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Unit 28 Mixed Compositions

1. Three part Guitar Loop (Scales and Harmony)

Source of Inspiration

This was just an off the cuff experiment with no specific inspiration or focus and happened without over thinking.

Melodic and Harmonic Development

Using a BOSS RC2 to create a loop, Initially I put down a bass line melody using Am pentatonic scale then I composed a funky style guitar chord sequence of Am7, D7sus4, Dm7, Em7 and Em7+7 over the bass line. Then I simply soloed over this looped sequence using the Am pentatonic scale in various positions along the fretboard.

Lyrical Development

There are no lyrics in this particular piece.

Recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69M_Js48SWE&feature=youtu.be

2. Church Hymn ‘Let Us Ask’ (Lyrics and Scales)

Source of Inspiration

I was asked by a woman called Racquel Pallares to compose a hymn in English that she could use in the spiritualist works she conducts Internationally, in the Santo Daime tradition. Santo Daime is a shamanic church originating from Mapia, deep in the amazonian rain forest of Brazil. I had already played some guitar for her when she was visiting Ireland conducting some of these events.

Melodic and Harmonic Development

So the critical element was the melody lines that must facilitate the singing of the lyrics. I was not unduly concerned about harmony initially.

Then next of importance were the lyrics which must follow the melody line.

I used the scale of Am, the natural minor of C, feeling this would be accessible to a wide range of voices. And in 4/4 time. Another instrument used is a maraca ringing out the 4/4 beat. Once I had developed the melody line it was relatively easy to apply harmony by chords on the guitar. The melody is as follows :-

CDE A G E D CD CDE D C B A

E A C B C A GA E A CB A G

E GAG E CD CD C DED C B A

A key instrument in this piece is the voice(s) delivering the lyrics.

The harmony guitar chords are Am Dm Am Am G Am Dm Am

Instrumentation was a nylon string acoustic guitar and voice(s). Particularly in the Santo Daime tradition the guitar sits underneath and supports and focuses the singing by playing melodies the singers can follow which match very closely the lyrics. Also the melodies need to be relatively simple and either 4/4, 3/4 or 6/4 as all participants in a Santo Daime ritual drink an hallucinogenic tea called called ayahuasca before and during the ceremony whilst they have to dance and sing at the same time.

Lyrics

The final English lyrics I arrived at can be seen below. Each verse has a theme and is sung in its entirety twice. It probably took me about a week to finalise the lyrics and I still am not 100% happy but Racquel was and translated the hymn into Portuguese and now it is a part of her works as she travels the world conducting these spiritual rituals. There is an opening sequence where they prepare and my hymn is number 5 - Pecamos. The prayer book and Portuguese version can be seen in the pictures below, after the English verses. Sadly she omitted the Mc from my name but no one is perfect.

Verse 1 is about the fact we are human with human frailties. Verse 2 is about our innate selfishness leading to hurt of others. Verse 3 is about how strong emotion distorts our thinking. Verse 4 is about holding one’s place in the spiritual ritual which can be very challenging as the ego is deconstructed. Verse 5 acknowledges we need a Higher Power to guide us to spiritual liberation and freedom of the soul and this will come about if we stay firm in our work and concentration.

Let Us Ask

Let us ask God’s Help to do our work Let us ask with Modesty Because we are all human beings

Of flesh and blood are we So we need God’s help to shine a light On a path to set us free (repeat)

Let us ask God’s Help to do our work

Help us work very seriously

For the times we turn away from you

For the times it’s all about me

For the times we hurt our fellow man

Please forgive our humanity (repeat)

Let us ask God’s Help to do our work Let us ask for Liberty From the storms that rise up in our minds From our fear and Jealousy For the things we do we should not do We ask God to set us free (repeat)

Let us ask God’s Help to do our work Let us ask him humble eeehh We hold our place, We firm our minds All here in Unity Let ask of you, Oh Lord, Oh God Help us live in Harmony (repeat)

So we ask God’s help, We do our work Do our work with honesty Give Praise, Give Thanks to you Oh Lord Give thanks that now we see You alone have got the Power, all Power You alone can set us free (repeat)

Recording

https://youtu.be/pRNasHqSjbM

Below is Songbook and first page of Hymn

3. Folk Song ‘Soul Warrior’ (Harmony, Lyrics, Alternate Tuning)

Source of Inspiration

I was touring with Paul Brady and had to take a break and spend a couple of

weeks in a rehabilitation unit for depression after two close friends died in the same week, one from suicide the other from an accidental drug overdose when I was inspired to write this tune. Looking at all the people in the clinic I realised most people crave peace and right relationship and I was humbled by the efforts the individuals were making to try and sort out their lives.

