This week we experimented with adding harmony to a melody written by someone else. Consequently, we also experimented with what it was like to have someone else write harmony for your melody. I heard many times people say something like, “Well, THAT wasn’t what I was expecting!” It’s difficult to crawl inside someone else’s head, but can be fun and challenging to try to collaborate. Songwriting collaborations are common in commercial music and music theater, while not as common in art music. But hey, that’s never stopped us! So this week your task is to write a primo (first) part for a duet. The melody can be for any instrument. I would recommend writing in treble or bass clef to make it easy on classmates who might not be as proficient in alto clef, but you can decide. Please write the melody at least 16 measures. You may go longer than that to develop a theme, but please no more than 64 for this particular exercise. Next week when we meet you will pass off your melody to a classmate to be determined by some random sorting method (mwahahahaha!) and they will then compose a secundo (second) part. Fret not if you want to write your melody for piano and your classmate will write an accompanying part for viola. The two parts don’t have to be the same instrument. Perhaps, you might even consider writing a melody part for voice. Put in all the elements that you would normally include, such as dynamics, accidentals, key signatures, and articulations.

Some fantastic duets for singers have come down to us. Because I can’t help myself, I’ll share two of my favorites: The Letter Duet (Sull’aria) from The Marriage of Figaro by W.A. Mozart and The Flower Duet from Lakme by Leo Delibes.