Original & Informed Sound
Masters Thesis - An Analysis of Canonical Compositional Techniques
Overview
The OIS (Original & Informed Sound) project is a Master of Arts Degree endeavour undertaken at the University of Portsmouth from 2023 to 2024. It analytically looks at previous composers and genres, addressing different compositional techniques that are both common amongst different references, and ones that differ and are unique in their form. From an artistic perspective, compositional techniques that are found to be most resonant are then integrated into new, original compositions. A focal part of this project is community outreach, and trying to engage people with the history, community, and culture of the City of Portsmouth. This is achieved by using recorded interviews surrounding Portsmouth as influence and creative seeds for compositions within this portfolio.
Content
- Introduction
- Literature Review
- Influential Genres, Artists, & Composers
- ECHP
- Compositional Studies
- Review
- Conclusion
- Sources & References
Introduction
For any artist, the realisation and understanding that no art is possible in a vacuum is a must. Inspiration can come from anywhere, whether within the same discipline, or from external sources. The purpose of Original & Informed Sound, is to demonstrate an active understanding of where creative and technical influences come from for composers. Due to each composer/artist having different influences and inspirations, for the purpose of this project, project author Jack Capaldi-Tallon, is the target specimen. By demonstrating this understanding of influence and inspiration, it there by solidifies creative choices as purposeful and intentional as opposed to being accidental creations.
The project commences with a research phase, in which all relevant information on the technical and creative techniques of substantial composers is gathered and analysed to be condensed into the form of the critical characteristics of each composers sound and style.
Influential Genres, Artists, & Composers
Minimalism & Processed
History:
In the early 1960's the move towards minimalism, both in music and art flourished compared to some of the earlier attempts in the early half of the century. It was Spectator author Michael Nyman that some believe fist used the term 'Minimalist' in 1968, however minimalist composer Tom Johnson claims to be the first person to use the term 'minimalism' in reference to music whilst writing as a critic for The Village Voice. Johnson described minimalism as "any music that works with minimal materials".
Minimalist music can typically be described as music featuring repetitive patterns, phrases, or text, with extended droning sounds, and consonant harmonies. The minimalist approach uses a non-narrative system that pushes the listener to focus more on the process or phases of the composition. This brings the musical decisions to the forefront as opposed to being a supportive practice.
(Farrant, 2021)
For some 'Phase Music' is a category of its own, for others it is a type of minimalist music. Phase Music was popularised by composer Steve Reich, in which he would use multiple tape machines to play back the same tape loop at slightly different lengths. This resulted in the loop points of each tape being slightly out of sink with each other, creating a cascading effect of loops repeating. A significant piece of Reich's that demonstrates this is 'It's Gonna Rain'. Moving away from tape loops, Reich attempted to integrate this 'Phasing' technique into live, acoustic music. By recording himself playing the piano, and then playing against it live, slightly increasing in speed on each repeat, Reich was able to prove the technique was useable. 'Piano Phase' was the first piece of Reich's to demonstrate this. A follow up composition 'Clapping Music' continued with this technique, however the gradual drift in speed was shifted to more immediate changes in tempo at regular intervals (Phase Music, 2020).
Another sub-genre of minimalism music is 'Process Music', which is widely considered music that evolves from a process, whether that process is an audible one or not. The term 'Process Music' was coined by Reich in his 1968 manifesto 'Music as a Gradual Process' in which he concisely described the concept of process music and included definitions of phasing, and the use of phrases in composing (Process Music, 2023).
Much of minimalist music using traditional instrumentation that has long predated the genre, including wind and string instruments, organs, mallets, percussion, and some composers just using entire orchestras. Environmental sounds, both from manmade and natural origins can play a part in minimalist music, such as rain, thunder, rivers, trains, cars, and machinery. (Farrant, 2021)
Steve Reich:
'Our Greatest Living Composer' - Grammy Award Winner - 'America's Greatest Living Composer' - Pulitzer Prize Winner
Born October 3rd, 1936 in New York, Reich is an American composer who was one the leading exponents of Minimalism, a genre which is based on repetitions and combinations of simple motifs and harmonies (Britannica, 2019).
Music for 18 Musicians - Drumming - Different Trains
Before 'Music for 18 Musicians' Reich had already made some of his most significant works that would alter the genre of minimalism and put his name down as one of the pioneers. However, for many minimalism had not broken out of its niche yet, and most people listening to the sort of music composed by Reich, Glass, Riley, and Young were of a contemporary and avant-garde mindset. 'Music for 18 Musicians' for Reich, similar to Glass and his 'Music in Twelve Parts', is what changed this, being able to take his intricately crafted techniques over the decades and apply them to a piece of music that is not so alienating to its audience. A piece of music that the average classical music fan might be able to extract some pleasure from.
The composition spans roughly 55 minutes when played in its entirety. It is divided into an introduction entitled 'Pulses', twelve sections structured 'Section I - Section XI', with there being a 'Section IIIA' and 'Section IIIB', and finishing section 'Pulses II'.
As the composition's name suggests this piece of music is designed for an ensemble of 18 musicians. Reich is known for his obscure or precise arrangements of ensembles compared to the traditional. In many of his pieces, he will perform with ensembles constructed of many doubled or even tripled instruments. This is so that he can use his staple technique of 'phasing' or 'canon'. When this has not been possible Reich has resorted to using prerecorded instrumentalists for the live performers to play against to ensure the right sound for each piece. This phasing of instruments is put into effect straight away in 'Pulses'. Opening with a piano and marimba playing 1/8 notes, with a second piano and marimba slowing presenting itself to become offset and create this pulsating back and forth. At bar 5 the bass clarinet enters with a pulsating crescendo and then diminuendo, the bass clarinet is a significant instrument in 'Music for 18 Musicians', as it is performed without a conductor. Instead, the clarinettist will make visual cues to the rest of the ensemble via the cues on the score, as and when to move between sections. The clarinet will then enter with a new pulsating drone, marking the start of the next phrase. Another instrument that takes on the duties of the purposefully redundant conductor in this piece is the vibraphone. As stated in the 'Notes on Performance', (which is a two-page spread put before the score, of how to position the ensemble when recording and performing, and the important functions of certain instruments), when the vibraphone plays it acts as an audible cue for the entire ensemble to move on. This means, that within the limits of the score, the vibraphone decides how many repeats of each phrase there are before moving on (Reich, 1979/1998).
