Compilations of Reflections Throughout the Unit

Reflection 1st Feb This lesson I started composing. I was struggling with the different ideas because I thought of a lot of things at first but I didn't know which one would best fit the video. I then, muted the video and imagined the song playing in my head. In the end I was still confused about which idea I wanted to use. Therefore, I listened to the original video over and over again. In the end I came up with the theme:

I decided to put my theme on the piano and put the accompany instrument as the violin. I repeated the violin over and over again because I think that the repeating the violin creates tension. I used the A minor chord repeatedly as triads on the piano. I only started the running part because I think that it is the easiest part. I had many ideas for the running part so I think that if I set the mood on the part, I can continue it on to the other parts of the song and make it all sound similar to each other. I think that this is a good starting point. Next lesson, I am going to add more instruments because right now I think it is missing something. I think that I might add drums or cymbals because I think that it can add more tension. Reflection 5th Feb This lesson, I met up with Mr. David so that he can listen to my piece and give me some advice. This is because I'm starting to struggle and I dont know what I should add. After listening to what I have done so far, he said that I needed to improve my melody line. There is too much going on and repetition should be used. He also said that I can change the different chords as well. Instead of just having the A minor chord repeated over and over again, I can add in other chords as well. Therefore, he helped me add a set of chords that was repeated over and over again. The pattern is: Am G#m Am E. I think that these chords really work well together. Therefore, I went back and started working on my composition after. I chose to repeat my melody twice and change the last part so that there is a good transition between the running scene and the falling scene. I did not yet add more instruments because I think that it will be better if I can get the first two main instruments to sound good first and then adding the other instruments to help accompany the main violin and the piano shouldn't be hard because the chord structure is already set up.

Right now I am stuck on the transition part between the running scene and the falling scene. I dont know what I should add because the ideas that I have for the transition does not fit with the first part so when it is put together it sounds weird. I think that I have to try playing different ideas on the piano and see which sounds best.

Next class, I want to finish the running scene and start adding instruments so it can all come together because I think that it is still missing something so if I add more instruments it might bring the different parts together and make it sound better. But before adding the instruments I have to finish the transitions. Reflection 9th FebI finished the first part with the piano and the violin. At the end of last lesson, I asked Zeyu what I should do to make the song sound better. He suggested putting the melody line on the violin and the chords on the piano instead. When I got home, I swapped the piano line and the violin line and it really did sound better so I kept it that way. This lesson, I showed Mr. David what I had done so far. He said that I should add in the cello and the viola as well so that the celle would sound like the base and the viola would add more texture into the overall sound as well. He said that the cello should play the root note and the viola should play the 3rd and 5th note in the chord. After meeting with him, I tried adding in the notes on the cello and the song did sound better. When I added in the viola I noticed the clef was a different clef that I have never seen before. I didnt know that the viola had a different clef so then I started notating everything down. I only notated the first few bars to check if everything would sound good together or not. I think that everything sounded weird and I couldnt find a reason for it so I checked the viola because everything sounded fine when the viola wasnt added yet. I then later realized the viola has its own clef and I didnt know how I was going to notate everything so I was on the piano and listening to the different notes, trying to figure out the different notes. Later I found out that the C is on the D line on a G clef. After that, I it was easy to notate down everything.

Next lesson I should start working on the falling scene because I think that the falling scene is the hardest part. So far I dont really have any ideas for that part yet so I think that I need to go home and brain storm ideas at home because I feel that I get most of my ideas at home. Reflection 15th Feb After going home and brainstorming some ideas I recorded them down onto my phone. Today I started noting down the different notes down. I used repetition for most of the part on the piano because I think that the repetition can really emphasize the failing scene to build up the intensity.

This is the pattern that I decided to repeat over and over till the end. Also, Mr. David said that I should try to use an abnormal key signature, which is why I changed the key signature on the second part to a 5:8. Mr. David listened to my song and he said that I should add something that represents the falling. He said that I should add an instrument playing a basic scale going down to represent Alice falling down the hole. So then I used the xylophone to create this.

I repeated this pattern throughout the whole falling scene. I also added the viola and the cello similarly to the first scene where the cello plays the root note of the chord and the viola plays the 3rd and the 5th note in the chord. I think that next lesson I am going to add in the drums so that there is a rhythm and a beat to it. I think that the drum will bring everything together and it will sound good with the drums. Moreover, I think that I need to add more instruments because adding the drum alone wont be intense enough. Reflection Feb 19th Before I came into this lesson, I listened to Trizs composition. I felt like his composition had what I was looking for, the darkness that I think my piece needs. I asked him what instruemtn he used and he said that he used timpani. I added the timpani in as well. I annotated the timpani so that eh rhythm of the timpani is the same, but the note changes. The note of the timpani used is the root note of the chord in that bar. Triz helped me out and listened to my piece. He said that I should only add the timpani at the end. I think that it sounds really good in the end.

I also started working on my second part and added in the timpani there too. The timpani sounded good with the other instruments. I dont think that I am done yet because there is still a lot to add in the first part and also I need to refine the falling scene, but I think that it is coming together. Im struggling with coming up for ideas as well. I dont know what I will be adding when she hits the book shelf as she falls and the bed yet so I think that I should go home and brain storm again. Next lesson I think that I am going to try to and finish the second part because once I am done with the second part I can add in the first part and everything will be done. Reflection Feb 22nd This lesson I didnt get much done because I was trying to come up with uideas for the second part so I didnt know what I was going to do. I got really frustrated during the lesson because I was really out of ideas. So I listened to my peers composition for some inspiration but I still didnt really know what I was going to do. I still think that my piece is missing a key instrument that I important. I

should get some feed back from some of my peers before the break so that I can finish this over the break. Reflection Feb 28th I decided to go to TCDC with Sana to work on this. When we got to TCDC there were lots of Yr. 13 students there studying for their mocks. I asked Hoyon and Motoi for help. They said that I was missing a brass instrument. They suggested using the tuba. I dont really know how the tuba is actually played, but I annotated down what I think would sound good. I annotated it simply by the root not of the chord in octaves. I think that it will be safe to do that. Hoyon also showed me the inception song. He said that there is good intensity in that song which I should investigate one. Therefore, I spent half my time working on the composition and half my time investigating this song. I think that overall this trip to TCDC was successful because I manage to finish my composition today and also I found something useful the inception song that helped me with my composition as well. It gave me lots of inspiration. The tuba line:

I also added in the snare drum because I think that it contributes to the overall sound and give ti a good beat as well.