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.
