First of all we had to do a plan. This plan involves writing it all out before we put it onto Sibelius. This would stop any mistakes happening such as any random key changes, our chord progression getting lost and playing the wrong notes, as it’s all planned out. This plan included creating writing out a cycle of fifths, which includes writing out the order of sharps and flats; writing out the scale; then picking a key signature and figuring out how many sharps or flats it has; writing out all the chords for it and then picking the chord progression that I am going to use.
For the A section I am planning to play within the key signature of F major. I chose this key signature as I think it sounds good and would sound really good as the A section in this piece. I also chose it because I wanted to give myself a challenge and not use C major, even though that can sound very good, as I am confident enough to do so. However I didn’t want to make it unnecessarily difficult for myself. I am doing the chord progression I ii IV vi. I chose this chord progression as I know that the chords I IV V vi all sound good together in any order. So I took this knowledge and applied it to mine, as I am using chords I IV and vi. But I wanted to use a different variation of it, by changing it up and adding chord ii after chord I and don’t use chord V.
The structure I am using for the A section of my piece is where the cello comes in first for 4 bars, then after 4 bars the left hand of the piano comes in, then the right hand of the piano comes in after 4 bars, then the viola comes in 4 bars after, then violin 1 comes in after 4 bars and finally violin 2 comes in. For 8 bars after that all instruments play, then the instruments start to fade out. Instruments fades out similarly to how they came in, just the opposite. Violin 2 drops out first, then after 4 bars violin 1 drops out, the 4 bars after that the viola drops out then after that the right hand of the piano drops out. Then there is 8 bars of the piano and cello, then to end it off there are 8 bars of just the left hand of the piano.
For my B section I am going to do 8 bar chord progression. I am going to use chance composition to decide what chords I am going to use. However after I have chosen them, I am going to listen and if it doesn’t sound good I am going to change them to make it sound good. Using chance composition, the chord progression I got was V IV vi I V ii iii ii. I will add inversion to this after I have put it into Sibelius. I will also add voice leading to my A section as it is something I didn’t do. I will also add some rhythm to my piece however I am not very confident in that side of it yet.