[Pt. II Proj.3] – Exploring Chromaticism ~Exercise 2.1: Nocturne Ornamentation

Compose three ornamented versions of the melody below, to the given chords, aiming for Chopin’s nocturne style. You may wish to play the extract at a keyboard or listen to the audio example.To get started copy out the given music onto manuscript paper or Sibelius and model your ornamentation on the Chopin examples given above. Try using chromatic quaver movement around the given melody notes and increasing the energy with semiquaver and tuplet rhythms or more extravagant bursts of virtuosity. The challenge is to keep the harmony notes present without losing them in a tangle of chromaticism but to be inventive and delight your audience with the unexpected. Start simply and build your way up. As a voluntary exercise once you have done this you might like to try extending the passage by composing your own four bar phrase before going on to ornament it in a similar way.

Exercise 2.1 Nocturne Ornamentation;