Ocean

Composer’s Intention

Inspired by a cinematic video that I created back in grade 10, to capture my surrounding wildlife and nature, I was inspired to create a new piece of ‘vacation style music’ that conjures up the images of relaxed friends, the waves of the shore. This piece is set to an andante tempo, a major key, alongside high-end boosted instruments to set the brightest tone possible to depict all the positive emotions that the ocean brings to me.

Process:

●  As for every other piece, I began by experimenting with different chords and keys until I arrived at a chosen chord progression in a certain key. In this case, I chose Gb major.

●  Using the chord progression as a base, I moved on to creating a leading melody, which I chose to phrase in antecedent & consequent phrases, knowing this gives coherence, followed by various counter-melodies to keep the piece interesting.

●  For the percussion, I decided to use tropical style instruments: shakers, congas and soft drum kit parts, including, hi-hats, a kick, snares and percs to fill in any empty spaces. I wanted to limit the empty space as I wanted to keep the piece joyful and interesting.

●  With all these, I completed some mixing, where I worked with EQ to make sure frequencies weren’t interfering with one-another and keeping a spacious aspect with stereo panning for each part.

●  The structure is simply ABCABC and an outro.

Learning Outcome:

I learned many mixing techniques to create a soundstage and a timbre. Furthermore, I discovered a range of composition skills, such as reharmonizing melodies, and developing melodic and rhythmic ostinatos, unison, call and response and melodic variation, which are small details that play an important role in the development of the piece.