Composition Brief and Appraisal

Composition 1 - Mazurka - APPRAISAL

For my composition 1, I had to write a piece of music that was in the style of my performance 1, and two other pieces - a Mazurka. My composition contains features that are commonly found in Mazurka’s - such as, a very lively and upbeat tempo,  so that it will fit in with the correct style.

        I feel that my composition was quite successful because towards the start of it I wasn’t very confident about what I had to do. And was unsure about what style to base it on. But in the end I was able to pick up the techniques and what the completed dance sound would sound like. And also what fits into my composition and what sounds right and wrong.

        Some of the techniques that I used in my piece included trills - which I also stated in my brief that I would use. I feel that not only is it important to the style, but it creates a smooth feeling to the piece and adds the necessary feel to the piece. Also the structure of my piece is similar to that of Anitra’s Dance by Grieg - in the way that it doesn’t repeat in large sections much, but small numbers of bars. The piece mainly relates to Anitra’s Dance as a whole, as this was the main basis for my piece, and mainly the similarities come from it. But my other two pieces, The Wedding March (Mazurka 20a) and Mazurka Fantaisie contain the typical features of Mazurka’s.

        For example Mazurka’s are normally in triple time, or ¾ and my piece is in keeping with that. I feel that by using all these features that are typical to Mazurka’s - mainly the trills and the feel that it gives the piece and the tempo used and following the brief that I stated I would follow I feel that my composition was successful and I created it to the best of my abilities. But I could never create it to be perfect, and fit in with the style of a Mazurka perfectly  - as I did not have enough time to go into an in depth study as I would have liked to. I also feel that I could have added some more ornaments into the piece - such as a Acciaccatura, where you add a smaller note in front of the original, you play it as fast as possible.