Composin' Me Some Music

So, as I probably mentioned at some point, I'm in the Music Composition program now, in lessons with Dear Friend Isaac and Guy I Don't Really Know But Seems Pretty Cool Brendan. I'm essentially bottom-of-the-barrel since this is my first quarter and I'm not a compositional genius, so I don't get my own hour-long lesson. Hopefully next year that will change since I'm such an amazing composer (and since Bruce Hamilton will be back).

These are the pieces I have written thus far:

A Twig for a Nest [for solo flute] (being performed by Ashlyn Stoddard at the Composers of Western concert on... May 27th? Ish?)

Spellbound [for flute and Bb clarinet] (super short, lame, and probably will never ever be performed)

Calamity Dance [for woodwind quartet [bassoon, Bb clarinet, oboe, flute]] (short, written as the performance piece this quarter (for a quartet to sight-read); is going to be expanded into a multi-movement work)

I feel like I should also include one that I composed before I got into the program...

River Tam Beats Up Everyone [for percussion quartet] (I hope to also expand this into a multi-movement work...)

~ * ~

So here's some ideas I have for the future.

River Tam Beats Up Everyone [for reference, see this film and read this comic]

I. Opening/Henchmen

II. Gunslingers

III. Cyborg Ninjas

IV. Evil Clone on Mountaintop

So those probably won't be the final titles (I just came up with those on the spot), but that's the general idea. I'm thinking what I have now will be the "Opening/Henchmen."

Three Dances for Woodwind Quartet

I. Calamity Dance

II. Slow Dance

III. Nu Dance

Essentially it'll be a basic Fast-Slow-Fast suite. "Calamity Dance" I have, obviously. "Slow Dance" I can salvage out of my first attempt at a woodwind quartet piece. The "Nu Dance" I'm thinking will use a driving quarter-note rhythm ala techno/disco/etc for most of it, and will probably morph into something else by the end (based on a discussion Isaac and I had today; people used to actually dance to classic music, like at parties and such, but modern classical pieces called "dances" aren't usually danced to by people unless it's going to be "modern dance"; ergo, I intend for the third movement to be able, at least, to be danced to by the layperson).

Post-Apocalyptic Jam for Percussion

Scenario: the world has essentially ended. Civilization is literally in rubble. A small village of people eventually assembles out of the rubble. They get to the point where they need entertainment, ala music. Here's where this piece comes in. What kind of music would be made after the end of the world? What kinds of instruments would be used? Obviously primarily percussion, mostly found-sounds kind of stuff (brake drum, spring, [this would be the perfect opportunity to use the broken autoharp we have in the percussion room], log drum, maybe a hand drum of some sort, other pieces of metal, etc...). I also want to use a radio tuned to a static channel, using volume swells and maybe some slight modulation of the frequency. It'd be fun and interesting.

House of Leaves

I. Zampanò/Johnny Truant

II. 5 1/2 Minute Hallway

III. "In my father's house are many rooms"

IV. The Spiral Staircase

V. Exploration #5

VI. "The child is gone."/Yggradasil

I'll just copy and paste the notes I made as I was coming up with this...

i. Introduction of *Zampano’s theme*, introduction of *Johnny’s theme*, interplay between the two

a. Slightly ominous, but not scary

b. Still mostly clear, but with some mystery (strange and sudden key change[s])

ii. Prominent use of echoes (statement; statementàecho; statementàechoàfurther obscured echo; etc)

a. Quiet and distant growl(s)

b. Lots of mystery and obscurity, but still grounded in reality

c. Introduction of *the house’s theme*

iii. More disorienting and scary, sudden tempo and dynamic changes

a. More growling (not full volume yet)

b. Hints of reality come through now and then (hints of Johnny’s theme)

c. Have each section be a “room,” but always black, ashen walls (ie, monotonous)

d. End with an organ transition into the next section (The Grand Hall)

iv. Really disorienting

a. Organ intro, get quiet, then quickly (though not suddenly) crescendo and SCREAM the growl

b. Utter chaos, ala Stravinsky (not Schoenberg), occasionally SCREAM

c. Loud but thickly veiled echoes of Zampano’s theme

d. House’s theme = central point, though

v. Quiet intro; entire movement is gradual increase in tempo and dynamics, representing going down the hill

a. The end suddenly gets to loud and screeching halt, with a quieter sustained note, and then a loud fanfare like chorale, and then quiet

b. Slightly veiled restatements of all themes

c. Resolution of house’s theme

vi. Resolution of Johnny’s theme; then resolution of Zampano’s theme

a. Quiet, slow, sad, contemplative movement

b. End on a final tonic major chord

If you haven't read House of Leaves, I still highly suggest it to anyone who won't be offended by frequent "sinning" and the like. It's incredible. I'm not sure yet of the instrumentation, yet, but I'm pretty sure I want organ (probably doubling on piano), some strings, some winds, two percussionists, at least two vocalists... yeah.

Some lonely composition titles I've come up with:

Definitely Beautiful

Suburban Waves

I Wanna Know You

Yep. One composer in the program got, from what I understood, a full-ride scholarship to a doctoral music program somewhere. Made me think that I could do the same. Do I want to do that? Maybe. That's the distant future. For now I'll focus on smaller goals.

--Jon

[UPDATE 5/18/10]: Okay, so after watching a Randall Monroe talk, I realized that one of the "River Tam" movements has to be about dinosaurs.