This score was for my final Materials of Composition assignment. We had to create an original orchestral score of approximately 100 bars in length and using acoustic, orchestral instruments. A summary of the piece and its score can be found below. The midi audio for it can be found linked "here." I lovingly titled this piece “Bubbles and Balloons” as I wanted to focus on timbre. There are 3 sections in the piece; Section A called “Bubbles”, Section B called “Balloons” and Section A/B called “Bubbles & Balloons”. Structure and Intent: In Section A, I focus on non-sustaining instruments and their upper registers to mimic the delicate and light “bubbles”. The marimba begins the piece in its upper register with a round, warm and percussive / “popping” timbre. It’s eventually joined in a canon by pizzicato strings and other light woodwinds as “bubbles fill the room”. This section concludes dramatically with everything popping at once and smoothly transitions into Section B with cello, marimba and bassoon. Section B has longer, sustained phrases with rich and “rubbery” tones of the brass section and the lower registers of the strings and woodwinds to signify “balloons”. I had to keep in mind that these long phrases had to be “breathable” for the instrumentalists and used varied rests and smart layering to achieve the full, but playable sound (particularly within the bassoon ostinato). Added percussion on the repeat of the period increases the energy and tension, showing the “balloons” being stretched thin and about to pop. At the second turn around, the balloons don’t in fact pop but are let loose and fly around the area as the orchestra modulates chromatically. This leads into Section A / B where bubbles & balloons are filling the room as the A and B Sections combine for interesting motivic variations and timbral mixing. The piece slowly winds down as different sections of the orchestra get to have semi-solo phrases e.g. brass in bar 86-89. Eventually, I end on a sort of gag with the last soloist being the lone marimba that started it all. Final Thoughts: I had a bunch of fun (and stress) making this piece and am glad I got to see it come together how I imagined it. The irregular time signature was interesting to work with and I learnt a lot with my lecturer about grouping it idiomatically for the players and conductor to feel the pulse. This was super important to the piece as the weird and changing time signatures gave the piece a continuous rolling / tripping over itself sort of feel that I loved. I had to read up a LOT about what each instrument could and couldn’t achieve e.g. the trombone could only slide a tritone and that a flute could actually pitch bend (thank you Samuel Adler). When it eventually came to editing, I admit I did have to pull a late night in the midi labs where I ran into a couple of third years doing the same. This made me feel a little better with a funny, silent show of camaraderie. I definitely felt the stress with this one and know that I should’ve started work much earlier than I had - however given the circumstances under which I completed it, I am overall chuffed with the work.
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Artist SummaryI'm a WA Fremantle based singer-songwriter / composer. Here, you can have a gawk at my studies, compositions and performances. Archives
August 2022
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