jape falcon - black & white (full album)
Channel: Jape Falcon
Date: 06/07/2022

hello there. sit down with me. let's have a nice coffee while we listen to some weird tunes I made.
please enjoy.
album on bandcamp: https://japefalcon.bandcamp.com/album/black-white
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this album is a compilation of tunes i made for a music course i've taken. each tune is the result of a music composition exercise! consider yourself invited to try these exercises out!
published on july 5th.
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00:00 Stone Age Reharmonization ~ 石器時代の再調和
exercise: "make a reharmonization of a melody that already exists."

reharmonization of a certain *particular* melody that everyone knows and loves.
there's really not much to say here. a technique i've used for this one is voice leading, but only for one voice. so i guess it's not much voice leading after all, haha.
i've enjoyed making it quite a bunch. and of course, i can't just not mention the whole siivagunner team. those fellas are on a whole other level. i hope i can be a part of them one day...
oh well. onto the next one!
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00:58 Pyramid ~ 角錐
exercise: "create your own scale (one that doesn't exist already - don't look scales up!), and use it to make a melody with accompaniment."

my scale is based on the chords C major and F# major (with C# considered as Db), with B for extra spicy. i've named it "exotic blues" (despite this tune not being blues at all) because of the augmented second intervals and that augmented fourth scale degree.
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01:30 Modal Crossing ~ モーダルクロッシング
exercise: "create a melody starting from lydian or locrian modes, and every x amount of measures (bonus points if two!), change to the brighter or darker mode, until you get to the other end (locrian or lydian, respectively)."

composed in the key of B and starting from locrian.
a technique that might be helpful for this one is recognizing which scale degrees are important in a mode. for example, what makes the first two measures of this tune sound like B locrian instead of sounding like, say, B major? here's a hint: it has to do with the tritone!
ok, hear me out. C major has F and B, the fourth and seventh scale degrees, which form a tritone. these bad boys give the feeling of major, in my opinion, or at least distinguish it from other modes. thus, you don't *need* to use every scale degree, just the tonic (of course, without it you may end up with B locrian sounding like C major!) and these two "tritonic" scale degrees. put them in the strong beats of the composition and there you go!
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02:07 Celda (Jail Cell) ~ 独房
exercise: "create a piece using only six notes (in any octave) for the melody and harmony; of these six, one of them must appear only once: in the melody."

i used the D kumoi (D, E, F, A, B) pentatonic scale for this one.
so yeah, this one is a lame pun of zelda, because it sounds like the legend of zelda: ocarina of time. it uses almost the same notes as the ocarina does (D, F, A, B) in that game, plus E to give it that extra japanese taste.
i could've used the extra note, C, for a better climax, but alas, that didn't happen. still, i've used it on the measure before the end, and i really enjoyed the result.
the harmony uses plenty of quartal and quintal chords, which i just *love*.
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02:42 3D ~ 三次元
exercise: "create a piece using a pentatonic scale and a motif for the melody and non-functional harmony."

this guy uses the D varamu (D, F, G, B, C) pentatonic scale, or so was my intention...
huh? motif? ok fine, i didn't *exactly* used a motif here. it's just a rhythmic one where it goes down on odd measures and up on even ones. just don't tell anyone, ok?
as i was saying, it finishes with the note G, so it probably is in a mode of the D varamu scale. of course, D varamu has no fifth unless you consider G to be the tonic, in which case D is the fifth!
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03:06 Labyrinth ~ 迷路
exercise: "create a melody that changes keys in every measure."

where do i even start with this one? oh boy...
it starts in from G major, and goes to F major, then D minor, then C major, then G minor, then A# minor, then C# minor, then B major, then A major, then F# major, then Eb minor, then Bb minor, then Ab minor, then C minor, then D major, then C major again.
it therefore uses all key signatures, repeating C major once! how's that for a labyrinth?
i have no clue how to even explain what and how i did this one, haha. good luck if you are trying these out, though!
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03:42 Snow Age Reharmonization ~ 雪の時代の調和
extra reharmonization of *another* certain melody that everyone (who follows siivagunner) knows and loves.
had to do it. because of course i had to.

it's been a wild ride. thank you for joining me through it! it may not seem like a lot to you, but you've given me purpose.

a tree that falls and no one hears is a tree that makes no sound.
a composer that makes music no one hears is no composer.
a human who lives unacknowledged is, alas, no human.

so thank you for acknowledging me. i can't thank you enough.
please don't leave me.