Week 10 - More Finals & Capstone Project

It's been a busy week. Well, they're all busy but this last one was in particular. 

Theory / Composition:

I finished my Theory / Composition series and started taking Orchestration. The guy who teaches Orchestration is the same one who teaches Conducting and Finale. He's a hoot! He's also my composition advisor for my first recording session. I'm writing 26 bars of a Rom Com theme for Soprano Sax and Strings. I may have already mentioned that, not sure. We will record it Friday December 15th at Studio X in Seattle.

We're to the point where we are not so much learning the tools as we are sharpening our skills. Instead of very strict parameters for assignments, we are given a lot more leeway in our decisions. The instrumentation is set but we have the opportunity to create a totally original theme and thematic development, harmonic progression and alterations, and even have a bit of wiggle room with the form.

• 2-bar intro, 
• 8-bar theme with 2 4-bar segments of different textures for the strings 
• 4-bar interlude
• 8-bar restatement of the theme with some development / 2 4-bar segments of different textures for the strings 
• 4 bar coda

Each of the 4 bar textures needs to be slightly more propulsed than the previous one, meaning there should be a sense of 'speed' even though there is no increase in tempo. 

We have the entire pallet of chords to choose from for harmony, as long as the 'functional' chords are performing their function. There are a few non-standard chords we can use at our discretion without need for analytical justification, just because they sound fucking cool!

I'll post a recording of this as soon as I get the master back from the studio. First peek on Patreon for my patrons, then on the blog after a while. You'll get to hear it.

Digital Performer:

Capstone project this week, scored a 60-second clip from No Country For Old Men. I've never seen the film but am interested in seeing it now I've scored a portion of it. The project is up on my Patreon page if you want to see it. Unlike the Spiderman video this one is behind the pay wall. You can get a 7-day free trial to check out the page and see al the stuff I keep hidden. :-) I'll probably post this on the blog as well after a few weeks.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/digital-capstone-93969588?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Film Music History:

Ugh! Worst. Final. Ever! 100 questions covering the entire quarter, took me 2 1/2 hours. The class was cool but I am glad I'm done with it. The final film we reviewed was The Grand Budapest Hotel, score by Alexandre Desplat. Amazing score! He pulled instruments from all over Central Europe and created a totally unique sound to represent the fictitious country. 

Not all my grades are finalized and recorded. I only have grades from  5 of my 8 classes but the preliminary look is encouraging, sitting in the middle of the A- range. About where I expected to be before classes started, but way better than I felt a few weeks ago. 

Ciao!