16802 / 18210 · Workshop 120 — Writing Complete Endings and Cadences: How to Make a Piece Feel Finished, Suspended, Open, Circular, or Inevitable← prev⊞ allnext →
120.231The mature ending question
Not:
“What nice chord should I end on?”
But:
“Which expectations created by the whole piece still remain active, which of them should be resolved, which one—if any—should deliberately remain open, and in what order should melody, harmony, bass, rhythm, texture, and resonance stop asking the listener for something more?”
That is ending composition.