Viva Voce 2023
Meteoric Pearls on the Freeway
For Solo Cello
The inspiration for this piece originated from a series of cello improvisations for an Outcome Unknown gig I did with my sibling Luka (Outcome Unknown #84 @ Maylands Yacht Club 18/02/23). We had the idea to pair a spoken word poem (Untitled) with improvised cello, and I based my improvisation on the poem’s imagery of a pearl rumbling on a freeway.
I drew this motif (pictured) from the improvisation, which the rest of the composition was based around.
I started the process by recording two more similar improvisations built on the motif. I focused on establishing a contour and structure for the piece. It was honestly very therapeutic just playing around on the cello, especially at the really aggressive parts. I was focused on writing something very idiomatic for the cello - as in something that couldn’t be transcribed for any other instrument. And since I’m a cellist, I know the instrument well, so it was easy to let my creativity flow out on the cello, because it just seems like second nature. I also planned out these ideas on paper so I wouldn’t forget them.
Describe your image
Describe your image
I wanted the percussive tremolo at the beginning to kind of evoke an image of a pearl getting tumbled around on the freeway as cars go past. The irregular ‘slaps’ is like the sound of the pearl and the resonance of the G and C strings is like the hum of car engines. I also wanted to play with speed, urgency and lethargy. The main motif is like the pearls coming down out of the sky in slow motion, and I wanted the tempo to be rubato so the performer could play with the speed of the pearl’s descent as they please.
So getting down a foundation for this piece was really easy - the hard part was going to be notating it. My first obstacle was figuring out the best way to notate the percussive tremolo at the start and the end. I did some research online and came to the term ‘percussive tremolo’ but it didn’t account for the irregular, free-form code-like rhythm that was imperative to the tremolo. On an online forum I found the ‘morsen’ symbol which was a pretty close description of what I was going for. I knew that I wanted this to have no time signature. It would’ve been too confusing for the performer to follow along if the time signature was too complex and constantly changing. So having no time signature really allowed me to have the freedom to let the music float in space as it needs.
I wanted a big contrast with the double stopped C/G and the screeching, to exude intense emotions - like when emotions get too overwhelming that it just blurs into a big storm. It’s like screaming into a pillow. The pearls come back but are more intense and scattered, I wanted this part to be the most dissonant and hard on the ears. And also as a performer, it feels relieving and satisfying to just take it all out on the cello, like it’s speaking and yelling through you. After the big storm, I wanted to contrast it with a more tender, expressive melodic line. I used the same pearl motif, using augmentation, sequence and vibrato to contrast the urgency of before.
When I originally notated the score, I was unaware of the ‘hide’ feature on muscle where you can hide a bar or a time signature or a rest, which meant that I had to manually create each bar by putting a ‘dummy’ bar line in wherever I wanted one to be, but MuseScore wouldn’t recognise it as bar which meant it caused all sorts of formatting issues. And it ended up taking me twice as long as it probably should’ve. Thanks to the MuseScore knowledge of my classmates, I learnt about the ‘hide’ feature and notation because a lot quicker and simpler. I re-notated everything using actual bar lines, with different time signatures for each, and then hiding them so it would read as having no time signature and an arbitrary amount of notes in each bar.
In terms of the live recording (for the shock of the new concert 28/4/23), originally I was not meant to perform it, but due to last-minute unexpected circumstances, I was the one to perform it. Ultimately I wasn’t able to play it to the standard I would hope, so the recording might sound a bit different than what’s written on the score, because truthfully, I just made a few things up on the night, instead of worrying about it being perfect. I think the piece deserved a much better cellist than me though :)
Here is an early planning page for the piece. This was done while i was doing the improvisations - so this was me writing down the things I liked so I wouldn't forget them ;)
I had a dream once here
For Bb Clarinet and Piano
This piece was created around the imagery of a dream I once had years ago that always stuck with me. It’s something that I always wish I could go back to and feel what I felt there. Imagine a beach with no waves, early in the morning in summer, with a jetty, with glistening light and pearlescent shells, minerals and rocks in the sand, feeling pure bliss and unworried about what lies beyond the sand and ocean. The imagery is hard to explain, but if it was easy enough to explain in words, then I don’t think there would be any point in writing a song about it ;)
I wanted the piece to start out just with piano, with melodic clusters evoking images of water drops and scurrying sand, and letting the piano ring after the clusters, then picking it back up again. I also wanted these melodic ‘clusters’ to be played staccato, to keep the notes clear and contrast any sustaining chord. I also wanted to emphasise the silence between them, which will contrast the contrapuntal fullness and business that comes later.
