Creating Emotive Compositions using Mediums

Independent Study

Final Project Description: ​ For my Final Project I explored writing emotive compositions for different mediums. It started from a personal appreciation and love of listening to compositions and soundtracks for films, games - the cinematic world…which led me to think, what other mediums could you compose to? ​ I first started building and developing ideas from the first four mediums. I went around my house searching for different books, poems, objects, I went on walks and runs to find interesting outdoor spaces to inspire these said compositions. This was the beginning of me working out and finding what musical elements could work (in terms of sonority, harmony, keys, melodic writing and textures) to help showcase the emotive connection I was trying to create in my compositions. ​ From this, on a week-to-week basis I would write two-three compositions per different medium. I found that certain mediums were harder and more difficult to compose for than others such as a poem and book. With these both being words on a page rather than a more visual idea, it was finding a way to compose with these words I read on the page and trying to create an emotive engagement to the listener. This was something I had to keep practicing and experimenting with each week. ​ After the completion of the Prototype Portfolio in the research part of this project, I went away and self-reflected on what I had composed so far and where the project can go next to develop further. I started looking for a couple of new mediums to go along with the original four I had already. I found a photograph and letter that had a personal attachment to myself, which gave me a different experience of composing to a medium as there was more of a narrative connection to me. ​ From finding these new mediums, I started from fresh (although remembering and developing further what I had learnt so far) of the now six mediums I had. I composed one-two pieces of music per medium, some were more successful than others, but this was a turning point in the growing process of my project as it was the beginning of my own personal development in my compositional writing. I forced myself out of my comfort zone with instrumentation, textures, keys, and tried varied differences with each new composition. Weekly I would self-analyse what I had done compositionally and what I would take further to the final steps of the project. ​ Something that was a key element of focus at this stage of the project was the length in my compositions. My prototypes made in January were a minute to two minutes long. These Final Project compositions were going to have to be longer, to be able to take you on a journey when listening to them. This then pushed me further to delve into seeking new ideas, writing for bigger sonorities, combining my traditional background with the new skills and ideas I have learnt in a less orthodox, more contemporary way. This then saw a shift in my project, now having six compositions, all telling six distinct stories using a diversity of instruments, textures, and lengthier compositions.

Please see below my collation of images and texts of the Mediums I worked with which inspired my Final Project compositions. ​

Project Context: ​ When comparing my final project to existing works already in the current industries field there are some similarities as well as dissimilarities in the approaches and outcome of the final product. ​ When comparing my work to CFCF’s, also known as Michael Silver, he came up with Music_for_Objects. These compositional works by Michael Silver were his depiction on the narrative represented by an object which later developed to him discovering the emotion for each individual object he composed about. The instrumentation of the ‘Music for Objects’ ranged from drums, pianos, guitars, basses’, strings and percussive, combining all the instruments together creating grand layered textures in his compositions. ​ When you compare the approaches to composing about the medium, in Michael Silvers case an object, it started from wanting to bring an inanimate object to life with music and portraying what these small everyday objects do. In my compositions I was trying to create this idea too of bringing to life the mediums I was influenced by and trying to tell a story over the duration of my music. Another example of work with mediums is Each Mood by Michael Tavon. Michael Tavon however took a different approach when it came to creating his project with poems. Michael Tavon instead of writing music inspired by mediums, he wrote Poems inspired from a range of songs, taking inspiration from the likes of Prince, Tevin Campbell and N.E.R.D. using them as his poetic muse. Michael Tavon split the book into different sections called playlists (volumes) all aimed around one theme per playlist. Although the works by Michael Tavon is for a different audience, we both had similar motives when it came to making our projects. Michael Tavon is wanting to fix the reader onto an emotion and for them to relate to the certain themes (playlists) when they’re reading the poems. Where similarly in my Final Project this is what I was trying to do with my compositions, creating the emotive engagement between the listener and the said mediums. I think the significance of my audio portfolio has developed but also expanded ideas from some of the previous existing works with mediums we have seen. Instead of composing and writing music for just one focused medium, as you see in the examples above and in the examples I found when investigating this field of work in my Project Proposal (see here my initial research for the project). I researched and explored new ways of composing and using a multitude of different subjects (poems, books, letters, photographs, outdoor spaces, and objects) to write music too. I believe my final project does have its own individual, unique place in the current industry field but also has its position alongside these similar projects that I have researched and discussed about. ​ Please see below the text My Final Project Compositions Audio Portfolio Link. ​ A Rainy Dream – Poem Butterflies – Letter Silhouettes – Outdoor Space Unexpected – Photograph Soap – Object You Are Dead - Book

Independent Study Project