Dahlia Rostom

"RIPPLE"

This composition "Ripple" was written for the Standard Level IB Portfolio, meeting the Area of Inquiry of music for the digital and technological age. Using Logic Pro, the physical structure of a ripple was translated in musical form: originating from a single point, water ripples gradually swell, then dissipate. A looped chord progression on acoustic and electric guitar keeps the composition grounded, while fragmented elements of arpeggiation in MIDI are gradually introduced through cycles. A contrasting section with reverbed guitar and echoing kalimba produces a thin, airy, and water-like ambience, further enhanced by manipulating the EQ of each instrument. Writing this composition was equally satisfying as it was challenging. I originally came up with the core chord progression on the guitar, and created an arpeggio pattern in 7/4. I inputted all of my ideas into Logic Pro, creating different textures by pulling out the top voices of the arpeggio pattern, and shifting them over by a couple notes to create different melody lines. I had never used Logic Pro to import my own audio clips as well as MIDI tracks, so lining up all of the tracks, and making sure my playing was steady and on time, was quite a challenge. Despite that, I am very proud of the ambience I created. I wanted to favour thin, bright tones in the melody, while using enveloping, echoey sustained notes to achieve the desired washy, dreamy ambience. 

"THE TRAVELLER'S THEME"

This composition was inspired by the compositional style of Joe Hisaishi, a Japanese composer who created many scores for the Studio Ghibli films. Hisaishi uses traditional Japanese sounds, as well as Western music with big, grand orchestras in all of his works.  In order to mimic his romantic style, my instrumentation included the flute, horn, violin, contrabass, harp, and piano. In addition, my structure follows an ABA form, one typically used by Hisaishi as well.

My composition, entitled "The Traveller’s Theme", was inspired by the heroic and romantic tone and mood of the main theme from Castle in the Sky. I wanted to play with naturalistic themes as well, so I additionally took inspiration from the theme from My Neighbour Totoro.

"The Traveller's Theme" expresses an individual journey of a character; though it is not a specific story, I felt as though the A section of my music depicted the wonders of an adventure, whether it is on a small or large scale. As for the B section, I was inspired by nature and intended for an introspective and slow-paced section to offset the A section. Without having a definite theme in mind when starting this composition, I allowed my ideas to form as my music progressed and therefore was able to create three distinct sections that worked in cohesion with one another.

"A RISING SUN"

he goal of my composition "A Rising Sun" was to portray the stages of a sunrise in the form of music, hence its title. By structuring the work in the form of ABC, I wanted to represent three different moments: the starry sky before the sun rises; the liminal phase when the sky begins to change colour; and finally, when the sun is in sight and it illuminates the surrounding scenery. I then created three different motifs for each of the stages listed above which guided me to create full melodies. The first melody is in the key of A minor to represent the mysterious yet tranquil qualities of the night sky. To reflect these qualities, there is a lot of slurring in the flute and also the tempo in this section is the slowest of the three. The second melody uses an A Phrygian Dominant scale which is able to portray a very mystical sound. For this melody, I was heavily inspired by Gregorian chants, particularly in the first two bars. It starts off slow but gradually picks up throughout the entire section to represent the speed at which the colours in the sky shift as the sun rises. Finally, the last melody ends in the key of A Major which modulates to F# Minor at the end. This final section is much brighter and much faster to represent the climax of a sunrise. To give it a light, bouncy quality, this melody includes more detached articulations as well. Overall, the main melody is played by the flute and the harp plays both the bass and the harmony. I think these two instruments have timbres which correspond with the setting of my piece as a whole.