I’ve never been one to be able to compose pure piano pieces, unlike the very talented Hui Leng from the Songcraft Circle, whose compositional skills I deeply admire. Somehow I’m unable to sit at the piano and come up with piano tunes.
However, tonight I was sitting by the piano and banging away as usual, hoping to stumble upon a sliver of inspiration…and I came up with this piece. It started with a line, and then from there I built upon it line by line until I got the full piece.
I could safely say this is the first proper piano piece I’ve ever composed.
Just on a whim, I shall call it “Elliot’s Theme”…which I envision to be the theme music based on fictional scenes starring a fictitious character in a fictitious movie which has never been filmed. (Y’know, it has always been a dream of mine to be a movie soundtrack composer.)
I’ll leave it up to your imagination to conjure up whatever mental scenes and images you might think of upon hearing this piece.
Enjoy!
(NB: This is just a rough cut. I recorded this straight from a digital voice recorder, so it’s a bit raw and imperfect. I’ll probably do a proper recording of it someday when I get my GarageBand and other gear.)
Do let me know what scenes/moods come to your mind when you hear this piece yah? I’d be interested to know.
Thanks!
Oh yah, just to add – I personally don’t think this piece would need any lyrics to be added to it. I feel it’s meant to be just a piano piece.
Building it line by line…no other way really.
Its very hopeful sounding. Its late at night when Im hearing this (2 am) but I can hear the ‘birds chirping’ and see the morning breaking.
A song I’d love to start the day with.
this piece is very relaxing, it is like a morning dew on the tip of the greener grass ready to fall down in the ground which will give new life to the dry land!
It gives me a very refreshing morning to start my hectic activities today …
Keep on composing …
cheers!
-mart
Nice one, Jeremy. Agree with Carrie that it sounded like there are birds chirping in the morning. It’s like a brand new day is arriving and the storm clouds are clearing. Say… you seem to use the name “Elliot” alot, or am I mistaken? I recall some other song you presented also had this name. :)
I got the movie for you..
Teen female pianist prodigy moving up in the music world. Has an accident that leaves her semi-paralyzed in her arms. Depressed, she doesn’t want to do any rehabilitation. She meets a cute guy. He has a great outlook on life, appreciates every moment etc etc. She changes over time. Gets better emotionally. Goes for treatment. Gets better physically. He encourages her to play piano again, she tries but makes lots of mistakes. She wants to throw in the towel several times, but he continues to encourage her with his love. She falls for him. He falls for her but seems uncertain about their future. One day he decided to sign her up for a performance. She’s scared and doesn’t want to do it. She scolds him for pushing her too hard. She gets angry. He leaves. She realizes she was wrong and calls him back, but no answer. She tries several days. Goes to his house, parents say he can’t see her anymore. She gets depressed. She hangs outside his house for days waiting to speak with him. But no sign of him. Finally his father comes out and tells her what really happened to him. Even before the 2 had met, he’s been suffering from cancer. Altho he had an operation, they didn’t get all the cancerous cells out. He was dying in hospital. She then realizes why he was the way he was all along. She goes visit him. Takes care of him in his last days. She promises him that she will overcome her fear of moving forward, even without him by her side. He passes on. In the last scene, she is on stage, playing Elliot’s theme.
oh.. yah.. of course, during the playing of Elliot’s theme, there’s a montage of happy scenes from their past intertwined with the shots of her playing on stage.
Carrie, Mart, Ivan: Thanks for the comments! Guess you guys all had more or less the same “morning” feel huh? That’s very interesting.
Ivan, did I use the name “Elliot” before? I don’t think so leh!
Jason, YOU ARE DA MAN!!! That’s one awesome movie script you’ve got there. Yes yes, I like it! Fits in PERFECTLY!!!
Gosh, I tried so hard not to read the other comments in case they affect my “mental scene”.
OK, since you titled it “Elliot’s Theme”, I immediately thought of the movie, Billy Elliot – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249462/, so here goes:
A train chugs through the countryside in cold England during late autumn in the 1970′s. Camera zooms in on a face by the window, it’s a young boy with red cheeks, brown hair staring out. We can see at once that he’s troubled. By what, we don’t know yet. In his hands, he’s fingering an old black-and-white picture of a man, woman and a toddler (which we realise it’s him). Then camera zooms out to the backview of train and slowly it disappears and that’s when the movie begins.
And whenever there’s another train scene in the movie (which is many), this theme would play.
Yupz, my “mental scene” :)
(after reading comments prior to mine)
Jason watches quite a substantial amount of Korean drama serials I must say ;)
B, that’s a nice scene. I could definitely see that working well with the music too.
B – Haha!! I was actually thinking of some Hong Kong-type movie
Whatever it is, you’ve been watching too much of them haha.
Btw Jeremy, I forgot to mention that your new blog look is refreshing! Like the sign of the man walking ;)
Haha, thanks B!
hMMm can i have the piece? nyyay..sounds very nice :)