Melodic and Harmonic Development

Paul Brady has fantastic strumming technique, coupled with alternate guitar tunings and also I liked very much the musical stylings of Luka Bloom.

I tuned the guitar in DADGAD and played around with strumming patterns and various chords. I initially came up with the refrain / chorus sequence D A Bm G - D A G G (2nd time). Then I worked out the verse chord sequence: Bm A G G. I liked the descending line Bm, A, G in the modal tuning for the verse and it was relatively easy enough to add lyrics using standard rhyme to construct the verses. It could be argued verses 1 to 3 are actually verse 1, (See song structure below). However, I realised the piece needed a hook and something to pull in the listener and catch the ear at the outset (as Paul Brady does a lot) so I messed around again until I came up with the EM F G F G F G A Bm instrumental introduction sequence, which is also repeated a couple of times throughout the song. This is an ascending sequence. And I worked out an outro just to give a clear signal the piece was ending and facilitate a nice big modal D chord flourish finish.

Lyrical Development

In this case I developed the music before I composed any of the lyrics, which is my standard approach. Initially I decided on a theme for what I call a verse ( 4 lines) and noted this down on my pad. Then it took me a couple of days to fully develop the lyrics with a lot of playing around with rhyme and using the pad jotting down words that were similar and playing with them. The repetition on line 4 was for reinforcement of the key concept of each four line part: i.e. Need for Love, Confront Fear, Right to freedom and Liberty, Resisting Temptation and Craving, Letting Go of Anger, Be Persistent and Diligent. Also I modify the length of the lyrics and instrumental lines as we work through the piece to add some structural variety and then increase tension through the longer instrumental at the end. The repetition of what I call verse 6 is to reinforce the core message of the lyrics, it is a motivational song, as stated, inspired by the bravery of the human spirit in the face of adversity. IE Never Give up the Fight. Also I dropped the tempo for the first iteration of Verse 6 again to provide reinforcement of the key message of the song and also capture a mood of hope.

SONG STRUCTURE and LYRICS (original)

Soul Warrior (Key of Bm) (DADGAD guitar tuning)

Intro / Instrumental (x 2)

Chorus

Instrumental (x 1)

Chorus

V3 (drop tempo then speed up on 2nd iteration)

Chorus x 2

Instrumental (x 3) (stagger Instrumental on 3rd iteration)

Outro

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INSTRUMENTAL (lively strong 2 part strum, bass down, treble up stroke)

Em F G F G F G A Bm (Bar chords, bottom 2 strings open)

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OUTRO (lively strum)

A aug Bm7 A aug Bm7 A aug Bm7 D (bottom 4 strings only)

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CHORUS

Sweet Soul Warrior D A Bm G

Brave Soul Warrior D A G G

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Verse 1

If love’s not alive Bm

Hate Can Thrive A

Hope Won’t Survive G

Trouble has begun Bm

When the urge is to run A

But not this one G

No not this one G

Call is be free Bm

No bonds or slavery A

All equal, You and Me G

Verse 2

Temptress she call Bm

Yes means a fall A

Warrior stands tall G

Resentment you keep Bm

When anger runs deep A

Let lying dogs sleep G

Verse 3

Change wrong to right Bm

Turn darkness into light A

Never give up the fight G

Recordings

The following are links to three different recordings of the song.

Soul Warrior - Impromptu Ensemble recording

The link to the MP3 above was an impromptu recording one night when a group of us were hanging out and jamming. As you can hear Keith the lead vocalist gets the lyrics wrong but the feeling is there and he improvised with Sofia the female vocalist around the original structure as detailed below. I like this recording because of the timbre of Keith’s voice and its richness captures the emotion of the piece. Unfortunate about the mispronounced lyrics as this was almost a viable releasable version.

Soul Warrior - Solo Individual recording

The second recording is one with just myself on guitar. Very obviously not as good a quality or strength, but it shows that the songs message is still there regardless of the instrumentation. This piece highlights the original pathos of the creation and the underlying strength of the guitar line to support the lyric.

