Songs without Words

My biggest enemy is my inability to finish projects that I start.  My professor just pointed this out to me recently, but I’ve known this my entire life.

Why does this happen?

The common theme is that I lose interest, but there are so many underlying reasons for this loss of attention, including:

1. The impetus for beginning the project is no longer relevant.  For instance, the emotions behind the main theme of a song or a story no longer matches how I am feeling.

2. My skills improve over the course of working on the project, and the initial work is no longer satisfying and would need to be redone to a higher standard.  This especially applies to visual arts, because my skill continues to change significantly day to day in contrast to my compositional style or writing style.

3. The project was too ambitious, and it turns out to be beyond my skill level to complete the project as originally envisioned.  Sometimes, time can correct this issue.

4. Something new is more interesting and distracts attention.

5. The project involves a lot of repetitive actions which get boring.  This is particularly true of art projects, where tasks like drawing forests or large bodies of water can simply become tedious.

6. Completion anxiety.  I don’t know how to really describe this, but this is a fear of finishing a chapter of my life, of closing off a story thread and letting it slowly drift into the past.

Why is it so hard to go back and finish things?

The task of resuming an abandoned / on-hiatus project becomes more and more difficult with time.  In general, it’s easiest to resume a writing-only project, provided that a few pages have been written: first, the software doesn’t change rapidly, and text / document files are generally openable in a number of redundant programs; second, while writing style varies from story to story, the language and vocabulary are essentially the same; and third, I tend to leave enough character sketches and descriptions, and plot pointers, to suggest what needs to be done.

Resuming a musical project is much more difficult.  In this case, there are frequently software compatibility issues.  I have used Rhapsody, Finale 2003, Finale 2008, and Finale 2012 to compose, and in addition to not being back-compatible, forward-compatibility is also limited.  Rhapsody files can be read in 2k3 and 2k8, but with incomplete information – tempo changes, dynamic changes, playback channels, and some transpositions (for transposing instruments) are lost – and into a Finale format with missing expression palettes.  Combined with the need to reassign all channels and convert to VST playback, this can be almost as much work as starting input from scratch.  Rhapsody files can’t be read into Finale 2012 at all.  There are also stylistic issues: my musical preferences change rapidly, and I do not necessarily retain the skills for writing in a particular style after moving on.  This makes for a high chance of a disjointed transition from old to new material, for instance in how the development of a theme unfolds.

Resuming an artistic project suffers primarily from rapid growth in skill.  Use of the wrong brush settings in an old artwork can be very frustrating to overcome, because touching up line-art is as difficult if not more difficult than creating new line-art.  Old poses and expressions can also be off on second glance, and rotating a face by 5 degrees in three dimensions is nearly impossible without complete re-painting.  While overall skill level improves, there may be missing information about past settings (e.g. the method used to create meshes in 3D, or a particular custom brush used to create an artistic effect or pattern) which prevents continuation of an incomplete portion of a larger region in the work.

Finally, resuming a scientific project is plagued with incomplete information – missing documentation of previous experiments with important data; experiments performed by people no longer in the lab; lack of reagents from the same batch or even complete inavailability of the reagent altogether.  It is often difficult to restart pipelines to plug in holes that become apparent in hindsight. Use of proprietary software formats can make data impossible to retrieve and re-analyze if done improperly the first time around, and programming code can be hard to decipher if poorly commented or written by someone else.

What I want to do about it

Leaving masses of unfinished work takes a psychological toll – each “open file” requires a working memory of present status, and an internal to-do list provides automatic reminders.  This becomes unbearable when the magnitude gets too large and a significant portion of ‘brain cycles’ are consumed for reminders and maintaining a fresh memory of works in progress.  Flitting from one idea to the next means that nothing will ever get done, as attention and time become divided into unsustainably small quanta that aren’t large enough to make any progress.

The solution is to release such unfinished tasks, either by definitively abandoning them or completing them.  My priorities for finishing are the following:

Writing:

I have countless unfinished stories.  But ones with only a page or two and generally unsalvageable – there’s not enough plot and characterization to go off of.  The two most important stories that I’d like to finish are the episodic “La Petite Princesse,” a series of tales in the same style as “The Little Prince,” but exploring modern allegories; and second, “Andromeda,” a story near and dear to my heart about a boy who wants to change, as told from the point of view of his twin sister.

