This was my first attempt at writing for a Harp and it involved a steep learning curve while delving into the fundamental ‘do’s and don’ts’ of Harp music notation. I was fascinated by the diverse sounds that this instrument could make, when observing my Harpist friend’s performance. As I had no prior experience of writing conventional music for Harp, I wanted to use this opportunity to challenge myself by constructing an étude, which has a theme of an Owl moving through the forest at night.

Much of the extended techniques used in this piece replicates sounds of particular animals and other surrounding objects. Near the beginning, the Harpist’s fingers pluck the most tight section of the strings, just below the pegs on the upper section of the instrument - which replicate the sound of crickets and other insects. I took advantage of the various ways of making harmonic notes to symbolise the bells of a clock from a nearby village. The bisbigliando can be interpreted as larger birds such as ravens trying to chase the Owl. The portamento feature, that involves the harpist using the tuner to bend the string, represents the Owl’s cry. At bar 61, the piece reaches its maximum intensity to express the movement of the animals reacting to the sudden gusts of wind through this forest. Finally at bar 65, I incorporated a marking of ‘doppler effect’ and ‘dinamica ad libitum’ - in which I aimed to create a sense of further ambiguity and unpredictability with the audio illusion, as a representation of the trees swaying with spontaneity of nature.

'Night Owl' - Played on the Harp by Onofre Casades | @onofre.casades

An individual can tie a Ribbon in a delicately sophisticated way as an artform, and another individual can loosen, and whip a Ribbon around erratically. I wanted to create fluctuating effects to the overall momentum of this piece for the Alto Flute. The extended techniques integrated into this piece not only serve as a function to replicate sounds of the ‘Shakuhachi’ (Japanese Bamboo end-blown flute), but also as a way to be one of the key contributors to its rhythmic complexity. I wanted to produce an audio representation of Japanese calligraphy writing - which demands precision for what can at times be energetic action strokes, and at other times, docile action strokes. Another way to put it would be jumping one time, and then tip-toeing the other time.

The first two bars of ‘Section A’ show evidence of ‘rhythmic augmentation’, this process makes an appearance in a developed form on ‘Section E’. Appoggiaturas and acciaccaturas serve a way to help the rhythmic augmentation and diminution in this piece. Although the tempo marking does state 60 beats per minute, I wanted to make the movements feel as natural or as humanly as they can; so I noted it to be in ‘Molto Rubato’ - leaving it up to the flautist to decide however tempo he/she was to pursue it at.

The deliberate use of accents on particular notes (for exaggeration) within the beaming groups have a profound effect on the rhythmic illusion, seen on ‘Section D’. Another use of rhythmic illusion include alternating transitions between a minim with flutter tonguing, to a standard minim seen on Bars 6, 9 and 29. This action can throw the listeners off with what tempo the piece is at.

The way the groups of semi quavers and demisemiquavers have been beamed on ‘Section B’ combined with the fluctuating dynamic changes, can be interpreted as a swinging movement or a yo-yo (children’s toy) movement. The frequent use of swelling and shrinking movements with fluctuating tempos and dynamics can make the rhythms seem more intricate, where in actual fact, most of them are using simple groups of semiquavers. This technique can be found in Bars 4, 10, 11 and ‘Section C’.

'Ribbon' - Played on the Alto Flute by Meg Storer | @meganstorermusic

The rhythmic technique for this piece I wanted to work on was ‘Rhythmic Retrograde Inversion’. The concept refers to Palindrome motifs/phrases or melody line that can be seen the same backwards as well as forwards. This creates a symmetrical appearance with these phrases, hence why this piece is called ‘Mirrors’. The idea meaning that you can place a small mirror on the score to see a rhythmic pattern being flipped in reverse.

The Piano part exclusively serves as an accompaniment role, and only utilises this technique on Bars 23-24 - which are an echoing reminder from the main rhythmic palindrome motif on Bars 1-2 of the Trumpet part. Bars 7-8 on the Trumpet part feature a new rhythmic palindrome, and Bars 8-15 have a much longer Retrograde shape. Bar 17 and 21 has notes within those bars beamed in a way they can be seen with rhythmic symmetry, not to mention, the same thing occurring on Bars 19-20.

From Bar 25-30, not only can you see plenty of retrograde inversions, but also the staccato and legato patterns have been mirrored too.

'Mirrors' - Played on Trumpet In B Flat by Cheung Tsz Hin | @oceancth

I wanted to create a piece played by a woodwind instrument that represents a group of people gossiping or whispering secrets. A relatively conventional compositional technique of using ‘call and response’ has been used in this piece. I also used extended rhythmic techniques, of rhythmic diminution and augmentation in ‘Section C’, as a way to make it feel like an unstable, non-robotic tempo for a conversation feel. However, I knew that there was great potential to be exploited, by using extended techniques with the Flute.

There are various iterations of ‘air sounds’ throughout the piece and ‘jet whistle’ indications that are portraying the secrets or rumours being spread within the social group. The ‘slaptongue’ technique seen on Bars 12 and 13 are used as a percussive sound to represent the secrets being leaked out. This is immediately followed by ‘glissando’ symbols with an instruction of ‘turning the flute’ on Bar 14 - this is a way to make the listener think that someone within that social group is suppressing or guarding those secrets and preventing or restricting them being leaked out to more people.

The ‘Glissando with Voice’ on Bar 23 is supposed to symbolise a sense of surprise to a particular secret or item of gossip being spread. ‘Double-tonguing’ makes appearances throughout the piece in Bars 19-20 and Bars 37-38, and it is used as a way to represent the confession as the secrets get spread around the group of people.

On ‘Section F’, I have drawn out the curved/squiggly lines to indicate how I want the portamento feature on the Flute to be made, as it fluctuates between the notes in microtones. Shortly after, on Bar 35-36, the ‘Pitch Bend’ on individual notes is intended to represent the secrets being passed on to every member within the group.

Secrets - Played on the Flute by Inga Freyrsdóttir | @ingafrsdottir

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'Tenacity' | String Quartet featuring Andrew Liddell (Violin) and Jack McSweeney | @jackmcsw

19 y/o aspiring Music Producer/Composer | Pianist | Violinist | Part-time Bass guitarist
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