You are in an unfamiliar wilderness, a desert canyon. You can feel the sun on your neck, and the sand under your feet. In order to move on, you need to turn the world upside down.

Music from the video game "Percipio", a 3D puzzle platformer from Old Man of the Fire. Published with permission.

"Desertum" is Latin for "Wilderness".

Check the game out here:
https://oldmanofthefire.itch.io/percipio

Follow the Old Man of the Fire on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/oldmanofthefire

Percipio - I. Desertum

Wait, how can it be a waltz with five steps instead of three? Well, it's a thing. Tchaikovsky did it. Directions here: https://www.libraryofdance.org/dances/five-step-waltz/

Created for the Composer Club "Chords" Challenge, making a piece with only chords rooted on Ab,C,Db and D. So the piece is in Ab major, with a  modulation to D in the B section.

Fivestep Waltz

You are in a dark and lonely place. The air is so cold you can see your breath. The hair on your arm stands up. In order to move on, you need to turn the world upside down.

Music from the video game "Percipio", a 3D puzzle platformer from Old Man of the Fire. Published with permission.

"Glacies" is Latin for "Ice".

Check the game out here:
https://oldmanofthefire.itch.io/percipio

Follow the Old Man of the Fire on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/oldmanofthefire

Percipio - II. Glacies

You find yourself in a thick forest. You can smell earth, sap, and resin. The sun filters through the canopy, and birds are singing all around. In order to move on, you need to turn the world upside down.

"Arbores" is Latin for "Trees". 

Music from the video game "Percipio", a 3D puzzle platformer from Old Man of the Fire. Published with permission.

Check the game out here:
https://oldmanofthefire.itch.io/percipio

Follow the Old Man of the Fire on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/oldmanofthefire

Percipio - III. Arbores

Try to remain calm while everything falls apart around you. It's important that. You. Try. To. Remain. Calm. If you like Shostakovich or Prokofiev, you might like this.

Image from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/photos/sand-desert-drought-heiss-dry-2329153/

tRY to rEMAIN cALM

A night time walk. For the Compser Challenges Chord Dice Challenge: only chords rooted on F#, B, D#, E# (how I'm spelling F because of the key).

Main chord progression is:
D# min - E# half dim (E# G# B D#) - F# maj - B maj

A good number of diminished chords and added 6 chords for flavor.

Nocturne in F# Major

Sometimes it feels like you are in a losing battle with time. Are you waiting out the clock, or is it waiting you out?

Composer Chords challenge - only chords rooted on B, D#, F, F#. Went for a lot of 6b5 chords for a nostalgic early 1900s feeling.

B6b5, F#6b5, B6b5, F#6b5, D#m7, F#m9/13/D#, B6b5, Fm7b5, F#m9/11, B6b5, F#6b5, B6b5, F#6b5, B6b5; B6b5, F#6b5, B6b5, F#6b5, F#m6/9/D#, B6b5, Fm7b5, F#m9/11, B6b5, F#6b5, B6b5, F#6b5, [implied D#m7], B6b5

Cover photo is from https://pixabay.com/photos/ruin-hall-expired-decay-abandoned-636385/

Waiting Out The Clock

Rearranged tracks from The Unseen Realm documentary score. "Drive Them Out" - Joshua and the conquest of Canaan, "Day of Atonement" - the establishment of Yom Kippur.

Copyright Faithlife Films. Used by permission. 

See the whole film on Faithlife TV: https://faithlifetv.com/the-unseen-realm

Drive Them Out - Day Of Atonement

Molly Mullally has a magic bell
That calls the boggles in the dell;
All she has to do is ring,
An’ through the window-cracks they spring,
With mossy hair and acorn caps,
Tied on their heads with clover straps.

They help her bring in beets and squash,
Churn the butter, hang the wash;
They scrub the pots with bristle-reeds -- 
They're all the help that Molly needs;
With freckled cheeks and beards of green,
The boggles mess as much as clean.

