How I Composed ‘It Changes Around Me’
I recorded the different stages as I composed to show how my piece of solo piano music gradually developed and emerged.
I have been working on a collection of piano pieces during the lockdown period of 2020. Each piece reflects something of my thoughts and feelings during this period of time. This blog is about how I composed the fifth piece in the series.
I have been thinking about the disconcerting changes in the COVID-19 world, especially how uncomfortable and uneasy I feel when doing seemingly familiar things, such as shopping or walking down the high street — everything is strangely altered in terms of procedures and appearances. I wanted to write a piece of music that reflects this element of uncertainty and change but also hints at the familiar.
The final piece is included at the end of this blog, and I will go through the various stages of development and refinement, including musical extracts at each step.
Improvising how I start
When I begin composing a new piece I often start with improvising. I confess I rarely have a concrete musical theme in mind, and like to explore keys and textures by playing first and then seeing what ‘comes’. I record what I play in case I particularly like anything I try, and then I work with it on the computer using Logic Pro X.
Despite not necessarily knowing where I will go musically, the abstract idea or concept I start with influences the style, key and tempo I initially choose.
I spent some time experimenting at the midi keyboard and then recorded in free time. The rest of that day and the next were spent working with the notes only on the computer.
The extracts used in this blog are taken directly from this Logic project so do not have the finesse of a live performance as such since I have often edited the notes using the piano roll function and was not actually playing the keys.
Initial stage
The initial idea that came was an ostinato figure with a higher melody played over the top. It worked round a sequence of four chords, and created a fairly calm atmosphere, exploring melodic lines and chordal ideas.
Opening
I added a chordal section at the beginning to contrast with the ostinato idea and provide a kind of introduction. These chords were different in harmonic sequence and provided a complementary style to the first theme I had played. If I’m honest, I played them purely according to the sound I heard, not really with any particular progressions or harmonic shape in mind. I just enjoyed the overall effect.
Contrasting sections — overall structure
A 3rd section was needed to give the piece direction and energy. I felt it had to have a different chord sequence and style from what had gone before. I worked on faster themes and experimented with different directions of movement in the left hand to discover shifts in harmony.
I got quite excited at the end of it, loving the direction the piece had moved in, and the sense of tension that I felt was being created by the modulations and resolutions.
Notes on a score
I was getting to the stage when I wanted to see some notes on a score so I would be able to try playing it myself on the piano. I quantized the piece, which up until then had been in completely free time as far as Logic was concerned since I hadn’t recorded with a metronome click. From this I would then make a midi file and import it into the score writing software package, Sibelius.
The unexpected result of this stage was that I found it added a nuance to the second ostinato section, making the rhythms less even and giving it an unbalanced feel. I liked this — it felt in keeping with the original ideas of disturbance and disorientation.
I didn’t actually take it to the piano and play it at this stage. This step was in preparation of doing that a bit later, now that I was sure I was creating something that was going to develop fully.
Further work on structure and harmonic progression
I worked more on the 3rd section, feeling that the right hand melody needed more movement and variation of rhythm. This was accompanied by the quaver movement of the left hand, and I introduced a further harmonic sequence, building to a climax and then dropping back to the contrasting bare chords of the opening.
I felt the overall structure was taking shape and I was reasonably happy.
Including themes and integrating melodies and ideas
However, I realised I hadn’t come back to the ostinato idea.
One of the main ways I try to work is never to have themes or motifs that just exist for one small part of a piece. Everything needs to be purposeful and I reuse and reflect themes where I can. It bothered me that something as significant as the 2nd section was just a stand alone event.
I tried coming back to that section after the chordal reintroduction, and experimented with a key change, and then a return to the third theme. But I clearly hadn’t really established the boundaries of the piece at this stage.
The advantage of working with something like Logic Pro X is that sections can be cut and pasted, transpositions are easy to try out, and the overall effect can easily be tried, and then discarded if necessary.
Throwing things out and rearranging
And I did discard the extended ending very quickly and tried a different structure instead, that of bringing back the faster 3rd theme. By mistake, I played the ostinato section at the same time…and really liked the effect! The ending returned to the bare chords and I was much happier with this overall shape.
The ending again
But I wasn’t quite satisfied with the very end. I wanted to have an echo of the main third theme and finish the piece slightly more unexpectedly. I tried resolving to the major key, and adding a stretched out version of the earlier motif, also taking four bars of the chordal pattern and switching them over so that the very last bars gradually slowed, rather than gather momentum as they did when first heard in the opening.
Playing it through at the piano
As mentioned earlier, I use the piano roll function in Logic to make fine adjustments to the pitch and up until this point I had composed mainly by ear and visual patterns. I had created many of the left hand accompaniment figures as much by seeing where they were placed on the roll and hearing where I wanted them to go in my head as by giving them a definite and intentional harmonic function.
But I had not actually played the piece since my initial improvisation, so I was missing the vital element of whether what I had written via Logic was actually playable!
At this stage I printed off a score having exported the midi file to Sibelius. I was then able to adjust the score much more easily and take it to my piano to try. This was the moment of reckoning — I had what I considered to be a good structure, with strong ideas and harmonies. There was some thematic interweaving and I liked how the overall shape of the recording sounded, bearing in mind that it was a quantized electronic reproduction so there was hardly any expressive quality.
The play-through was disappointing.
