Write the Music

Witold Lutoslawski defined his chain form with this words:

"[The Chain Form] consists of two structurally independent strands. Sections within each strand begin and end at different times."

I will use figures 29-31 of Lutoslawski´s Chain 2 for solo violin and orchestra to ilustrate this:



The violin part is one of the strands Lutoslawski talks about. The other strand is the orchestra part. In this example, both strands are in binary form. The first section of the violin part is written in green notes, and the second in blue notes. The first section of the orchestra part is written in black notes, and the second in red ones. As you can see, they begin and end at different times. The end of a section and the begining of a new one is defined by a change of the materials used. Look at the violin strand. The materials used to build the first section melodies are interval-classes 2 and 7. At figure 31 the materials used in the violin strand change. Now the violin plays chords built with interval-classes 1 and 6. Notice that the change of section happens not only because of the change of intervalic materials, but also because of the change of compositional materials (single-note melodies in figures 29 and 30, chords in figure 31). Notice also that both strands do not share compositional material. This feature is used to achive structural independency.

At some points of the composition the violin and the orchestra strands will end a section together (at figure 15, for instance). Those points divide mayor structural sections. The chain form does not imply both strands should never meet.

This form may give some "modern" air to your music. It can also be mixed with classical forms such as pasacaglia, rondó and even sonata form. Explore it and have fun!

Since I finished my composition studies at Peru's National Conservatory I've felt the constant need to widen my knowledge reading more and more music written by The Masters. Here are the steps I use to extract the most from their scores:

1. Notate every chord. Writing down every chord's roman numerals and inversions makes you read every note of the score, which gives you a deeper knowledge of the piece. If you're reading contemporary classical music, use set theory to notate the chords.

2. Divide the piece in sections. Write signs for the principal sections of the music according to its form (sonata, rondó, minuet, etc). If you're dealing with contemporary classical music, look for places where the music "breaths" or changes the materials it is working on. Devide large sections into smaller ones, until you have sectiones of max. 8 measures.

3. Work on the first smaller section you got. Focus on melodic issues. Write down 3 things you find remarkable about how the melodic lines of this music were written. Avoid general statements. Instead, focus on particularities of the music. One you`ve finished, apply the same procedure on rhythmic issues. Then, do the same on harmonic issues. When finished, move on to the next section, and so on until you've done the hole piece (or movement).

4. Try to answer this questions: what was the composer trying to express? What musical means did he use to achieve it? It might be useful to imagine the music as a theather piece, or a movie.

If you're performing an orchestral analysis, you can add instrumental and orchestral issues to stept 3. If you have little experience and want to study contemporary classical music, I strongy recommend you to study beethoven's piano sonatas first. Once you've studied them all, you'll be ready to analyze anything!

This method helped me a great deal! Hope this helps someone else too. If so, please let me know!

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