Techniques of Composition
2023 Semester 1
Assessment 1
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Subharmonics
This piece explores the concept of subharmonics as a form of "beating."
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What is beating? As described by Dr. Lindsay Vickery, "When two (or more) sounds are present having a frequency difference less than about 20 or 30 Hz, you will hear 'beats.'" He states that the rate of the beating is the same as the frequency difference between the sounds. For example: 440 Hz and 441 Hz = 1 Hz; and 440 Hz and 450 Hz = 10 Hz.
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If the frequency difference is larger than about 20 or 30 Hz, you usually stop perceiving beating and instead hear two distinct pitches or a musical interval. But under certain conditions, it is possible to hear much faster beating from sounds that are quite a bit further away from each other, where the beating can be perceived as a discernible pitch and where it becomes the new fundamental frequency of the sound. This phenomenon is referred to as "subharmonics."
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The conditions that allowed me to generate subharmonics in this instance were as follows: I used a distorted sine wave sound and both frequencies had to go through the same audio track. I used intervals of perfect 5ths, perfect 4ths, major 3rds, minor 3rds, and major 2nds to create a subharmonic A minor scale over two octaves. All the while, the input frequencies' 'fundamental frequency' never goes more than a semitone lower than its intitial pitch. Interestingly, the percieved volume of the subharmonic frequencies seem to drop dramatically when the input frequncies are a major 2nd apart.
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The resultant subharmonic frequencies were boosted in post so that they would be easier to hear. By default, they are much less prominent, though still clearly audible.
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Klangfarbenmelodie
Klangfarbenmelodie is a technique in which a melodic line is split between multiple instruments rather than just one instrument or set of instruments. By itself, it can add interest to a piece, but you can also be very deliberate and meticulous with it, allowing you to use it as a technique to enhance and compliment the emotion and expression behind individul phrases within a melodic line. This technique can be seen in music throughout the common practice period and beyond, from composers such as Beethoven, Debussy, Schoenberg, and even Bach.
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I wanted to write an orchestral piece reminiscent of something Joseph Haydn might write. So, I wrote with the intent of incorporating periodicity, balanced phrasing, call and response, and a logical harmonic progression. I also wanted to write something more upbeat with a very major tonality.
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I think of this piece not necessarily as a piece that has to be harmonically or melodically complex, or even revolutionary, but rather as an exploration of the klangfarbenmelodie technique. I believe not every piece has to be a masterpiece. Sometimes, its fine to just write a simple little piece as an excercise. Personally, I quite like the simple and predictable nature of this piece.
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Morse Code From The New World
For this piece, I took the note names from the first four bars of the main melody of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, II. Largo, translated that into morse code, and used that morse code to construct a rhythm for this piece's melody. Long = crochet/quarter note; short = quaver/eighth note.
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Besides morse code, the piece references Symphony No. 9 in other ways. The key signature is in Db major just like Symphony No. 9 and the title references the symphony's other name "From the New World". I also went with a slower string trio orchestration in an effort to tip my hat to Symphony No. 9 and the atmosphere that it cultivates.
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The harmonic accompaniment in the viola and cello descends in a major scale pattern, giving it a bit more harmonic colour than if it stayed on just two or three different chords. The melody is primarily composed of broken chords that follow the chord structure of the viola and cello.
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Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 is very special to me, so I wanted to pay homage to it. This piece aims to accomplish that goal in some small way.
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Impression of Impressionism
I wrote this piece using only a wholetone scale as a basis. Due to association of the wholetone scale with Claude Debussy, this piece ended up sounding a bit like a Debussy piece.
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I wrote it in 7/4 to give it an ambiguous pulse. This is in line with the wholetone scale which has an ambiguous tonality. This rhythmic and tonal ambiguity gives it a dreamy, watercolour-like quality that is typical of music from the impressionist movement.
The tonal centre in this piece is established through assertion. Because I continuously stay on Db in the bass, it feels like the piece is in Db even though there is never a perfect cadence to affirm it.
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Impressionism in music was a movement in the late 18oos and early 1900s. It was called impressionism because people thought it sounded like the auditory equivalent of the visual art movement of the same time which was also called impressionism. Similar to how impressionist paintings try to portray light, colour, and feeling rather than shapes and defined lines, impressionist music tries to portray timbre, musical colour, and feeling rather than functional harmony and motific development.
