Viva Voce 2023
A summary of assessed scores, reflections, and project descriptions from Semester 1 of my studies at WAAPA.
Semester 1
​
Corruption - For Solo Violin
​
​
​
Rain - Piano and Flute Duet
​
​
​
Hopin' - Arrangement for String Quintet
​
​
Iris - Cover for Home and Studio Recording Assignment
​
I feel as though I have improved this semester. I started the year with no idea of what was coming, and how the course was going to operate, but it has taught me a lot. I have learnt new orchestration techniques, a lot about microphones and recording techniques, and expanded my music theory knowledge.
I have been surrounded by more classical and jazz music, than I would have imagined, and being in such a musical environment, forces you to listen to new things, and go to gigs and shows that you wouldn't normally consider.
Being surrounded by music, you naturally grow intrigued by new concepts and ideas. One of those was a video I saw on Negative Harmony. The idea is that you can move towards the tonic in descending perfect fourths, instead of perfect fifths. Another video I saw was about modes of the melodic minor scale, creating strange scales, which I used to write 'Corruption'.
I have been putting music out on my Bandcamp. The occasional track that I am proud to release. I have a collaboration with a dancer in the works. I have also been working on a Drum Sample Pack, that I have been spending lots of time on. I feel as though I have filled my semester to the brim, and I am happy with what I have accomplished.
Annotated Score
Corruption
For Solo Violin
This is a dark, and mysterious piece written for a solo violin. My initial idea was to write something dark, and sort of scary, so I chose the violin, as that replicates the idea of horror music, because when I think of horror music, I think of strings. I enjoy writing music that doesn't use generic key signatures (using the circle of fifths). This piece is a mix of G major, and G Mixolydian flat 6 (The fifth mode of C melodic minor). It has the F# (G Major), and an Eb (G Mixolydian Flat 6).
The intro has slow, long notes, a minor 9th apart and a lot of silence, adding suspense to the musical environment. The tri-tones and chromatic notes in the 5/4 section, are used to add dissonance, and to position the listener to a sort of unease.
The idea behind the pizz. section, was to lower the intensity and slow things down. I used a knock, as percussive elements aren't commonly seen in classical music, but it adds to the uneasiness and style of the piece. I like writing music that is not commonly written, so this piece was a lot of fun to write.
My style of writing is to introduce a melody or a theme at the beginning of the piece, move to another idea, then re introduce the theme or melody, in the same form, or an altered version. In this piece, the melody is introduced in bar 10 - 13, and reintroduced in bar 30, altered with an intervalic inversion of the melody in bar 32, and brought back in bar 43. I find that it gives the listener a familiar idea, and it doesn't just sound all over the place with a new idea every 16 bars or so.
​
I really enjoyed writing this piece, and learnt some more about tri-tones, and writing for the violin, since I have never written for a solo violin before, let alone string instruments.
​
Below is an MP3 of the MIDI.
Annotated Score
Rain
Piano and Flute Duet
This is a duet written in Eb Major, my favourite flat key. The idea for the intro, with the "dramatic roll" and the "little twinkle", was to have a big introduction, followed by a single-note raindrop sound. Like thunder and lightning, followed by rain. This piece was started on a stormy day, which was the inspiration for the piece.
The piano develops, keeping the raindrop idea, whilst accompanying the flute, which has the melody. The piano keeps the arpeggio and raindrops, whilst the flute develops the melody. The piece moves to a call-and-response section, where the piano uses chord inversions to outline the melody, and the flute has triadic arpeggios. There is then a dominant 7 build to the repeat. Now that the piece is finished, I am not too fond of this idea, as it sounds super cheesy, and has no real purpose and relation towards the piece itself. The piece repeats, and the once we get to the Coda, the melody is altered, and the flute has the leading tones, and the piano sort of half accompanies the flute to the end.
