Listen to Noah’s original composition submitted with his entry.
Hi, I am Noah, a student from Perth Modern School in Western Australia.
My goals as a composer are to explore a variety of genres and musical techniques and push the limits of what I am comfortable composing. My favourite part of composing is in the collaboration opportunities it gives me. Since I started composing seriously, I have enjoyed working with the Perth Modern School’s wind orchestra, a jazz nonet, a wind quintet, and a barbershop quartet. These experiences of working with other musicians are some the most memorable and world-shaping experiences of my life and remind me that music is much more than an academic endeavour, but a profoundly emotional human experience.
My greatest inspirations are the works of the romantic composers Beethoven and Chopin, and the contemporary composers John Williams, Jacob Collier, and Koji Kondo. Although I am a classically trained musician, I am striving to learn the intricacies of genres such as big band jazz, electronic dance music, ragtime, and video game music. I would love to pursue music as a career in the future, either as a jazz drummer, or a composer. I find the idea of writing an original soundtrack for a video game exciting. Nowhere else in today’s society can a composer so freely construct a cohesive interactive musical experience for a large audience. I hope that in my music workshops in Sydney and Adelaide, I can develop my musical skills further, and share my passion with similarly ambitious young musicians around Australia.
Composition Inspiration
This piece was written to be an attention-grabbing fanfare to be played at the opening or closing of a concert. This purpose is evident in the piece’s spontaneous beginning, at fortissimo with full orchestration. Allegro tempo and staccato semi quavers give the piece forward momentum and the polyphonic texture created by the flute, oboe, bassoon, brass, and string parts overwhelm the audience. Emphasis on the tonic and dominant scale degrees such as in the woodwind and brass parts in bar 2 produce a royal, militaristic mood. Syncopated martele jabs in the string section from bars 7 to 13 add excitement to the second half of the piece. Interjections of woodwinds add air and colour to the triumphant brass section, such as when the flute doubles the melody in bar 7 to create a lighter timbre, and when an ornamented variation of the theme is played over the top of the brass section in bar 10.
Evidence of those that have influenced my style can be seen through my choices of harmonic progressions and texture; the bVI bVII I and I I7 IV iv progressions being staples of the harmonic palette of the Super Mario Galaxy original soundtrack, and fast orchestration shifts reminiscent of Holst’s bombastic symphonic suites.
Email: info@artology.org.au
Postal Address: PO Box 1115, Edgecliff 2027
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