Lesson Four Composition Activity: Beethoven Copycat

Learning from the Master  Listen to the first two lines of this melody by Beethoven. How are these two phrases the same? How are they different? The last measures in each line are different. One ends with the notes “E-D-D” while the other ends with the notes “D-C-C”. We would say that the first line was a and the second line was a’. E D D D C C

Listen to the next two lines of music. Are they the same or different than the first two lines? That’s right – the third line is different than the rest and so we call in b. The last line is the same as the second so we call it a’. We say that the form of the whole piece” a a’ b a’

a a’ b ODE TO JOY Listen to the sound file and track the notes with your finger as you listen to the melody.

Playing Copycat  Using the rhythmic pattern and the form – aa’ba’, you are now going to write an original composition.  Notice that line 2 and line 4 finish on the note “C”. Line 1 and 3 finish on a note other than “C’.  Notice that the melody moves mostly by step up and down. There are only a few skips in line 3.  You have one new rhythm which is a dotted quarter note, followed by an eighth note. This rhythmic figure gets two beats. To make a dotted quarter note in Noteworthy, you select the quarter note in the tool bar and then press the period on the keyboard.

Composing  Now you are ready to make your new composition using Noteworthy Composer.  When your composition is done, put the cursor at the beginning press F5 to listen to the finished product.  If you wish to change the playback instrument, press “I” and make your selection from the instrument list.