Staggered Line Development

This blog demonstrates a concept I like to personally call "Staggered Line Development"...

The cue excerpt I have chosen in order to demonstrate this concept is called "Crossroads"… previously titled (1M7 - Tamara's Plea) from Elliot Goldenthal's wonderful score for his wife Julie Taymor's brilliant film… "Titus".

I absolutely love the bittersweet quality that this cue evokes with it's slow evolutionary building effect, having one voice after another being introduced and layered on top another in order to create this fantastic piece of music.

Please notice the Cellos start the cue with a simple repeating 4 note motif… then the Violas enter in a rhythmically staggered manner followed by the Violins doing the same, and so on… eventually reiterating this order to help create more melodic development.

                       

(Click once on images for full-size)

Download link to entire cue:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1TtFXaduno 

I have personally written several short cues based on this concept, following and not following traditional species counterpoint principles... I find that the possibilities of this approach could be potentially endless. 

It is now my personal goal to write a piece of music in this fashion, utilizing as many voices as possible, one entering after another in order to hopefully create an endless stacked type of fugue and/or contrapuntal creation.

In closing I hope that you enjoy this cue as much as I do and will try this approach out for yourself.

Thank you for your continued interest in these musical posts and I hope they are proving beneficial for you!