Composition Creation
In the second part of the performance, the music aims to connect with the feelings of the ‘daughter’, to express her emotional process from confusion to fear to struggle when she is in a repressed inner world. When conceiving the sound, I thought more about how to leave more of the sound creation to the performer.
Depending on the design of the performance setting, we set up strings with bells of different sizes tied around the performers, which, when touched by the performers as she is dancing, produce a random sound of bells that become part of the sound source that will form the music.
I intend to make part of the sound follow the dance movements of ‘daughter’ by capturing data on the locations of the hand movements in space, sonifying the data and using a smooth and flowing timbre to express the changes in the daughter’s state of mind.
In addition, a piece of background music is needed to set the mood for the whole performance, to underline the three internal states of the daughter and to provide a guide for the emotional development of the performance.
Composition process
Background Music
Composition project file in Reaper
Using crunchy piano to sketch out melodies, they go towards rendering a sense of perplexity. A single note with a soprano timbre is added to the piano, appearing every other bar to reflect the flowing piano sound.
On the bass side, three percussions form the basic rhythm, with the low, harmonic overtones playing the role of the kick in the drum kit, which, together with the tuned drums, sets the overall disorienting and tense atmosphere. Powerful drumming joins in as it moves into the second section, matching the daughter’s physical movements as she tries to break through the invisible wall of pressure.
In order to give the overall music a more oppressive, hollow sense, ethereal synthesizer sounds are used to play the harmonies.
Interactive sound
The M5stick is attached to the performer’s wrist and receives real-time data changes in Max in terms of yaw, roll, pitch, etc.
By limiting the threshold to the data collected, the range of variation is restricted to a usable interval using scale. When the data changes, the corresponding pitch and timbre are actuated and the rhythm of the sound is changed at the same time.
The actor can promote two states of sound, a detuned piano with a sense of dropping, and a sharp ripping sound.
