I thank the Goddesses every day that my roommate learned to play the drums￼￼.

Wind Waker in the Basement

We got together, composed, improvised, recorded, edited, and mastered this song in less than 48 hours. First day on Vanderbilt campus and I'm already recording in a studio. I love college.

Frosh Tub

This piece, written for solo piano, is about symmetrical auditory reflections and playing with their sound.

I got the pitch material in this piece from a palindromic, 7-note scale. This scale is used in two specific transpositions at the piano (key centers D and G#), both of which have visual palindromic symmetry to match their auditory symmetry. The melodic motifs in this piece were written in accord with this concept and are often mirror images of one another. The overall structure/form of the piece also conforms to this theme, as it too is roughly palindromic. 

Performers:
Piano - Spencer Channell

Scales used:
[D, Eb, F#, G, A, Bb, C#]
[G#, A, B#, C#, D#, E, F𝄪]

FUN FACT: The combined pitches of these two scales—the tonics of which are a tritone apart—only comprise 10 out of the 12 total chromatic pitches. The residual two pitches, F and B natural (also a tritone apart), appear in the penultimate rising phrase of the piece, completing the aggregate of all 12.

[Written summer of 2016, performed December of 2016]

Mirrors

This song is dedicated to my truest friends—old, new, and those I've yet to meet.

Lyrics:
"You give me that feeling you have on a breezy summer evening, when it's not very humid and the sun's on its way out. Your bud is beside you, and you're scrapin a stick in the dirt and kickin rocks as you walk home, in absolutely no hurry. You might be sayin nothin at all, cause you don't need to; the day was full, and it smells like heaven. The air seems carefree, relaxed, peaceful, but beneath everything there is still an electric hum——an excitement to see tomorrow, to keep greeting each coming moment as a friend you've known for lifetimes."

"Friend" (No EQ)

It's the Lord of the Rings.

Rebecca's Romance

Heart-on

The Fix

Synth Organum

New Old Girl (Rough Draft)

Based on/inspired by the call of the White-Throated Sparrow. I've been hearing their music since I was a wee babe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL_YJC1SjHE

Special thanks to Rama Kumaran for playing this piece so beautifully and soulfully!

Aidan W. McCarter

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