For scholarship music this year I decided to make my primary composition a Fugue. This is a fugue in four parts for the solo piano. 

The Story Goes: 
I remember having a conversation with another piano player. I was commending her skill as a classical pianist, while she was commending my skill for improvisation. To be honest my improvisation skills are rudimentary as they are always be drawn from the C minor blues scale... It is truly a minor talent compared to the prowess of a true pianist. Although this memory doesn't really have anything to do with the piece (as it doesn't have an improvisation section), it was the eccentric idea that inspired me to write it. 

The idea behind this piece is to join Jazz with the Baroque form. Jazz is what I would call, the perfect dissonance, as it always has a reason behind its melodies, harmonies and rhythms. The fugue just happens to be my new favourite form, so why not bring the two together. It may anger a lot of purist, but I don't really care.

Fugue In C Major

Thanks to my friend Kelly for reminding me that this song existed. It's actually quite beautiful. I was going to edit over this song on audacity to trim the extra noise and level out the tones. However, I like that rawness you get from the humming of static in recordings. Hopefully it's not too bad. 

Enjoy this little cover of Michael Giacchino's Le Festin, as performed by Camille in the Pixar film Ratatouille.  

Le Festin Fingerstyle Cover

When you're stuck in a house with no instruments, you're left to fend for yourself. Singing with yourself is okay, but only if you can actually sing in the first place. Thankfully, not only does Garageband help you record, but it also helps you coverup all the trash amongst the semi-acceptable squawks. 

I love Barbershop, and I know this is nothing even close to alright. I did have fun making it, although I might have passed out finishing the tenor part. #breathing

To My Beautiful Life Long Friends - 3:01:16

Late night recordings strike again. This one is a bit of a raw file, straight off garage band with no editing except the compressed mic setting I recorded this on. It also helps when your flatmate allows you to use his sweet Martin guitar! If you want to skip all the fumbles and go straight to the song, go to 1:43. Why this song? Read the story below.

When you bump across the cover of a song on youtube, only to find the original and realise it's totally awesome. Then you learn it on guitar for funzies, and then you continue on to sing it. Well, I really liked this song, and it's really nice to sing. Not only that, it pushes me with my higher register. I guess with more practise and experience, I'll be able to sing this song in it's full original version. 

We need more jazz and soul in this world. 

Death Of A Bachelor - Panic at the Disco

So here we are with another late night raw recording. This is little arrangement of a piece from the film, La La Land. City of Stars talks about the wonders and enticements of L.A. and what exactly we're looking for in life. I think the song, and maybe not so much the arrangement, encapsulates the beauty of the film itself. Go watch the film. It's good.

City Of Stars - Justin Hurwitz, from the film, La La Land

No better day than Reformation Day to celebrate God's sovereignty and grace. May His Word ever be our guide.

Reformation Song - Sovereign Grace

There's only so far you can go with a Camera and Audacity. Especially when you're a noob at recording in general. 

Anyway here's a medley/arrange that I've been meaning to do and it's been stuck in my head forever. 

I'm not entirely sure what all the tracks are, I just know there's some Touhou, Vocaloid, KH and a few anime openings as well. 

Enjoy! :)

Piano Medley

Once upon a time when I used to have a mic... I recorded one of my moments on guitar where I just go crazy on random stuff. 

I dedicate this piece to San Xie. It's not jazz. Dw. 

Speed And Noise

First composition of 2012. 
Story goes, Loretz tells us to make up a melody from a scale of 5 notes. He then tells us to sharpen, flatten and/or naturalize some of these notes. What's left is a melody... Many students took inspirations from their melodies, and went on to compose great works. Some students ditched the idea entirely and made their own stuff. I stuck with this Loretzian melody, and due to my lazy nature, I basically repeated the motif over and over with variations here and there. Nearing the finishing of my composition, my fellow senior music student, Daniel, informed me that what I had created was a 'Theme in Variation'. 

I needed a name for my composition... Previous ones were just random words after my first name.... This one has a bit of a backstory. It's a color. More specifically it was my favorite color from when I was back in Malaysia. It does NOT at all relate to the way I was feeling when composing this piece. 

Enjoy? 

Mark Blue

Second/Final Composition for 2012. 
Story goes, I decide I'll do whatever Loretz thinks is a good idea so I ask him, "So sir, what kind of composition should I do now?" He tells me that symphonies and orchestral pieces are all the buzz with the senior music students (coughDanielGareljacough). After a few minutes of talking we decided that my next project would be to take a story, and use it as inspiration for my next composition. I would take a story, and use a symphony orchestra to show my interpretation of it. 

Now how to choose which story... I ask around my music class, narrowed down my choice to fairy tales, or children's stories. It was so hard to decide, especially since I didn't know many of the stories that these white people spoke of. With just a few minutes left to the bell, my friend Kirsten says, "What about the Ugly Duckling?" 

Mark Duck (The Ugly Duckling for Orchestra and Piano)

The guitar strings were still sounding alright, but they were all grubby and old so it was time for a change. But before I did, I made sure to bust out some good ol' freestyling. With the first 3 strings left to untune and remove I fell into a particularly perfect tuning... 1st and 3rd string were an octave apart, whilst the 2nd string was a perfect 5th from the 1st string. At least that's what I think I did. 

This original is dedicated to my friend Jerry Choi, a man who is super cuddly. 

And no, I did not rip off any smoking waters... 

Mark Huang 2

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