For several years, different groups of students have been composing mathematical music in three directions: the creation of new sound tracks, new editions of piano pieces previously composed by students, and the creation of new works.
Mathematical music as a new means of developing compositional skills
The Seventh Essay
Some young musicians, under the guidance of S. Filatov-Beckman, continued to develop the technique of creating new sound tracks, modifying the computer line into monophonic and polyphonic compositions and applying various computer effects to them. We offer you to listen to some new music tracks.
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
The first track has a loud, heavy tocsin. And now, in another track, the sounds of an approaching and departing «train» are heard, which, as it were, emphasizes the «depth» of space. Further, in the next track, a dryish computer timbre is used, turning into pointillistic sounds; it arises at one point, then at another or at the third point. This again causes associations with space. In the new track, the lines of «steps» going down are interesting; the lines are layered on top of each other in the uniform motion.
Another form of creativity was the new editions of piano pieces previously written by students. Among several works not included in these essays, a new version of the piece "Waltz" for piano has appeared. New arrangements of other piano works appeared, as well as arrangements for various ensembles and even for a chamber orchestra.
The new edition of the «Waltz» began to possess some humorous features – this was facilitated by some «fakes» and «breaks» of the rhythm, as if this «Waltz» were played by a somewhat «unprofessional» musician who hit the wrong keys. In the new version, not only the size of the piece has changed. The new piano version of the «Waltz» has been greatly expanded. In terms of volume, this version is almost two and a half times larger than the original one. Thanks to the repetitions of some parts, it contains 81 measures instead of 34 measures (the first version). The new edition of the piece was also enriched in texture: the counterpoints appeared in the fabric.
The musical form of the «Waltz» has also altered. It became a complex three-part piece with the features of a rondo, that is, there appeared some signs of a more complex structure. The new version of the piece was undoubtedly influenced by the course devoted to the analysis of musical forms, which was conducted by a professor-musicologist, where the students not only got acquainted with more complex examples from theoretical viewpoint at the lectures, but also succeeded to apply new knowledge in practice. Thus the course of S. Filatov-Beckman intersected with other compulsory musical disciplines.
Both piano versions of the «Waltz» were performed (according to the students) at the music school concerts in the cities from which the young musicians came to study in Moscow. Let’s introduce this example:
Composing a more voluminous and complex version of the «Waltz» played a significant role in the further education of the students. They felt that they were capable of composing musical works in different versions. And then, a little later, after a master class on creating a polyphonic fabric, which was again organized by S. Filatov-Beckman and his fellow composer, they created another, third version of the “Waltz”, an orchestral one. This option will be presented somewhat later.
But reworking and even orchestrating pieces that had been written before was only a side task for the beginner composers. After all, such transformations could be done with any piece, and not only with mathematical music. Therefore, the most important thing for the main objective of the author's methodology, according to S. Filatov-Beckman, was the composition of mathematical music in the form of pieces with clear genre features and a complete musical form.