I had written something that was impossible to perform given the capacity of the human hand, and things like the edginess of the ostinato rhythm made it unsatisfactory to read and play from a live point of view. I also realised that although it was a clever idea, musically it had no merit as it was — it sounded like a collection of notes thrown together without any real purpose.
And the crossover section towards the end needed a lot of revision to get anywhere near being possible to play.
This was a low point in the week. I had already spent many hours on the piece and I didn’t like it. I knew there were elements that I was happy with, but the final result seemed a long way off, and I realised that I didn’t really even have one main melodic theme that would bind the whole piece together.
I was tired, having worked on it for a good three days by now. I needed a good night’s sleep.
Inspiration returned
The sleep helped.
I played the piece through again in the morning and realised that I needed to simplify things and make the piece more lyrical generally. It felt as if I had been experimenting with textures and harmonies, but the melody was missing – my song writing makes me crave a decent tune!
The opening chordal section needed a bit more melodic movement, and after replaying the opening a few times I realised that I wanted a much more definite line to come through above the ostinato too. I wrote one by using Logic and playing it in from the midi keyboard as if it were a solo instrumental voice.
The more intense middle section needed refining, and the crossover ending section could just go.
The ostinato needed to be slightly more regular, although I still wanted to maintain its slightly imbalanced feel. I worked on a four bar repetitive pattern and placed the melody around it. Given that the left hand was crossing over the right while this ostinato figure was played, I had to adjust the placement of this melody so that the bass notes could also be played. Decisions here were mechanical as much as anything.
Everything is intentional
Something bothered me about the ostinato theme. It had fallen into a three bar phrase sequence and the melody felt very drawn out and ponderous. I was happy to keep that slightly more unusual balance in principle, but did it actually work?
Given that the original had sort of ‘happened’ when I quantized the original improvisation, I knew that it might need looking at with more intention. I would come back to that later.
Another thing had been bothering me.
The piece didn’t end by going back to the original key.
I had modulated in the middle, and liked the progression, but couldn’t find an effective way to get back to the tonal centre. Of course, a piece doesn’t always have to end back in the original key, but I didn’t want to finish this piece in a new key simply because I couldn’t find any other way. So I tried changing things around a bit in the middle section and went through some wonderful harmonies and surprising transitions which made it come back to the tonic.
Still not satisfied with overall structure
However, I felt there was something wrong with the balance of the phrases leading into the final chordal ending. It sounded like an improvisation, not an intentional progression. I experimented with a slight change in structure and simplified the overall harmonic movement. It seemed to lead into the ending better now, but I was not convinced by the left hand accompaniment, and was the ending really how I wanted it? It felt as if the simple insertion of the chords from the opening was a bit disappointing.
Returning to the original concept
So I worked on the ending and inserted an echo of a previous theme. I felt this reflected my thoughts about the changes around me and how some things were familiar while others were not. The theme was different, and yet familiar, in keeping with that sense of disorientation from the very concept of the piece.
The overall structure and balance was finally beginning to feel right and I began to think about recording a finished version.
Like a sculptor chipping away at stone
Having spent a lot of the day making adjustments at the end, I now returned to the beginning. It still wasn’t as melodious as I wanted it to be and so I played around with the melody a bit to see if I could make it more satisfying.
I also worked again on the third, middle section. There were notes in the left hand that I wasn’t happy with, and I also felt the chord progression and structure needed adjusting. After some experimentation both at the piano and away from it, I changed a couple of phrases, inserting a new phrase that I loved, and taking out bits I wasn’t happy with.
There was also then the opportunity to use the notes of the ostinato in a fleeting echo of that 2nd section.
The changes I was making were becoming smaller and less radical, gradually bringing the piece to a place where I was happy with each note — I felt as if I was chipping away at a block of stone, from which the sculpture was gradually emerging.
Still changing the harmonic structure
The lead into the final section at the return of the chordal motif was causing me concern.
I loved the harmonies and phrases that led into that last part, but there was something slightly contrived and awkward about them.
I made the decision to simplify further and took out a couple of phrases, replacing them with the new progression. I was sad to lose what I had considered a really pretty phrase, but I felt there was more structural merit in what replaced it.
Further small changes were made to left hand accompaniment figures and the short linking motifs.
Getting the opening theme established
I was intending to record the piece when I woke up, but as I played it for the first time in the morning, I realised that the opening melody over the chords should act as a precursor for the melody in the ostinato section. Why hadn’t I thought of this before?!
I made small changes and simplified the chords slightly as well. So nearly there!
Final adjustments
I had the day to record a version so I could share my creation with others. I had a paper score and had already been practising it the previous day, making smaller changes to the score by hand. Even at this stage I found I was making very small adjustments — particularly to the rhythm of the melody over the ostinato.
However, the main thing that was added at this stage were the dynamic contrasts and the overall shaping of phrases which made the different sections work more effectively.
And I needed one more thing — a title.
I had been awake in the night and felt that “Transformation” would be good, but then the more personal title of “It changes around me” seemed to fit the music even better. Even the title can take time to get absolutely right!
I had created 4 minutes of music and it had taken me 5 days to create something I was finally happy with.
A score can be downloaded from my website www.bakertunes.com/pianomusic/it-changes-around-me/
This is a video I made to upload the piece to YouTube. It uses photos from my holiday time spent in Llandudno, Wales.
I am Composer in Residence for Services for Education Music Services and examiner for ABRSM.
