Foundations → Module 4 of 5
Motives, Goal Notes, and Musical Progression
Six lessons on the material a piece is made of and on what makes it move forward. This is where Part A stops being technique and starts being composition.
What a motive is and how it develops
Three or four notes, and the eight ways to grow them into a piece.
2 weeks A13Goal notes: a whole lesson
The note a line is heading toward, and how to write the skeleton before the melody.
2 weeks A13bMotivic consistency and voice-leading as continuity
Keeping a piece about one idea, the way Evans and Hancock do it.
2 weeks A14Musical progression: how a melody and a chord progression move forward
How a melody and a chord progression move forward, and what makes a phrase arrive.
2 weeks A15Rhythm foundations: time, feel, polyrhythm, odd meter at the piano
Internal pulse, polyrhythm, and odd time at the piano. The runway to Part B.
3 weeks A16Transcription and Bach: the two habits that make a composer
One full transcription and the C major Prelude, memorized. Pass this and Part B starts.
4 weeks