In the haze (Entre la neblina) (My darkest piece probably)

Hello everyone, I haven't posted in a while haha. I plan on composing more pieces, even if they aren't super huge projects, like the one I'm showing today.

I composed this after I had a really bad argument with a family member and I used it to vent pretty much. While I composed the piece I also created a little eerie story in my head, although you can either ignore it and let free your imagination or use it as some small guidance. 

I actually don't know how I composed this piece, it all started when I found how the notes D, Ab and G made a really cool dissonance, then I tried to add context to it and modify it in a progressive way. As the piece evolved I recycled some ideas and motifs, so because it is so short even though I composed it in an improvisation style it ended up being kinda solid formally. So I'm quite happy with the ration between music quality and the ammount of hours it took me.

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts.

Hey Ivan,

Again this is in your benighted style. All those beautiful harmonies are approached by smooth voice leading, and as you have said it's motivically coherent! Is there the eerie story behind b.33's background? The ending is very beautiful with that G-AB clash. I won't say this is your darkest piece though, since many of your pieces are in a dark, dreamy and benighted manner. I thoroughly enjoy this one. Thx for sharing!

Henry

The last 7 bars are pure bliss in their emotion. I gave this several listens as I liked it so much.

Well done, 9/10 TGv2.0 points 

I like the ambiental impressionistic sound of this music, the harmonies are very good and spooky in some sense (as the title suggests)

I love the overall sound of the piece, but I think that a dramatic climax at some point of the piece (maybe by the end) would have suited a lot and made the piece much more more developmental and powerful, so you avoid making it that stable, which is good but not that great.

Thank you for sharing your content 

On 9/13/2023 at 6:24 AM, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

Hey Ivan,

Again this is in your benighted style. All those beautiful harmonies are approached by smooth voice leading, and as you have said it's motivically coherent! Is there the eerie story behind b.33's background? The ending is very beautiful with that G-AB clash. I won't say this is your darkest piece though, since many of your pieces are in a dark, dreamy and benighted manner. I thoroughly enjoy this one. Thx for sharing!

Henry

 

Thank you! Yes, bar 33 is meant to symbolize the moment when the man realizes he is dead or when that thought comes to his mind. The background is the liminal foggy forest I had seen in my mind when composing the piece, some kind of limbo. Should I link the video from where I got the footage?

On 9/14/2023 at 6:33 AM, Thatguy v2.0 said:

The last 7 bars are pure bliss in their emotion. I gave this several listens as I liked it so much.

Well done, 9/10 TGv2.0 points 

 

Really glad to hear so! I really appreciate when people listen to a piece more than once, it can make a considerable difference on how the piece is understood.

22 hours ago, Jqh73o said:

I like the ambiental impressionistic sound of this music, the harmonies are very good and spooky in some sense (as the title suggests)

I love the overall sound of the piece, but I think that a dramatic climax at some point of the piece (maybe by the end) would have suited a lot and made the piece much more more developmental and powerful, so you avoid making it that stable, which is good but not that great.

Thank you for sharing your content 

 

Thanks, I was in a spooky mood that day haha. What kind of climax do you think could have worked well? I made the piece quite plane because it is pretty short and I wanted it to feel very still, like the fog of that forest. A climax would fit the moment the man realizes he is dead but I preferred to do something more eerie and subtle. I appreciate the suggestion!

@Ivan1791 To make a climactic section, I would have maybe one phrase used in main theme at a quicker tempo with denser chords and repeated it in sequence, (maybe a degree downwards each repetition) and with octaves in the  low register for each of the phases to add depth, and then develop. An example of the mood I would have put could be the starting of the coda of the first ballade of Chopin, or the climax of the prelude op 32 No 10, or just the concept of the whole op 11 No 14 by Scriabin, but that is my personal opinion.

Also, could you give me some suggestions to make music sound spooky?

Thank you

On 9/15/2023 at 6:07 PM, Jqh73o said:

@Ivan1791 To make a climactic section, I would have maybe one phrase used in main theme at a quicker tempo with denser chords and repeated it in sequence, (maybe a degree downwards each repetition) and with octaves in the  low register for each of the phases to add depth, and then develop. An example of the mood I would have put could be the starting of the coda of the first ballade of Chopin, or the climax of the prelude op 32 No 10, or just the concept of the whole op 11 No 14 by Scriabin, but that is my personal opinion.

Also, could you give me some suggestions to make music sound spooky?

Thank you

 

I see, sounds like an interesting idea. Although I wanted to portray an "afterlife" scene and perhaps such clear progressions and octaves in the bass would feel too grounded, instead of the ethereal empty feeling I was looking for.

And sure. I guess one can use hollow harmonies like 5ths or 4ths (even 9ths or stacks of 5ths), one can use funeral rhythms like in Chopin's funeral march, you can use dark modes like the harmonic minor or octatonic, one can use syncopation that leads to a dissonance that then resolves (or not), one can use stuff like silence and long rests to give an uneasy feeling, one can use opposite registers to give a sense of void in the middle, one can use a simple an innocent melody surrounded by a dark context (the tune of Death from the last Puss in Boots movie for example), etc.

Hello @Ivan1791, I agree with what you said, the decision of implementing a climax drastically changes the meaning of the piece and it wouldn’t suit the interpretation you gave to this piece.

Thank you for the suggestions about spooky music, I’ll use them in some pieces I am working on right now 

Postdata: I had never heard of octatonal scales, it seems interesting