The clarinet is introduced by intertwining trills with the piano, and starts to “play” with the piano’s fluttering melodies, staying texturally similar. Then at bar 27 it flows into a more melodic 7/8 contrapuntal theme that builds in complexity. This section is like if you took the blocks of the first section and connected them into a flowing melody. Although it’s more legato now, it keeps the foundation that it was built upon. Similarly, I wanted to tease a grand ‘splash’ with the pedal by keeping it senza ped.
The next section is what I imagine looking down through the clear water at all the glistening pearls and the nautical, seafaring gems in the sand. The we splash into the water!! (the pedal finally comes in) and breaks up the piano’s staccato obstino. It also finally explores the clarinets registral capabilities. Then back above the water, we are looking below - the clarinet takes a break before crashing back into the water.
I wanted to develop the material a bit further with modulation. It dives into Ab major with a playful melody reflective of the piano ostinato from earlier, and then A major, returning to Bb major with imitation of previous material in sequences, floating in and out of F major and continuing increasing dissonance and muddiness. I wanted it to feel muddier so it’s like you’re kind of losing touch with the setting, getting lost from the original mood and increase tension so that when it dissolves into a beautiful, simple, singable, legato, line it feels like a huge relief (bar 90). Everything has been building to this point. It’s just pure grace and bliss and it feels like you want to stay in whatever this feeling is forever. I was inspired by the song ‘Have One On Me’ by Joanna Newsom @ 9:45, how it drags and bursts into elegant arpegeiatied chords with the melody gliding over top.
But of course, all good things must come to an end! And this dream has to end now :(
I knew I wanted the end section to be slower, moodier, less whimsical, and more stripped back. It was created through a random improvisation from playing around on a grand piano. I really liked the resonance of the major 2nd interval repeating, as throughout the piece, the major second was used as an accent point a lot. So I wanted that interval to ring as the baseline of the piano and clarinet would play fragmented parts of pervious melodies, like memories fading away.
One challenge for me was consistency of material. Often I find myself going off into a million different ideas - that could each be their own songs. So I was quite focused on making it all sound cohesive (and not stray too far from the beaten track). One piece of feedback that I received was that it might benefit from changing the key. Originally, there was only 2 or 3 sections that had any accidentals at all, and it was a little TOO Bb major-y. So tonality and modulation was something I kept in mind when editing and developing the piece.
Although not intentional, a few people have said that this song reminds them of Joe Hisaishi’s music (which is a huge compliment) which makes sense, as I am a big big fan. So I have probably absorbed some of his style and took inspiration it in an unconscious manner. But my main foundation for this piece is the dream I had. And I think it’s the reason I created this piece in the first place. I find it’s easier to process emotional complexities when you can channel it into art, or create a world to escape to. And for me, this piece does both. It’s an escape from the complex emotions tied to the dream, while also acting as a re-creation of it’s setting to escape to. I wanted to give it it’s own home in this piece of music, which allows me to move on and process whatever strange feelings it brings up in me.
Some planning of structure + textures
MIRANDA IS CALLINGGGG!!!!!
This was my first time delving into the world of electronic music and particularly hip hop. It was created for the ‘Break it Up’ concert (27/4/23) @ The Rosemount, with the intention of having a rap verse over the top of it. I am greatly inspired by artists such as Arca, SOPHIE, M.I.A., Björk, Aphex Twin, Charli XCX and many more.
This track in particular started off with experimentation using samples from the volcanic drum sounds in Jóga by Bjork, a long-time favourite of mine. From playing around with that I was left with a track that sounded more like an industrial boiler room DJ set than a hip hop track, and was not suited for a rapper.
With guidance from Elise Reitze-Swensen, I decided to basically start over from scratch, coming at it from more of a hip-hop angle. She gave me a few hyperpop and industrial inspired sample packs to play around with, which was great considering how new I am to DAWs and electronic production.
This time, the track was more of a tribute to SOPHIE, inspired by songs such as ‘Ponyboy’ and ‘Faceshopping’. Additionally, I drew influence from SHYGIRL’s EP ALIAS (2020), as I’m a big fan of her rapping style, and her ability to incorporate sub-genres such as house, hyperpop, artpop and industrial techno. I also sampled the ringtone from one of my favourite movies ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ of Andy’s phone when Miranda calls (hence the title MIRANDA IS CALLINGGGG!!!!!) I only had about a week to complete this now, since starting over, so it was really just a process of finding samples and drum loops that I liked (which mostly consisted of anything that sounds like a construction site), and smashing them together (which didn’t feel like the most creative thing ever, but considering my time constraints and limited abilities, it was the best option for me). It started with the bass-heavy drum loop “UMRU104 drum_loop_forever” and used that as my ‘kick’ then I layered a clap sound and then hi hats over that. And from there I just layered more sounds that I liked for accent and fill.