Similar to 'Music for 18 Musicians' Reich's early composition 'Drumming' lasts approximately 55 - 75 minutes, depending on the chosen length of repetitions by the performers. The piece is divided into four parts, and like 'Music for 18 Musicians' they are performed without pause. The first section is for four pairs of tuned bongo drums, which are stand-mounted and played with sticks. The second part is for three marimbas played by nine players together, accompanied by two women's voices. The third section consists of three glockenspiels played by four players together, accompanied by whistling and piccolo. The fourth and final section comprises all of these instruments and voices combined. As stated in Reich's Note by the Composer section, "Drumming is the final refinement of the 'phasing' process, where two or more identical instruments move gradually out of synchronisation and then gradually back into synchronisation but in a slightly different rhythmic relationship" (Reich, 1974).
To join each section together the new instruments start by doubling the exact pattern of the already playing instruments. The previously playing instruments gradually fade out. This keeps the rhythm and pattern maintained as there is a gradual change in timbre. This is also seen in the change from marimbas to glockenspiel, in which the marimba starts to play in its highest range, meaning that the glockenspiel when its lowest range can match the rhythm and pitch whilst replicating that gradual change in timbre. Through the use of gradually altering the timbre throughout the piece along with the constant development in rhythm and melody, Reich states that it is possible to create an extended-length piece of Western music without having to resort to a key change (Boosey & Hawkes Composers, Classical Music and Jazz Repertoire, n.d.) (Reich, 1979/1998).
During World War II, Steve Reich would travel between New York and California to see his parents who had separated. Later in life, he considered the fact that had he been in Europe at the same time, as a young Jewish boy, as opposed to the United States, the train he was on would of more likely been a Holocaust Train. In 1988 he released the piece 'Different Trains', which is a three-movement piece, composed for a string quartet to accompany a tape recording of people's reflections on WWII. In much of Reich's earlier work, he would use tape played back in different forms, but for 'Different Trains' the use of tape was elevated so that the recordings of people's recounts were used to source the melody, extracting it from the intonation in the people's speech. This is a technique that Reich explored again more recently in his career in 'WTC 9/11', in which he used the recorded accounts of witnesses and survivors to the September 11th 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre, "Twin Towers" in New York City. Reich chose the event, similarly to 'Different Trains' because of its close connection to his personal life. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Reich and his family lived only a few streets away from the World Trade Centre, with Reich remembering the phone calls to his family trying to safely get them out of the city (Wikipedia Contributors, 2019) (Reich, 2004).
Runner / Music for Ensemble and Orchestra
Quotes from Boosey & Hawkes, the publisher of Reich's music and scores;
"Runner's most powerful innovation, though, is the way the composer keeps pulling melodic threads out of the instrumental texture and highlighting them as thematic material. This is the precise inverse of his more common technique of weaving dense pieces out of short gestural strands, and the effect is a potent about-face" - San Fransisco Chronicle.
Runner is a 2016 composition for a large ensemble containing winds, percussion, pianos and strings, and has a duration of roughly 16 minutes. The piece contains five movements, played without pause, and are based on different note durations. "First even sixteenths, then irregularly accented eighths, then a very slowed down version of the standard bell pattern from Ghana, fourth a return to the irregularly accented eights and finally a return to the sixteenths but now played as pulses by the winds for as long as a breath will comfortably sustain them" - Steve Reich (Reich, Steve - Runner, n.d.) (Reich, 2016).
What can be implemented into Original and Informed Sound?
The use of instruments, especially tuned percussion instruments such as pianos and mallet instruments, where one instrument can be performed by multiple players simultaneously, as seen in the example 'Drumming", is something that will be explored in Original and Informed Sound, as this can be a beneficial compositional practice when trying to manage, budget and space, as well as the interesting potential sound difference having more players to one instrument.
'Drumming' is a piece of music that successfully demonstrates the ability to not have to resort to a key change to keep interest in longer duration pieces by a Western standard. Trying to replicate this in the Original & Informed Sound will see multiple methods explored of how to achieve this, some following Reich's principles. and some exploring alternative methods.
To help create a sonic connection to the City of Portsmouth, recordings of oral history will be explored as an avenue to generate melodies to be used in compositions, similar to that of 'Different Trains' and 'WTC 9/11'.
Philip Glass:
Golden Globe Winner
Philip Glass is a minimalist composer who is regarded as "one of the most influential musicians" of modern music. Glass is often categorised as minimalist with other composers such as Reich and Riley. But like other minimalist composers, he prefers to think of himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structure". Something that sets Glass out from the other prominent composers of his genre, is his application into opera music. During the 1960s, Glass met Indian musician Ravi Shankar, the same Ravi Shankar who introduced The Beatles' George Harrison to psychedelic music. Glass was hired as an assistant to Shankar, with his job being to transcribe Shankar's work such that Western musicians could play it. After he had immersed himself in Indian music, Glass travelled around India, the Himalayas and North Africa (Beginner’s Guide to Philip Glass | Discover Opera | ENO, n.d.). This interest to travel, experience, and learn firsthand the practices of non-western music is something that is seen both in Reich and Glass and could be the reason that they were so successful in pioneering a new genre of music, being able to draw upon techniques that many people, including musicians and composers, in the West, are not familiar with. Like Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians' was a push for minimalism to go to the mainstream, Glass also had prominent pieces that supported this progression of the genre. One of which was 'Music in 12 Parts', and the other an opera entitled 'Einstein on the Beach'. As well as being one of the highest-regarded minimalist and classical composers, Glass is also a well-regarded, and award-winning film composer, having composed for films such as 'The Truman Show' and 'The Hours'.
