The very first song I composed is a song I named "Flirty Embrace". The scale of it is F major. I made it in a waltz tempo because, after learning to place such songs as Artist's Life Waltz and the Blue Danube Waltz, I became very fond of waltzes. "Flirty Embrace" was composed sometime in 2007; I do believe it was summer of 2007. It was a very gorgeous song. However, it was not for a while yet until I composed my first movement.
The first movement I composed is called "A Core of Self". If I remember correctly, it was composed in E and D major. It was simple, beautiful, and very pleasing to the ears. I composed that entire three-piece movement in January of 2009. The first part of the movement called Serenity is in a 3/4 time signature, switches to a 6/4 time signature, only to revert back to the original time signature. The second piece to the movement is called Desolation and the third piece is called Joviality.
The second movement I composed is "Prelude No. 2 in G natural minor, 'VWII'." The reason I composed this was to compliment a part of my novel which never was never written because writing about a fictional war is difficult business. I composed this three-song movement in April of 2009.
The third movement I composed is called "Prelude No. 3 in A and G minor, "Lunar Eclipse"". It's another three-piece movement which I composed in April-May of 2009.
The fourth movement I composed is called "Prelude No. 4 in B natural minor, "Horæ"". The first piece is called "Dike", the second piece is called "Eunomia", and the third piece is called "Eirene". Eirene, Eunomia, and Dike make up the Horæ, or the goddesses of the seasons in Greek Mythology — one of the things that has inspired many of my poems. I composed this movement in May of 2009.
One thing to keep in mind about the last three movements —— Prelude No. 2, Prelude No. 3, and Prelude No. 4 —— is that I composed them without sound, without a piano there to guide me. The reason why I did this, was that I was in a Music Theory class for the general college student. One did not need to be a Music Major or Minor, or even do an entrance audition to get into that class. The class was very boring so I composed music during class. Those movements aren't particularly the best-sounding songs written.
About a month ago, I composed a song that was inspired by Egyptian music. I had good reviews on it from the likes of @ThatDarkHorse , @amazing_flora , @sgneist , & @slow_ro . (Sorry if you reviewed me well but I forgot to mention you here). @ThatDarkHorse wanted more of it, so I composed a movement on it. The first two songs of the movement seem more mystical than Egyptian. However, things in the third piece change. For a rhythm, I used the basic pttern of the zaar rhythm. Zaar is Egyptian Women's Dance in a healing ritual. "The practice of zaar is officially prohibited among Egyptian Muslims, but it continues to be practiced nonetheless, usually in secretive ceremonies."*** This basic zaar rhythm completely revolutionized the movement, changing it from mystical to sounding like it could've actually came from Egypt.
Since the completion of that movement, I have been working on another movement. The first song will be only in the Fallahi rhythm pattern, the second piece will solely be in the Saaidi rhythm pattern, and the third piece will have both Fallahi and Saaidi rhythmic patterns.
Any questions? Ask me on Twitter @starsintheskies .
***This quote is from the textbook I got the Egyptian rhythms from. It is "World Music: Traditions and Transformations" by Michael B. Bakan.
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