October 2013

Stone Tower Temple (Reorchestration)

Tonight from 7pm-9pm I recorded the Stone Tower Temple theme from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It's a pretty haunting theme, perfect for Halloween, which is coming up! For it, I used violin, guitar, my recorder from fifth grade (wow! I remembered how to play it!), and my voice, singing low A-E, Bb-F, and G-D, all perfect fifths, giving a creepy vibe. It was lots of fun, and when I listened to it, it sounded like some of the actual MIDI sounds of the game!

Something extra that's really cool is the actual level's storyline, and how it's related possibly to the Tower of Babylon, and the profane faces you see in the pictures represent a great level of disrespect to the goddesses of the land. I don't really want to get into the details of it, for various reasons, but if you're curious, clickhere.

Listen to tonight's work!

On a side note, rehearsals for "Midwinter's Night" are going great! (Did I mention I've gotten a group of friends together to play the piece possibly for this year's Prism concert?) Not everyone has shown up to one yet, which we need to happen to record it by November 6th to audition, but it's still really cool a real orchestra (of sorts) is playing my music! My symphony is also slowly coming along. In orchestra class, we're playing Greig's Holberg Suite, a piece originally for piano (that I may still try to learn) but I prefer it for string orchestra. The piece's 'Air' movement is so beautiful, especially on piano when I play the melody and can truly understand the chord progressions. So now I've begun my own 'Air' for string orchestra, and it's having its moments so far. So yeah! Lots of fun stuff going on. :)

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Latest Scoring Projects and Playing Fun!

I'm writing a score for an Animal Crossing fanfiction I found online (and am continuing in my free time), on the side of my symphony score and all my other musical events going on (I have an orchestra concert Thursday!). This prevening, I've been working on a track for the score, using my keyboard with strings, French Horn, trombones/trumpets, timpani, and the grand piano MIDI there, but I also am using my piano at home, which, although slightly out of tune, sounds okay with the rest of the orchestra. I also used an electric guitar and organ, and I'm just about to record more violin parts with my violin, which will be awesome once it's put together (I'm recording the same part multiple times, so maybe it'll sound like a violin section played by one violin!). It'll be fantastic when it's good, and at some point I plan on putting this entire soundtrack (and the story) on YouTube! :) Remember back in June or July (2013) when I talked about that orchestral feeling? I can feel it returning as I type! :)

Yesterday, I went to NIU to check out the campus, cause I'm a junior and need to start thinking about college! (Gasp!) I met the composition professor there, and he told me to send him anything I wanted. I will send him my symphony later this evening once I've made a couple small edits, and see what he thinks! That'll be really exciting, especially since I just need someone else looking at it and giving me some critiques.

Finally, this afternoon before my violin lesson, I got out my violin to play an arrangement of Colors of the Wind (or part of one) with a violin and viola friend! It was tons of fun, and next week I plan on printing out the viola and violin parts of my symphony for us to play! :)

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The Plot of my new Symphony

Today, at 5pm, I finished the third draft of my epic summer symphony!

I don't really want to post it on YouTube yet, not until it's completely done. However, I kind of still wanted to mention that I finished it, and I'll tell you all about it. That way, come November, when you hear it in its entirety, you can head back to this article and understand everything.

There are four movements/sections of the piece, and each one describes a different character/moment of a story which I wrote into a script for a movie we might back next summer (2014). Basically, I'm doing what Howard Shore did when he wrote The Lord of the Rings Symphony, but in reverse. I'm going to use parts of the symphony in the score for the film, which still doesn't have a name yet! I need to think about that...

So anyways, here is a brief description of each of the four sections. The symphony is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, oboe, two horns in F, two trumpets in Bb, two trombones, timpani, cymbals/wood blocks, harp, piano, and strings. I'm thinking about adding pictures for a visual throughout while it's playing, just for reference.

I. Prologue: The First War

It's the year 2235, and aliens came to Earth to attack. Strings sweep beautifully through the score as UFOs fly across the night sky. Towards the end, the piano begins to thunder, and that's when the aliens come out to attack. The score reaches a climactic b minor chord, and the scene stops.

II. Ebonique

Fast forward 200 years into the future, and meet a young 14-year-old girl wondering through a forest. Her theme is innocent and scored very lightly, brass not included. There's a spot in the score where an oboe (and later solo violin) illustrate Ebonique's meeting of the two aliens, and when the score reverts back to the old theme, she's walking alongside them, ready to lead them to safety.

III. Execution

The evil President plans on executing Ebonique and the two aliens because of the War before. Ebonique's brother, Niccoló, and his friend, Aurora, have come a different way to help out. There are two spots, both right next to each other, where the score leads into a fff or ffff climax. For the second time this happens, the cymbal crashes represent the President's shooting of Fridalk, the female alien, and Ebonique. Solo violins mournfully play out as Niccoló carries his dying sister in his arms, lulling her to sleep.

IV. A Symphonic Finale

I bring back Ebonique's theme, but other than that this has no relation to the story.

Sorry if this didn't make much sense, but again, once you hear the symphony and once you watch the film, hopefully it will. Thanks for reading, and I hope I've whetted your appetite! :)

Oh, by the way, yesterday at 9am I was playing through random violin music for half and hour. It was fun! :)

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