Grant North's Senior Project

Well here we are.  It seemed just like yesterday that I had the gall to try and put guitar in the symphony.  An idea of many that was tinkered with, rehabilitated, dropped altogether, or other.  25 days later and 24 minutes of music written, it's safe to say it was a prolific span of time.   Day 1 This week I worked on my third and final movement.  I wanted to focus on dissipating all the tension that was wound up in the previous pieces with rich voicings akin to those found in the prelude.  But I also wanted the sound to be more resolute, which means going against my ingrained instinct developed over years of guitar and the first three songs in the symphony: using plain triads over spiced up 7th chords.   I was reading through a couple sections of Tchaikovsky's A Guide to the Practical Study of Harmony and he reminded me that the strongest harmony derives from triads, which are chords made up of the root, the third, and the fifth of its...

  One week to go. What's left? Well, I need to mix my first movement. Finish writing and mixing my second movement. And complete my final movement from scratch. I've never felt more like a professional composer. Which is a bit of an amateur-ish thought. This week I began Movement No. 2. I wanted to place more of an emphasis on rhythmic development. This serves as a distinct progression in the overall symphony as it would contrast the dense instrumentation of the previous pieces. The string section takes center stage in this one as they play in a certain musical articulation known as staccato. Performing a note in staccato means performing it sharply and short, allowing for natural pockets of space while giving a frenzied and energetic tone. The woodwinds and brass sections are placed in supportive roles to bolster big moments. Percussion is very active as it drives the music along and keeps the listener in the loop of the rhythm. Speaking of rhythm.. At the time of wri...