Music Evaluation

My piece, The Roasted Chipmunk, was intended to be played by the hand

bells at the Christmas Concert. We studied various pieces such as Hallelujah
by Handel, Zadok the Priest and other pieces from our topic of study, music
for special occasions. My piece was to be written in the following form:

Intro A A1 B B1 A A1 Outro
4 Bars 8 Bars 4 Bars


This style of playing is called ternary form. The intro consisted of block
chords from the first four bars of section A, and the Outro consisted of the
last four bars of A1.
Sections A and B are simple unharmonised melodies, whereas A1 and B1
and the melodies harmonised with 3
rds
and 6
ths
.
Firstly, I started my piece in D major, because it is a warm key, and reminds
me of the warmth of Christmas and the smell of a roasting chipmunk.
Next, as the piece was to be played by hand bells, I realised that my main
melody would have to be played quite high up for it to be clear, and
prevent it from getting mixed up with the other notes.
So, afterwards I had considered all these factors, I came up with a very
simple, yet effective melody, made up by the triads in the bass line which
helped it to catch the listeners attention and make it memorable and easy
to listen to.
My A section was eight bars long, as commissioned and the bass line was
taken from the notes in my melody, but it also helped form part of my
melody. My A1 was my A section repeated, but with a harmonisation,
which made it sound richer and add more depth to the piece and a greater
sense of direction.
Secondly, I had to write my B section. I chose to modulate my piece from D
major to A major, as this is its corresponding major key, and as its a fifth
above and goes very well alongside D major. The format would be the same
as before, but I used some contrasting notes, taking full range of the hand
bells 3 octaves.
Again, my melody was quite flowing and comprised of a series of ascending
and descending patterns, yet retained a sense of purpose and direction.
Afterwards, I decided to add some chords to the melody, and they were
quite simple to construct as I chose the notes that fitted well alongside my
melody and it worked well, as they didnt clash and they supported the
melody. Next I had to work on my harmony for my B1 section, which was a
little harder to do, but I ended up with a well rounded B and B1 section and
I finished it on the tonic, so that it sounded completed.
Finally, in conclusion, I believe that my piece was quite successful,
especially after having heard it played on the hand bells. The intro was very
good, and the combination of chords worked quite well. All of my sections
were very melodic, and gave me a simple, yet effective and solid tune, and
my B and B1 sections provided a contrast in rhythms and key. The main
difficulty was the task of having to compose that simple and effective tune,
which was what I was after, as that was what suited the hand bells best,
and its was through my inspiration given to me by our studied pieces that I
could achieve this. Overall, I am extremely please with the effect of my
piece and it fulfilled all my expectations.