Southwest Sketches - Post #2
The Idea:
After a breathtaking roadtrip through the American Southwest, I found myself reeling from the beauty and grandeur in a way that only music could convey. Armed with a few melodic sketches in an old journal of manuscript paper, I teamed up with Hannah, a harpist friend of mine, to breathe life into my ideas.
Early Sessions:
Having little training in formal music composition, Hannah and I wanted to keep improvisation at the forefront of our work. We captured this spontaneity through a number of recorded composition sessions. These consisted largely of playing, singing, scribbling, and finding a rhythm that worked for the both of us and moved us toward a cohesive piece of music. These sessions, amounting to hours of footage, would serve as references when we sat down at the computer later and notated it out. (Non-Sponsored shoutout: Flat.io and its collaboration feature made this process way easier than the alternative).
The Sketches:
The White Sands themes are the most complete on paper. I wrote the opening melody and harmony, Hannah worked out the voicings, and the up-tempo melody is fairly true to the original improvised tune we came up with.
For the New Mexico theme, I was drawn to the whole tone scale for its wandering quality, and because it is a favorite of mine to play on the flute. I don’t know how Hannah came up with the sonorities to accompany the melody but whatever she played ended up sounding lovely.
This melody is a transcription of an improvisation I played on the whistle during my first visit to the canyon. We had hiked a ways along the rim and I loved the way that the high A-natural sang back from the high walls, so I centered the tune on and around that pitch.
The Finished Product:
Hannah and I premiered Southwest Sketches as the penultimate work of my Senior Recital in the Fall of 2024. Listen to it Here
I am incredibly grateful for my fiancée with whom I shared such an impactful trip, to Hannah for being such a terrific collaborator, and to my studio professor Dr. Brian Luce, who encouraged the composition and supported its inclusion on my capstone recital.