Art:

Nisuna and Faxuda portrait in front of a tree (very nearly completed)

Andromeda and Irene’s portrait (3/4 completed)

Angel’s portrait (draw it again – 2/3 completed)

Music:

Trio for Flute, Violin, and Piano (3/4 movements completed)

Violin Concerto No. 60, 2nd movement (tutti and main solo theme written)

Games:

Tales of Graces f (now completed)

Final Fantasy XIII (final chapter)

Disgaea 4 (final stage, I believe)

Atelier Totori (final arc – building the ship to find Totori’s mother)

Scientific Projects:

Communicating nanoparticle project

Lung tissue engineering project

Anticoagulant nanoparticle project

When classical music enthusiasts bring up the popularity of the Pachelbel’s Canon chord progression in pop music, they usually would point to songs like Vitamin C’s “Graduation (Friends Forever)” or Green Day’s “Basket Case.”  But there are also more subtle derivatives which involve slight substitutions, and I wanted to illustrate such an example here using PSY’s 어땠을까 (What Should Have Been), a song from the same album as the more well-known Gangnam Style.

Listen to the demos

We begin with the classic Pachelbel (simplified slightly), in the original key of D:

Next, we simply transpose to Eb major (now played by an electric piano):

Changing the Bb to B natural in measure 2 and D to Db in measure 4 create secondary dominants (with appropriate bassline adjustments to accommodate).  As the Eb bass already appears in m. 4 now, we switch m. 6 to first inversion.  Finally, we change the predominant chord from IV to the related ii.

Now, application of melodic ornamentation and delay of the predominant to dominant chord change in the last measure yields the harmonic component of the beat to “What Should Have Been.”  The hook, as sung by Lena Park in the recording (or Park Bom if you find the live performance on Youtube), is simply a melodic variation of the top line.

Just as there are inevitably chord progressions which are in common between songs, there are also melodic motifs which also have appeared in multiple songs, most often completely unintentionally and used in completely different contexts.  I think that it is fascinating to listen for this little snippets that connect unlikely pairs/groups of songs.  I will tabulate each example’s snippet by transposing the first note to C, but examples will only be included if the motif is of particular importance or recognizability.

Example 1:

C – G – Ab – Eb (a pair of fifths separated by minor sixth)

Brahms String Sextet #2, Mvt. I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPWDciXo3WY

Starcraft Main Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_1U7L_uDA4

Example 2:

C – B – C – G – F – (G) (a fifth, decorated with neighboring tones)

Bach Brandenburg No. 3, Mvt. I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ9qWpa2rIg

John Williams, Jurassic Park: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8zlUUrFK-M&t=1m26s

Example 3:

C – F – G – C (1 4 5 1, a pretty normal horn call)

Brahms, Sextet No. 2, Mvt. III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcRT2zIretM

Sibelius, Symphony No. 5, Mvt. I (a recurring motif which opens the movement and is a part of the main theme): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wzIEYjPGEU&t=2m45s

Very awesome moment in the same symphony as the the motif gives way to a full melody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wzIEYjPGEU&t=8m08s

Example 4:

C – E – G (the classic major triad)

Bach, Violin Concerto in E major, 1st Movement

Beethoven, Symphony No. 5, 4th Movement

Strauss, Blue Danube Waltz

The circle of fifths progression is popularly taught in music theory classes and appears in music from the Baroque to the present.  But, this post isn’t about the vanilla circle of fifths, which is I IV, viio iii, vi ii, V I in major and i iv, VII III, VI iio, V i, or in the key of C: C F, Bdim Emin, Amin Dmin, G C, and in C minor: Cmin Fmin, Bb Eb, Ab Ddim (or Neapolitan Db), G Cmin.  You can read more about it here or listen to it demonstrated by the great Igudesman and Joo here.

What I want to discuss here is instead the result when you offset this classic sequence by one chord in order to yield a very similar, yet very different chord progression: in major, this would be IV viio (or V), iii vi, ii V, I -, or F G, Emin Amin, Dmin G, C -.  At first glance, this looks exactly the same as before, but the commas are there for a reason: the “parsing” of the dominant-to-tonic motions is completely opposite now.  Instead of IV, iii, ii, and I receiving emphasis, you now have viio, vi, V, and I.  This distorts the emotional perception of the same chords.  And, furthermore, what arises when you substitute the dominant V for the half-diminished viio is my personal favorite “IV V iii vi” progression followed by a normal ii V I cadence.

