HOSTS- Jeremy Burns, Matthew Scott Phillips
TYPE- Special Topics
DURATION- 117:49
BUMPER MUSIC- "A Chance To Fly", "Rivers"
(Scott Jackson)
Everyone enjoyed our last listener compositions episode so much, we decided to make this a regular thing. Our listeners have bared their souls. Let's listen!
This episode will feature the original music of:
Cody M. Gibson, Ray Parker, Alex O' Hagan, Seth Hammonds, Paul Olsen, Chris Waite
and Scott Jackson
"A Chance To Fly"
This, our opening track, was inspired by Scott's desire to move to Colorado. Check out his vivid imagery and mellow sound!
"Rivers"
In continuity with the rest of his album, "A Chance To Fly", this piece has a pleasant, organic feel. His droning style of finger picking and his melodies induce a pensive and calming effect.
"This Would Make You Proud"
Cody lost a close friend who was also a great musical mate and inspiration. The title of this piece is dedicated to his memory. Cody used synth and MIDI to piece this together. Notice the minimalist approach he uses as the opening theme carries through out. However, the use of other sections suggests that this isn't minimalist, but rather "cyclical". This is because the music goes through a few different movements, but the opening theme tends to reoccur within these movements.
"Mossy Oak"
Alex wrote this piece while taking an online composition course, called "Cinematic Music: From Idea to Finished Recording” by Arn Anderson.
Alex, a fan of fantasy, has woven a sound scape that sparks imagination and inspires a sense of awe and wonder. He crafted this from his own MIDI library and pulled it off in a fashion that is quite convincing to any ear. According to Alex, "Even though this track doesn’t sound anything like a choral, its actually pretty simply based off of a four part harmony with some extra counter melody and transitional parts that help it develop. (Also almost the entire piece is written over a pedal note)". So listen for these things and, while you're at it, see if you can find the Neapolitan chord!
"Why Today?"
Ray Parker has dealt with much loss and sorrow early in life. But he "just put it all in a shelf and kept going". Composing this song was an opportunity for him to "deal with some of the underlying survivor guilt" he was experiencing. The piece starts with a disjunct melody which represents every day life. In m. 19 - 22, something tragic happens. The remainder of the piece struggles to come to terms with that moment in time and to return to normal life.
"Drafty"
Paul is true sound smith! His blend of analog, digital synthesizers and other psychedelic effects take the listener to many places in a modest amount of time.
The musical performance was his alone. According to Paul, this recording was made "pre-theory knowledge". Still, the progressions are fairly diatonic! His sense of groove and rhythm are "in the pocket". This piece is a sonic treat!
"Labyrinth"
Seth took an approach that, musically, we are considering to be an "atonal" piece. But when you learn the back story, there's way more than meets the ear. According to Seth, "“The basic idea is that the composition is a moving "observer" that is
walking through a labyrinth, and hears other "emitters" that are generating tones around the observer. Depending on their relative
movement, the tones shift in pitch (just like the Doppler effect).Each "emitter" generates its tone at a regular rhythmic interval, andcombine with the pitch shifting this creates four voices." See if you can hear these things as the piece develops!
"That's Where The Light Enters You"
Chris Waite is a medical doctor out of South Australia. This piece is a digital/analogue representation of the piece he wrote for a mixed media performance with orchestra and projected images of Aurora Australis (the Southern Lights).
It is vast in texture, mood and dynamics! His blend of instrumentation, and the mix of their levels, shows him to be an accomplished performer and programmer alike! Notice that everyone's process is different. We don't all start off jotting notation on stave paper. Check out his notes!
