Crossing Aldebaran Boulevard

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUb_gEVprtg

A 1904 film of a British acting troupe performing a scene from a book-turned-play called By Right of Sword. 

I found this admittedly low-res digital version of the film on Open-Video.org, a property of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. I found it amusing because they chose a scene which requires a lot of dialog that obviously does not come through on silent film. 

I decided the slow buildup of the action would make a fun experiment for playing around with film scoring. This is the result.

By Right of Sword

By Right of Sword: theme

Part of a larger work, I needed a main theme to develop into other things. So that's what this is.

Cosmo's Main Theme

A PSA about using the power of your vote. This is a video from which the soundtrack has been published here. The original video is located here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzeV-1yj-jQ

Use your vote

Christmas music! Who doesn't love public domain melodies, waiting to be harmonized? I certainly do! This basic melody in Dm is a Yuletide classic. I am especially fond of the cello part that eventually worked itself out. 

Christmas Etude #1: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

An upbeat little ditty with a potentially negative title, this song wonders at the possibility of alternate realities. 

If Today Never Happens

This is a game I am assembling that's been fun to work with. It's a restriction roulette game where composers are given requirements of the following categories: Harmony, Melody, Structure, Rhythm, Instrumentation and Style. 

In this case, I needed:
1. A percussion-only song. I took this an extra step in my case as a percussionist to only use percussion I could record, no samples.
2. Should avoid triads, which I did by using a thumb piano thus removing harmonic and melodic requirements.
3. Should begin with silence
4. Should be appropriate for a horror movie

I hope you appreciate the results! 

Music Games - Nightmare Percussion

An imaginary documentary, narrated by me.

Okavongo_River_of_Dreams_med

Okavongo_River_of_Dreams_short

An imaginary documentary on an imaginary channel, narrated by a real me.

Okavongo_River_of_Dreams_long

STRATA - Movie Promo

A quick bit of thematic composition on a Black Friday. 

A Quiet Interlude

Nemesis the Spirit of Rush, Penny Arcade, Rochester, NY. March 7th 1993 Tape One

Drummer, composer, rhythmist from Webster, NY. Are you looking for sound design for your next project? Looking for a musical collaborator? Get at me today!

Tom Belknap

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