There is a famous saying: The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I started composing music only in 2021, and I found that I like it. Here, I track my progress and share
it with you to demonstrate how we can progress.
Glory To The Frontliners
This was one of the very early ones I made. I had no clue what I was doing. I threw some instruments together and I came up with this. One this is for sure, starting from 0:51, the violin and the chorus are staggered, then they clash, like two armies clashing.
Distant Dream
Another early one. If anything, skip to 0:52. I had no idea was voice leading was at this point. I got the background completely wrong as it is too loud. Maybe I'll fix it in the future'
The Forgotten City
Now we are getting somewhere. When BBCSO was issued for free, I learned about all the various instruments in an orchestra, and how their seating positions are importnat. I modded Diablo 2 on my PC and put this one as the opening soundtrack. It worked great!
I repeated the same section adding more and more variations. Still, I didn't know what voice leading was here.
Lebanese Memories
This is just an improvisation style, played on Oud. I modulate to differnet scales. I wrote this after meeting an old friend after many long years.
Perseverence
Things are starting to get a a bit serious. I was starting to get frustrated why I cannot make awesome music. I decided to write something very, very simple melodically, and I think it turned out better than I expected.
Sure it is not Mozart, but it is an indication that less is more! I will revisit this one day and redo it.
The Story Of An Immigrant
This was the last one I wrote before getting serious at composing. The sections represent the story of an immigrant. From wanting to leave, planning, taking the journey, looking back and remembering the past...
There is something about the Duduk that makes this warm. Also, this was my first Ostinato! Violin and flute... I also had a Kanun, which did NOT work out well. It sounds out of tune sometimes.
To Mars
Finally I started studying music. I learned about voice leading and proper chord progression. Mixing skills, though, is another issue. The sound of BBCSO is not the greatest, out of the box, using MIX1 microhpone.
I wrote this while in Florida, imagining SpaceX launching a rocket going through space. It describes, in my mind, the journey from launch, to leaving earth, to roaming next to astroids, to landing on Mars. I wll definitly revisit this in the future.
Night Before War
This actualy was one of the early compositions. However, at this point, I learned about CounterPoint and I revisted this and added counter point properly. If you are wondering, the night before is the night before I became a father. Long story short, the birth was not easy and was like a war for us. Things are great now though!
Oh, and I drew this wing on that night. I don't remember adding so much purple though.
The Phoenician Alchemist
As I learn more about composing, I created this piece. although, 0:28 doesn't sound as proper voice leading. I may fix this in the future. I imagine this to be the opening scene to a video game that I hope one day to create: The phonecian alchemist.