A dizzy (and dizzying?) woodwind quartet, a car going for a drive along a precipice…. “Spin”!
For the word “tropical” I decided to go with “exotic” instruments, along with some birds and water in the background for a more stereotypical “tropical” idea. (And, when I discovered that I did, in fact, have steel drum samples in Logic, I threw them in, albeit in the background as accompaniment.) Relax and enjoy!
Welcome back to #illomusicfriday! Eleanor and I took a few weeks off over the holidays, but it’s a new year and we’re back it. This week’s word was “moon”; Eleanor did her thumbnail sketch before I started work on my music piece, so I based my piece off of that and went with a cinematic feel (listen for a not-so-subtle film score reference early on…). Eleanor’s final piece turned out a little differently than the sketch, but I love the way it looks!
Philip Glass! I don’t really like Philip Glass’ music, but whenever I come across it (in a class at school) somehow it finds its way into what I’m composing. Last semester it was a film score I was working on; this time it’s an #illomusicfriday post! When I saw that the word for this week was “Punch,” I immediately thought of the “orchestra hit” sound on my Kawai keyboard. I found some samples online of various types of orchestra hits and downloaded them. While I was thinking about what to put in between the “punches,” Philip Glass’ additive organ music (like Music in Fifths, Music in Similar Motion, etc.) came to mind. So here it is!
This week’s #illomusicfriday was tough for me; I couldn’t come up with anything I liked for “city.” But when I saw Eleanor’s piece a completely different idea popped into my head and I ran with it. Thinking of the word “city,” this music conjures a specific picture in my head, like a scene in a movie: a young country girl coming to a big city for the first time, looking around, taking in the sights and sounds, full of optimism. What does it make you think of?
An #illomusicfriday just in the nick of time (11:40 pm [Central time] on Friday)! The word this week was “animal”; Eleanor had an idea and ran with it, and I had a separate idea (the first thing that came to mind when I read “animal”) and ran with that. I think this may be my first #illomusicfriday post that includes an actual audio sample (instead of just MIDI). Enjoy!
Welcome back to #illomusicfriday! After taking a break last week we’re at it again. This week’s word was “whimsical,” and Eleanor and I did our pieces independently. Enjoy and share!
This was a fun one. I know I say this almost every week, but this is one of my favorite #illomusicfriday pieces by Eleanor; it’s funny in itself, and the music (which I wrote before I saw her piece) makes it even funnier. Here’s to adventure!
This week’s #illomusicfriday piece was a fun one. The word was “stuffed,” and I decided to take that in the direction of the heavy, “bluh” feeling you have when you’re stuffed after eating too much. I wanted to use some alternating treble and bass clusters, and since we’ve been studying twelve-tone music in my theory class for the past few weeks, I decided to make it a twelve-tone piece. I wrote my first twelve-tone piece when I was about 12 years old, and… I’m pretty sure I haven’t written one since. I didn’t do anything too fancy with the rows—derived rows or hexachordal combinatoriality or anything like that—but it was still fun, and it was a nice way to generate dissonant material quickly. I’ve included the score and the twelve-tone matrix beneath the video, just in case anyone who sees this post may be interested….
I started writing a piece for solo cello yesterday, using all harmonics, and I decided to use that as the basis for my #illomusicfriday piece based on the word “Star”. I love Eleanor’s art pieces every week, but I particularly like this style of hers and I think the image and music work really well together, even though we didn’t consult each other this week. Enjoy!
This week’s #illomusicfriday: “Reflection,” or Too Much Fun With Too Many Digital Delays! I love Eleanor’s illustration for this one too.
Eleanor and I didn’t consult each other on this one, but we ended up having very similar ideas for what we wanted to do with the word “prize,” so it worked together really well!
Another #illomusicfriday! I think this is my favorite one so far. The word was “Mermaid,” and to change things up, I composed my music first and Eleanor did her painting based on the music. Please enjoy and share!
Here’s our #illomusicfriday post for this week, based on the word “Villain”. I really liked Eleanor’s colored pencil drawing, and it was fun to write some dissonant, surreptitious “villain” music to go with it. Enjoy and share!
Welcome back to #illomusicfriday! This week’s word was “Old,” and Eleanor and I each had a different take on it. The snail last week was directly collaborative—Eleanor painted her piece first and I wrote my piece based on it; this week, we worked independently and both finished our pieces before we saw/heard each other’s. So the dynamic of the video is a little different this week.
If you like what we do, please feel free to share using the hashtag #illomusicfriday!
I’ve added scores for (almost) every piece on the Concert Music page! You can now listen to a MIDI mock-up (or a real performance, whenever those are available) and follow the score, courtesy of Issuu (an online publishing service I highly recommend). If you’d like more information on purchasing scores or obtaining a license for performance, email info@ajharbison.com!
Introducing… #illomusicfriday! Inspired by Illustration Friday, Eleanor and I have decided to start our own weekly art practice. Every Friday, we’ll take the Illustration Friday word of the week, and Eleanor will create a visual piece and I’ll create an audio piece based on the word. Then we’ll combine the two in a video and post it on our websites and Facebook pages. (My Facebook page: AJ Harbison Music; Eleanor’s Facebook page: Eleanor Harbison—Art and Design; Eleanor’s website: EleanorHarbison.com.) If you like what we do, please feel free to share using the hashtag #illomusicfriday!
So here’s our first post!
Word: Work
Paul: The Road To Damascus, the musical with script by my brother Mark Harbison, lyrics by my sister-in-law Bethany Harbison, and music by yours truly, has opened at LifeHouse Theater! It runs through September 27, 2015, with performances on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays every weekend. You can order tickets here!