After hearing how “Koi Chorale” turned out last week, I wanted to experiment more with music that, as one of my students put it, “sounds distant.” Tinkering with music that is bound by a set of semi-rigid internal “rules” has also been top of mind, so I attempted to combine the two into another piece—today’s feature.
The experiment this time was to see where a stepwise melody (moving in seconds) would end up depending on whether the notes moved up or down by seconds. Most of my composing of late has been some variation on this theme, so it’s nothing new, but that’s where I started. I also wanted one “hand” or part playing a sustained half note while the opposing “hand” or part moved in a quadruplet of eighth notes.
Having accomplished that, I kept the bottom “hand” consistent across the form. The top “hand,” however, moved either “down” or “up”:
Then on the third line, I combined the “up” and “down” movements, seeing where they would overlap.
From there, I added another part in Noteflight, which harmonized with the handwritten part. I added some low brass, too, which just moves in quarter note arpeggios starting on the first and fifth of the chord of each measure. Pretty straightforward.
I applied heavy pedal markings for all of the instruments, even if (like classical guitar, trombone, and tuba) they don’t have pedals (I think vibraphone, the lead instrument, does have a sustain pedal of sorts, but I could be wrong). I wanted the notes to “ooze” into each other in a thick, aquatic shimmer, like water washing amorphously into a contained space.
Finally, I plugged everything into Audacity and applied some heavy reverb and other effects, which really lend the piece the distant, melancholy, slightly creepy feeling of an odd dream.
As my former neighbor summarized the piece:
“It’s like a dream, slightly… creepy, but you don’t know WHY…. [it’s m]usic played in the background of your subconscious, which is hazy, fuzzy, and blips in and out, as a porcelain doll named ‘Polly’ requests that you play with her….”
Well put, my friend. And that is “Aquatic Geometry”:
