Winter's Morning: A transition from winter to the new year.

My newest song is complete! With this marks another milestone for me as I've become able to produce songs of such standards in shorter periods of time. This song took me approximately 1 day to complete (or 5 hours if you compile the hours together) making it one of the songs with the shortest amount of time I've had to work with since Alva. While the quality of the music isn't as impressive as Dragon Hunting, this song focuses more on trying to re-create the effects of winter while infusing the warmth of the sun melting the snow. To put it bluntly in this song I've experimented with mixing warm tones and cold, metallic percussion sounds to re-create the conflict and spectacle of winter and sunlight mixing together. Conceptually it seemed challenging but it seems I managed to achieve it by using "Reverb" on the bells and vibraphone to create a more echoey, desolate feel. Hopefully I'm not the only one who feels that way though. If the beginning of the song made you feel cold and desolate while the climax of the song filled you with awe and warmth, I'll be happy to let you know that those are the effects I've intended for you this time round.

Synopsis

The end of December is coming and with it the icy paths start to thaw under the warmth of the sun. The frost and warmth seem at odds with each other as morning dawns on these cold peaks...until it begins to snow one final time. The scene then evolves to a breathtaking landscape of snow, light and warmth slowly flirting through the canopy of trees as winter makes one final sigh and leaves.

Analysis

So this time round I started off with an echoey piano to stimulate the thoughts of a barren but large wasteland. I threw in the bells and the vibraphone next as many people associate these metallic bells with cold or Christmas whilst the vibraphone filled in the empty spaces created by the bells and created this general "blue" feeling associated with the coldness of winter. Standard soundtrack instruments includes the strings and horns playing in unison...but this time with the flutes and higher registers taking the lead so as to create a lighter feel throughout the piece. Not too sure if that made the song less "movie-like" but it seems to fit in nicely with the mood. The harp in this piece is meant to describe the falling snow along with the descending appegios played on the piano. They're used in the second half of the piece to illustrate snow falling gently while mixing with the warm tones of the strings which represent the sunlight of the scene. The song ends with a recapitulation of the opening but this time split up between the bells and vibraphone while the piano plays the full motif in the background. This is to create the sense of loneliness and hollowness as winter fades away and the year draws to an end. At the same time it sounds like the last snowflake landing on the ground before melting away. A nice touch as an ending scene in my opinion.

Well to wrap it up this song will mark the end of 2014 for me as a musician. It's been fun starting this blog and noting down the different techniques I've tried so far. Hopefully 2015 will yield many more different songs and opportunities to compose. This is Sevian signing off for now~

Dragon Hunting COMPLETE!

It's been a full month now since I started on this song....and it's finally complete! Pour the wine and celebrate with me as I commemorate yet another leap forward in my musical journey! The past few weeks have been packed with composing music for a tiny horror game project (which I haven't received permission to share here yet!) and other meaningful distractions. However it is heartening to see this song grow from a few measly whimsical notes to a full fledged movie-soundtrack-like theme. I still have ways to go in the area of composing and making full use of my DAW...but I'll get there eventually. For now this is one small step for me and another hopeful dream to nurture.

Song Write Up (note if you've read my previous posts, you might want to skip to the last paragraph):

The song's about a band of heroes who undertake the nigh impossible task of hunting a dragon. I based my inspiration for this on the various MMO's I've played and some movies I've watched about struggling against tragic outcomes. Dragons come from a very medieval setting and as such you'll notice the constant use of gothic themes throughout the piece. One common method of indicating a struggle that I've noticed is to make a lot of use of Strings on staccato. Somehow the short, striking tones of the strings gives this impression of hard breathing, strenuous effort and grim determination. Thus I gave the voice of the humans over to the staccato strings and the strings playing the higher notes. The voice of the dragon lies with the horns and brass as together they give a very heavy, overbearing effect. Accompanied by the strings not only do they echo like a dragon's roar but also build this large presence that seems to squash the air out of your lungs. Lots of movies use this technique when describing a insurmountable task or vast environments such as space, so I thought I should give it a go this time.

After the encounter between the heroes and dragon comes a brief period of respite for the heroes. This is meant to build tension and to sort of describe the difference in standing between the powerful dragon and the meek humans that try to overcome it. The lack of the dragon's voice in this phrase also indicates the wariness of the dragon towards the humans after the initial encounter, as it is now searching furtively for the humans who have gone into hiding. I thought this was a good way of describing how the combined efforts of the heroes had actually been effective enough to pose a threat to the dragon...while at the same time making out these heroes to be human as they could not keep up such efforts continuously.