As I mentioned, this track was intended to have a rapper rap over it, but due to communication issues, the final performance was without a performer. This was a slight disappointment but sometimes these things are just out of your control. I think when making this, I envisioned Azalea Banks rapping over this - similar to how she does in Yung Rapunxel.
I certainly learnt a lot through this process about beat making, DAWs, mixing and sampling. But it can also be disheartening to be so new to something and not be great at it immediately. The perfectionism in my brain was constantly telling me to give up, but I was really determined to try something new - despite how inexperienced I am. And I’m excited to create more electronic works in the future!! I am interesting in beat-making from an analogue system, but I’ve only ever played around on other people’s machines. I am hugely inspired by M.I.A.’s album /\/\ /\ Y /\, with its blend of hip-hop, pop and electronic - with influence from styles such as leftfeild, bhangra, noise, grime, dubstep and electro. So I want to create something with the same essence in the future.
Peach, Plum, Pear - Joanna Newsom (arrangement)
My first and favourite idea was to do an arrangement of the song La Chiquí by Arca and SOPHIE. What drew me to this song was its unique rhythms and sonic textures which would be extremely interesting to notate. And I was really interested in exploring how electronica and techno could be translated orchestrally. This was something I took a lot of time to plan out and got about 1/4 of the way through notating, but I realised due to time constraints and the fact that it’s a difficult song, I made the executive decision to start over. With the lack of harmony and melody in the original song, I had less freedom than I thought. And it was an unrealistic expectation to arrange it to a standard I was happy with (in the time I had remaining). So instead I opted for a much ‘simpler’ song that allowed for more creative liberties and exploration of orchestration possibilities.
I don’t want that work to go to waste so maybe someday I’ll revisit it.
Again, due to poor time management, that left me with less than 48 hours to do an entire arrangement. Considering this, I chose ‘Peach, Plum, Pear’ to arrange because it’s simplicity allows for more creative liberty and freedom of orchestration. And it’s a song I know really well. It has a simple vi-IV-ii-V chord progression- which lends itself well to reharmonisation. It also has a recognisable ostinato and unique 4/3 polyrhythm, which means I can play around with the material as much as a like, but the original melody will still be recognisable. I find that this flexibility allows for a great slow build and decay in the structure. The polyrhythmic syncopation was a lot of fun to work with, and was kept pretty consistent throughout the whole piece. I wanted the pulse and the beat not to just be handled by the cello, so at times the pulse comes through the treble voices too.
My thought process for choosing instruments was to (of course) have a string quartet, because that’s what I’m most comfortable writing for, and strings can basically do anything. And due to the complexity of the layers of material, I needed more than four instruments. I thought flute and clarinet would work well with the strings, and would be able to handle melodic material as well as flourishes and adding colour. I am a big fan of tenor saxophone, especially in the context of strings, I think it blends really beautifully. And finally the horn in F to add a bit of power, and to handle some of lower notes with the cello.
I wanted the piece to start out with the horn and woodwinds kind of finding the key and chords in a calm yet jumbled exploration, before the strings come in and drive the melody. Then it focuses on pizzicato for the strings as it *sort of* emulates the harpsichord in the original version, which is so quintessential to its sound. I started with the pizzicato because it reminds me of a flower that hasn’t bloomed yet, it’s just the bulb, and then eventually when they switch to Arco it’s like the petals are revealed - which I thought would work well in this piece. Like starting off humble and then transition into a fuller sound with Arco. But often the strings would interchange pizz. and arco sometimes at different points to change who had control in the melody, and to switch up the overall texture.
I also wanted to ensure that the main melodic line was being passed around through the instruments, so that each performer had at least something interesting to play, and weren’t stuck playing pedals, ostinatos or basslines the entire time. I know first hand how boring it can be in an ensemble when you’re not playing anything fun.
One thing I would to point out is at bar 67, when the violin I and IIs have the alternating ostinato where the violin II is playing a semiquaver off beat, the notation is technically wrong, but this was on purpose. I could’ve had the ostinato played by one instrument on one stave in semiquavers - but that would be too challenging, tiring and boring to play that amount of fast notes! So I split them up between the violins as if it were two instruments were divisi on an 8-semiquaver line, alternating each note between each instrument. But the way I notated it goes against the beaming separation. I thought it would be easier to read if it didn’t contain loads of ugly ties and instead it just insinuates that you must play the exact same thing as the violin I, just a semiquaver off beat. This means the violins don’t have to move their fingers or the bows very far and it’s much easier to play. The only thing is it might be harder to stay in time.
I know this song well on guitar, so my process for re-harmonisation (at bar 39) came from testing different bass notes on the guitar against the melody and seeing what sounded good. I found that you could swap vi and I and ii for a flat vi. Then I just transposed it into F major.