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Despite the obvious similarity between the the art movements, many impressionist composers - including Debussy - rejected the term.
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Full-Circle Ringing
During last year's end-of-year break, I had the idea to synthesise a church bell using individual sine waves. It was a massive success and my passion for and knowledge of bells grew a lot in the process. I even gave a presentation on my artificial bells in Composition Workshop, which was very well received.
For this piece, I was inspired by a piece by Grisey called "Les Espaces Acoustiques III: Partiels", in which Grisey orchestrates the partials of a trombone sound. I decided to try orchestrating the overtones of one of the bell sounds I created (specifically, one which I had tuned to be perfectly in tune in equal temperament, so that the instruments could play the correct notes more easily.)
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I chose which instrument would play what partial, based on the instruments range, but also on how loud the note was supposed to be and how loud it would be if played by the instrument I chose. For example, the 4th bell partial called the "quint" is very quiet when compared to the partials adjacent to it, so I gave that note to the viola, even though there were other instruments with lower ranges than the viola and the viola could have easily played a higher partial.
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I decided to have the orchestra play repeated descending major scales like what you would hear from a real bell tower. Fortunately, the intervals between the partials remain the same regardless of what the fundamental frequency is, so it was simply a matter of transposing the different instruments into their corresponding descending major scales. The effect is similar to that one passage in Ravel's Bolero. The final piece really does sound like bells chiming to me. Only, it's played by an orchestra.
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Fish Eagle
For this assessment, I was inspired to try and transcribe the song of a non-human animal. The animal whose call I chose to imitate, was the African Fish Eagle, because I think it makes quite a nice sound. The instrument I chose to play the transcription, was the flute, because I thought the African Fish Eagle has quite a flute-like sound, and because the flute is often associated with birds.
The African Fish Eagle has quite a melodic call which made it straightforward to transcribe. I found that all the sounds in the recording I chose, fitted well enough into equal temperament that I didn't bother getting the tuning perfect. I had a similar experience with the rhythm of the phrases, it all seemed to fit to a grid surprisingly well (albeit with some complex and potentially difficult timing required.)
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One of the sounds in the recording, near the beginning, is a loud 'air' sound. I wasn't sure if it was made by the eagle or not, but I decided to transcribe it anyway because it sounded cool. The technique I chose to perform that sound is called a Jet Whistle. It's a technique where you blow air through a flute's embouchure hole really fast and it creates a rather loud and aggressive air sound similar to the sound in the recording.
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Nouvelle Gnossienne
A Gnossienne is a form invented and used by French impressionist composer Erik Satie. The form is typically characterised by such things as: a 'waltz-like' pattern (where you have a bass note on beat 1 followed by a chord or chords on the other beats in the bar), its use of unusual modes, grace notes, repeated notes, plagal motion, and its exclusion of bar lines which suggests a very free and expressive style of playing.
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I am very fond of the music of Erik Satie and though many of my works are influenced by him, I have never made anything that truly captured the essence of his music. I wanted to write a piece that adheres to the characteristics of a Gnossienne. So that's what I did.
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The name "Nouvelle Gnossienne" literally means "New Gnossienne". I called it that because it was written using the conventions of a Gnossienne, but is probably the first 'new Gnossienne' that has been composed in a while.
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I did also experiment a bit with my own ideas. On page 2 where bars 31-34 would be, I use perfect cadences. I chose to do this, thereby temporarily deviating from a fundamental characteristic of a Gnossienne, because the piece was leading me in that direction. It's possibly one of my favourite moments in the piece, because it just sounds so beautiful to me.
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Gnossiennes might not be the most technically advanced or challenging, but they are among my personal favourite styles of music and I'm very glad that I chose to write one.
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Interactive Cue
This piece was commissioned by a lady at my church for her YouTube channel. She runs a business specializing in web design and business/marketing consulting, and she wanted an intro for her YouTube channel and also her Podcasts.
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As you can hear, this track doesn't sound very corporate. This was an intentional choice, based on the reference track she gave me. I believe the reason she wanted the kind of upbeat style I ended up making, is to reflect her African heritage.
