A piece I have composed over the last few days (april 2017). It started as a simple figure in 7/8 that I experimented with at the piano. Later – not having the piano around – I tried to arrange it in MuseScore and it kind of grew out of itself. That became the A-sections. The B-sections I composed on a piano severely out of tune so I could only use the lower keys. That is why the B-sections starts an octave lower.

In the end, I kind of like the result. Perhaps it is a mirror of my inner emotional world right now. Melancholy. Sorrow.

This is a remix with a better soundfont and some polishing here and there.

Mutual Memories

I'm trying find a new way of composing music, greatly inspired by listening to and studying the music of Philip Glass. What I have tried in this composition is to depart from a simple structure: the three notes of a triharmonic chord plus octave (C-Eb-G-C for C minor) followed by a repetition of the last three notes. This yields a simple 4+3/8 structure (C-Eb-G-C-Eb-G-C) that forms the basis of this entire composition. On top of this I add a melody that follows the 4+3 structure but yet rather predictable and easy to follow: phrase 1, phrase 2 which starts exactly the same way as phrase 1, phrase 2 again followed by a coda.

The B section is not as strict as the A section, although more rythmically active and harmonically complex. The variation here lies within the harmonies, which I borrow from pop and progressive rock rather than classical music or jazz (on the whole, the lack of dominant chords keeps that harmonical tension-release away, and that is intentional; I'm kind of fed up with that harmonical language, don't know why).

But there are some deviations from the predictable structure as well; deviations are as important as the predictable elements. For example, I try to vary the number of measuers you want to rest between the A and B sections and when the B section is repeated.

Regarding the drums, I'm fascinated how two 16ths in a 7/8 measure somehow makes us interpret it as more straight than it actually is, as if the number of beats on the hi-hat (which sums up to 8) is what counts, not that they are on equal time intervals.

Look, Dad, I can walk

After two compositions in 7/8 I wanted to try something different, so I went for 5/8. As with 7/8, there are two basic rythmic patterns: 3+2 or 2+3. I chose the former, which, if played in a fast enough tempo, ends up in a 3:2 swing beat. Then I tried one variation after another for a long time until I ended up with a melody played in 5/4 over 5/8, in F major, in the A sections and saving the 3:2 swing part for a slow melody in F minor in the B sections. Then, as I tend to do when I write music nowadays, it was all about combinations and variation, in this case varying rythmic patterns and also the key (F major and F minor). At the end I found that I needed some kind of conclusion, so I added an accellerated B section with a similar melody.

There are still some weak parts that I might revise, most notably the accompaniment (drums and bass) in the A sections (except the first) and the ending after section C.

The title was the last thing I did.

Stefan Björk