Reich vs Glass: A Personal Perspective;
"For some people, it is either Reich or Glass, for others it is neither, a complete lack of interest in minimalism to begin with. But for me, I find creative interest in both of them and often for different reasons. Although I would say that Reich is one of my top musical influences, regardless of genre, Glass has some characteristics that I try to apply to my compositions. His ability to incorporate minimalist techniques into some short-form compositions, however, Reich demonstrates how the slow gradual changes that one can establish over a longer composition are where the beauty of minimalism comes through."
Terry Riley:
Minimalism & Pulse
American composer Terry Riley is regarded as one of the founders of minimalism. Like Glass, Riley has influences from Indian classical music, as well as jazz. Riley's 1964 composition 'In C' is perhaps one of the most important compositions in all of minimalism, as it is often regarded as one, if not the, first truly minimalist works. 'In C' is made up of 53 cells, and can be played by any combination of instruments and voices. And like that of later works by Reich, performers are able to have some control over how long sections are repeated for before moving on to the next phrase. Like many minimalist compositions, this means that different ensembles can have widely varying performances of the same composition.
All the phrases within 'In C' vary in length, with cells 15, 19, 21 and 30 consisting of just a singe note, compared to cell 35 which contains 25 notes. Cell 1 is repeated throughout the entire piece by a single musician, usually playing either the piano or marimba, this is because the piece is performed to a very strict tempo. Although the performers have some level of control over how many times a cell can be repeated, all cells must be played in order. The piece starts of with the first bar being played in unison, after which players progress through different cells creating a polyphonic texture with all the performers playing independently.
Contrary to the name, not all cells are in the key of C, with some cells being in either F# or Bb (Terry Riley: In c - Minimalist Music - AQA - GCSE Music Revision - AQA, n.d.).
This presents interesting possibilities for 'Original & Informed Sound', with the potential to use 'cells' as a compositional structure. Using more abstract methods of composition could help move away from the muscle memory that comes when composing.
La Monte Young:
(Miller, 2020)
Minimalism Documentaries
Why Reich?
Personal statement from Jack Capaldi-Tallon, on why Steve Reich is an inspirational composer to him.
"As a composer you are constantly listening to your work over and over. From start to finish you must hear your compositions hundreds of times. The ability to not get bored of the same constant repeating phrase is one that comes in handy for two things, composing, and listening to Minimalist music. When I first heard 'Music for 18 Musicians' there wasn't one thing that hit me, not a melody or chord progression, but everything. You are instantly placed in this sonic soundscape, with interesting textures and rhythms, where melody, harmony and progressions all merge into this wave of tone, that simply put is one of the most beautiful implementations of modern classical music. A single piece of music that spans almost an hour in duration, and is a single evolving theme, is one that first strikes you as unique, strange, out of the ordinary, but once I started to analyse and breakdown this new genre of music that I had come upon I realised. This is just the slow, evolving process of composing. The constant repetition until a new idea fits in place like a puzzle piece, repeat, repeat, and repeat until the next piece slots in. Eventually you may have a piece of music, and for many composers it becomes a 3 or maybe 5 minute song, and after that, the magical process of composing is gone. Now all the listener has is the finished product. And this may not be the intention of Reich, but for me, minimalism opens the door to the beauty of slowly adding, and evolving a piece of music, until it becomes something new. Not wasting the choice in adding or removing that one note, no dismissal of any change, no matter how small. Ultimately, minimalism in many ways feels like a reflection of my compositional approach. And whether Minimalism is a reflection of my compositional approach, or rather my compositional approach is the reflection of minimalism. this genre of music encapsulates almost everything I love about being a composer."
Contemporary Classical, Avant-Garde, 'Cagian" | 20th Century Classical
History:
Contemporary Classical Music refers to the music composed in the late 20th century and beyond. A wide range of styles, techniques, and approaches are encompassed, often breaking away from the traditional tonal structures of earlier classical music. This period is marked by the experimentation with new forms, sounds, and technologies. In the early to mid-20th century, significant contributions to the genre were made by composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg. The later half of the 20th century saw the rise of minimalism, electronic music, and a diverse array of styles.
Avant-garde music is characterised by its innovative and experimental approach, often pushing the boundaries of traditional musical conventions. In the realm of music, avant-garde composers sought to challenge established norms and explore new sonic possibilities. In the early 20th century, there was an emergence of avant-garde movements such as Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism. Avant-garde continuously evolved to incorporate new techniques such as the incorporation of electronic elements, the use of chance techniques, and unconventional instrumentation.
John Cage (1912-1992) was one of the most influential American Composers of the 20th Century, known for his avant-garde and experimental works. Cage's music composition approach often incorporated the use of chance, indeterminacy, and non-traditional sound sources. One of Cage's most influential, famous compositions is "4'33", where the performer remains silent, allowing ambient sounds to become the "music".
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John Cage:
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The Impact of Silence
John Cage was considered both a composer and music theorist, a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of music instruments. Cage was also one of the leading figures of the post-wat avant-garde, and regarded as on the most influential composers of the 20th century. Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg were both teachers of Cage's, known for their radical innovation within music. Again, like that of later composers such as Reich and Glass having non-western inlfuences, Cage's major influences came from various East and South Asian cultures. Through studying Indian philosophy and Zen Buddism in the late 1940s, Cage came to the idea of aleatoric music, which is the idea of using chance or randomness to control parameters of the compositional process. Something that became apart of Cage's compositional approach for the rest of his life was using the I Change, an ancient Chinese classic text and decision-making tool (Tate, n.d.).
David Lang:
David Lang is a composer who has been praised for his ability to create a definitive sound that is both popular and recognisable. Lang has a large portfolio of work including orchestral, chamber, solo, electronic, film and vocal compositions, and like fellow composer, Steve Reich has won the Pulitzer Prize. Lang has also been nominated for an Academy Award, as well as a Golden Globe award. When it comes to Contemporary music within America, Lang is considered "next in line to only Philip Glass' (Molleson, 2017).
