Project 4: About Structure

Structure

My initial observations of the beginning to Wild Dance were the frantic nature of the piece.  The variable metre and use of dynamics give the piece a sense of imbalance which reflects its title, whilst the use of grace notes give the piece a clumsy feel not easily suited to dance. 

With these observations in mind I have decided to continue the piece using the same instruments in order to unpick the sense chaos in the first section and portray each instrument as a different ‘demon’.   Having researched these instruments and their character and use, I hope to use each instrument’s character to help form the different sections of the piece. 

My first thoughts on the structure of this piece are as follows:

Principal Section (A) Demons Clash	Subsidiary Section (Bi) Demons Solo	Principal Section (A) Demons Clash	Subsidiary Section (Bii) Demons Solo	Reprise of Principal Section and Closing  (C) Demons Clash
Variable Metre – using 5/8,3/8,4/8,6/8 25 bars ♩ = 156	Using 5/8 25 bars ♩ = 90	Variable Metre – using 5/8,3/8,4/8,6/8 25 bars ♩ = 156	Using 5/8 25 bars ♩ = 90	Variable Metre – using 5/8,3/8,4/8,6/8 25 bars ♩ = 156

Section A – ‘Demon’s Clash’

I have entitled this section ‘Demon’s Clash’, as the frenzy and frantic nature of the piece inspired thoughts of fighting and conflict.  Given my idea to continue the theme of demons, I have decided to base the principal section around the idea of each instrument striving to exert power and authority over the other characters. 

I plan to reflect and mirror bars 3-14 of the introduction provided for this assignment to lengthen the section in order to later explore each instrument’s character.  Therefore I plan for bars 4 – 28 to be an exact mirror of the first 14 bars.  

Later in the piece, following a solo section from each instrument, their rhythm will be adapted slightly each time section A is repeated to revealed the nature of each character. 

Section B – ‘Demon’s Solo’

Following the sense of conflict in section A, I plan to balance this piece by contrasting the principal section with a softer and more clearly defined rhythm.  I hope for this section to explore the nature of each of the instruments and reflect each ‘demon’ finding it’s own rhythm within the group. 

I plan for this section to include a solo played by all four instruments, split across two sections (Bi and Bii).  By doing this, I hope to allow each instrument to demonstrate its range, ability and character whilst the other instrument play a simplified rhythm as a back beat.  I have decided to revert to a more simplistic time signature (5/8) to give the piece a sense of relief from the chaos of section A.  In addition to this, I plan to slow the tempo of the piece to a Moderato tempo of around 90BPM. 

I plan for the rhythm that each instrument has ‘spoken’ during its solo to be incorporated in principal section  (A) succeeding.  I hope that this will enable the closing section (C) to be a crescendo of each instrument’s rhythm, portraying an epic battle.  However, I still plan to use a variable metre and heavy dynamics in section C.

Section C – ‘Demon’s Battle’

As a reprise of section A in its use of mirrored rhythms, I plan for ‘Demons Battle’ to reflect a final mighty battle between the demons, resulting in the death of all characters. 

By this point, each instrument will have had the opportunity to demonstrate its own rhythm, which will be incorporated into this section.  I hope that this, mixed with the use of variable metre will create a loud and dramatic crescendo.   In the final bars of this piece I plan to use dynamics to portray the last burst of energy before the battle is over.