The source of inspiration chosen is waves crashing violently; in order to portray this, I will use the key of D Harmonic Minor. I will start by gradually creating a pattern and slowly building the sound throughout the song. I will start with a very quiet broken chord progression just being played in the bass clef using one hand, rotating through all of the chords I have chosen. Once a pattern has been established, I will add in new contrasting high and low sounds keeping the notes light. Over the course of the song I will add in more solid chords with an even wider range of high and low sounds utilizing the full range of the piano to build the song to be progressively louder. In terms of structure, I will start by building the sound up using the steps just mentioned, then I will then drop the sound a little, but not to the point of completely starting over, then build it back up again going further this time, then dropping it again, and so on until I create a wall of music. This wall of music will be my climax. It will use a variety of different instruments all with different ranges in order to produce a full sound. I will also use a mixture of solid and broken chords. I will add in different variations of the same rhythms used to build the wall of music. I will also make use of inversion chords to alter the sound of the music slightly. I plan on holding the climax for around ten seconds in order to re sustain the pattern before ending the piece. To end the piece I will end going back to the chord progression that I had originally started with but instead using the solid chords and slowly let them pan out by holding the chords until I get to a place that feels finished. The exact chords that I have chosen are D minor, F sharp minor, G minor, and A Major. In terms of the instruments that I will use to create this, I will use a variety of instruments in order to help build tension. These will include instruments that create low sounds, high sounds, medium sounds, and instruments that create all 3. I will use the piano to create a guide of where I would like my music to go, then add in other instruments. For the lower sounds I will use a lower string instrument such as the cello. I will also add in the clarinet which can reach both high and low sounds. And finally, I will use the violin to create the higher sounds along with the flute as these instruments go nicely with the other instruments I have already chosen and can harmonize well.

In what ways does your soundscape composition successfully express the ideas outlined in your proposal? Explain using specific examples as evidence.

I stuck to my proposal fairly well. I used it as an outline of where I thought my music should go, and then expanded and altered it while creating my music. To create the feeling of crashing waves, I wanted to begin with a broken chord progression. Although I didn’t follow that exactly, I did create something similar to this using a singular note from each chord and eventually climaxing with many different versions of a broken chord progression. I used a wide range of instruments and made use of the full range of my instruments which is something that was also in my proposal. Finally, I used the instruments in many different ways. I used both solid and broken chords and made use of lots of fifths to create that pirate sound typically associated with the ocean.

In what ways could your soundscape composition be improved to better express the ideas outlined in your proposal? Explain using specific examples as evidence.

To better express the ideas outlined in my proposal, I would've liked to make use of a wider variety of instruments. Although I think that the instruments that I chose to use did a good job at portraying the image of an ocean, adding another layer or two with completely new sounds from different instruments would've made this piece more interesting and given it a new wow factor. In my proposal, I mentioned using either a flute or clarinet to do this which I never ended up doing. Additionally, adding another climax would’ve been beneficial to creating a well-rounded piece of music. The climax that I already have does work with the music, but building it up farther to fully create that wall of music would’ve been ideal and created a better overall structure.

What are your thoughts on having a specific set of chord progressions for your entire music? Did you find it easy or difficult to work with only those four chords? What are some pros and cons of working with a set of chord progressions?

Having a specific chord progression was both challenging and rewarding. It caused me to think of my music in different ways and in ways I hadn’t necessarily thought of music before. While building up the music, I found it quite easy to get caught up in creating too many patterns on top of one another. To avoid this, I found that making sure that there was a variety of different patterns that flowed as individual musical ideas on their own.