20th Century Classical
History:
Western Classical music periods up to the turn of the 20th century, was full of dominating styles and conventions. With the composers of their eras tending to stick to these conventions, resulting with many pieces of music sounding similar when from the same era's. The 20th century saw classical composers start to leave these traditions and were able to branch off into sub-genres and movements (Farrant, 2022).
Classical Music Era's
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Medieval Era (500-1400AD)
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Renaissance Era (1400-1600AD)
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Baroque Era (1600-1750AD)
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Classical Era (1730-1820AD)
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Romantic Era (1800-1910AD)
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20th Century Era (1900 - Present)
With many conventions and structures essentially stagnating through the Baroque Era through to the end of the Romantic Era, composers began to reject these traditions in different ways in the 20th Century, resulting in the creation of new and radical music. From this, there is no easily recognisable unified sound of this period.
20th Century Classical compared to Contemporary Classical:
Are there similarities and overlaps between 20th Century Classical and Contemporary Classical?
There are multiple overlaps seen between 20-Century Classical music and Contemporary Classical Music. The transitions between musical periods are not sudden breaks but rather gradual processes, this sees many techniques and characteristics carry over. Both periods explored different techniques within unconventional notation, the exploration of new sounds and timbres, as well as the extended use of instrumentation. Whilst some composers within the genres denied or stayed away from the use of electronic instruments such as synthesisers, such as Reich who claims he isn't interested, and hasn't been interested in using synthesisers within his works, other composers from the 20th to 21st century saw rising potential in using these new sounds. During the 20th century there was a big move towards the diversification of the genre, with multiple styles all falling under the umbrella of classical music, such as serialism, neoclassicism, and minimalism. This is accompanied by the blurring of genres seen through a similar time, where composers would find influence from other genres, and include/implement these techniques into their classical works. All of this carries over to the modern day in which classical music sits in a space that is hard to define as one stylistic choice or set of techniques and influences.
(Contemporary Classical Music, 2019) - (20th-Century Classical Music, 2020)
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Igor Stravinsky:
Stravinsky was an inspiration composer both during and after his lifetime. His musical output is typically dived into three broad defining periods, a Russian, a Neoclassical, and a Serial period. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was tutor of Stravinsky between 1905 until his own death in 1908, and is where Stravinsky wrote many of his early works, with clear influence from Rimsky-Korsakov. Stravinsky also shows knowledge of music by other composer such as Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Debussy among others. According to Richard Taruskin (American musicologist and music critic) claims that Stravinsky's second ballet for the Ballet Russe, is where "Stravinsky at last became Stravinsky". From the late 1920s through to the 1940s Stravinsky's work demonstrate his return to the music of the Classical period, but also an exploration of the ancient Classical world of Greek mythology. Once the 1950s began, Stravinsky started to use serial compositional techniques such as dodecaphony, the twelve-tone technique which was originally devised by Arnold Schoenberg. His first experiments with non-twelve-tone serial techniques came in small-scale vocal and chamber works. 'Agon' (1954-57) is Stravinsky's first composition to include a twelve-tone series, and 'Canticum Sacrum' (1955) was the first piece to contain a movement entirely based on a tone row (Igor Stravinsky | Music 101, n.d.).
Arnold Schoenberg:
During his time, Arnold Schoenberg was widely considered as "the most important innovator in Western art music since Richard Wagner". However, in the modern day, much of many of compositional system that were once seen as innovative, are now seen as creative deadends (Dirda, 2023).
"As 'Original & Informed Sound' progresses I would like to explore the potential of incorporating some of the aspects of 12-tone serialism into my compositions. I can see and do appreciate the theory and musicality behind 12-tone serialism, but also understand that for many listeners in the 21st century, it is an unpopular genre of choice. This doesn't mean there aren't aspects that when removed from serialism and applied to a more popular genre, can provide benefits. The idea of generating new ideas by transforming the primary melody could be a good way to evolve compositions."
Contemporary & Avant Garde Documentaries and Videos
Film Music
John Williams:
The Mozart of Film?
Born February 8th, 1932, in New York, Williams grew up in a music household, his father was a jazz drummer. and his mother was a pianist. From a young age, Williams showed interest in music and began at the age of 6 to play the piano. He would later go on to attend the Julliard School of Music in New York City. Once his studies were completed, Williams began his career as a jazz pianist, playing with various bands across the city. He was also working as a session musician and played on several film scores. In the 1960s, he moved across the country to LA where he began to work as a studio musician, playing on many TV and Movie soundtracks.
In 1974, Williams' breakthrough as a film composer came when he was asked to score the movie The Sugarland Express, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie was a success, earning Williams wide acclaim for his score. Williams and Spielberg then went on to have a long relationship together working on films. (Yellowbrick, 2023)
The tempo of a piece of music has an effect on us that potentially goes unnoticed. Marketing researcher Ronald Millman conducted a study to demonstrate how different music in a store affects customers. It's through this subconscious connection to a piece's tempo that Williams can exploit in his composition. It is also the volume of a piece of music that has a subconscious effect on us. As demonstrated by Professor Patricia Cain Smith, people move faster through stores when the store is playing louder music. When asked what shop users thought of the music, most didn't remember noticing any difference in tempo or volume (Beres, 2018). From this, it can be assumed that when used effectively, both tempo and volume can be used to control the audience's emotions, and done so in a way that withdraws them from the film experience. If a change in volume or tempo were to become noticeable to the listener, it would distract them from the film and lead to a worse overall experience.
Something very symbolic of Williams' compositions is the remembrance of his motifs. It can be argued that Williams has some of the most recognisable melodies in all of film and classical music, and the ability to create such iconic, and strong motifs whilst not having them overpower the visual film experience, but rather complement it in a way that makes it seem integral to the story, is something that John Williams has mastered in his career. (Beres, 2018).
Hans Zimmer:
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The Hybrid Approach
Hans Zimmer is a German Film/Tv and at time Game composer and music producer, having composed more than 100 films, including some of the biggest Hollywood films of the last 30 years, such as 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Gladiator', The Dark Knight Trilogy, 'The Lion King', and dozens more (Classic FM, n.d.).