Just like the more common circle of fifths progression, this displaced circle of fifths is extremely versatile.  Just two examples should suffice to illustrate this:

Rachmaninoff, Symphony No. 2 in e minor, Adagio, very opening.  D E, C#min F#min, Bmin E, A – over ~19 seconds.  Note the beautiful tug of the 11th above each of the first chords in each pair – the G# above the D; the F# above the C#; the E above the B.  These quasi-suspensions resolve downward each time.  The displacement allows these moments of tension to land on the downbeat, creating Rachmaninoff’s exquisite emotional intensity.  This theme was used as the refrain in Eric Carmen’s 1975 pop hit, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again.”

Atelier Iris Eternal Mana, Final Boss theme.  C D, Bmin Emin, Amin D, G G7 over ~16 seconds.  This progression appears as the bridge material between the A theme and the return of the introductory “chant”-style melody as the refrain.  As such, Ken Nakagawa lightens the mood with the light, syncopated pitched perc in the background and halves the drum kit’s rhythmic tempo.  Note the similar lead-up to the progression as compared to Rachmaninoff,  with an ascending arpeggio.  This is generally a practical matter because this is a downward progression.  Interestingly enough, the harmonic speed of the chord progression is virtually identical to Rachmaninoff’s, but for obvious reasons, this sounds “faster.”

There have been many junctures in my life when I have entertained the thought of becoming a composer.  Creating music is to me like speaking, so much so that I consider it my first language.  There is always difficulty in selecting words to speak, but rarely difficulty in understanding the next note to place on the page.  But the judgment of music is, and has always been, harsh and fickle, and infuriating even.  It is difficult to resist taking criticism of one’s own music very personally, because there is nothing more personal an expression to the composer than his or her music.  It’s easy to forget that the “classics” of today were the “pop” of yesteryear, and composers faced equally critical opposition, especially to more unorthodox ventures during early careers.

Below, I have compiled several quotations and anecdotes about works of classical music.  I challenge you to match them to the pieces of music to which they pertain.  None of these pertain to works of contemporary/atonal music – one needs only look to Youtube to see endless criticism of modern music.

1. “I played the first movement. Not a single word, not a single remark! If you knew how stupid and intolerable is the situation of a man who cooks and sets before a friend a meal, which he proceeds to eat in silence! Oh, for one word, for friendly attack, but for God’s sake one word of sympathy, even if not of praise. [R] was amassing his storm, and [H] was waiting to see what would happen, and that there would be a reason for joining one side or the other. Above all I did not want sentence on the artistic aspect. My need was for remarks about the virtuoso piano techinque. [R]’s eloquent silence was of the greatest significance. He seemed to be saying: “My friend, how can I speak of detail when the whole thing is antipathetic? I fortified myself with patience and played through to the end. Still silence. I stood up and asked, “Well?” Then a torrent poured from [NG]’s mouth, gentle at first, then more and more growing into the sound of a Jupiter Tonana. It turned out that my [piece] was worthless and unplayable; passages were so fragmented, so clumsy, so badly written that they were beyond rescue; the work itself was bad, vulgar; in places I had stolen from other composers; only two or three pages were worth preserving; the rest must be thrown away or completely rewritten.” -Composer 1

2. “I am only experimenting and finding my way.  All the same, the hissing was a bit much.” – Composer 2.  Review of the same piece: “perfectly unorthodox, banal and horrid”

3. “While it is [I]’s complete right not to accept a work he finds unsuitable, I ask myself if the composer who has given four months’ time entirely to this work, and who has done his best in submitting a work for which he makes absolutely no apology – should not be paid something.  I believe this is generally the case when a commissioned work is not accepted by the commissioner.” – Composer 3.

4. “If there were a Conservatory in Hell, [Composer 4] would certainly gain first prize for [this piece], so devilish are the discords he has dished up before us.” – [C]

5. “The judgement of the critics is unanimous; certain beauty is conceded, but they find that the construction is weak, and that unending repetition of certain uninteresting places might easily cause fatigue.” – [WT]

Continue reading ‘[778] Musical critique’ »

Despite the general teaching that only V and IV can lead to the tonic at a cadence, almost all chords can function in their place if properly substituted.  The most compelling cadences often make use of either the raised 7th scale degree or lowered 6th, or both, but cadences can do fine without either.

