'1/2A'1/2B'1/2G'1/2 A'F'G'E' | D'2E'2F'2 :|
[V:B] F,,2A,,2D,2 | E,,2A,,2C,2 | E,,2G,,2C,2 | D,,2G,,2B,,2 :|
P:B
[V:T] D'AC'GBF | D'AC'GBF | C'G A1/2B1/2C' B2 | G1/2A1/2B A2A2 | D'AC'GAF | A2B2G2 | D'1/2E'1/2 D'1/2C'1/2 BAGF | G1/2A1/2B D'1/2E'1/2F' G'1/2F'1/2E' :|
[V:B] D,2A,,2F,,2 | C,2A,,2E,,2 | C,2G,,2E,,2 | B,,2G,,2D,,2 | A,,2F,,2D,2 | A,,2E,,2C,2 | G,,2E,,2C,2 | G,,2D,,2B,,2 :|
P:C
[V:T] F'2A'2G'2 | F'2C'2E'2 | D'4E'2- | E'2 F'4 :|
[V:B] D,,6 | A,,6 | C,,6 | G,,6 :|
P:D
[V:T] D'2A2C'2 | G2B2F2 | D'2A2C'2 | G2B2F2 | GA B1/2C'1/2 A1/2B1/2 AF | A2 B1/2C'1/2 A1/2B1/2 G2 | D'1/2E'1/2 D'1/2C'1/2 BA D'1/2E'1/2 D'1/2C'1/2 | BA D'1/2E'1/2 F' G'1/2F'1/2 E :|
[V:B] D,A,,F,, D,A,,F,, | C,A,,E,, C,A,,E,, | C,G,,E,, C,G,,E,, | B,,G,,D,, B,,G,,D,, | D,2A,,2F,,2 | C,2A,,2E,,2 | C,2G,,2E,,2 | B,,2G,,2D,,2 :|
P:A
[V:T] F'A'G'F'C'E' | D'2E'2F'2 | G'1/2A'1/2B'1/2G'1/2 A'F'G'E' | D'2E'2F'2 |
[V:B] F,,2A,,2D,2 | E,,2A,,2C,2 | E,,2G,,2C,2 | D,,2G,,2B,,2 |
P:B
[V:T] D'AC'GBF | D'AC'GBF | C'G A1/2B1/2C' B2 | G1/2A1/2B A2A2 | D'AC'GAF | A2B2G2 | D'1/2E'1/2 D'1/2C'1/2 BAGF | G1/2A1/2B D'1/2E'1/2F' G'1/2F'1/2E' |
[V:B] D,2A,,2F,,2 | C,2A,,2E,,2 | C,2G,,2E,,2 | B,,2G,,2D,,2 | A,,2F,,2D,2 | A,,2E,,2C,2 | G,,2E,,2C,2 | G,,2D,,2B,,2 |
P:End
[V:T] D6 | E6 | D6- | D6 |]
[V:B] F,,6 &\ A,,6 &\ D,6- | F,,6 &\ A,,6 &\ D,6- | F,,6 &\ A,,6 &\ D,6- | F,,6 &\ A,,6 &\ D,6 |]