Over the past couple of months I have been writing a new song - probably the biggest piece of composition I have ever done. Its a song for the ladies choir that I sing with.
I thought that, while its still quite fresh in my mind, I would use this post to try to describe how the creative process worked for me in this instance, what order things came in, and what the timeline was like.
It all started on 15th September, when I had the idea to compose something from scratch (rather than just arranging already existing music) and straight away the idea of using words from a poem seemed like a good one (as writing lyrics is not my strong point). It didn't take me long to settle on which poem it was going to be - one of my favourites from school - 'Song of the River' by Charles Kingsley (which Google informed me was actually from 'The Water Babies', but I had forgotten that). This poem has three verses which trace the life of a river from its pure beginnings ('Clear and Cool'), through a polluted town ('Dank and Foul') and eventually into the sea ('Strong and Free') - right from the outset I think I knew I wanted to set the middle verse in a minor key to fit the theme.
So the following day (which happened to be the day before I was going on holiday for a week) I was playing around in my head with possible melodies, which seemed to come to me almost unbidden. The first one I 'lost' as I didn't record it or write it down quick enough before I forgot it. but soon I had three alternative 'beginnings' which I described as 'fragments' when I shared them in an email with the conductor of the choir asking for her opinion on which one I should develop (I actually sent 4, but the last one was just to make up the numbers really) Here they are:--
Of these she preferred the first and third (and so did I). The reason I decided to go ahead with the third rather than the first was simply that the words fitted better.
So in that first 24 hours I'd had the idea to compose a song, decided on a poem to use, and chosen the opening bars for my tune. I probably would have taken it further that first day, had I not needed to pack for the holiday! All I actually did was to make a couple of recordings using the voice recorder on my phone, so I wouldn't forget the tune, and would have it with me when I was away on holiday. One was the opening bars of the first verse, and the other was the opening bars of the second verse in the minor key.
The next day, on holiday in Wales, I had come up with a tune for the whole of the first verse. It wasn't the same in every respect to the 'final' version, but it is nevertheless recognisable. Here it is, as recorded that day on the voice recorder:
The same day I also recorded a version of verse 2 in the minor key, and two days later the third verse. All slightly different to todays version, but very recognisably the same piece of music.
On return home, after a week away, the first thing I did that same evening was to open up my notation software (Noteworthy Composer) and get the melody transcribed into dots! I think I started off in D major/ D minor as per the original 'fragment', but as soon as I started adding harmonies I transposed it to F major/F minor to make the ranges of individual parts suitable for the ladies in my choir.
Sadly I didn't keep a copy of the original melody as originally transcribed. The earliest copy I can find is a PDF of the melody (with additional harmony in verse 1) from 2nd October.
The next stage was to start writing vocal harmonies. This is the part I enjoy most! I had a rough idea of what I was trying to achieve:
- the first verse to be mainly melody to get the tune established, but I couldn't resist adding a second soprano line for the second part of the verse, (with very predictable harmonies that I could sing in my sleep), the altos coming in with 'Ding Dong' following the words 'the church bell rings', then the verse ending in 3 part harmony for the final phrase 'Play by me bathe in me mother and child'.
- The second verse to be in three parts throughout, the first section with counterpoint for the two lower parts, and the remainder homophonic.
- The third verse to be 'all singing all dancing' with a descant and harmonies below also.
In practice, the first verse vocal parts were straightforward to write and was complete in no time. The second verse I started on a harmony line, but to fully write the verse I had to first sit down and think about chords. For the third verse, I heard the descant in my head, but I had to actually write the notes in and play it back to convince myself that it would 'work'. The remaining harmonies in that verse, I left until I had worked out the chords.
So the next stage was working out chords. This I didn't find particularly easy. It was the first time in the whole process that I sat down at the piano! It was just a case of trial and error. My ear tells me what is pleasing, but I have a very rusty grasp of things like chord progressions. I was reading up a lot about chords, circle of fifths, and other music theory topics at the time, which did help to an extent. I started with the third verse for some reason, with a piece of paper with the lyrics, trying to fill in the chords. This is what I came up with at the time (later changed as the piece developed)
I then went through a similar process for the other verses. Then and only then could I complete the vocal harmonies for verses 2 and 3, based on the chords I had selected. (I wrote a temporary bass clef line in the score with the chords in root position to remind me of the notes).
Then there was the piano accompaniment. This was the hardest bit of all for me, as I don't have the first inkling of how to write piano music! And I hadn't even paid very much attention to what sort of textures and rhythms the piano plays during choir pieces. Yes I could have dug out some music for ideas, but I really wanted this to be 'mine', so I stumbled through.
For the intro I wanted some light arpeggios, rather like a John Rutter piece (I was thinking about 'For the Beauty of the Earth' I think). So, based on my chords, that bit was fairly straightforward, and carried on in a similar vein throughout most of the first verse.
Second verse I wanted 'plonk plonk' chords (I have no idea what the correct name is!) which was harder - I started off by putting in far too many notes, especially in the left hand.
Third verse I didn't have fixed ideas, it just grew! I wanted to leave it fairly plain in format for the first half of each bar where the descant was doing the run down, so I added in rhythmic bits to the second half.
So this is what I ended up with as my first attempt with accompaniment. I recorded it as a score video as well...
I shared it with a Facebook group for choral composers for feedback, and received the following comment
"congratulations on your first full work. The feeling is lovely, I like the syncopation and the interaction of the voices. With the piano writing, it's unusual to have chords in the left hand. Do you know about the harmonics of notes? https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music).... in arranging chords for piano accompaniment, it will feel (I don't want to say natural exactly) but easier on the ears if you arrange your chords with some feeling for mapping onto the harmonics. I know the computer sound isn't attractive and a pianist will be much more delicate and sensitive, but nonetheless I suspect you will like the effect more if you arrange the chords in the piano with closer notes in the right hand, and more space, largely octaves or fifths in the left hand, (which is not to say you can't have inversions, of course you can.) I'd invite you to play around with this and see what you like. For eg, in the arrangement below, the first chord will be less heavy to our ears. The other thing is, in the vocal lines, consider putting in rests for breaths. Music directors will thank you."
I still don't really understand what she meant about the harmonics, but I did my best to implement the other suggestions.
Round about this time I also made a recording of the vocal parts using Acapella maker (this is transposed down a tone to be slightly more 'singable' for me as an alto)
Then my own choir leader started to offer suggestions to improve the piano part. This is pretty much complete now as far as I can tell, so what I have now probably not much different to what will be the completed version.
So here it is!
Addendum 30th March 2021.
I eventually arranged a virtual choir recording of the piece with the help of an enthusiastic group of friends from the Great British Home Chorus. This was published yesterday on YouTube and can be seen here.
Further Addendum April 2022
Finally on 7th April 2022 the Belstead Singers (for whom the song was written) gave their first performance of the song at Thursday Forum, Christ Church, Ipswich.
