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Discussion
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Evening’s Shadow Falls is a new hymn I’ve been working on that I thought I’d share for feedback.
My goal when writing this was to compose an easily singable hymn in the Dorian mode.
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Replies
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I really like this piece, and I think the mood of the music fits the text well. There are a couple of places that I noticed some harmony things, like in the last two measures of the second line. the passing notes in alto and bass create a dissonance that felt a little out of place to my ear. (I also felt a bit the same about the first chord in m. 2 on “eve”.) and in the last measure of the second line, my ear wants to hear a V chord. In the second measure of the third line, I would personally give altos a mi instead of the fa on the word “and”. on the last line, i was unsure of the ii chord in the second measure of the last line on the word “the”. then the final major chord makes me want to repeat that last two lines, (which would be amazing) but it doesn’t feel super final. maybe just putting a I chord in would be helpful.
Good work, though. I really like the way this piece plays. and the climax in the third line is so beautiful!
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Thanks for your thoughts, Ben. I’ll give them some consideration. I was curious for some clarification on 2 of your points.
You mention:
“and in the last measure of the second line, my ear wants to hear a V chord.”
Are you saying your ear wants to go to a V in the Phrygian mode or a V of the relative Major?
Also:
“maybe just putting a I chord in would be helpful.”
The same question applies here. Do you mean the I of the Phrygian mode or the I of the relative Major?
I wasn’t sure if I quite followed you on those two points so I thought I’d see if you could clarify.
As a side note…Admittedly, for me, writing modal music is something I’m still fairly new to and trying to get a better grip on (I guess that’s what a session with Wendell Glick is for!). So far I tend to approach it very horizontally vs. looking at the vertical harmonies.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by
Lyndon Gehman.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by
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Yes, good point! I actually missed the fact that it was in a church mode, so I was simply thinking in terms of it being in D-flat major/b-flat minor. so the V chord would be A-flat. however, I just realized that when i was playing it on the piano before, I was adding the third in the final chord of the second line. I actually like what you have written better than what I suggested. so the same would go for what I said about the final chord. however, putting in D-flat would mess up your church mode. Honestly, listening to the recording again, I realize that most of the harmonies play out better than I thought. so, basically after revisiting it, I have only a couple suggestions.
1. check out the harmonies on “eve” in the first line, and “hallowed” in the second line, and “and” in the second measure of the third line.
2. see if there is a way that you can make the final chord more final. maybe even putting soprano on the fifth of the chord instead of the root… I have not worked with Phrygian, and maybe that is just the way it is supposed to sound.
anyway, sorry for the confusion! hopefully this is clarifying. take it all with a grain of salt, the piece continues to grow on me.
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