Members CiaranCummins Posted November 26, 2009 Members Share Posted November 26, 2009 Hi guys, well im starting to write my AS level composition and I was wondering if you guys could help. Basically, the syllabus is pretty open and allows you to compose it any style (depending on the brief). My chosen brief is called "Lifecycle" and quite literally has to be based around that - a life cycle of some sort e.g. a life, seasons, a day etc Well stylistically I was thinking of doing a shoegaze/ambient/drone style piece with two guitar and a bass. I have a rough idea of where i want it go etc but have little experience writing this style of music. So how would any veterans suggest i go about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted November 26, 2009 Members Share Posted November 26, 2009 Even if you don't where it's supposed to go or how to do it, just start writing. Don't worry about the category or genre. Let it develop into what it will develop into. You can always categorize it later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 26, 2009 Members Share Posted November 26, 2009 Me, I basically write 2-3 minute roots pop stuff, although, in a previous life (in the early 90s) I did a lot of live echo loop improvisations that often stretched to 15 and 20 minutes or more. And, I'm a life long classical/orchestral music fan. (I've seen over 130 symphonic concerts.) So I'm not a complete rube when it comes, at least, to listening to and thinking about longer compositions. Now, I'm not sure what the criteria set up for a "lifecycle" work would be, but I assume that it would have a cyclic nature (well, duh, hunh? ), a la The Four Seasons, perhaps (which are four violin concerti [as we now define the term] under one framework, with each concerto tackling a season in turn. Of course, many symphonic and other extended works take elements of such cyclic composition. I would suggest that changes in tempo, harmony, and texture will help you define your piece, since you will be working in within the limitations of a trio format that precludes elaborate orchestration. Still, I think a half century of rock has shown that you can do a lot with just a couple of guitars and a bass. I'd love to hear this when you're done... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted November 26, 2009 Members Share Posted November 26, 2009 Even if you don't where it's supposed to go or how to do it, just start writing. Don't worry about the category or genre. Let it develop into what it will develop into. You can always categorize it later. Stack's got a solid notion there... a lot of composers and songwriters work from bits and pieces of inspiration, filling them out, taking them apart, inverting and subverting the bits, exploring and experimenting. I could imagine that it might prove daunting to start at what one perceived as the beginning and just start, you know, composing. It may well be much more manageable and better suited to some ways of working to break things up into pieces. And that may well get you going faster. And getting going is often half the battle for us creative types... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OAFCORE Posted November 28, 2009 Members Share Posted November 28, 2009 Well I've not experienced to much of the shoegaze/ambient/drone genre but I think you've picked a one given the 'lifecycle' theme, as there is much more to it than most styles of music. I would start with your theme first; decide if you'll be focusing on seasons/days/years/etc....Then compose your basic chord structure, and use that to convey each section within your theme. For example, if you were doing seasons, you would have 4 separate sections, each with the same base chord structure. You would use tempos/rhythms/timings to differenciate each section and convey the specific season. obviously, within the shoegaze/ambient/drone genre you could also use effects to convey your meaning...... Please post your result! this sounds like fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CiaranCummins Posted November 28, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 28, 2009 Cheers guys, this is all really helpful! I'll keep you posted on what I'm doing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Eclepto Funk Posted November 29, 2009 Members Share Posted November 29, 2009 well, most of all, i think you need dynamics in your piece (sorry if this is obvious to you) start slow, go faster, end fastest ... or reverse for a human life or start in one key, progress to another, etc. change is the key ... you can't end where you start ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eddieboston2 Posted November 29, 2009 Members Share Posted November 29, 2009 I would start by narrowing down what the life cycle is that you want to represent. That, I think, will give you more specific ideas about where you want to go musically. Say, for example, you want to do a symphonic adaptation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Well, you could start slow and simple, as the caterpillar eats through the one apple. Then add a bit more complexity, speed and volume to represent day two's two pears. Then by the time you get to day six, where he's eating chocolate cake and salami and what not, you've pretty much got a cacophony. Then you can calm at down into some butterfly-ish music as he metamorphosizes.Sounds like fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted November 30, 2009 Members Share Posted November 30, 2009 "...change is the key ... you can't end where you start ... Interesting. That has me thinking. Why can't you end where you start? That idea to my mind at least, encompasses an entire theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Eclepto Funk Posted November 30, 2009 Members Share Posted November 30, 2009 this is not a pipe? how postmodern of you well, maybe you can end where you start, but you got to go new places and come back, though the journey would have rendered your starting place different once you return Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Etienne Rambert Posted November 30, 2009 Members Share Posted November 30, 2009 I'm considering the notion that you're the same person when you die as you were on the day you were born. You're right. Over the course of a lifetime, there is movement, learning, unlearning, attachments formed and lost. But it's possible to view all of that as external to the self. Bertolucci said the reason he made the movie, "The Last Emperor, was to ask the question, 'Can a man change?' In a composition about a life, the question might be, "Does a life change?" If so - yes, you shouldn't end it where you started. If no - it would ring true to end it on a variation of the same theme you began it with. Anyway, that's what I was thinking. Magritte BTW, would have written a finale that evoked the same mystery as was present in his overture. To him the core of existence, was something he referred to as "Mystery". And that's with a capital "M". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Eclepto Funk Posted November 30, 2009 Members Share Posted November 30, 2009 In a composition about a life, the question might be, "Does a life change?" when does composition become decomposition? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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