I have been analysing a chorale piece by Elaine Hagenberg called "When We Love" over the past few days. This piece was performed by Nordic Choir multiple times as a part of their fall repertoire. The composer set the words of Charles Anthony Silvestri to a rich melodic framework.
Since my theory teacher is doing four-part writing in class, I am able to analyse the music better and able to relate what we do in class. Taking note of which inversions of chords go with which chords and their respective cadences. The piece is very creatively written and is broadening the way in which I think of choral music in general.
I put the entire score as a midi on my DAW FL Studio. I put it in a piano track rather than voice just so I could analyse the quality of the harmonies better. When I did that, I found that it was hard to work with a single meter to make sense of the piece and make the words land where they are supposed to. There is a technique that the composer used in this piece. It almost seemed like there was a delay put onto the voices of the singers. For eg. on the phrase "weary world". This line repeats in different voice parts, giving the piece a delay like effect. That, when played on the piano, almost sounds like the delay leads into the next chord.
I tried playing around with that effect. Instead of intentionally repeating the phrase, I tried adding an actual delay to the piece in several places. As expected, it did add the delay, but on the same pitch. When the composer does it intentionally, they have the freedom to control the pitch of the delay. Hagenberg drops the pitch of the delay and it changes the setting of the phrase and leads nicely into the next chord.
Since my theory teacher is doing four-part writing in class, I am able to analyse the music better and able to relate what we do in class. Taking note of which inversions of chords go with which chords and their respective cadences. The piece is very creatively written and is broadening the way in which I think of choral music in general.
I put the entire score as a midi on my DAW FL Studio. I put it in a piano track rather than voice just so I could analyse the quality of the harmonies better. When I did that, I found that it was hard to work with a single meter to make sense of the piece and make the words land where they are supposed to. There is a technique that the composer used in this piece. It almost seemed like there was a delay put onto the voices of the singers. For eg. on the phrase "weary world". This line repeats in different voice parts, giving the piece a delay like effect. That, when played on the piano, almost sounds like the delay leads into the next chord.
I tried playing around with that effect. Instead of intentionally repeating the phrase, I tried adding an actual delay to the piece in several places. As expected, it did add the delay, but on the same pitch. When the composer does it intentionally, they have the freedom to control the pitch of the delay. Hagenberg drops the pitch of the delay and it changes the setting of the phrase and leads nicely into the next chord.
Thanks for the update, Ani! Maybe you can also include some updates on your project for this class, just so we can keep track.
ReplyDeleteThat actually sounds like a lot of fun what you were doing! It is really cool sometimes the effects a composer can create when writing choral music, and it's really neat that you were able to go further and try some of the effects yourself.
ReplyDelete----Also this was Jamie
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