Kingdom & Country is a work of five movements for string orchestra. The piece is programmatic, depicting a medieval fantasy realm. 

‘Royal Hall’ uses parallel fifths to imitate the ‘hollow’ sound of a castle’s great hall. Its broad sound gives the movement an almost ethereal, sacred tone.

‘Mystic Forest’ uses extended string playing techniques, such as harmonic glissandi, col legno, and sul ponticello to create strange sounds.

‘Imperial’ has a bold marching sound enforced by the triplet rhythm.

‘Meadows’ has many lush chords and sustained notes to evoke the picturesque countryside. Beautiful solo lines from violin and cello help create a peaceful tone.

‘Festival’ has the sensation of cheerful celebration in a town or city square. Playful rhythms and technique help give the final movement bright energy and a climactic finale.

Kingdom & Country - V. Festival

Kingdom & Country - IV. Meadows

Kingdom & Country - III. Imperial

Kingdom & Country - II. Mystic Forest

Kingdom & Country - I. Royal Hall

Twelve-tone serial work for string trio (violin, viola, cello).

Trepidation

Title: Untitled Musique Concrete
Style: Electronic Music, Musique Concrete
Year: 2015

Instrumentation:
-Samples (Bic Pen, Plants vs. Zombies "Singing Sunflower" Toy, Nintendo DS Start-Up Sound, Harmonic Glissandi on Cello, Soprano Recorder Mouthpiece (not used yet))

This is a work in progress, a project for my Electronic Music course. A "Musique Concrete" is an experimental work where music is crafted from editing raw sounds. In our class, we're required to use at least five found sounds, and have at least two "sonic textures" - that is, background ambiance sounds, with foreground sounds on top.



Untitled Musique Concrete

Treacherous Journey started as an exploration of ambient electronic music, specifically the works of Brian Eno; however, the completed piece explores more melodically and harmonically active environments. “Deception” has familiar choral and instrumental sounds, warming the listener up to electronic elements. “Danger” certainly has a more edgy sci-fi/cyberpunk feel to it. “Dark Dreams” uses a fugal chiptune melody cut up by discordant sounds, with somewhat of a musique concrete feel. “Destination” has the purest ambience-like sound because it was the first movement I worked on.

The names were chosen late into the composition process. They are less of a reflection on any personal experience or inspiration, and more intended as simple color descriptions for the listener - though I suppose it’s serendipitous that the names reflect the strange times we’re enduring right now.

J-Fong

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