"John Williams and Hans Zimmer, are arguably the two biggest names in film music of all time, and it could even be said that they are the two biggest orchestral composers of the last 80-100 years, purely due to the success of their film scores. However, they both have a very unique and different sound compared to each other. John Williams is very traditional in his compositions when compared to earlier classical composers. Many of his works demonstrate very clearly his classical influence. Many of his scores for films feature traditional ensembles of instruments and orchestras. On the other hand, Zimmer does use the orchestra but accompanies it with more sound design elements, and synthetic sounds, such as synthesisers and drones. When I compare the two, I think of the beautiful and rememberable melodies and themes of John Williams that will stick in your head for weeks after you have heard the piece, whereas Zimmer is more about the emotional impact of music, it can be quite easy to say that many of Zimmer's pieces don't have a distinct melodic theme, minus the obvious successes that do, such as Kung Fu Panda and Pirates of the Caribean etc. Many pieces create more of an impactful atmosphere than make you hum along in your head. In many ways for film, this can be a useful approach, as it completely merges the two art forms, and creates a soundtrack that does draw away from the visual elements. When it comes to my compositions, I try to employ techniques from both composers. The historical knowledge and techniques of Williams, that create long-lasting melodic themes, that the listener will remember, accompanied by the evolved sound of Zimmer, incorporating modern technology and sound design into orchestral music to bring it to the present day."
John Lunn:
"The reason that I find Lunn's work influenctical, is his detailed use of string ensembles accompanied with piano, to create period drama scores for the series 'Downton Abbey'. For me his pieces perfectly combine the strong melodic ideas that create franchise defining themes, whilst also adding complexity and emotion to the composition. The intrecute articulations and movements across the instruments demonstrate an overall knowledge of the instrumentation that he is using in his pieces.
For my final project, I intend on composing for some smaller ensembles, whereby I maximise the use of each instrument to its full potential."
Middle Eastern Music
History of Middle Eastern Music:
Traditional Middle Eastern music uses varied instrumentation, including strings, wind, and percussion instruments. Commonly heard string instruments in Middle Eastern music are the harp and violin, as well as the Oud and Saz, which are both lute-like instruments and the stringed Qanun. The Darbuka drum and Riq tambourine are the common percussion instruments seen, with the wind instruments including the Duduk and Zurna (Little, 2021). The Duduk is an instrument that has been incorporated into film music by composers such as Hans Zimmer, and instrumentalists such as Pedro Eustache (Audio, 2023).
"Some unique feature of traditional Middle Eastern music are the use of quarter tones and the lack of chords, giving the music a very distinctive feel. In addition to unqiue sounds, some traditional Middle Eastern songs can be up to three hours long" (Little, 2021).
An intersting note, is Steve Reich's personal understanding of non-western music, which he acquired whilst in West Africa, learning about their distinct drumming and rhythmic styles, is demonstrate in his own writings in which he talks about the uncoventialling long pieces of music he writes for 'Western" audiences. This as well as the above source demonstrate just how common or accepted longer form compositional works can be in certain regions of the world, whilst many western ears would struggle to maintain interest in musical works of that length.
Mention above, are the use of quarter tones in Middle Eastern Music. This is another thing that many 'Western" ears would not be used to hearing, as the main musical system in the West has been the 12-tone system. This divides the octave into 12 notes, commonly at equal measures, referred to as equal temperament. This however isn't the case for many parts of the world. The octave is only divided into 12 if chosen to be. The range of notes within an octave is technically limitless, but it is certainly still maintainable to use more than 12 steps. This is called microtonality and is where there is the use of quarter-tones, these are notes that fit in between standardised notes here in the West (Quarter Tone, 2023) (Quarter Tones - Music Theory, n.d.). Microtonality can be used in 'Western' music, but for many listeners, there would be an overwhelming distraction from the music due to the 'dissonance' caused by the microtones.
Middle Eastern Contribution to Music of the Western World:
With the fall of the Roman Empire and the mass spread of invasions across Europe, a widespread cultural decline was seen, as wars consumed much of what was left of Roman intellectualism. Hunger, poverty and disputes dragged European peoples into unprecedented cultural regression. The church assumed much of education, and fought any ideas from outside their religion, claiming that it was combating paganism. The condemnation of non-Christian intellectual material, which was seen up until the eleventh century, disapproved of those who overstated the Greek origin of all European intellectual production including music. Much of the music from the Roman times had now disappeared or had been incorporated into church music, which was dominant across the Dark Ages. A lot of this music is now considered 'Gregorian Chants' which was used to "captivate and subdue" the people to the belief of the church. These attitudes were retained through to the twelfth century when a sudden shift took place. The Greeks objected to any role that Muslims might have played in the musical setting of Europe. However, after the fall of Rome, there is not a solitary original work on music by the Greeks known until after the Arabian Contact. "If it were not for the Muslims, most of the Greek works would not have reached Europe. In fact a number of such Greek works are only available in Arabic, including works on music such as the 'Prolbems of Aristotle, Harmonics and Canon of Euclid, harmonics of Ptolemy."
Through the social and economic intercourse between Spanish Christians, Muslims, and other European Christians Islamic education and art was disseminated throughout Europe. This "influence of Muslim music in Spanish and Portuguese music and folklore is self-evident and does not need any proof". (Saoud, 2004)
Pipe Organ Music
History of the Pipe Organ:
It was Plato and Aristotle in the 4th century BC that is the earliest known use of the term organon, to denote and tool or instrument in a more general sense. In Plato's, and later Greek writers, organon denotes any kind or all kinds of instruments. In later periods the term gradually moved away to a more specific term. The first pipe organs were conceived and built in Greece around 200 BC. Later Greek authors claim that the pipe organ was invented by a single man, Ctesibius of Alexandria, a third-century BC engineer. However, it's stated for him the organ was more a demonstration of the principles of hydraulics rather than a musical instrument.
