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ComposingBach Badinerie

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J.S.Bach: BADINERIE from Orchestral Suite No.2 in B minor

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Composing worksheet 2: MELODYBach’s Badinerie is in the key of B minor. Here are the scales of B minor – get to know them!

B harmonic minor B melodic minor

On an instrument of your choice, improvise using the scale of B harmonic minor. Think about the balance of ideas, and work to create question and answering phrases. Start with the plan below.

You could improvise on your own, or work with a partner. Use the first 5 notes as shown to improvise your musical ‘questions’. Use the last 4 notes in the scale to improvise the musical

‘answers’.

TIP: Two important pitches in melody writing are the tonic and the dominant notes. In the key of B minor:

- the tonic note is B - the dominant note is F#.

It may be a good idea to use these pitches at the beginning and end of your phrases.

Can you record your ideas?

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ComposingBach Badinerie

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Choose 4 notes from the scale of B minor.

Write them here:

Now compose a succession of at least 16 pitches, using just the 4 notes and repeating them as you please [Tip: Start and end on the note of B].

In a time signature of your choice, add rhythms to create at least 8 bars of music. Play your ideas, or record into Sibelius (or similar) to hear what they sound like.

Now write the pitches out again, with different note-values and in a different time signature. You can repeat any of the pitches.

Next, create some different melodic ideas in the same way, using a different combination of notes, with different rhythms [You could start on a B or an F#, and end on a B or an F#].

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ComposingBach Badinerie

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Let’s examine some of Bach’s melodic ideas a little more closely.

The pitch range of these melodic ideas is mostly high – remember that the melody in this piece is played on a flute. The instrument (or voice) that you are composing for must be taken into consideration.

1st main idea, bars 1-2 2nd main idea, bars 2-4 3rd main idea, bars 6-8

Pedal note idea in phrase extension, bars 12-14

a) b) c) d)

Note that this little fig at the end of the 2nd idea goes from the mediant note to the tonic note in B minor to close the phrase i.e. 3→1.

By adding a passing note here, the outcome is 3→ 2→ 1. The melody falls by step to the tonic note.

This is how the same idea would look in the dominant key of F# minor.

Bach decorates this idea when he modulates to F# minor at the end of Section A (flute part).

The decoration includes a lower auxiliary note, this is known as a mordent.

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Now try writing some melodic patterns of your own, still in the key of B minor.

Type of idea Sketches

Idea based on an arpeggio figure

Idea using a repeated note and an interval

Idea using a pedal note, or pattern

Scalic melodic pattern to complete a phrase

Idea using a sequence

Moving towards the end of the phrase (e.g the 3-2-1 idea)

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ComposingBach Badinerie

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Further tasks1. Still working in the key of B minor, compose a 2-bar musical question.

Play it and refine it until you are happy with your ‘musical question’.

2. Now copy it out four times and add a different ‘musical answer’ to each of the questions.

3. Create a melodic idea which is completely conjunct / stepwise.

4. Now adapt your idea to include a defining feature e.g. interval of a 3rd.

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How can your ideas be ...adapted...varied...developed?

Choose a 1-bar motif from one of your melodic lines (already composed above). Write it below, then continue the idea in two ways:

• As an ascending sequence

• As a descending sequence.

5. Compose a melody which uses a mix of various intervals and stepwise movement.

6. Compose a melody which features one particular interval and stepwise movement.

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For consideration: What’s wrong with this melodic line in B minor?