Ultimately I’m fairly happy with how this turned out. If I had more time I would’ve made it a bit longer with more solo for the instruments during the climax, and I would want these solos to sound improvised and free-form. Ideally I would just have the performer improvise in F major while the rest of the instruments are tutti.
My original plan for La Chiquí ---->
Some of the most valuable presentations from this semester, and what I got out of them
I found Izzy’s presentation about “making garbage” to be really helpful. I definitely struggle with perfectionism. I tend to get disheartened and frustrated when something isn’t immediately amazing. She talked about “putting random notes into musescore” or just messing around on some instruments, and how just letting out some terrible music that has no thoughts behind it can be beneficial for clearing creative block. Even though most of the time this only really helps with creativity, sometimes I find sometimes you can actually create something worthwhile and “usable” from when you aren’t intending to find any gold.
For example, for my composition ‘I had a dream once there’ I started playing around on someone else’s grand piano because I was sick of staring at a musescore screen. And I only did this for fun, (I’m not even a pianist), but I ended up creating a passage that I really liked, and pretty much used it note-for-note in my final composition.
She also talked about how taxing composing can be, the deadlines, the creative block, the stress! Music creation isn’t something you can always rush, so when deadlines are placed upon you, it can be overwhelming when the ideas don’t immediately flow. This was really validating to hear! And reminds me not to be so hard on myself.
Another thing her presentation got me thinking about was the value of “garbage music”. I don’t always think music should be “good” because what is “good”?? Why not just do what’s fun and enjoyable? Even if it’s complete garbage and no one will ever listen to it - it’s worthwhile if it brings you joy or sadness or relief or any kind of emotion that you want to feel. And like Izzy mentioned, it can separate what you like and what you don’t like - so that YOU can decide what is “good” to you. So creating garbage has helped me to boost my creative flow, clear writer’s block, create new material, formulate new ideas, and release emotions.
In Ffion’s presentation, she talked about her experience (and struggles) using CMS1 to record her original song ‘London’. She went into the details of writing her song, the inspirations and the recording process and some of the mishaps along the way. From this I learnt to give myself PLENTY of time to record anything - even if it’s just one instrument. I know from experience that there are always technical difficulties that take up precious time to sort out. So often you are left with less time than you thought, which can make everyone stressed out and flustered. And if you’re stressed then it’s harder to get a good take because you make more mistakes. Now I will definitely give myself many hours in the studio to give leeway for technical difficulties and mishaps! I am also going to take her advice of recording the vocals first, so that your voice isn’t tired by the time you need to record :) Her presentation has actually inspired me to give recording my original songs a go! Since having a bit of experience working CMS1, I feel like I could maybe try to record some non-uni stuff too.
Although I’m not super experienced in the realm of DAWs and electronic music production. I found Joel’s presentation on drum bussing to be really interesting. Whenever I’ve done beat making, I just kind of layer samples that I’ve adjusted in mono and put them together without running them through a bus and adjusting the beat in stereo. Joel explained that you get a fuller, richer sound when you do it this way, so It’s something that I will try to implement in the future.
Jasper’s presentation on how sound reflects visuals, and finding sound in visuals was interesting too. He gave a few examples of his own pieces that evoke the imagery of a world he is replicating in his sounds. One example he played was a song that was evocative of a desert world with sand dunes, and he used a really grainy, sandy synth that felt like you were rubbing sand between your fingers. So by using a “sandy synth”, it can really bring you into a ‘desert’ world, without the need for harmony. Instrumentation can also play a huge part in the historical aspect of world building in your music. For example in terms of medieval music, Brass could correlate to royalty, Plucking and harpsichord would be for peasants, drums for armies and etc. He also pointed out how synths / any unresolved sound will usually sound like aliens or anything other-worldly, because it’s hard to base in reality.
This also got me thinking about how important album covers and visuals in general are for any music. I like to think of album art as the tarot card for the music, telling you everything you need to know just in one image. An artist that I think does this extremely well is Björk, for example. Each album of hers is roughly linked to a colour or colours that reflect the music; her album Debut pictures a beige, shy portrait of her to symbolise the raw, humble, humanity of the album. Whereas Post explodes into orange and pink madness and is very busy, which conveys the extroverted mood and melting pot of genres. (I could go on and on about this, but I’ll leave it there). If/ when I release an album in the future, I would take great care to create cover art that reflects the sounds and sonic symbolism of the music.
Finally, Henry’s presentation on alternate guitar tunings was really helpful for me, because I’m someone who can’t play guitar in the traditional sense, but I can get around it using an open D tuning, and just playing power chords over each fret. And you can surprisingly play a lot of songs just from this tuning. Henry went into other tunings such as EEEEBE and DADGAD that perhaps I could try for future guitar compositions.
Esoteric Diva Music Score ⬆
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