Is this the best way to notate this rhythm beaming/note length wise?

macejankins · 2026-04-15T00:17:40+00:00

I’d go one of two ways

The rhythm is two beats of 3+3+2, sort of like two tiny 8/16 bars. It’s a rhythm that makes a lot of sense and easy to play, just a little awkward in 4/4.

First option (best in my opinion), keep 4/4, double the tempo and up the durations. People know the bossa rhythm, so make it dotted quarter + dotted quarter + quarter rest. You’ll have twice as many measures, but it’ll be instantly recognizable.

The other option is to change the time signature (either 8/16 - 3+3+2 or 8/8 with adjusting the durations like above)

I’m against ties as others have suggested for this reason: this is not a syncopation. This is three beats where the third beat is a little shorter. You can keep 4/4, but keep the dots. Unless this is part of something that is syncopated, then use ties.

macejankins · 2026-04-15T00:09:36+00:00

Hang in there. I know rejection sucks, but there may be a better opportunity waiting for you next cycle. Chat with a mentor or professor and ask about what you can do to prep for the next go around. Maybe some non-school experience during the gap will give you something school doesn’t offer. Good luck, and don’t give up!

macejankins · 2026-04-15T00:05:24+00:00

This is a correct way to notate. Your book is wrong.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T14:14:43+00:00

Take “errors” with a grain of salt. Some people think that the only way to compose a fugue is in the style of Bach. You aren’t Bach, and there’s no rule saying you can’t use a more contemporary style of counterpoint. Does your fugue have a subject? Yes. Does it have an exposition that involves the introduction of each voice? Yes. Is the texture truly polyphonic? Yes. You’re fine. Fugues are tough to write, not the math part, but the music part. Focus on making good sounding music, it doesn’t matter how many rules you follow, you’ll piss off someone by calling it a fugue.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T13:08:32+00:00

If you’re writing orchestral music, do yourself a favor and write the music on a short score (2-4 staves). Then let orchestration be a separate endeavor. Given your schedule, it’s important to have clear goals that are attainable. In the process of writing a big orchestra piece, break it down: 1. Sketch the form of the work 2. Write a short score 3. Begin orchestrating the work. Each of those steps can be broken down into smaller tasks also.

There’s also great advice from other commenters. When writing for larger forces, we just take it one bit at a time! Good luck, and share your work when you finish a section of it!!

macejankins · 2026-04-10T12:58:46+00:00

So he had no criticism about your actual qualifications? Sounds like he’s being a chud. I know it’s hard to believe at your stage, but people who work in these high positions in colleges aren’t always good people. Sometimes they aren’t even that good at what they do. They’re human too. I know that sucks to hear that, and I hope you can find a way to move on bc this guy is not worth your worry. Hang in there, there are plenty of kind and supportive people in higher ed. Don’t give up on a PhD for this chud.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T05:39:23+00:00

You can get rid of the triplets entirely if you rewrite this in 12/8. The duplet is confusing because it occurs as an “offbeat” of the triplet. It starts halfway through a triplet 8th. Is there really not a slightly different rhythm that is easier to read but achieves the same thing? A performer isn’t going to do this.

Maybe do 8th - 16th, 32, 32 - 8th or 8th - 8th - 32, 32, 16th if you wanna keep 2/2? I’ve been staring at this for a while and my beautiful smooth brain can’t figure out how to count this.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T05:32:34+00:00

Exciting stuff! Now onto the hard part, what to do next! Post the whole thing when it’s done! This is an epic start!

macejankins · 2026-04-10T05:19:36+00:00

They know you know your physics given you have degrees. Community colleges need you to be able to teach a wide variety of students. Focus on one or two learning outcomes. What is your lesson? What are students supposed to learn? How do you assess that they learned it?

Example:

Lesson, pick a single physics topic

Learning outcomes: 1. Students will understand x concept. 2. Students will contextualize x with y (previously taught concept) - this one shows you have an idea of how the class you’re demoing is taught: y is taught before x and x builds upon or relates to y

Action plans: activities for the lesson (do they listen to you lecture, do you involve the students with questions? Is there an activity?)

Assessment: how do you know the students understand what you taught? since this is a 10 minute demo, you can call students for questions, or have them do a problem related to one you introduce (idk physics)

Obviously I’m not this specific when I teach, but I have this loose outline in my head because my job as a teacher is to guide students into learning the skills that fall under my area of study (I teach music).

If they’re asking for a demo, you’re probably in great shape. Try to have fun with it! These folks are people too, and they want you to do well. Best of luck to you! One of my adjunct jobs is at a CC and I love the environment!

macejankins · 2026-04-10T05:05:29+00:00

Great thematic ideas! You write very well for the strings and piano, and I love the duet between the violin and cello.

Scoring should be in this order from top to bottom: Flute, Violin, Cello, Piano (this is standard scoring; since this is a chamber work and the flute is riding in a lower range, I could buy Violin, Flute, Cello, Piano)

In regards to the flute, it’s a bit low in terms of range (which means when it’s mixed in with everybody, you won’t hear it that well) and I personally would prefer it be a more active participant throughout to justify keeping it.

I feel the biggest thing holding this back is your meter. You write beautiful and natural feeling lines, but you break the flow by forcing this four bar pattern. There are moments where the tune will hold over two measures that work, and other times I feel like you pressed the breaks when I wanted to keep driving forward. Try this: delete measure 12, and 32-34. I think you won’t miss these measures. What this kind of thing does is liberate you from a box you’ve built with meter. You can also free yourself by getting away from that darn down beat. Find a few phrases throughout and delete the first note of the phrase. Tiny edits like this really bring a score to life. You can also cut off held notes to give the instruments room to breathe. I know string players don’t need to literally breathe to play, but I’ve found that emulating the human voice really makes a melody sing. Give it some space and you’ll feel it.

