This month I updated “Hero and Lyrical Themes” which was another Berklee assignment that I originally did in Sibelius, but I wanted to put it into Logic to see how much better I could make it sound. For the original assignment I wanted to write a piece in sonata form, using a heroic A theme and a lyrical B theme like many film score do (Star Wars, Superman, etc.). To keep it short and sweet, I didn’t use any transitions between the themes, and I had a very short development. For this new version I wanted to expand upon the development since it feels a little rushed in the original. While I was at it, I also cleaned the partwriting in the harmonizations of the themes throughout the piece. I did all of my composition in Sibelius, then transferred all the parts over to Logic.

In the Exposition there is a “heroic” A Theme for the brass (the melody is in the horns and trombones over a C pedal) in C Major, and a contrasting “lyrical” B Theme for the woodwinds and strings in F minor. The new Development more than doubles the length of the entire piece (the original version is about 2:00, the new one is 4:30), because I wanted to think of it as music I would write for the middle of a film where I would write a lot of music that references the themes, but doesn’t give them a full statement until the end. It starts in the same key as the B Theme (F minor), with a rhythmic pedal in the timpani and low strings. The rhythm is meant to be a complement to the A Theme, and then the low woodwinds (opposite of high brass) play a chromatic reference to the A Theme. The next section modulates to Bb minor with a new rhythmic pedal that is a complement to the B Theme, and then the low brass (opposite of high winds) play a chromatic reference to the B Theme. There is another modulation to Ab minor where the ideas based on the A and B Themes are used together, both to create chaos, as well as to foreshadow the end of the piece. The Development ends with a big move from an Ab minor chord to a G Major chord to start to pull the piece back to C Major. The Retransition is made up of chromatically-rising fragments of the A and B themes over a G pedal, leaving the brass out to complement the next section. The Recapitulation starts with the expected return to the A Theme in the brass in the key of C Major, however this time the melody is in the trumpets (first time we hear the trumpets) and horns, and it is harmonized in the low brass (as opposed to just a C pedal). The B Theme is also in C Major, as expected, which gives it a refreshing brightness as opposed to the darker F minor version at the beginning. The piece ends with both themes played simultaneously, showing that they were tied together from the very beginning.