Diabelli Project - The Wind Duet Project (183-186)

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments.

Below is the complete duet (that is, all four flash sessions stitched together). I have two other flute and clarinet duets in this series, No. 122 and No. 143. Like this piece, both are polytonal. Perhaps they all fit together? It's something I'll be exploring in coming weeks.

I'll also be sitting down and seeing if I can finish this movement -- with no time limit.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 186 - Wind Duet Part 4

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments.

I remember reading a tip that a prolific writer often used. When he was done for the day, he would stop in the middle of a sentence. It helped him pick up the narrative thread the next day and kept the momentum going.

I think that's sort of what happened here. The last two installments of this duet have both ended a bar or two into a new section. It provided a good starting point for the next flash composition session. I already had a general idea of what would happen -- I just had to fill in the notes (for ten minutes).

In today's installment, I continued the clarinet solo. I'm a percussionist, so I can only apologize to any wind players looking at this for the exotic rhythms. I don't usually have 32nd note figures, but that's what I heard. In the very last measure, the flute breaks the accompanying pattern. This is signaling a transition to a new section -- probably in a new key center.

(The grayed area is where I stopped the previous week.)

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 185 - Wind Duet Part 3

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments.

In the last installment, the flute soloed over a repeated clarinet pattern. I knew even before I started the flash session that I wanted the roles to reverse. I surprised myself by shifting key centers in the process -- and dropping from 4/4 to 7/8 in the process!

What would happen next? Perhaps the next section will be in 3/4, then the next in 5/8, and finish the piece in 2/4. Just a thought.

(The grayed area is where I stopped the previous week.)

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 184 - Wind Duet Part 2

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments.

This week I continued building on what I started. The unison figure the piece started with becomes the accompaniment figure for the clarinet. While the flute takes center stage, the clarinet just keeps playing along at mezzo-piano. Not to worry though. At the end of this week's sketch, the two instruments have returned to the opening figure. Perhaps it's time to give the clarinet a little love.

(The grayed area is where I stopped the previous week.)

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 183 - Wind Duet Part 1

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This flute and clarinet duet was written in 10-minute flash composition installments

New month, new project. The idea for this duet popped into my head right as I was putting pen to paper. That's actually the way I like to do these flash compositions. It helps me bypass my inner critic, who often prevents me from writing anything at all.

I started with the unison motif and then took it from there. As you can see, it wasn't long before the two instruments wandered off in their own directions.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.