Broadly speaking, chords which can substitute for the dominant have their root on an “odd number” – that is, 3, 5, and  7.  Likewise, chords which can substitute for the subdominant are “evens” – that is, 2, 4, and 6.  I would rank the difficulty of cadencing using each of these scale degrees as follows: 5 < 4 < 7 < 2 < 6 < 3.  The challenge in working with 6 and 3 is that they are traditionally treated as pre-pre-dominants or pre-pre-pre-dominants.  &#X266DVI is easily used if bridged by &#X266DVII, and iii may function as a passing escape-tone chord from V.  Otherwise, &#X266DVI and &#X266DIII can be used as third-relation chords.  iii and vi on their own are so close to the tonic, note-wise, that it is nearly impossible to construct a compelling cadence with them.

Dominant-functioning chords for cadences: &#X266DIII, iii in passing, V, v, &#X266DVII, &#X266DVII, vii^o7.

Subdominant-functioning chords: &#X266DII (N), ii^o, IV, iv, &#X266DVI

In total, the chords which I have found to compellingly cadence to the tonic in a piece ending scenario are: &#X266DII, ii^o, &#X266DIII, IV, iv, V, v, &#X266DVI, &#X266DVII, &#X266Dvii, vii^o7.

Now, isn’t that a much more fun selection to play with?

Cadence Demonstration

In order:  Subdominants: IV, iv, &#X266DVI, ii^∅7, &#X266DII.  Dominants:  V7, v7, vii^o7, &#X266DVII.

A project I’ve been thinking about undertaking for awhile is a “musical family tree” of Western musical styles, detailing the evolution and cross-pollination of musical styles over time. There already exist several charts to this effect, but I have yet to find one that really explains all the relationships that I’ve noticed over the years.

But without fully embarking on this endeavor, I did want to at least introduce a basic concept here to explain an important dichotomy of music, namely: music that leads from the pre-dominant to the tonic, and music that leads from the dominant to the tonic. This concept is important because a straight musical genealogy would classify heavy metal and soft rock as descendants of rock-and-roll (which instrumentally, they are), whereas I would actually place them as the closer successors of classical music than contemporary classical music itself.

Without further ado:

Dominant or Dominant Substitute –> Tonic (V to I (i), VII to I (i), III (iii) to I (i))

Baroque
Classical
Romantic
Song
Bluegrass
Country
Musicals
Soft Rock
Heavy Metal
Pop
Pop Rock
Film Scores
Video Games
Smooth Jazz
Techno and Electronica
Latin

Predominant –> Tonic (IV (iv) to I (i), ii (II) to I (i))

Church Hymns
Gospel
Blues
Folk
Early Jazz
Classic Rock ‘n Roll
Soul
Funk
R&B
Hip-Hop (falls into both, actually)

Neither

Contemporary Classical
Free Jazz

It’s been 8 years since I wrote a boss theme. The boss theme differs from the battle theme in that it is allowed to have more “distinctive” elements which would not make it into a normal battle theme, which because of its frequent use, has to be mundane enough to be tolerable in the long-term. The boss theme, on the other hand, can feature prolonged introductions (which would otherwise occupy the entire battle theme’s duration) for dramatic effect as well as surprises, which are emotionally a one-time deal and therefore reserved only for rare circumstances.

The concept here is simple – rhythmic pulse from the 6/8+3/4 meter with overlaid rhythmic tension from unstable subdivisions of the bar in the melody. The harmony is simple but emphasizes positive fighting spirit over a depiction of evil.

Me – Boss Theme (2010)

Instrumentation: Full Strings, 2 Horns, Synthesizer (Charang, Goblins), Electric Guitar, Synth Bass, Synth Choir, Perc: Standard Drum Kit, Taiko Drums, Music Box, and Tubular Bells.

