Rowan Parkinson

MEET ROWAN!

Hey there, my name is Rowan (She/Her) and I'm from Chelsea, Quebec! I've lived on a lake the majority of my life, so I like canoeing and paddleboarding, though I'm not a big fan of swimming. I really enjoy reading, especially poetry and short story collections, and I also love listening to music.

In Middle School, I played French horn and trumpet, but now I mainly focus on guitar. I am self-taught and have been playing for just over a year! I play both acoustic and electric and mainly just learn songs I like listening to.

My favourite artists are Phoebe Bridgers, Elliott Smith, Big Thief, and Black Country, New Road.

Rowan's Final Composition
TINKERBELL'S THEME

Tinkerbell_Theme.mp4

MAIN THEME

This main theme is written for Tinkerbell from the 1953 animated film of Peter Pan. When thinking of Tinkerbell, the words ‘whimsical’, ‘twinkly’ and ‘bright’ come to mind; as such, I used glockenspiel and harp in my motif to give the composition a light, mellow timbre in order to reflect Tinkerbell’s light-hearted character and free-spirited nature. I also composed the motif in 6/8 time, a time signature reminiscent of waltzes, to give the composition an additional dreamy nature and, finally, I set the composition to a medium-fast tempo as an ode to Tinkerbell's natural flight abilities.

Tinkerbell_Leitmotif.mp4

VARIATION TO THE THEME

This leitmotif is scored for the scene near the end of the film when Tinkerbell covers Captain Hook’s whole ship with pixie dust so that they can fly the kids back to London. To vary the leitmotif, I changed the time signature to 4/4 time to give the composition a snappier feel. I also incorporated flute and celesta to keep the melody light, but to give it a more energetic, upbeat feel as well.

Rowan's Reflection on the Final Composition

What did you find to be the most enjoyable from this experience?

During this experience, I really enjoyed learning how to use Sibelius. It was really cool to be able to write out proper sheet music for various instruments, making it something a band could actually play, instead of just recording it into GarageBand. I really enjoyed creating rhythms and practicing inputting them into Sibelius as well as playing around with instrumentation and dynamics. Finally, it was also amazing to me that I was able to create two compositions solely based on some inspiration notes and a chord structure. I had a lot of fun with this assignment and I’m quite proud of what I created.

What did you find to be the most challenging from this experience?

For me, the most challenging part was getting started. I often feel blocked when starting assignments since the project can seem very daunting, so it was initially tough to figure out how I wanted my melody to go. It was difficult for me to create a proper musical idea out of nothing but a chord structure, but when I eventually played around enough -- using my knowledge of chord tones and non-chord tones -- and came up with a melody I was happy with, the accompaniment and counter-melody were much easier to compose.

Peter Pan. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 1953.

Other Highlights from This Year

Solo_Rowan.m4v

APRIL SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE

This is "Miss Misery" by Elliott Smith from Good Will Hunting sung and performed on the guitar by Rowan Parkinson.

FEBRUARY SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE

This is "I Love You So" by The Walters performed by Amy Zou, Maddie Petit, Sacha Coindre, and Rowan Parkinson on the electric guitar.

I_Love_You_So.m4v

Duet_Amy&Rowan.m4v

DECEMBER SHOWCASE PERFORMANCE

This is a duet performance of "The First Noel", arranged by Allen Matthews and performed by Amy Zou on the piano and Rowan Parkinson on the guitar.

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