​
As I look back, the piece is quite triadic, but it is common throughout the piece, as the piano's accompanying role, has triad arpeggios, and the flute plays triadic arpeggios in the call and response section. It sounds quite nice, and I like it, and that it is consistent throughout the piece, gives the piece character. Like I said above, I like to have a melody introduced in the beginning and bring it back towards the end of the piece, and this is the case in this piece. It is introduced at bar 6 by the flute, and reintroduced at bar 33, sort of half time, mainly with the lead tones.
​
This was a difficult piece to write, as I have never written for either instruments. I am competent on the piano, but not skilled, so even though there was no actual limitation, subconsciously there was, as I can only play so much, and can't experiment with it, which was challenging. I managed to learn how to notate for flute, which wasn't too difficult. I enjoyed writing this piece, and am happy with the outcome.
​
Below is an MP3 of the MIDI.
Annotated Score
Hopin'
Arranged for String Quartet
A song by Paul Davids that I have arranged for a string quartet. It is a guitar-focused song, so it was difficult to tailor this for strings, but I am happy with the final outcome. The song Hopin' was written for the huge guitar solo in the middle of the song, so I couldn't just let it go, without orchestrating it for the strings. I had a few options for this task, including The Chain - Fleetwood Mac (Strings or Woodwind ensemble), Follow the Rain - Kate Pass (Strings or Brass ensemble), Superstition - Stevie Wonder (Brass ensemble).
​
The song is 6/8, in C minor. If a song is in 6/8, I will instantly love it. 6/8 tunes just have that bounce to it, that I find to be super contagious. I chose to write for a quintet, so that I could have 1 instrument playing the lead, and still have 4 others to be able to play extended chords (maj7, maj9, etc.). I was either going to write for strings, or brass, but I felt as though strings were capable of playing more intimate, reflecting the vibe of the song.
​
I chose to arrange the song close to the original, as I didn't want to overly manipulate it. I played with the chord voicing a little bit, using plural substitution is some parts, changing the F minor (2nd chord) to an F major and spread the lead line throughout the instruments.
​
I am really happy with how the song turned out. My favourite part is the semi-quaver triplet section, as it builds up so much tension, and then is release by 2 massive 5 voiced chords. It was a difficult song to notate, as it is such a guitar centred song, and it isn't really known, so there aren't many chord charts and guitar tabs to help. Due to this it challenged me to notate the song by ear, which was fun. Overall it was enjoyable to arrange, and I am happy with how it turned out.
​
Below is an MP3 of the MIDI.
Iris
Cover for Home and Studio Recording Assignment
My Home and Studio Recording group consisted of 3 people, myself, Ffion, and Markus. We brainstormed a few songs we could cover, and Markus brought up the idea of doing an original. Myself and Ffion weren't too keen on that, due to the size of the assignment itself, let alone the writing and creation of a song. So, we decided that a cover was the best option. I suggested Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Other songs were thrown into the brainstorm, but the song that made it out was Iris.
We discussed what instruments we played, and what instruments we needed to make the cut off for the assignment. We came to the conclusion, that Ffion was going to sing, Markus was going to play the flute (playing the Mandolin lines), and I was to play the guitars, and drums. We worked exceptional as a team, and produced a reasonable final product. Considering we did all the recording within the day (12:30 - 2:30 and 4:30 - 10:30), I was impressed. Obviously it's a bit messy in parts, which I'm not completely happy about, but considering the time frame we had, we did well.
We had a few challenges, that being that we didn't have cymbals. I had to improvise on the drums with no cymbals and I ended up using the rim of one of the rack Tom's as a Hi Hat. Another being that since there were 10 groups, and only 1 recording studio, the demand was for the room was high. We managed to get the Friday before the assignment was due. This stressed me out a little bit as we had to get all the recording done that day/night, since the room was booked out for the rest of the days. We booked CMS3 for the Monday it was due, as we had to finish off the mixing and mastering. This also stressed me out more, as I don't like leaving things to the last minute, but it was the only option we had, so we pushed through.
​
Below is an MP3 of our final product.