The boggle king is wise and just
Twice as tall as a biscuit crust;
A tip of his hat, a wink of his eyes
He grows from an inch up to regular size.
With stoic bow he offers a hand,
They dance to the sound of a boggle band.

“Molly is clever, sweet, and kind
As worthy a woman as e’re I’ll find
But as the beggar leans on his crutch
She rings that bell a bit overmuch!”
He might marry Molly and marry well,
If not for the curse of that terrible bell!

The boggle king appears in a puff
And shouts aloud, “Enough! Enough!”
With his word he breaks the spell
“No more a-ringin’ that awful bell!”
The boggles doff their tiny hats,
And back away with pitter-pats.

Now Molly’s left all on her own,
Poor widow Molly in an empty home;
“I’m frightful sorry my boggle friends,
Is there no way to make amends?”
None to comfort none to keep,
None to hear the woman weep.

The sounds of sorrow reach the dell,
Worse by far than the magic bell;
The boggle king appears in smoke,
And wraps Molly in his mossy cloak;
“Ah, Molly in all the times we’ve shared
I never knew how much you cared.”

Her house enlarged, her dress transformed,
A second dance is now performed;
They twirl around a magical scene
He asks her then to be his queen-
“And if ever again you have a task
No more bells, just come and ask!”

Molly's Magic Bell

I'm calling this a "Concerto" because the cello is the featured player against the orchestra, and "Fantasia" because it seems appropriate: many sweeping melodic themes, no discernable structure, and not part of a larger work

 Produced for the Composer Contests Facebook group Melody challenge -- all the melodies consist of six notes: C, C#, Eb, F#, G, and A.

Painting by Paul Gauguin.

Concerto Fantasia On Six Notes for Cello and Orchestra

We are the leaves that float down the stream, sometimes slowly, sometimes over the edge.

We Are The Leaves That Float Down The Stream

A frenetic orchestral dance in 7/8 time, in the spirit of Khachaturian's Sabre Dance. Inspired by the story of the Israelites worshiping the Golden Calf. (Madewith EastWest Symphonic Orchestra.)

Dance around the Idol

Re-issue of an earlier composition for cello and female voice, but I never figured out any real words for the soloist to sing, and then I got this brilliant idea to make it into a theremin. It's a bit of a lament. The title is from a poem I wrote. It's a bit of a lament.

I Remember A Sky Full Of Stars

22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

VII. Every Winged Bird

First movement of Creation, suite for orchestra and chorus. Space echoes flat and dark, then come six consonants: yod heh yod, alef vav resh, the first words, "Let there be light." The first theme is a musical cryptogram of those Hebrew consonants. Light is separated from darkness. By the end, everything is vibrating, and light breaks forth.

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the breath of God was fluttering over the surface of the waters, then God said, "Let there be light!" and there was light.

Day 1 - Let there Be Light

I. Let there Be Light

A rhythmic string orchestra piece inspired by Revelation 4, which is where the title comes from: "I looked and behold, a door standing open in heaven ..."

Apocalypsis

A droning A note cuts across the middle of two themes, one a slow and one faster. Soon, the two themes are forcibly separated by a sforzando note, pushing the fast (heavenly) theme above the drone, and the slower (earthly) theme below.

Genesis 1:6-8 -- And God said, Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse sky. And there was evening, and there was morning - the second day.

Text: "dividat aquas ab aquis" (let us separate waters from waters) "caelo desuper" (heaven above) "terra deorsum" (earth below).

Day 2 - Separation Of The Waters

II. Separation Of The Waters

Genesis 1:20ff - And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created THE GREAT SEA CREATURES and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Latin Text: cete grandia "Great Whales" (Ge 1:20)
benedicite, cete et omnia quae moventur in aquis, Domino;
laudete, et superexaltate eum in saecula " Bless the Lord, you whales and all that swim in the waters; sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever." (Daniel 3:79)

Creation

VIII. The Great Sea Creatures

The Carnival of the Damned.

