A9:1 Composition tasks

The quotation below, Farandole by Bizet, is an example of a melody in the key of D minor. This is a lively piece but the notes are taken from the minor scale giving the piece an unsettling character.

• Complete the melody as to create 4 balanced phrases which answer each other, i.e. that have the same features.

Then click on the link below.

Listen to the whole melody – Farandole – from the suite ‘l’Arlésienne by Bizet.

Consider the following melody which a traditional Welsh air. Block chords have been added to the tune in version 1.

• Set about varying the chords by changing the bass line.
• Experiment with other chords to see if you can provide different ideas to harpist John Parry’s work (version 3).

Here is full version of John Parry’s work, the blind harpist from Ruabon in the eighteenth century.