Towards the end of high school (1993-94), I began experimenting with music composition on my home computer. By the end of 1995, I had compiled an album of four songs ("Arcade Music" as some of my fans call them), followed by two guitar-vocal "covers". My Christian conversion in Spring 1996 forever altered my entire life and caused me to re-evaluate even how I use my imagination. Since then I haven't composed music, though in recent years I have used photography, poetry, writing, and video-editing as creative outlets to the glory of God. I still delight in these songs as my own, however amateur and immature.
Scattered Thoughts seemed an appropriate title for my works given the collage of genres, styles, and influences they represent. The computer music is mainly a blend of new age, metal, and alternative sounds (with a decent dose of Rush). I titled myself "Fractal Opera"--no doubt due to my love of math and music and my conviction that beauty arises from chaos. What follows is a chronology about these compositions written after Neon Moon was completed for my sister's seventeenth birthday in Jan '95.
"Dream of Desires"(Summer 1993)--my first composition! Perhaps my rawest piece of music. It’s fast paced, but still remains dramatic. This was tracked in a MOD format which only allowed 4 8-bit sampled instruments to play at a time. Although it is probably the closest thing to video game music I have, I still think it was an accomplishment considering didn’t I know any music theory at the time, and I did it all by ear.
"Falling and Flying" (Spring 1994) was going to be an attempt to re-create my first composition "Dream of Desires" with more tracks and higher quality samples, but I wanted to enter it into a composition contest which emphasized originality, so I had to make it a whole new song. It was, however, never judged in a music composition contest because the contest crashed.
Like its predecessor, "Falling and Flying" is a thematic piece. It starts off with an eerie mood. I tried to capture part of the falling theme with a dissonance effect. After the fall, I tried to catch the listener with some sort of order[1.03]. This order soon turns to chaos[1.31] which is just as quickly smothered with the relief of some kind of hope[1.44]. The song then jumps into a resolution [2.50] with the re-emergence of chaos. In the end, neither chaos or hope compromises; both fade off together, forever.
"Prince of Cumberland" (Summer 1994) is more fun than thematic. It was constructed after "Falling and Flying", but the simple main melody and bass counterpart was imagined many years earlier on a synthesizer in Indiana, while I visited my grandparents. Later, during in high school band, I played the little ditty for a few of my friends; they were humored, so I made up some silly lyrics to it and tracked the tune on my computer. "Prince of Cumberland" ranked 20th out of 42 compositions in an online tracker music competition called "Music Composition II (MCII)".
"Mother’s Park"(Fall 1994) started some time in November around my mother’s birthday. Underestimating the time to put it together, my mother’s birthday soon passed and she was presentless until Christmas Day. Then I presented this song to her.
Knowing my mother’s taste for cheerful, relaxing music, I attempted to capture brighter images in "Mother’s Park" than I had in previous songs. It seems I was partly successful, for when I asked my mother to close her eyes and tell me what she sees during the song, she told me that the first half of the song she pictured herself walking through a park. So the song became her park.
After creating half of Mother’s Park, I decided to give into my temptation to experiment with an argument theme [4.50+] which occurs after the “typewriter” break[2.50-4.20]. I wanted to have two sides, with different moods and images, fighting to voice their own opinion. The sinister mood is exact and pounds with each drum beat, while the lighter mood is more abstract and elevates. The arguments remain the same, but they become shorter, and interrupt one another until at last the arguments merge into a compromise at the very end.
Technically, I see "Mother’s Park" as being superior to my other compositions. The instrumentations fit the music and were higher quality (all 16-bit samples). I experimented a little with some of the cadences which also turned out well. In hindsight, there are a few things I would like to change (like too many cymbals at the very end). But I chose to follow Aldous Huxley's own advice in the Preface to his Brave New World: it is best to leave the art as it is, learn from its flaws and move on.
"Neon Moon" (Jan 1995) is my own version of a song by Brooks and Dunn that is my sister’s all time favorite country song. She had always bugged me to learn the guitar solo, so for her seventeenth birthday I planned on learning the solo for her. Soon, however, I was confident that I could do the whole song for her. And since she had always questioned my singing ability--which still may be in question--I tried to redeem myself with my own "Neon Moon."
This project became pretty complex. First I had to play the original song a billion times to figure out the lyrics, the instrument chords, melodies, and cadences. I tracked all the background music with my computer, selecting the most appropriate instruments I could find. Next, I decided to make the performance sound live, so I ripped a sample of a crowd from one of my live Rush CD’s and looped it continuously. So, now I had an audience and the accompaniment. Next, I called upon my physical abilities to strum the guitar, play an original intro (as a decoy), the guitar fills, the solos, and the vocals. Well, I wasn't so talented as to do all that at once. I did, however, figure out a way to create an amateur mixing device consisting of two cassette decks and my soundcard. So, all I had to do was strum the entire song; then record the intro, fills, and solo, over the strums; and lastly, add my own voice so that it would stand out the most on the tape--you think I should have mixed the voice in first? :-)
After several hours and several sides of tapes, it was completed. Not polished, but after singing that song a bigillion times into a pair of headphones that I was using as a microphone, I knew the one you hear was the last one. I still cringe at some of the vocal track, but it was worth seeing the tears in my sisters eyes and my step-father's disbelief that I was the one singing. :-)
"Rivendell" (Winter 1995)--my final recorded song. My version(s) of an early Rush song based on the enchanted elfin realm in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. This time without the computer. It was a gift for a girl, who was one of my best friends, whom I also had a secret crush on in college and whom I consider instrumental in my "coming to the Truth" as she later put it. I gave her the distribution rights for the music for a whole year (and then I could give it to whomever I want). She later told me that she had cried while listening to it at night in bed.
My guitar skills were at their peak for "Rivendell"--two years after receiving my guitar for Christmas. I challenged myself to do a song where I would play and sing at the same time, without mixing magic. I did, however, overlay my voice on top of my guitar so I could read the poetry and sing the chorus in the hidden track version [5:52; 6:21-1113] . The lyrics are worth leaving with you.
"Rivendell" by Rush from Caress of Steel
Sunlight dances through the leaves,
Soft winds stir the sighing trees,
Lying in the warm grass,
Feel the sun upon your face.
Elfin songs and endless nights,
Sweet wine and soft relaxing lights,
Time will never touch you,
Here in this enchanted place
I’ve traveled now for many miles,
It feels so good to see the smiles of
Friends who never left your mind
When you were far away.
From the golden light of coming dawn,
Till the twilight when the sun is gone,
We treasure every season,
And every passing day.
[chorus]
Feel there’s something calling you,
You’re wanting to return,
To where Misty Mountains rise
And friendly fires burn.
A place you can escape the world
Where the Dark Lord cannot go.
Peace of mind and sanctuary,
By loud waters flow.
We feel the coming of a new day
Dark gives way to light a new way,
Stop here for a while, until the world,
The world calls you away.
Yet you know I’ve had the feeling,
Standing with my senses reeling
This is the place to grow old till
I reach my final day,
[chorus]
Posted by Eric Pyle at August 15, 2005 10:04 PM
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Passing Thoughts
You impress me more the more I get to know you. And you write pretty well too.
Posted by: Joel | August 22, 2005 7:35 PM
Yo, I'm his sister. 10.5 years have passed since he presented his alternative version of "Neon Moon" to me. And it still brings tears to my eyes. If I can say one thing about my brother is that he never does anything unless he intends to finish it 100% (and leave his mark within). He even added his own inflection on one of the lines in the song, and I think it's better than the original. Thank you for the best birthday present I have and will ever receive.
Posted by: Lesly Pyle | August 27, 2005 9:27 AM