With the invention of the Medieval Church Organ saw the first organ with a keyboard interface as opposed to sliders of the earlier instruments, with many organs now using more than one keyboard. The number of pipes within the organ was also greatly expanded to increase the total available notes to around 40. Deep sounds were not characteristic of medieval music, however, the low pipes of cathedral organs produced some of the lowest notes created by man and could be considered the trigger for a movement towards a bass-dominated nature of Western music from the 1500s onward.
The 15th century saw contracts outlining the construction of organs with a specific number of keyboards, and pipes, and details of how many pipes one key should be able to activate. When an organ key is pressed, the wind can flow through a row of pipes. Through using stops, the wind can be prevented from entering certain pipes. This allows for a controlled timbre of the sound. By the year 1474, S. Petronio, Bologna, had a full-scale 50-note organ with 9 stops, and in the following 3 decades, the average organ in Western Europe probably consisted of 10 separate stops.
In 1509, Hans Suys promised that the organ he built would have stops to provide, alone or in combination, the sounds of the flute, Waldhorn, Quintadena, trumpets, shawms, cornett, Rauschpfeife, and sever other unusual stops. Organ builders of the time likely used unusual stops to set themselves apart from other builders and would keep their unusual sounds trade secret.
in 1511, from the request of Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire requested that a book be created that standardised the construction of the pipe organ. The book was titled 'Spiegel fer Orgelmacher' and described the construction of two ideal organs, each containing 15 stops. The book covers the entire field of organ activity: building, composing, and playing, even suggesting that the organ should be played throughout the entirety of church services, if only very softly.
With time passing, the organ became a more elaborate and complex instrument, capable of producing more sounds than ever before. The organ gradually started to form geographical characteristics. Everything from the number of keyboards, the operation of said keys, the types of stops and how they were operated, all became specialised to regions. Northern European organs had a higher volume of sound than Italian organs. The different types of wood available would influence the design of the wind boxes. The local music also likely had an impact on the types of organs built in regions. Eventually, in the mid-17th century, the French Classical organ had created some standardisation, with almost all French organ builders being in Paris. During the 19th century, there were reforms in various churches all across Europe, leading to a simplification of church services, and thereby a simplification of church organs. A new influence was the 'congregational needs', intending to use the organ to complement a congregation while singing church hymns. For this, only 8 stops were thought appropriate.
(Acreman, 2018)
Prominence of Pipe Organs in relation to Original & Informed Sound:
The City of Portsmouth boasts a rich heritage of pipe organs, with noteworthy examples located at St. Mary's Church in Fratton, and the Portsmouth Cathedral in Old Portsmouth. Whilst traditionally being regarded as religious symbols, many churches in the Portsmouth vicinity play multifaceted roles in the community, extending support regardless of religious affiliations. Moreover, these historical buildings serve as community hubs, hosting public events such as the Maye Fair and the Fratton Festival of Lights, along with regular organ recitals. As as result, these buildings have become integral components of the Portsmouth community, with the pipe organ symbolising the auditory identity of the church or cathedral. Part of this project, whilst exploring compositional techniques, is to assess the potential of incorporating Portsmouth into the music. As the the oral history recordings and the music mimesis, the pipe organ could be another possible avenue to create a sonic character for the city.
Environmental, Cultural, Historical, Personal
Overview
The 'ECHP' research segment of 'Original & Informed sound' proposes the idea that Artistic Expression, especially that which is demonstrated through music can be categorised into 4 separate groups. These groups are 'Environmental', 'Cultural', 'Historical'. and 'Personal'. They bring context to the meaning behind each piece of music and can be defined by more than one category. For example, 'Different Trains' could be seen as a historically inspired composition, given that it is based on the events of WW2 in Europe, and the transportation of Jewish people via trains. However, there is also a personal element to it, due to the fact the Reich is a Jewish man who grew up during the event of the war. There could also be an argument for the benefits or importance it plays to the culture of Jewish representation from the event of the war. Some pieces of music are very obvious into which group they fit, other might be equally split amongst all 4.
This research continues from February onwards to define in more detail each group, give examples and support the overall concept.
Composition Studies
Overview :
Before composing the full album, which is expected to be roughly 45 minutes in duration, and demonstrate a variety of compositional techniques. Each potential technique will be explored in small study compositions. Different techniques will require study examples of differing lengths, however, most example will be between 45-90 seconds, and cover the essential characteristics of the technique. The album will then combine some of these techniques into a more creative output.
Study 1 :
Compositional Technique Explorations
This composition explores the technique 'Pan Diatonic Modal Exchange' which can often be seen integrated into minimalist composition. The piece uses 4 notes 'A, B, C, and D' and employs them in the C Major scale, they get transposed to the C minor scale, each note being allowed to shift by 1 semi-tone if needed or chosen, becoming 'A Flat, B Flat, C, and E Flat. D could have stayed as D, but to add more variation, it was moved 1 semi-tone to E Flat. As the piece progresses and repeats the notes slowly shift away from their prime sequence. Once moved to the secondary sequence, when shifted back to C Major, if chosen A Flat could become G, B Flat to A, and E Flat to E. This means that as the piece evolves, variation and expansion can be explored whilst maintaining the same set of instructions.
This composition uses the intonation in someone's voice as the seed for the main melodic theme. Unlike some of the other explorations in this project, the melody does not match the spoken intonation perfectly but takes influence, adding creative expression on top. This is so the piece has natural movement and expression, but allows for a quick method of generating ideas.
Minimalism is often referred to as processed music, some composers even rejecting the term minimalism altogether. The meaning behind the name is due to the fact that the music is composed by following a predetermined process (Process Music, 2023). Sometimes these processes can be useful to use in composition to help navigate creative block. This is because certain processes are designed to take small ideas and build entire pieces. By using a technique such as phasing or canon, a small melody of only 1-4 bars can quickly become a piece minutes in length, whilst still progressing and evolving to maintain interest. The piece above, 'Slow Evolving Minimalism' is a demonstration of trying to take small ideas and build them into larger compositions.
Demonstrations of Reich
Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy Award-winning American percussion ensemble, based in Chicago, USA. The group is composed of 4 musicians, and specialises in new music and contemporary classical music. Their Album Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, becoming the first percussion group to win in a chamber music category.
