One Day Wonder #229

For 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 2 trombones and tuba.

My main goal for today’s piece was to make 4 sound like an odd meter, so I subdivided the measure into 2+3+3. Just to contribute to the odd effect, I threw in a measure of 7/8 every so often. These usually occur at the ends of phrases. For the A theme, I spice up things by immediately by going for the non-diatonic third relation. That means that in the key of A major, I drop down to F major in the second measure. It’s used a lot in music, so it should sound pretty familiar. There are a few more harmonic hiccups along the way, but the A theme stays mainly diatonic. The B theme in the horn is harmonically more slippery, first starting out in D and then going off in other directions. The persistent two-octave unisons in the trumpet and tuba direct the ear away from what the horn is doing. We briefly come back to the A theme, then head to the C theme, which is more of an interlude for tuba. After that, it’s back to the A theme for a last time. The horn plays a countermelody and we’re done. This piece accomplishes two things: it make plain ol’ 4/4 sound funky and fiddles with form to my satisfaction. Most pieces I’m writing require some kind of form, since I’m writing melodies with accompaniment. Sure, you can argue that any given piece doesn’t have to involve structure or repetition, but I work hard to craft melodies and feel that they deserve reiteration. That’s just the kind of guy I am. Anyhow, what with all my dissatisfaction at my own laziness and lack of imagination, this piece stands in the face of that. I really like it. And I hope you do, too.