The next segment of this song involves the humans standing up against the dragon shakily...almost as though they have been reminded of how small and human they are, but yet still filled with the will to surpass the insurmountable. The instruments come in one by one, repeating a motif that changes slightly each time it's repeated to represent the individual heroes these people are made out of slowly standing up and altering the spirit/effort of the battle. This scene describes how an insurmountable task is conquered by the individual taking the first step and the group contributing to create a strong will and hope enough to achieve what the individual cannot.

The last segment is the final engagement between the dragon and the humans...in which a confronting but slightly sorrowful phrase enters. This reflects the lost of life as the hunt reaches it's final stages and the dragon falls. I decided to use a sorrowful tune here as I felt that even when hunting a great beast, the lost of the life of such a magnificent and grandiose creature was kind of a loss in the world I visualized. To me the fall of the dragon signifies the fall of a great monument of this medieval world and thus although the final efforts of the hunt are strenuous, they are also marked with a hint of sorrow as we bid the dragon goodbye. The humans then proceed to deal the final blow as the strings end of with a chain of C notes, similar to the final strike in a battle.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Well it's been a huge load of fun tinkering with the DAW to create a more movie-like environment for the song to thrive in...as well as putting notes together to form a decent song. Hopefully the next one will be more magnificent and amazing!

This is Sevian, signing off for now~

Dragon Hunting

In the end I did decide to upload this video as an unfinished manuscript. I know I said I didn't like unfinished songs but I guess it should go up here as a sort of milestone for me. For all I know I'll be picking this up again in the near future once I'm done with the horror game project.

The song's about a band of heroes who undertake the nigh impossible task of hunting a dragon. I based my inspiration for this on the various MMO's I've played and some movies I've watched about struggling against tragic outcomes. Dragons come from a very medieval setting and as such you'll notice the constant use of gothic themes throughout the piece. One common method of indicating a struggle that I've noticed is to make a lot of use of Strings on staccato. Somehow the short, striking tones of the strings gives this impression of hard breathing, strenuous effort and grim determination. Thus I gave the voice of the humans over to the staccato strings and the strings playing the higher notes. The voice of the dragon lies with the horns and brass as together they give a very heavy, overbearing effect. Accompanied by the strings not only do they echo like a dragon's roar but also build this large presence that seems to squash the air out of your lungs. Lots of movies use this technique when describing a insurmountable task or vast environments such as space, so I thought I should give it a go this time.

After the encounter between the heroes and dragon comes a brief period of respite for the heroes. This is meant to build tension and to sort of describe the difference in standing between the powerful dragon and the meek humans that try to overcome it. The lack of the dragon's voice in this phrase also indicates the wariness of the dragon towards the humans after the initial encounter, as it is now searching furtively for the humans who have gone into hiding. I thought this was a good way of describing how the combined efforts of the heroes had actually been effective enough to pose a threat to the dragon...while at the same time making out these heroes to be human as they could not keep up such efforts continuously.

The last segment of this song involves the humans standing up against the dragon shakily...almost as though they have been reminded of how small and human they are, but yet still filled with the will to surpass the insurmountable. The instruments come in one by one, repeating a motif that changes slightly each time it's repeated to represent the individual heroes these people are made out of slowly standing up and altering the spirit/effort of the battle. This scene describes how an insurmountable task is conquered by the individual taking the first step and the group contributing to create a strong will and hope enough to achieve what the individual cannot. It ends there however, as the song has yet to be complete. Perhaps one day I will finish this song...perhaps not. I will however keep composing...and keep searching for new adventures to write about...for new worlds to create. Such is the life of a musician.

This is Sevian, signing off for now.

Magic At Night

Magic At Night

This song describes the magic of the forest slowly coming to life as night falls. In  the beginning of the song you have the slumbering fauna and flora slowly awakening with nightfall...first as soft whispers through the forest and then slowly as deep strong murmurs that resound through the forest itself. It is then that the magic of the forest truly begins. Now fully awakened, the flora and fauna converse in their own hidden language as though they were living spirits filled with an abundance of life. This life now saturates the forest and a new world is slowly revealed. Softly they play their song for those who would listen, bringing forth a new world yet unseen. A new world full of magic and illusions that eventually fades away like a dream.




Ok so this time round I tried to work more with chords to make it feel cinematic...and by that I mean I consciously studied the chords in each phrase before adding each note. Hence the song feels a bit more dreamy and more passive...you'll notice there's also a lot less movement as compared to my previous songs. That's also the effect of concentrating on chords alone. I did add a melody line in the end as it sounded too dead to me with only chords...but this time with a little trick. I passed the melody from the bells in the beginning to the strings, then the horns, then the strings....etc. It was quite tedious to pull off but I'm glad the effect came out the way it did. To me it sounds like various inanimate objects coming to life and conversing with each other...which is kind of magical in a sense too.

