December Wanderings

Happy holidays my friend! Hope your month has been lovely so far 🧙‍♀️❄️✨

Here I’m wrapping up the last couple weeks of the semester and turning in all of my final projects. I’m looking forward to a relaxing break full of board games (those of you who followed me on Instagram during last summer break probably know I’m obsessed with Mage Knight…), baked goods, and of course, creating more music and art to share with you! :)

Speaking of art, did you see the winter fairy painting video yet? It’s a recording of a cozy afternoon spent painting. ☕️

Aaaand I also have a holiday gift to share with you!! A new-age & Celtic inspired piece inspired by nature called ‘Wildflower’. 💐☀️

I had actually begun this piece during a study on odd time meters, and it ended up containing three different time signatures! Can you count what they are? Before you read on, try listening and seeing if you can find them! :)

Got it?

Okay, commencing spoilers in 3… 3… 1…! 🎵

The first one is 7/8, which is what the majority of ‘Wildflower’ is written in. I found that having that ‘missing’ beat helps to create a strong groove and forward motion. It’s a bit unexpected as well, and it reminds me of forest creatures like birds and squirrels darting about with quick movements.

The second is 5/4, and it plays at the beginning of the bridge (around 2:00). To me, 5/4 feels like an expansion and a pause, like watching the wind ripple through an open meadow before you, and that’s the purpose of the bridge itself as well, to give the listener a rest before the activity returns.

The third time signature is our familiar friend, 4/4. I decided to end some of the melodic phrase sections in one bar of 4/4 to sort of ground us back to earth and create a sense of stability. You can hear an instance of this at 0:30, the conclusion of the first chorus.

Instrument wise, I picked out different textures intuitively. These are the sounds that say ‘happy’ to me! :D 🌼 You might recognize a similar vibe to my piece ‘Earth Song’, which is also about celebrating nature and life. Both pieces use a combination of orchestral, folk, and synth instruments blended together.

I mentioned this before in my blog entry for the month of June 2022, but the way I write melodies is by trying to mentally ‘listen’ to or imagine what a specific visual image would sound like if it were music. ‘Wildflower’ is made up of memories of seeing all the plants growing wild alongside dirt roads during early summer. It’s hard to put the specific feelings this elicited into words, but I really hope you can recognize it or even find your own unique meaning in the music itself.

Do let me know your thoughts in the video comment section! I’d love to hear from you :) 💜

Stay magical,

June