I've finished another composition today. Actually, I started it today, as well. It only lasts for a minute and 15 seconds, but I figured that was long enough. Some songs drone on for ten minutes or more and still don't get to the point (unless the point was to write a purposeless song and force people to sit through it).
The title of this song is The Crayon Symphony. I composed it in the style of Mutato Muzika, Mark Mothersbaugh's composing company -- I had The Sims 2 in mind when I was writing it. To that end, it sounds very much like something from that game -- if they had ever done an expansion pack on kids' stuff, The Crayon Symphony would have fit right in.
You may be wondering about the title. Well, when I finished the score and played it back in NoteWorthy Composer, I was quite surprised to find how innocent it sounded... not a single anti-establishment or anarchical note in the whole piece! In fact, listening to it, one finds one's mind conjuring images of children playing in the schoolyard. So, I thought of the most unassuming thing I could. Crayons. Waxy colour-sticks that serve no purpose other than to create childish drawings of oneself and one's family. If anyone ever wrote a manifesto in crayon, you can be sure that it was laughed off and the writer was never taken seriously again.
Hence, The Crayon Symphony.
In terms of the actual composing, I used the same principle that I developed when I wrote Ouverture Utopia -- layering many simple phrases on top of each other. Played alone, each phrase sounds simple and unremarkable. However, when played together, they make a jolly interesting piece of music.
Talking of Ouverture, I quite surprised myself when I listened to the entire song after I'd written it. I figured my composing style must be worth something because all of those uninteresting tracks combined to make a rather bombastic and evocative composition!
Click Here to listen to a sample version of The Crayon Symphony. The full version of the song will probably find its way into my next album.
It doesn't sound like much, the sample version. That's because I've removed some tracks -- the full version has a countermelody by the string ensemble and some pizzicato counterpoint to the harp. I would post the whole thing, but I screw my chances of copyrighting the song unless I change it. I've finished writing the thing -- I don't care to go back and write two more parts just to satisfy the bureaucrats.
Well, that's that, then.