So, my little brother asked me to make some "demented clown music" and I said, "Well, I do like circus music, and I am a little a demented. Why the heck not?" What came out is a little bit like a raucous interdimensional festival of weirdness that uses every note between C1 and C8 at least once, I'm pretty sure. Is that a theremin? Or a musical saw? Who knows? Is there a high wire act? Is there juggling? Tumbling? Does someone get shot and is the ending their funeral?

I'm pretty sure this is nightmare fuel for someone. I think it sounds cute.

Oddly enough this is now my most popular track, because a YouTuber I don't know used it as background music for a video game play-through. Hey, thanks for the traffic, kind stranger!

Updated in 2015 with East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra instruments.

Le Carnivaux des Maudits

God decides to make mankind:

Genesis 1:26-27 And God said, “Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every moving thing that moves upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the likeness of God he created him, male and female he created them.

The first man is lonely:

The choir sings Genesis 2:7 in Latin: Formavit igitur Dominus Deus hominem de limo terræ, et inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum vitæ (English: "Yahweh God formed the man of dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life")

The creation of the first woman, and the first wedding:

Genesis 2:18, 21-25 Then Yahweh God said, “it is not good that the man is alone. I will make for him a helper as his counterpart.” ...  And Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. While he slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh where it had been. And Yahweh God fashioned the rib which he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said, “She is now bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; she shall be called ‘Woman,’ for she was taken from man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cling to his wife, and they shall be as one flesh. And the man and his wife, both of them, were naked, and they were not ashamed.

Finale: Exodus 20:11, God rested on the Seventh day, the first Sabbath. Then Creation responds with praise, "Laudate Dominum" (Psalm 148:2).

X. Man and Woman / XI. The Seventh Day

Composed for a Composer Club challenge from the prompt "Alice goes down the rabbit hole." I took the approach that I thought Lewis Carroll would -- absurdist commentary on contemporary society. I think you'll find all of this very thinly veiled. Story with timecodes that correspond to the music below.

--

Down the [Rabbit] Hole

[0:00] I was contemplating a nap on a Saturday afternoon, when a rabbit caught my eye. It was wearing a hat and and had a camera. [0:15] Every few hops it would take a picture and say, "What a story!" I decided to follow.

[0:43] A tunnel?! I looked inside: It was dank and there was a strange light emanating from below.  [1:06] I was thinking to turn back, when it was as if the world rotated so that forward was now down, and I was falling falling, through roots and moss, then a subway system, then pipes and wires. Some of the wires let off puffs of steam. 

[1:43] One of the puffs softened my landing onto the ground. I found myself in a field, which looked like it was either for battle or sports, or both. [1:53] There were two teams, one red and one blue. The game was throwing tiny birds at one another. The two sides mirrored each other's movements, volley for volley. I saw banners on the field that showed the blue team was playing for the Old White Woman of the Woods, and the red team was fighting for Father Toad. They got farther apart as they went, so I ran through the middle.

[2:35] I ran in the direction that I thought the rabbit had gone. [2:42] I soon found myself on a hot, sunny beach. The sun was so hot and bright I could barely see. [3:05] As I squinted, I saw the sand covered in crabs, clattering their claws as they went back and forth into the ocean. They were gathering pearls, fighting each other to see who could make the biggest tower and then sit atop it. The biggest crabs  pushed the smaller crabs off of their towers and the pearls spilled all around.

[3:24] Then the toads came, flanked by rabbits with trumpets to herald their approach. They were giant warty hopping toads, and they jingled as they hopped, as if they had swallowed many coins. [3:51] Immediately they began slurping up the crabs and their pearl towers, and spitting out the shells. I feared for my life, but they ignored me.

[4:03] At once they all stopped, and stood as if at attention. The largest, ugliest, most repulsive toad I'd ever seen came glumping onto the scene. He was as large and as warty as any three of the other toads, who burped up coins and pearls in front of him as he passed by. Everyone waited eagerly for him to speak.

[4:10] He hesitated, and then let out a powerful belching croak. Out gushed a river of swampy water and pearls and crab shells, washing everything (including me) away from the beach. 

