An unusually lovely sleep. I dreamt of writing a book about sleep, and composed several chapters, only to annoyingly wake up and realised I'd merely dreamt it! One of the chapters was a rhyme about counting sheep. I must write this book!
Today has been a long and hard, but satisfying, day scoring The Love Symphony music. I've now completed four tracks in draft: 'There Is No Love', 'Sunset', 'The Dream', and the last, 'The Eventual Attainment Of Love'. There's a lot to do, and sometimes compromise. There are always parts that can't be scored, or are complex to score.
Most of today was spent working on 'The Dream'. One part is an arpeggio melody with a tinkly timbre. This plays notes at fixed semitone intervals: 0, 0, 7, 0, -12, 12, 7, -12, 0, 12, -5, 0; always in cycle, changing once per 500ms irrespective of the song tempo, but the root note (and reset to the timing) changes regularly. Rather than scoring that, I've scored a simpler arpeggio in glockenspiel of 0, 0, 7 ,0. For timbre, I'm unsure if this compromise is necessary or a good idea, but it does sound closer to the original - my question: should I be matching that, or writing something new and ideal for this new format? I'll make note about the 'actual' recorded notes. There is also a mock-choral part, synthesized 'Aah' choirs. I've notated the notes of these 3 and 4-note chords painstakingly, listing this as a synth part. Again, these are not exactly necessary for playing the well orchestrally; it sounds fine without them. Should I be making something to play, or as an exact record of what the recording's notes are? I'm trying to do both, placing notes in different instruments if needed, so that they are there in some form.
The day started by finishing the last track 'The Eventual Attainment Of Love'. A synth part which plays 7ths (ahem, 5ths that is, to you proper musicians) was redirected into horns (low note) and strings (upper note). The cello had little to do and I felt sorry for it, so I made much of the main melody alternate between cello and viola; the pair pass the music back and forth throughout the tune, a melodic friendship which was a joy to put together. This is beyond what's in the recording, but matches its spirit. Is that my ideal?
The next track is the 'sonata'; though technically it's more like a concerto for piano and harp. This too is a complex piece. Every one takes hours and hours, though joyful ones. I'm reminded why I've decided to notate my albums over the next decade. I could easily take a full-time year to notate them all; if I did nothing else.