For comparison, you can listen to my older boss theme. It’s primitive but one of my personal favorites, with the rock organ gliding over the 13/16 groove:
Old Boss Theme (2002)

The recent trend in boss themes is the incorporation of a more realistic rock/metal sound, along with allowances for the introduction of more “popular” harmonies. It has been over a decade since the Beethoven moment was breached – the introduction of voice into the boss theme. Nevertheless, innovation continues, and it’s fascinating to hear the ways that classical music, rock, and techno are blended together (or not) to create the cinematic effects of final boss themes.  I have yet to listen to the effective incorporation of jazz or hip-hop, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

Some nice listens, in no particular order:
Blue Dragon – The Seal is Broken (Nobuo Uematsu) – operatic rock
Atelier Iris – Deceitful Wings – pop metal
Tales of Symphonia (Motoi Sakuraba)
Final Fantasy XIII – Nascent Requiem (Masashi Hamauzu) – symphonic chorale, think Orff
Final Fantasy VII/Advent Children (remix) – One-Winged Angel (Nobuo Uematsu) – practically atonal at times

Felt like writing an game/anime theme today, so here it is:

Me – Confection Gaze

Update: Fixed the drumline so that the snares playback as snares rather than low toms (which sounded really weird). I finally figured out where the snare was mapped on this staff.

First time using this style in Finale (which is really a classical program), so it took a bit of extra work, but it’s fun get a couple of the guitar effects to sound passable (not great, though).  This follows in the lineage of Days of Sunflowers, Tomorrow, and Aquamarine Stardust, but I think you can hear a subtle jazz/blues influence entering at times.  Hope you enjoy the improvisations in the second interlude!

Instrumentation: Vocals (Oboe), Electric Guitar (Overdrive), Electric Bass (Slap Bass 1), Keyboard (Electric Grand), Synth Strings (String Ens 1), and Standard Drum Kit.  Tempo: q=180.  Played by SoftSynth (Finale MIDI).

Structure: Intro (16) / A A’ (16) / B B’ (16) / C C’ (17) / Interlude (8) / A A’ (16) / B B’ (16) / C C’ (17) /Interlude (32) / B’ (10) / C C’ (18), where A and C are in Ab major and B is in B major.

Lyrics: A simple song like this needs simple words.

Confection Gaze

A:
When I close my eyes, I feel you holding me,
And what can I say, oh! I wish you’d never let go,
But we’re so far apart, and days are lonely now,
So what can I do but* dream of long ago, yeah … (*add artic. on last beat of this bar)

B:
There are days when I just wanna lie in bed,
Waiting for my love to wake me up – with a kiss.
And the days when I’m walking to class and then I think I see your face,
Why can’t it be real?  Can’t a miracle come and change this?

C:
Try to surpass the walls of Heaven,
The endless miles of regret and lost dreams,
Follow the sun’s rays,
Try to believe that I am close by,
And always laughing when our eyes and hearts align,
Your very own confection gaze!

Fun references to catch: Grandia Deck Swabbing song, K-on first OP: Cagayake girls

I was going to study today, but since it’s a long weekend, it’s the perfect time to write a song.  Plus, I desperately need to practice non-classical writing because of the upcoming second-year show that I’m arranging pieces for (anything from “It’s not easy being green” to “Mo Money Mo Problems”).

I intended originally to write a pop song, inspired by some of ryo/supercell’s writing.  But when I sat down and sketched out an idea, it lent itself better to a more jazzy interpretation.  I’m always interested in the “creative process,” so below is my sketch which consists of the first 12 bars of the piece.  The vocal line begins where it says “VOC,” while the bass and piano patterns are written superimposed above that.  The guitar pattern there was tossed because it sounded bad with the rest of the instruments.  I didn’t mark many chords because they’re pretty straightforward, but the “Bb f#” in the corner refers to the chord progression of the B section (measures 9-12).

The “sw” markings just indicate that those notes need to be swung.  The arrows on the bottom line indicate the rhythm of the accompanying instruments (playing block chords).

You can listen to the song here.  It is just one cycle through A (4) A’ (4) B (8+1) C (8) C’ (8) because I didn’t feel like writing a second iteration through the same material.  I couldn’t get the Garritan instruments to cooperate with MIDI, so I’m afraid this is all MIDI SoftSynth.  In particular, the melody line sounds much better through Garritan (esp. as clarinet or violin), but they did not provide an electric bass instrument.

I’m going to try my absolute hardest to replace this with a Garritan recording …