As part of their mission to help educate musicians, Third Coast Percussion created an app entitled TCP/Reich. The app allows the user to explore three principal techniques of minimalist composer Steve Reich. The first is phasing, which opens preloaded with the vocal recording of 'It's Gonna Rain', but also allows the user to input their own audio. When played the audio shifts out of phase, with the user being able to alter the speed in which the audio drifts. The second is Additive, This is explored through the example 'Clapping Music' by Steve Reich. The user is presented with two lines, each with a rhythm presented through the use of dots along a line. The top line has all its circles filled in, meaning that they will all play. The second line has its circled outlined, but not filled in. This means that they
will not play. As the user selects circles along the second line they begin to play. The two lines have their circles out by one circle, meaning that as they play they play slightly out of time with each other. The point of this feature in the app is to mimic the piece 'Clapping Musicians' in that the first line plays in full from the beginning, with the second coming in gradually, with one note added every set number of repetitions. The third technique is titled 'Canons' which resembles compositions such as 'Piano Phase', and is very similar to the phase technique, but is applied to musical instruments as opposed to audio recordings. The user us able to change the pitch of the notes within the melody, and offset it to their chosen measure. Through using this application or 'sound-toy', short demonstrative pieces can be formed that encapsulate the principal techniques of minimalism.
(Third Coast Percussion, 2023)
Study 2 :
Portsmouth Inspired Sounds
The purpose of this short study is to musical mimic the sounds of Portsmouth through 'Musical Mimesis'. The best way to accomplish this is to pin point sounds that are significant in the Portsmouth ambience.
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Being the only Island City in the United Kingdom, and a historic naval base, Portsmouth has a long connection to the sea.
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The Guildhall is one of the primary buildings in Portsmouth, situated opposite the council buildings, public library, and alongside the War Memorial, with a huge history attached to it. For many the Guildhall is a regular part of their daily life, whether its walking past it on their commute to work, or on their walk to lunch, or if its hearing its bells chime throughout the day to let everyone know the time, it's hard to be in Portsmouth and not be connected to the Guildhall.
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Public Transport is key to a Portsmouth which is the second most dense in the UK. For many this is their primary or only mode of transport other then walking.
'Portsmouth Sound Explorations 1' introduces early in the piece a celli section shifting between a C minor and B flat Major chord, played at 8th notes. The rhythm is designed to try and resemble the pulsating rhythms of the train tracks that one might experience when travelling through Portsmouth. The instrumentation is also designed around the sonic identity of Portsmouth. The use of Tubular Bells and Glockenspiel try to resemble the metallic bell sound of the Guild Hall bells. The melody also resembles the bell tones of Guild Hall's hourly announcement, whilst maintaining consonance with the C minor scale that the piece is in. Not only is this symbolic to Portsmouth because of the Guild Hall, but it is also the same melody that the local football team's iconic chant follows, "Play up Pompey, Pompey Play Up". Allow the melody is not exact, it does resemble its intonation making its resemblance noticeable to the listener.
Study 3 :
Speech Melody Inspired Sounds
'Speech Melody Inspired Sounds' is a composition that uses recordings of two Portsmouth residents, one of whom was a D-Day Veteran, talking about their experience in Portsmouth, and the surrounding areas, during World War 2. These important and evocative recordings will forever tell the story of one of the darkest times in history. The piece explores the uses of these recordings in a more creative output. The original recording is more than 30 minutes long, but only roughly 10 seconds were used for the composition. The intention in the first person's voice is used to generate the melodies movement, which is constant throughout the piece. The second subject talks about their time in a cinema during the bombings. This is accompanied by low percussion, attempting to add musical impact along with the impact of their words. The purpose of this is to spread awareness of the incredible lives, stories, and history or local people, like the two in the recording, who live in the Portsmouth City area.
Study 4 :
Celtic Inspired Composition
One of the distinctive quality of Celtic Traditional music, is the instrumentation. Many Celtic regions have their own instruments with historic significance to their music. Countries like Scotland have a huge auditory connection to the Bagpipes. 'Celtic Inspired Composition' is influence by the Irish Traditional instrumentation. The Irish Bouzouki, an instrument that was brought back from Greece, and had its tuning change to one that more aligned with some of the other instruments in Irish 'Trad'. This was used to support both the melodic and rhythmic section of the piece. The mandolin, the fretted equivalent to the 'Fiddle' / Violin, carries the melody, due to its high register and sharp timbre, it is able to cut through the other instruments. The Tenor Banjo and the Mandolin are both symbolic to Irish 'Trad' and American Blue Grass, however the Tenor Banjos used in Ireland are again tuned different to their original instruments, with the Irish Tenor Banjo being tuned like an Octave Mandolin. This means that it is able to parody the mandolin and double the melody an octave lower. It's construction also lends itself to be prominent in the mix of instruments, with many banjos having a short attack, giving it that banjo "twang", with some also being built with a tone ring, which helps produce more resonance within the higher frequencies.
Instrumentation:
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Irish Bouzouki - Tuned like an Octave Mandolin
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Mandolin
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Guitar
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Percussion
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Melodica - Used to mimic the sound of an accordion/melodeon
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Irish Tenor Banjo
Study 5 :
Minimalism, Texture, Harmony & Instrumentation
The piece below is intended to build similar textures seen in "Music for 18 Musicians" and Reich's later works "Runner", "Music for Ensemble and Orchestra", and "Reich/Richter", in which there is a repetitive interlocking pulse performed by multiple instruments, primarily the piano or marimba. In this example, there is a marimba that is shifting between a C minor and B flat Major chord throughout the whole composition, which is also played by the piano. As the piece progresses new themes are introduced, however the original pulse on the marimba remains constant.
The two additional tracks explore different techniques of shifting the melody through the use of a second instrument to add variation to a composition.
Study 6 :
Pipe Organ Composition
"For this pipe organ exploration, I used Spitfire Audios Symphonic Pipe Organ sample library. As far as organ sample libraries go, it sits in the middle and is well worth it for the price. It doesn't offer full control over the organ and the stops but does have sixteen preset stop settings. This offers a wide range of pipe organ sounds without having to individually 'program' them in the software. The exploration explores the different preset sounds of the organ, from the soft winds to the large 'All Stops Out' sound of a powerful cathedral organ."
