I'm doing a set of theme & variations for my A level music coursework, and I'm kind of stuck at the moment... I'm not sure of what should be varied in the variations. I've done one playing with rhythm, and also one that arpeggiates the theme with some fancy handiwork. An idea would be doing a variation in the relative major / minor, but as my theme is in a minor key, it's hard to create a variation in a major key. My teacher has suggested a jazz variation, but I'm not sure how it's going to work out. Any advice?

What about changing the time so that if your theme is 2 or 4 time you write a variation in 3?

Have a look at Mozarts 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' Variations here. They're mainly in major, but could be good inspiration.

Turning the tune upside down ("inversion") has been a popular method of varying it for several centuries; playing it backwards ("retrograde") is more recent, AFAIK.

Real experts can put the tune into the style of past masters (e.g. Franz Reizenstein, "Variations on the Lambeth Walk" for piano, not published, unfortunately).

Coincidentally, I have been playing them and have already looked into them! Thanks anyway.

By the way, kenm, when you refer to the retrograde, is it the entire theme being retrograde-ed or just the phrases themselves?

and thanks sbhoa too, that's a great idea. My theme is in 2/2, so I could do something about that.

The retrograde is almost entirely restricted to serial dodecaphonic music and is applied to the 12-note row on which the movement is supposed to be based. I put it in for completeness, not because I recommend it. A lot of musicians can recognise that a theme has been turned upside down, very few that it has been played backwards. IMO the primary purpose of a formal method is to affect the inner ear of the audience members. However, it can have the secondary purpose of stimulating the imagination of the composer.

Here is a row (that of the Berg Violin Concerto), with its three transforms:
Primary
G Bb D F# A C E G# B C# D# E#
Inverse about C
F D Bb Gb Eb C G# E C# B A G
Retrograde
E# D# C# B G# E C A F# D Bb G
Inverse Retrograde
G A B C# E G# C Eb Gb Bb D F

Note that in dodecaphonic music, enharmonic equivalents are assumed to be the identical note.

What instrument are you writing for? Can you vary the technique? eg: strings - pizzicato.
Can you change where the melody is in your writing?
Can you keep the same melody and completely change the harmony? Or keep the same harmony and completely change the melody? Or add a counter-melody?
How about creating a simple canon/fugue of your melody?

I think the harmony of the variation has to be quite similar to that of the theme... but I like the fugal idea though. Thanks! I'm writing for solo piano, btw.

Rai, I'm not sure why you say it's hard to write a variation in a major key.

Have you tried playing your theme either
1) in its relative major, or 2) in the tonic major ( ie by sharpening the third of the original key)
as a starting point, and is there some reason why this seems not to work ?

Well, if writing for solo piano, have you tried writing a variation with the melody in the left hand, if it is in the right hand in the theme, or vice versa?

I feel that my harmony for the LH falls apart in the major key variation... I can't harmonise it without it sounding very different from the theme.




I'll probably do that! Thanks!

OK - that may be a perfectly good reason. (On the other hand there's no rule that says you can't change the harmony too - just a thought!)

This is the topic I do with my students, and we listen to a set of variations a week and look at various techniques. Here are some of the ones we use:

-the Mozart 'Twinkle Twinkle', with the Dohnanyi with orchestra
-the Rach/Paganini variations and the Andrew Lloyd Webber ones
-a couple of sets of 19th century virtuoso ones (lots of sets on 'Carnival of Venice', v popular tune)
-the Mozart K331 variations for piano and the Reger ones for orchestra on the same theme
-Britten 'Young Persons Guide to Orchestra'
-Ives (orch Thomson), Variations on National Anthem
-Elgar Enigma Variations

These cover a wide number of techniques if you can get hold of any of them.

Good luck with it, I quite enjoy teaching this bit of the course and I've had some really good efforts from my students.

_rai_

When tackling variations, in terms of metre/rhythm, you could perhaps consider writing the theme in compound time (if the original is in simple), or vice versa. So your theme in 2/2 would become 6/4 (three crotchets for every two in the original) - should make for an interesting twist.

denmark77

Firstly, sorry to all the wonderful posters with awesome advice and tips... I've just had my A level music performance exam (I'm majoring in performance) and had a splendid exam. Ate 2 bananas and they acted like transquilisers. I was unusually calm and composed, and played as if I was practising at home. The examiners seemed really pleased and my violinist friend who I accompanied for Faure's Sicilienne (perf majors have to do a mixed recital) said that the examiners were swaying to the Poulenc novelettes I was playing.

Anyway, I've just got my first consultation with my composition teacher, and I've decided to incorporate some of your ideas into my work (e.g. fugue style & compound time variations). And thanks, guilmant, for the list of T&Vs that could prove inspirational for me.