These next four tracks were from my Berklee Online Winter Semester, Weeks 8 and 9 in Compositional Voice Development in Film Scoring.

Hero and Lyrical Themes was the end-of-the-week assignment for Week 8 to “write a one-minute (or longer) piece using a form idea you’ve never used before.” I wanted to try sonata form (even though it’s a very watered down version with no transitions), because I actually never have. I also incorporated an idea from another class (with the same professor) about hero music and action adventure music, where the A theme is heroic, in the brass, with lots of P4s, P5s and Major triads, and then the B theme is more lyrical for the strings and woodwinds. The piece has a total of six sections. In the exposition the A “heroic” theme is in a home key (C Major) with just a tonic pedal underneath, and a B “lyrical” theme in a different key (F Minor). For the development I have a C section that uses fragmented motives from the A and B sections, with some chromatic modulations and no definite tonal center (although there is a G pedal underneath the whole thing to lead back into C). For the Recapitulation, the full A theme returns, this time harmonized, in the home key of C Major, and then the B theme returns, but now it is also in C Major. The piece ends with a coda where the A and B themes are played together in counterpoint.

Minimalist Build was a Week 9 exercise to “compose a short musical idea using DAW software.” I originally set out to fight against some of the tendencies of writing in a DAW, but I quickly saw why those tendencies happen. I was originally going to use separate tracks for each instrument, and focus on their lines, but I quickly realized that I couldn’t keep the chord progression in my head, let alone each individual line. If I had to do something like this in the future, I would probably just pick four chords that repeat, instead of a 16 bar phrase. Either that or I would write it down first.

Pastoral Theme was another Week 9 exercise to “compose a short musical idea using notation software.” I used Sibelius (which I’ve been using since the late 20th century), and it was easier to write a melody, chord progression, and countermelody that all match, because I could see all of the notes at once. I came up with an ostinato, but I was also able to easily change articulations, and adjust the ostinato to fit the notes of the chords, because I could see what the chord progression is, as well as the instruments’ individual lines.

Woodwinds vs Brass was the end-of-the-week assignment for Week 9 to “write a piece that is one minute using a workflow you typically don’t use…if you typically write with DAW software, try writing at a piano or in a notation program…if you typically write in notation software, try writing at a piano or in a sequencing program.” I wanted to compose something on acoustic guitar since I hadn’t played guitar in a while, but I didn’t want it to be “performed” on guitar. I wanted to see how well I could get the guitar to translate for the orchestra. When I write for guitar, I like to create  contrast by using open-string chords, bar chords, and/or power chords in different sections. I like that open-string chords tend to have better voice leading, but bar chords work really well for power since they all have root-5th-root on the bottom. After I had the chords, arpeggios, and rhythms down, I notated the guitar part in Sibelius so that I could arrange it more easily, and then reference it when orchestrating it in Logic.

The A section is orchestrated for woodwinds and strings: the strings are just sustaining the chords, and the woodwind section plays arpeggios (except for the oboe which sustains the highest note of each chord as a melody. The B section (which I envisioned being played on electric guitar) was orchestrated for brass and percussion (and still included strings). I also wanted to focus on the other thing guitar does really well besides arpeggios: repeated notes. I also incorporated muted strings, which I translated to snare drum. The C section is a retransition back into the A section, and I returned to arpeggios in the woodwinds and sustained strings. I also used one of my favorite techniques on guitar which is to start by playing an open-string chord, but then slide my fingers up (usually a M2 or m3), so that those notes change, but the open strings stay the same. For the return to the A section, I continued the arpeggio pattern from the C section, but with the chords from the A section, except now all of the minor chords have become major. The use of guitar definitely influenced my choice of keys, chords, and how I moved from chord to chord, as well as the use of arpeggios, repeated-note rhythmic figures, and using open strings as pedals while moving other notes of the chords.