[4:15] We were washed back onto the field of combat, and as the water dissipated, I saw that Father Toad was being coronated King. The red team sang "All hail King Toad!" while the blue team cried. There were thousands of rabbits rejoicing and taking pictures and saying "What a story!". It was a Fool's Ball! Everyone was dancing and swirling and twirling and belching and croaking and throwing birds and chittering and clacking faster and faster and faster -- and oh! By now you've probably figured out that I took that nap after all.

Down The Hole

Chorale and orchestra setting of the first of the seven utterances of Christ on the Cross: Father, forgive them, for they know not what it is that they are doing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayings_of_Jesus_on_the_cross

Seven Words - Father Forgive Them

A loved one had a major mental health break, got some better medicine, and started back on a path to recovery. I wrote this in the middle of it all. Comes in three sections: 1) a little off; 2) increasingly manic; 3) reintegration.

Duet for two flutes, in Bb major.

Performed by ziczuc, who was timely and professional and very easy to work with. Find her Fiverr profile here: https://www.fiverr.com/ziczuc/can-play-any-melody-on-flute-and-piccolo

Reintegration - Duet for 2 Flutes

The Unseen Realm (https://faithlifetv.com/the-unseen-realm) is a 2019  documentary film adaptation of the book by the same name. It covers biblical topics from a fresh angle. Parts of this track appear in the original score I wrote for the film. 

POSTED BY PERMISSION of the copyright holder, Faithlife Films.

Book Of Enoch

A sad, poignant song. Seems like it would be at home in a requiem. (I was probably thinking of Faure's Requiem some.)

Created for the Composer Challenge: Dice roll melody challenge. Melodic notes are only E, F, G, Ab, and Bb. There isn't a key in this so much as a tonal center around Bb. The scale would be something like sharp 4+flat 7. All the chords are built from stacks of perfect fifths.

Cello is Cinesamles Tina Guo Legato Cello. Soprano is from EastWest's Voices of Opera. The text is just random words. The rest of the orchestra is French Horns and strings, also from EastWest.

Lament For Cello And Female Voice

The Unseen Realm (https://faithlifetv.com/the-unseen-realm) is a 2019  documentary film adaptation of the book by the same name. It covers biblical topics from a fresh angle. Parts of this track appear in the original score I wrote for the film. (Main title opening sequence.)

Watch the film at https://faithlifetv.com today.

POSTED BY PERMISSION of the copyright holder, Faithlife Films.

The Unseen Realm (Main Title)

The entire piece, both solo and accompaniment use only 6 pitches: (C, D, E, G, Ab, Bb). Why? These are the pitches my wife and I have tattooed on our necks (but transposed down a half step so it doesn't have to be in C#!) Details on why those notes here: https://elievans.music.blog/2020/02/17/we-are-a-matched-set/

Sheet music available on request.

Soloist in this recording is Juan Rosales from Costa Rica. If you want to hire him, you can find his Fiverr profile here: https://www.fiverr.com/juanrosales767/record-an-amazing-oboe-solo

OELLGIA - Duet for Piano and Oboe

Otters are cute and playful, and also skilled hunters who are at home on land and water. In folklore around the world, otters are often associated with tricksters. [This is a work in progress.]

Ottersong

Work in progress. Doggerland was a prehistoric dry land area that connected the British Isles, Scandinavia, and Northern Europe. It was inhabited, probably by Neanderthals and modern humans. It’s now underwater.

This piece imagines that prehistoric landscape, in a two-part form. The first half introduces a string of themes, and the second half repeats and expands on them. The first statement runs to the three chords around 4’40; the restatement is under construction. The music evolves as it goes.

Picture is from Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/fire-flame-bonfire-dark-night-2593636/

The First Fires in Doggerland

An ingenious gentleman, who fights to the death, against all odds. So ingenious, he invents enemies out of thin air. I haven't read Don Quixote, but if I did, I would imagine music like this.

Chords are all rooted on A, Bb, C, Db for the Composer Challenge group's chord challenge.

El Ingenioso

All original compositions, mostly orchestral. I am still deciding on a style, and probably will be for a very long time.

Eli Evans (Composer)

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