Sometimes I wonder why I don’t write so many songs nowadays. There are quite a few reasons. Lack of time is one. Related to that is the fact I used to write the lyrics & chords and record them straight away, while now I tend to write the score first (this, obviously, takes more time, even being fluent with a given software). There is a reason of quality: I used to record anything that came to my head, independently or how good or bad it could be. And then there is a matter of originality: if a song sounds to me like another among many by me or hundred thousands by others, I don’t have much motivation to finish it. Should I go back to all those one-two recorded phrases in my mobile device to try to do something out of it? When?
Then here and there a reason appears for some strong inner tension that needs to be relieved. I forget about being liked or needing to sleep or finish my Assignment or correcting my own students’ works (it’s Friday anyway) or eating, I forget about being original, I forget about instrumentation or quality and I write a sketch like the following.
Some bars afterwards, I decided to be reasonable and come back to my Assignment. So this is just the first page of it. The only thing I kept in mind was to avoid, if possible, a perfect cadence, in order to keep the music going (see the Roman numbers). Conceived as a song, I will call it now Section A, continues with A’, then there will be a refrain or Section B, a section A” with the motif variated on the left hand, again the refrain and then end.
I considered this beginning as a possibility for Assignment 5. But then, I have already 4 pages for that purpose somewhere else!
I’ll keep you informed.
Jorge Cortés' music blog 