Study 7 :
Oud Melodic Composition
The Oud is an instrument from the Middle East and is considered to be the predecessor to the Lute and Guitar. It is a fretless instrument, with a bowl-back construction, similar to that of Lutes, or bowl-back Mandolins. Because it is fretless, the Oud is able to play both the 12-note chromatic scale, but also quarter-tones, the notes in between out notes in the West. The short piece below gives a short example of an Oud composition, exploring the use of quarter-tones in melody
The second track uses the microtonal ability of the Oud, to repeat the same phrase whilst slowly shifting the pitch higher. Once more exploration has been done into this technique, it will applied to a larger ensemble in which pitch will gradualy change, in an attempt to make it go as unnoticed as possible. For the purposes of this demonstration it is done over a much shorter duration, and there for more obvious.
Study 8 :
Chance Composition Exploration
'Chance Music' or Aleatoric Music is music where some element of the music is left to chance. This could be achieved by using cards, dice, computer generators, mathematical formulas, or other methods. The Latin word 'alea' meaning "dice" is where the word aleatory comes from. For centuries the use of chance has been incorporated into music composition, with a famous musical dice game being attributed to composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the 20th century, chance music became a much more serious approach composition then it had been in previous periods. John Cage was a pioneer of the technique known as 'Indeterminacy'. This is a technique that leaves some aspects of the music open to chance or a performers interpretation. Graphic notation fits under chance composition, which is music that uses images, drawings, and graphics instead of traditional notation to determine the music content (Jean, 2019).
After exploring the potential of using randomness and chance in composition, the possibility of streamlining the process through using AI was explored. By prompting ChatGPT and reviewing each result before going back to make changes and new suggestions, a python program was produced that could automatically output the random variables required.
[Software Draft 1]
[Software Draft 2]
[Software Draft 3]
[Software Draft 4]
[Software Draft 5]
Prompt One: the first thing was to set a basic input interface that allows the user to choose between a major or minor, as well as output random chords, duration, and melody. However, the outputted script required that the user input data such as whether the chord is major or minor, how long the chord should last, and how many notes should be in the melody. Although this could be useful in other circumstances, as it still does add some level of chance, given that it generates the chord and melody notes. For this project, as much randomness as possible is required.
Prompt Two: The second prompt made sure that more elements were randomised by the script.
Prompt Three: The third prompt introduced the use of time signatures. This is randomised by the script and adds an additional level of chance to the composition.
Prompt Four: Prompt four makes sure that the melody can only repeat two of the same notes in a row. This prevents the script to output a melody that feels unnatural when it repeats the same note over and over. This is a very real possibility, and one that came up in testing, due to the fact that the script only have 7 notes to choose from.
Prompt Five: The final script, is an alternative to the fourth script, or companion, designed to be used together. The fourth script generates a time signature, either 3/4 4/4 or 5/4, the fifth script allows the user to input the time signature, this is so that the time signature doesn't change every time the user tries to generate a new bar.
Future Iterations: Given more time to develop and test a script along side using its data to create compositions, some features that would be added is the ability to output registers for the melody. This again removes composer bias, as currently the composer is able to decide which register they prefer. Another addition would be inverted chords, adding more sonic variety, as well as removing composer bias.
Study 9 :
12 Tone Composition Exploration
The theory behind 12-tone music is based on the idea that all 12 semitones in Western music should have equal importance in composition. This means that there are no major or minor tonalities, no roots or thirds or fifths. "All notes have the same relationship to one another, which effectively makes twelve-tone serialism a form of atonal music".
Prime Row / Form - A Prime row uses all 12 notes of the chromatic scale, without repeating one. This then becomes the basis of the composition, with variety being added by transforming the tone row.
Inversion / Inverted Form - An inverted row takes the prime row and inverts the intervals starting from the first note. If the prime row starts with C goes up 2 semi-tones to D, and down 3 semitones to B, the inverted row would start on C, go down 2 semi-tones to Bb, and up 3 semi-tones C#.
Retrograde - This is where the prime row is played the same but in reverse.
Inverted Retrograde / Retrograde Inversion - A retrograde inversion applies both the retrograde and inverted transformations to the prime row.
(12 Tone Music: How to Make Music with the 12-Tone Technique, 2021)
[Image S9.1]
[Image S9.2]
Study 10 :
Differing Compositional Approach Exploration
"For almost the last 10 years, my main approach to composition is using a DAW, mostly Logic Pro, along with sample libraries. Like that of Spitfire Audio or Native Instruments. I have become very ingrained with the style of composition, finding myself technically able to achieve everything required of my creativity within the computer. It is also a useful way to brainstorm and sketch out ideas without having to commit heavy resources. However, like many composers, a benefit can come from an occasionally changing approach, to try and remove the stagnant ideas that come from the muscle memory of using the same software or sitting at the same instrument every time you go to compose. From this, the target of this study is to explore new and different ways personally, when it comes to my approach of composing.
The first new approach to trying to compose a piece of music is to write it physically on a piece of manuscript paper. Although I have experience composing through notation, this has almost always been virtually using software such as MuseScore or Sibelius."
1. Writing on Paper
[Image S10.1]
[Image S10.2]
Image S10.1 presents the first simple melodies generated whilst writing notation without being able to hear the notes. Image S10.2 expands on the melody by adding a chord progression.
Final Composition Portfolio
Project Impact
Portsmouth Community
Creative Accomplishment
Review
Conclusion
Sources & Reading Material
AI Conversation References:
OpenAI (2024) ChatGPT (3.5), [Large Language Model] https://chat.openai.com/share/54a6edb9-4c5a-42da-b7bd-bfbafb3ce37f
OpenAI (2024) ChatGPT (3.5), [Large Language Model} https://chat.openai.com/share/657eb637-083a-4f86-89c5-8fdb932e2f8d