Unlike my previous 2 songs this one sits at 2mins long...the reason being that the song describes a mini scene instead of just an emotion, hence more shape was needed to craft out this scene. The song can easily be divided into 4 sections that is the beginning (bells), the body (orchestra comes in), the chorus (harp strums upwards) and the ending (piano mimicking the bells from the beginning). Each section represents the state of the forest from coming alive, bringing forth the magic, changing the landscape with that magic and then going back to sleep again. I used the bells, glockenspiel, the piano and the harp to create this cascading effect like stars falling down to the ground to create this magical feeling. However it was also quite tough to balance these effects out with the rest of the orchestra as I had to keep in mind that while these instruments had a prominent role to play they were just props at the end. The strings and horns in the background were the real stars of this song with the way they passed the conversation between each other so those had to come out more. Thankfully this song had more ambiance to it than melody, so it worked out in the end.

Truthfully I wonder if my songs are beginning to sound a little different again...like they're maturing. (i hope!) Maybe with a bit more work I can begin infusing a bit of modern techno into my songs just like the many movie soundtracks I hear these days. A bit of techno couldn't hurt....

Watching The Flowers

Another short piece of work, this time exploring the feeling of looking at flowers! I tried to capture the actions that go on during the scene instead of just the emotions this round. I was aiming for the impression of flowers swaying in the wind as the onlooker takes a slow but peaceful gaze at them. It's a different way of capturing the same scene using music but I had a lot of fun doing it. As this is my first time focusing on the actions instead of the emotions in a scene, I do hope the impression I created this time round isn't too varied! Again, let me know what you think about the song and I'll be glad to read your experiences :)

The song this time round used a more oriental style with the Koto in the background playing appegios. I felt that gazing at the flowers is a very eastern thing so I used the respective style to describe that action. Just as there would be wind causing the flowers to sway, so do the dynamics of the song grow louder and softer as the chords progressively changes. It's an old idea that I've heard many songs use and I've wanted to try it for awhile. I'm glad I got the chance to do so this time. The emotion of the song doesn't change this time round and stays within a peaceful, dreamy mood. Hopefully the song doesn't feel so boring because of that. I actually wanted to throw in a very emotional part to the song but it felt kind of irrelevant this time round so I didn't. (The draft for that part is still sitting in the corner of my work file!) Other than that, the chords were made a bit thicker so that the song retained it's movie-like atmosphere but I'm wondering if something else could've been done to achieve that instead. It's getting old beefing up a song by throwing in a mix-mash of strings and brass...also sometimes the chords get too thick and interferes with the "light" feeling you want to keep sustained throughout the song! It's a fun but tedious balance between sound and mood each time. :)

The next song I'll be working on will probably contain a bit more action in it. I've been saying that I'd get around to doing a horror song for awhile but I haven't found the mood to do so :/. It's more fun to do emotional and passionate pieces after all! =D (Especially ones with a medieval tinge to it, I love those kind of songs!)

This is Sevian signing off till next time!

Courage

Another music project complete! As I've said last time this one's much shorter than my usual projects so I can focus more on practicing to craft the mood and the style. This one took me about a week to finish...I should really learn to work faster. =p

So this time round it's the theme "courage" with a bit of the usual adventure feel to it. I seem to be always doing these types of songs these days...but it's because I love listening to these types of songs! Don't worry though, the next few songs won't have the same mood as I'll be working on other moods to improve my sense of styles (probably!) In this piece I imagined a hero who has been pushed to the edge of defeat slowly finding the courage to stand up against a powerful foe again. The idea of standing back up is portrayed through the echoed thoughts the hero has (bells in the first part) and the feeling of rising up as seen in the ascending chords from the strings. I used a touch of brass instruments here and there to create this majestic and glorified feeling as the hero finds his courage. If you felt much more courageous and ready to face your difficulties after listening to this song, I'll be very happy. Then again I'm still a work-in-progress composer so opinions and comments about what you feel about the song is greatly appreciated! (As long as they're constructive :) )

The next song I'm planning to work on will have themes associated with horror or romance...something different than the usual themes I'm comfortable in. I'll take some time to decide which to work on so leave a comment if you want to hear me work on a specific theme!

Till next time~

A new story

So I've finally created a blog where I can post all the small music projects I'm working on.... (Yay!) I have never blogged before so there's little that I actually know about blogging...but I've been looking for a special place where I can share my work (and sometimes even unfinished pieces) online and even review it with people I meet easily. Since I also think it'd be kind of fun to interact with my readers about my songs, I guess a blog is something worth trying out. Hopefully I'll think of other things to write about on this blog so it doesn't get too boring for either of us though!


In future maybe I'll use this blog to share my music with people I'll be working together with in projects or just as a link to shamelessly advertise my skills. =p I dunno...guess the only way is to get started and find out what can happen! For the time being, here's one of my attempts at an orchestral piece that I've uploaded on youtube...please feel free to comment and share! ^,^