Composition

"From a strong concept will flow much information about the essential parameters of musical composition." Wilkins ML. (2013) Creative Music Composition: The Young Composer's Voice: Routledge p.16.
Over the past week we were asked to write a song based on a given poem. I was given three poems to choose from and the one that I liked best and the one I decided to base my composition on was 'Clear Sky' by Gieuseppe Ungaretti.

To start off with I was very confused and frustrated. I didn't have a clue how to use ProTools nor had I ever composed anything before. I sat for ages and ages trying to come up with something...anything. Sadly nothing came to mind. I made the decision to download a piano app to my phone so I could have a play around with some melodies. This proved to be a lot easier and clearly that is the way my mind can think up fresh, unique ideas. The mood I got from the poem was that it was quite a dark thought that had gone through his head and it was almost questioning the meaning of life...that is what I got from it anyway. I wanted to display this in my piece so I thought the most somber instruments were the viola, cello, basses. These are timbres that blend well and display the emotion I wanted to tell the story. I created this piece of music and plan to sing the lyrics over the top of this and perhaps add to the lyrics.

The pieces had to be shared with the rest of the group which was nerve wracking but beneficial. I could tell that everyone had put a lot of time and energy into this project and I have to say my personal favorite was Abi Lloyd's. It sounded so professional and you could see how much effort had gone into her piece and it was just amazing. I could learn a lot from her.