One of the great joys of singing in a choir that promotes contemporary works is that we get to sing a lot of great new pieces. For the most part, this is fun and a great learning experience. However, sometimes, I have mixed feelings about commissioned pieces, because there is that element of surprise and you never know what you will get.
Now I realize that having a piece commissioned is quite a privilege, so please take this with a huge crystal of salt, but I have a few requests for people who wish to commission pieces for treble choirs (especially ones that I'm singing in).
1. Please do not commission pieces that entail us sustaining a high F for really really long periods of time. It is right on many sopranos' breaks, so it's really hard to sustain a high F for that long and make it sound pretty.
2. If you are going to make us sing anything above a G (natural) and want us to sing it at a dynamic softer than a p, which is already pushing it, we won't like this very much. I realize that the bridesmaid song or whatever it's called in whatever common opera whose name I cannot recall has the sopranos humming a high B, but please don't follow this composer's example.
3. If you are going to put your pieces in a key that has more than 4 flats, please don't add too many sections with zillions of accidentals. It makes it really hard to check pitches on the violin. Instead of the key of G-flat or C-flat, please consider the key of G or D instead. Unless you are Francesco Manfredini and write very obvious melody and harmony lines that are easy to follow (even in key signatures that use 4-5 flats), in which case, you can write in whatever key you wish.
I am currently working on a piece that has six flats, and for this one passage that has 50 accidentals, I've had to resort to checking pitches on the violin, since I don't have a piano. Not to state the obvious, but I am checking pitches, b/c I am unsure of them. But then when the composer uses six flats in his key signature, all of my reference points (i.e. the open strings) are gone. If that were all, I can just play scales and figure out my pitches, but when the entire section is composed of weird accidentals, it makes it almost impossible to check pitches.
I'm sure I have more, but I now must return to my music and try to figure out this annoying sequence of sharps and flats and double sharps, etc., which I'm sure that were I a more proficient player, I wouldn't have so much trouble with it and wouldn't be kvetching thus about composers who decide to write in the key of c-flat!!
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2 comments:
Heh. Almost all composers habitually write the most annoying things, and when you ask them not to, they get all offended and say that they're trying to "extend the technique" or something. One is tempted to reply through gritted teeth that one's technique is already extended quite enough, thank you.
:) I am actually not a huge fan of commissioned works, which sounds very anti-new-music of me, but it's more the control factor/surprise element. Of course, it's sort of moot for me, b/c I'm not the one actually picking the repertoire, but I like my director's taste in music for the most part.
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