24th February

Today's update doesn't include anything new, but it regards an unfinished project that sorely needs to be finished.  Give it a listen first.

(Before you ask, yes that is a midi clarinet playing where the vocal part should be.  I do not have a recording of this piece and midi vocals sound absolutely horrible.)

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This piece constitutes the only song I've written so far for solo voice.  I finished it in the winter of 2013 and it was performed by the amazingly talented Devon Meddock (the equally talented Ian Gayford accompanied) at Mercyhurst University.  However, this short 3 1/2 minute song was slated to be a part of a much larger whole.

Walt Whitman's six-poem set really spoke to me in its romantic-era optimism.  I discovered it by accident just as I was considering writing a piece for voice or voices.  While reading the opening line, "Come, said the Muse; sing me a song no poet has yet chanted," I heard the tune and the accompaniment I would eventually set down on paper.  Before reading this poem, I thought I would struggle mightily setting any words to music, but the words really wrote themselves.

Unfortunately, I never got around to writing the other five parts of the planned song cycle.  That is my next project plan, to complete this work.  Especially looking at the wordiness of the second part, this is definitely going to be a huge challenge.  I'll keep you posted along the way!

Thanks for listening,

~Luke

23rd February

Before I get into it, I wanted to talk a little bit about short term and long term goals with this blog.  For the next few days, at least until the end of February, I am aiming to put out one quick piece a day.  No matter how unfinished I may feel it is, I want to make that my goal.  If you have a suggestion or idea for a quick piece please let me know!  I'll probably miss a few days because I have a busy-ish week ahead of me, but whatever.

Long term, I have one already started project in mind that I want to continue writing.  I will devote a whole post to discussing that soon—probably one of the days on which I'm too busy to write.

Anyway.  Today's piece is a trombone quartet.  The harmonic language I used today is a little more advanced compared to yesterday, so listeners beware.

After yesterday's piece for two pianos, I wanted to work with winds today.  In honor of my oldest friend (hi, Tim), I wanted to feature bass trombone.  So I sent him a message asking him to name his favorite note to blast.  I'm sorry that I couldn't use Eb2, I had to move it up a half step for my own sanity. Writing a fugue in Eb Minor is inconvenient and the Fb accidentals were driving me crazy.  Oh, didn't I mention it turned into a fugue?

A fugue is a highly intricate form.  The most iconic fugues, of course, are the ones composed by Bach.  Weaving together three or more distinct voices is challenging, additionally it restricts the composer to developing only a single melodic idea.  I'll spare you a full analysis, I'm not prepared to write as much as is necessary to explain the fugue form and I don't think you'd want to read that.

To say this is a finished piece may be a lie, I certainly didn't spend enough time polishing it yet I wanted to achieve my goal.  Listen carefully for the theme—or simple snippets of it—to come back repeatedly throughout.

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Thanks for listening,

~Luke

22nd February

Here's a new piece.  It's short and sweet, but has potential for future use.  If you want to skip the analysis, jump straight to the links below.

I wanted to start with something new and somewhat simple.  I began knowing I wanted to write in 5/4 time, but to avoid using the 5/4 clave in which the eighth notes are grouped 3-3-2-2.

Instead, I wanted to overall metronomic feel of the piece to be obscured.  In the repeated 6 bar phrase that acts as an introduction, this effect is achieved by tying notes over the downbeat.  This technique is also employed when the second piano enters halfway through.  To offset this irregularity, every 6 bar phrase features a single repeated figure that becomes increasingly more rhythmically complex to the end.

Harmonically speaking, I also wanted to keep away from a conventional major or minor, so I ended up composing in A Mixolydian.  I intentionally disguise this fact by avoiding using the 7th scale degree until measure 31.  In general I feel that the Mixolydian mode has a more open and earthy tone to it due to the whole step relationship between the 7th and 1st scale degree.  To capitalize on this idea of open and earthy, I employ lots of perfect intervals and use the 3rd scale degree sparingly.

Listen for yourself, and feel free to follow along in the score.

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Thanks for listening,
~Luke

Introduction

Hello and welcome.  This blog you have found will hopefully chronicle my efforts to reclaim my voice as a composer.

Nearly three years ago I left my music composition program in college, but in that time I feel like I have finished one project to my satisfaction.  This is in large part to me simply not sitting down and forcing myself to work.  Many artists I'm sure can attest to this, but the concept of a creator getting a flash of inspiration and immediately producing a brilliant masterpiece is most definitely a misconception.  For me, the majority of the creative process is churning out garbage, trying to find something good in it, and then polishing the results.  It can actually be disheartening because of the apparent lack of progress.

That's where this somewhat daily blog comes into play.  I plan on making new music every day that I can.  I may write one-off pieces, work on older unfinished projects, or begin a new long-term project, but I will stay accountable to this blog and any stray readers that come along.

Thanks for listening,
~Luke