Theme and Variations

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Theme and Variations

• Hinchingbrooke School
• Music Department

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Spot the difference

• My dog Rex is friendly.
• My pet dog called Rex is friendly.
• My dogs name is Rex. Hes friendly.
• Rex is my dog. He is a friendly dog.
• My canine companion goes by the name Rex. His
  behaviour is friendly, but he slobbers sometimes!

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So what is Theme and Variations?

• The theme is the original melody.
• Variations are different versions of the theme.
• Composers can change the theme in many ways.
• In this module we will learn how to develop a
  theme melody into variations.
• We will also learn about different ways of
  combining melody and harmony.

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Listening exercise

• What is the name of this well known melody?
• How many different parts can you hear playing?
• What happens to the music the second time we hear
  it?
• Can you still hear the melody? In which part?

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Writing your theme

• In each bar there is a chord.
• In each chord there is 3 notes.
• Choose 2 notes for your melody in each bar.
• In the last bar of each line just choose 1 note.

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Does your theme flow?

• Are there big jumps? Adjust your theme to get rid
  of these!
• Does the leading note rise to the tonic? If it
  doesnt, then adjust this too.

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An example theme
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Listening 2

• What instrument is playing?
• What happens to the music each time the ground
  bass is heard?
• How many beats are there in a bar?
• How does the piece end? (2.53)

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Variation 1 passing notes
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Variation 2 passing notes and more harmony
notes.
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Variation 3 dotted rhythms
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Extension ideas

• Do you have to have 4 beats in each bar? How
  would you handle this? What would need to change?
• Do you have to use the key of C major? Could you
  change it to a minor key? Could you transpose a
  section into another key?

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Listening 3

• Name 2 ways in which the melody differs each time
  it is heard.
• Name 5 instruments you can hear playing
• What is the name for a group of instruments like
  this?

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Changing the texture a more adventurous lower
part!

• To begin with we only used chords in the lower
  part, these work well, but can be boring after a
  while.
• By breaking these chords up into a repeating
  pattern, called an ostinato, we can create
  different textures.

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The original chords

• In this version, the chords are held for 4 beats.

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The chords are broken into minims.

• In this version, the root note of each chord is
  held for 2 beats and the others are held for 2
  beats.

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The chords are broken into crotchets

• In this version, the notes of the chord are
  played one at a time. The root is always played
  first, and one note must be repeated.

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The chords are broken into quavers

• This version is similar to the crotchets version,
  except that quavers are used instead.

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The possibilities are endless!

• This version mixes up different note lengths. Did
  you notice that there are still repeating
  patters?