Soul Warrior - Studio Recording

The third recording was done in Temple Bar studios with a wider variety of instrumentation and a full production plan and Dan Barry on lead vocals. Despite all the work this somehow lacked the feeling of Keith’s impromptu recording.

4. Midi Multi Composition(s) K1 MixT (multiple compositional technigues)

Source of Inspiration

Writing some pieces for the Public Technology Performance module and the PPP module I also wanted to produce some music for a german friend who runs unique workshops of which one component is people lying on mats and listening to music whilst breathing deeply. Pure experimentation in sound just using Midi instrumentation and audio samples and some synthesised sounds originating from a voice sample.

So this piece actually consists of five parts with two linking crossfade sections and lasts for 8 minutes and 33 seconds in total.

Melodic and Harmonic Development (all parts)

Part 1 : (0 - 1.40)

Initially I found some drum loops in a shared webspace open for all and I created a Reaper project combining the loops to create a consistent pushing semi urgent rhythm. Then I added in some synth lead sounds and some Effects sounds to add depth and body and intensify the sense of urgency and going somewhere. The melody line(s) are relatively simple interval jumps back and forth with an ascending chord harmony backing blended with the effects sounds and pulsing drum loop rhythms. This piece I also separated into a track called Bromance which was used for background music in the Arabian Night production.

Part 2 : (2.11 - 3.26)

I created a simple kick drum beat 1 2 3 4& over which I layered cymbals and then a synth lead repeating arpeggio. I altered dynamics and also increased tension by multiplying number of cymbal hits whilst adding a synth lead at higher frequency.

Part 3 : (3.27 - 5.24)

I located a pumping synth pad effect in a VST called Expand2 and put a simple repeating kick drum pattern underneath it and a high pitched bell type synth lead voice above it. The only fixed repeating pattern was the pumping synth. So three sounds. I particularly like this section for its simplicity but effectiveness.

Part 4 : (5.37 - 6.55)

I took a couple of sample parts from part 1 and edited them together and increased tempo to 120.

Part 5 : (6.56 - 8.33)

Using a tiny voice sample I put it into the Simpler in Ableton Live and created a series of tones / voices which I then layered together and into repeating sequences. So there is a kick drum layer. A horn type sound layer constructed into a simple melody. A tom tom sound. A whispering shimmering effect and then also the application of reverb, delay and I also reversed some of the loops.

Link Sections : These are just structural devices to assist in transition from a given part to another. Constructed at a) 1.41 to 2.10 Between Part 1 and 2 and b) 5.25 to 5.36 between Part 3 and 4

Lyrical Development

There are no lyrics in any of these five parts just the occasional use of midi voice synths for padding and harmonic effect.

Recording

K1 MixT

5. Arabian Night Ambibright and Apartment (specific themes)

Source of Inspiration

We were offered the opportunity to develop musical and sonic pieces to be part of the backing soundtrack for a production of Arabian Night by the BIFE Black Box Theatre group. Arabian Night is an unusual and sonic immersive play which relies on auditory experiences and audience imagination to generate imagery based on performer dialogue and sound rather than visual stimulation. I studied the script and characters and some requests from the play’s director and in addition to producing sequences of street noise and running water I composed five distinct audio parts which I called Desert, Apartment, Bromance, Ambibright and Haunted with the intention of providing specific backing to particular parts of the performance. Some of these pieces were part of the performance soundtrack, two of which I have detailed below and one is detailed above in section 4, which I also used as part one of the K1 MixT arrangement.

Melodic and Harmonic Development

Ambibright : Based on simple repeating kick drum line I then introduced an

Arpeggiated eastern type sound and then developed all sorts of layers around that and added some special effects. This piece contains Sequences, Counterpoint, Ostinato, Scales, Riffs, Modes and a variety of mid instrumental sounds. The individual components can all be accessed on my Soundcloud account Sao-Paolo. All pieces are public.

Apartment : This piece I composed by setting a repeating kick drum and bass line and then layering a simple Motif in C major with some alternating synth effects over that. The low tones and sustain and strings effects were an attempt to introduce a sense of foreboding and eeriness.

Lyrical Development

There are no lyrics in any of these three pieces.

Recordings

AmbiBright

Apartment

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