Song from a secret Garden
The piece ‘A song from a Secret Garden’ composed by Rolf Løvland is in the key of C minor
which creates a sad and calming mood. The notes are mainly in a stepwise motion within the
C minor scale creating consonance. This piece is played with the combination of the violin
(Arco) and piano, the violin is the melody line while the piano is plays chords. The piano is
the harmonic accompaniment outlining the chordal tone. The piano plays the root note while
emphasising the melodic line and unifying rhythm.This structure gives a soft melody and this
evokes a sad atmosphere. This piece needs to be played ‘’expressively’’.
The time signature is 4/4 and the rhythm is at 68 BPM, the piece includes quarter, half and
eighth notes. Most of the notes are slurred (legato) causing the melody to sound smoother
and softer. Throughout the piece the use of pitch infliction such as vibrato, slides, legato are
used to add a variety of expression and tone, also used to project pitches in different
ways.The main melody is a broken chord as seen in bar 13 to bar 16 and is repeated
throughout the piece.The violin joins the piano at bar 4 playing slightly softer using a light
bow that is closer to the fingerboard (mezzo piano). In bar 9 the note is played with a lighter
bow as it descends but after the rest ...
