I plan to write down what I hear inside my head and create a good piece of music. I chose a picture of a half-moon because this photo only has two colours which are white and black. The white stands out, and the surrounding black gives me a depressing feeling. I feel lonely when I see this picture. This is the inspiration for my soundscape. I wanted to create a quiet, slow and dark musical soundscape. The image that inspired me was the moon, and its surroundings were nothing but endless darkness. Looking at this photo makes me feel lonely, so I also want to create a sense of loneliness and emptiness in my music. I think slower music would probably better express loneliness. Emptiness and loneliness mean slow harmonic rhythms, so I will switch chords every beat or even bar. Empty implies something is missing in the space, so I use thin-sounding instruments or use a high-pitched range. I would mostly use a minor key because minor keys are usually associated with sadness. Still, a major chord in the right place can also convey the idea of emptiness/loneliness. The two main instruments I will use are the cello for the low pitch part and the flute for the high pitch part. The main melody is cello, adding a high pitch instrument to make more emptiness for the counter melody. At the beginning of the music, I want the audience to quickly get the idea of emptiness and feeling of isolation by using some low-pitched chords. So when the music starts, I will repeat a pattern of chords and change the adding notes. To make a piece of music empty, I will use echos to build up to the climax. Then, I will make the music louder and broader range. Finally, I will create a counter melody from here, and it is used for adding feels. The climax can be a deep, dark piece of music with an anti-melody. I would use the flute and cello, with the flute as the counter melody instrument, including some harmonic melodies and echoes that express loneliness. I want the audience to feel that they are alone. Finally, I'll use simple echoes with some basic chords that are similar to the intro. And ends on a soft and quiet note.

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

My soundscape composition successfully expresses the ideas outlined in my proposal. I wanted to compose a sense of loneliness and emptiness in my proposal, and I feel high-pitch echoes are a great way to add ambience. For example, during the climax part, I use the piano to play three notes in each bar, and those three notes are like the echoes of the main melody. Those notes are in high pitch, the notes are the same, but the range is higher and higher.

I also wrote that adding low-pitch instruments can make the audience feel isolated. So I used a cello and gave some rhythm to it, such as the bars just before the climax, I used it to compare with the piano, showing a noticeable difference in the highs and lows.

Moreover, I said in the proposal that making the music louder and wider can make the music feel fuller. Creating a counter-melody is for adding the feel. I added two violins. One of them is to add a counter melody, the other is to have harmony with the cello, and a few times, it makes a melody with another violin. The violin's tone is bright and loud, a perfect contrast to piano and cello. The violin is also an instrument with a wide range of sounds. This allows my music to sound broader.

In short, my soundscape composition has shown the ideas included in my proposal. Although my proposal consisted of some ideas I had never tried, I kept practicing my thoughts based on repeatedly trying.

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

I wanted to make the soundscape lonely by using echoes, as I said before. This is the first time I've used an echo in music composition. I didn't understand it very well. Although the echo does add to the empty inspiration of the whole music, I should use it more. For example, add an additional instrument. In the first climax part, it should work better if I add a more ethereal instrument and then move the piano section to that instrument. And the ending part, I didn't fully reflect on the idea of emptiness. Although I used piano and cello, two contrasting instruments, they didn't reflect the sense of loneliness well.

I was trying to contribute a lot to my soundscape composition by using different sounds from different instruments. Of course, the final music may not use the most proper instrument and rhythm to present my thoughts, but I try my best to be creative in matching my ideas during this composition.

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?

We used a specific set of chord progressions for the entire music. I think it would be easier to use four chords. Then, I don't need to think about whether the chord matches the melody and how it changes. Since I've identified a set of chords at the beginning, all the melodies after will be based on the chords, then add different melodies. A chord progression is often used to add harmonic content to a song. It is also used to create a sense of 'movement' within music, provide a melody with context, and allow the characteristics of a piece to be heard. However, repeating a set of chords can make the music feel like repeating the same passage. If there is not much difference in the overall melody, it may be boring for the listener.