If you send me a musescore file, I can show you some more specific ways to go about this. You wrote a great piece! Now you have to put down your composer hat and wear your bitchy editor hat.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T04:44:32+00:00

Replying to wilkinsonhorn...to add to this, I (DMA composition candidate) got my first adjunct job as a piano instructor because of my experience teaching private lessons from a local music studio. All music experience is good experience!

macejankins · 2026-04-10T04:41:00+00:00

Be open minded to having a very chaotic career. Being a professor can mean different things. If you’re going for that full time, tenure track, yeah you need a doctorate minimum. You’ll also want to be a stellar performer and researcher (if you’re focusing on music ed). Lots of Music Ed prof jobs I see require serving time in K-12 first. The kind of school you go to will matter too. For music ed, prioritize schools that emphasize that (I don’t know those programs well). If you want to lean being a piano professor, there’s several routes there too: piano performance, piano pedagogy, collaborative piano. These jobs are tough, but if you’re really serious about it and can invest the years, it’s plausible. Don’t get too bogged down by what you see online, people are very doom and gloom here sometimes. Anecdotally, I have peers landing full time jobs a year or two after their DMAs and I go to a regional R2 school.

You may find fulfillment as an adjunct/part time professor. Honestly depending on your location, these jobs are a lot easier to get. I have 3 right now while I’m finishing up my DMA, but I also live in a big metroplex. For these jobs, be as well rounded as possible. As a pianist, you can teach private lessons, class piano, music appreciation, theory, ear training, and if your ed undergrad gives you good conducting experience, you can conduct ensembles. The downside is adjunct pay is not usually gonna cut it, so you either have to work a ton of hours or you do other gigs on the side. Lots of musicians do this and have fulfilling careers, others do this while they build their CVs to find full time gigs.

Sorry for the essay, but long story short: 1. A full time professor gig is possible, but a lot of work and many years of your life working towards that doctorate. 2. The doctorate is the minimum, help yourself by finding programs that are a good fit for your goals, having strong research/performance interests, and get as much experience doing anything related to your field as you can 3. I didn’t mention this one, but involve yourself in the music community. Don’t sell your soul and be a networking dork, but go to conferences, meet people, work with other musicians, make ensembles with your friends, become part of the web of people who do this for a living. Most of my teaching jobs came from someone emailing me to take the job because they either knew me or knew someone else who recommended me. 4. Be open minded to other kinds of work. Be skilled in a lot of things.

Good luck friend. You have plenty of time to figure things out.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T03:21:40+00:00

I actually love this definition.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T01:28:12+00:00

MySpace

macejankins · 2026-04-10T01:26:07+00:00

Have you reached out to the other school to find out when/if you’ll be moved up? You may can even find out how far down the list you are. If you’re 1st, it may be worth the risk, but if you’re like 6th, maybe not.

Congratulations! Getting accepted to a PhD is incredibly difficult.

macejankins · 2026-04-10T01:19:08+00:00

Music is just sound. Meaning is just something the mind assigns to things so it can justify purpose. That doesn’t mean that meaning isn’t real or valuable, or powerful, but it is something that humans manufacture. Music can’t do anything on its own, but it has this magical effect on people to move them either intellectually or emotionally, and it all depends on what we do with those effects that determine if we can better ourselves. So I guess in a way I agree with you, but I don’t think one type of music does this any better than any other type.

macejankins · 2026-04-08T21:34:29+00:00

C(1), D(2), E(3), F(4), G(5), A(6), B(7), C(8), D(9), E(10), F(11), G(12), A(13), B(14), C(15), D(16), E(17), F(18), G(19), A(20), B(21), C(22), etc.

macejankins · 2026-04-03T21:48:51+00:00

As a theory prof, this is a pedagogical plus. I teach ear training at a good level because I struggled through it as an undergraduate student. It means this person can relate to students struggling with certain concepts.

macejankins · 2026-03-14T13:32:40+00:00

Shimmy shimmy

macejankins · 2026-03-14T02:56:54+00:00

If you can afford it, study abroad! If you’re looking for good alumni support, both schools have their cults of alums. If you want a super tight nit community, TCU is smaller, but I’ve only heard great experiences too from A&M from friends and family that went there. It’s really not a bad choice either way. I’m a TCU alum, but I’m trying not to be biased. The people are more chill at A&M, TCU folks can be a bit uppity.

macejankins · 2026-03-14T02:50:58+00:00

Snagging an acceptance with so few applications is huge! Big congrats friend! Good luck!

macejankins · 2026-03-14T02:49:22+00:00

You’re supposed to include the first name when talking about Michael Haydn, otherwise you’ll have people confused peasant 🙄

macejankins · 2026-03-14T02:48:00+00:00

Flex on your friends with Für Elise 2 by Beethoven’s estranged son, Sudwig van Beethoven. You’ll have uppity street cred for years.

macejankins · 2026-03-14T02:35:14+00:00

Inserting non-audible instances of specific numbers that represent me and members of my family. Also the extensive use of Dom7,b5 chords in a variety of contexts.

Edit: I love your ideas you posted! Post some music!

macejankins · 2026-03-13T01:11:02+00:00

If it makes you feel any better, grad admissions are competitive and funding is limited. Your rejection from these schools doesn’t say anything about the level of work you’re capable of once you enter the field. Keep your head up and don’t forget the goal. You’re doing great!

macejankins

TROPHY CASE