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As part of her feedback for my first draft, she stated that she wanted it to be more Afrocentric. I tried to bring in a bit of an African flavour through the rhythm section. I used African drums (a Djembe and a Dununba), a bongo bell, and I tried to make the rhythmic pattern in the drum kit sound somewhat African. I also used marimba in the piece.
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In addition to the African influence, I was also inspired by Jazz music. In this piece I used instruments like the alto sax, jazz guitar, and trumpet, and I used a jazzy chord progression with seventh chords.
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I also utilized non-acoustic instruments such as the electric piano and two different synthesizers to give it a modern sound, and taking what I learned about composing for video games, I made it so that the piece would loop perfectly, as my client wanted the piece to be written in such a way that it could loop continuously.
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The Swan River
This piece was inspired by the prelude of Wagner's opera Das Rheingold and in reference to that, I named it after a well-known West Australian River; The Swan River.
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The main feature of this piece is the low bass drone that carries on throughout the whole piece. In terms of instrumentation, I used brass instruments and low strings to give it a sense of grandeur and majesty.
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Harmonically, the piece more or less stays on a Db major chord (albeit with grace notes), thanks to the drone. A lot of the melodic phrases tend to hover around the notes of a Db major chord as well.
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The slow tempo was also chosen to enhance the majestic atmosphere of the piece, and I chose the key signature of Db major because to me it feels very warm and rich and dark.
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Like Das Rheingold, and like a canon, the piece gradually brings in instruments over time. Since it's only a short piece, I could only have the piece stay at its glorious high point for a short time before having the instruments gradually drop out and fade away.
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Tiny Fugue
This past semester, one of the things I learned in theory class was how to write a fugue.
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A fugue is made up of a subject and a counter subject. The subject is your main melodic motif and the countersubject is a piece of counterpoint with special rules, designed to go with your subject. You also have an answer and counteranswer which is a transposition of your subject a perfect 5th higher or a perfect 4th lower.
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The structure of a fugue is as follows: Exposition, Episode, Middle Entry, then alternate between Episode and Middle entry until end (optionally returning to the tonic for the end.)
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In a basic four part fugue, the exposition starts with either the soprano voice or the bass voice and brings in the next voice each time the melody repeats until all four voices are present. The first time is the subject, the second time is the answer and counteranswer, the third time is the subject, countersubject, and free counterpoint, and the fourth and final time is the answer, counteranswer, and two different free counterpoints.
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The episode features a cadence of descending fourths which leads into the middle entry. The middle entry is like the final repeat of the exposition except it has to be in a key that's different from the exposition. The keys that can be used in a fugue are determined by its key signature. For example, if it's in C major or A minor, it can only use C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, and A minor.
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I have really enjoyed writing fugues and other baroque music the last few months. I seem to have a knack for it and it gives you really beautiful music simply by you following the rules. Choice can be paralyzing, so I actually quite enjoy the tight constraints of baroque counterpoint.
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Techniques of Composition
Assessment 2
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Jesus Calms the Storm
My faith is an important part of my life. Recently, I decided that I want to start expressing that more in my music and start writing faith-inspired pieces.
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This piece is an impressionist tone poem portraying a story in the Bible. It is the first of many Biblical tone poems that I plan on writing, and the story it tells is the account of Jesus calming a raging storm which can be found in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
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For the program notes, I have combined all three accounts into one all-encompassing compilation of the story:
One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. There were also other boats with him. As they sailed, he fell asleep.
Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat, and they were in great danger. But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the raging waves, “Quiet! Be still!”
Then the storm subsided, and all was completely calm. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
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Unlike a regular Germanic-style tone poem which seeks to portray the characters, locations, and events in a very literal way, an impressionist tone poem seeks to portray the underlying feeling and emotion behind the characters, locations, and events. An example of a piece like this is Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun". Although my piece does have field recordings accompanying it, and not all of it is impressionist in style, I did approach it from this impressionist mindset.
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As mentioned, I used Field recordings extensively in this piece. At the beginning, I have gentle lake sounds, sailing boat sounds, and a few other calm environmental sounds. Then, in the middle, intense thunder and rain sounds come in, before suddenly fading away into the same calm lake sounds as before. I think it adds an extra layer to the piece, making it more vivid and immersive.
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I put a lot of really hard work into this piece and I'm very proud of how it turned out. This was my first exploration of program music and I am keen to make more like it.
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