The Composer's Path → Module 6 of 9
The Chromatic Universe
Rows, hexachords, constellations, and rotations, used as riff generators rather than as doctrine, with the caveats stated out loud.
The twelve-tone method as a riff generator
Rows, inversions, and retrogrades as riff-writing tools, and what serialism is not.
2 weeks L28Combinatoriality and hexachords: riff families that complete each other
Babbitt's hexachords and Forte's set classes, used to build riff families.
2 weeks L29Wolpe's pitch constellations: the riff as a field, not a line
The metal riff as a constellation, from Meshuggah to Hamasyan.
2 weeks L30Stravinsky's rotational arrays: rotating a riff into a chord progression
Riff rotation, verticals drawn from rotations, and the limits of the bridge.
2 weeks L31Three paths through serialism, and a fourth
Greenwood's concert music as a working composer's synthesis.
2 weeks