I’d like to introduce you to a favorite music genre of mine: doom metal. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry—it’s not the sort of music that’s likely to show up on the Billboard Top 100 any time soon. You have to hunt for it, though not too far—there’s a lot to be found. The incredibly dedicated website doom-metal.com has nearly 2,000 bands listed that classify as doom metal of some kind.
Doom metal itself has its roots in the late seventies/early eighties, and is defined by Wikipedia as:
… an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much “thicker” or “heavier” sound than other metal genres.
Doom metal can be split into a variety of sub-genres (sub-sub-genres?), including (again according to doom-metal.com) atmospheric doom, death doom, epic doom, funeral doom, sludge doom and stoner doom. Many of these have overlapping elements, and I wouldn’t blame the uninitiated for failing to understand how funeral doom can have death metal elements, yet not be classified as ‘death doom’. In fact, to the untrained ear most doom metal would likely sound similar: heavy guitars, thumping bass, and comparatively slow tempos.
Apologies for the delay in this week’s post—and even more apologies, because I have an admission to make: I haven’t done any (any) writing in the past two weeks.
Argh!
I have, however, what I hope is a reasonable excuse. Instead of devoting my time to words on paper (or computer screen), I have instead been trying my hand for the first time in many years at writing music:
Did you know that I wrote music, once upon a time? Ahem … of course you knew—you’ve checked out all of my website, haven’t you? I have a degree in music composition from the University of Sheffield, and for quite some time in my youth thought I might be a professional composer.
Well … life got in the way, of course, and that particular dream never happened. Then, a few years ago the creative juices started flowing again, but what came out were not notes, but words. So The Redemption of Erâth was born.
But deep in the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted to return to writing music, and with the advent of advanced notation and recording software, I decided to revisit one of my earlier works: a symphony for full orchestra, first written when I was about fifteen.
Inspired by the likes of Beethoven and Dvořák, I had come up with a couple of melodic ideas that seemed to fit better in an orchestral environment rather than solo piano (which was my medium of choice up to that point), and so with all the enthusiasm of gusto of youth I set about writing a symphony. Full, four-movement piece, which would have totaled nearly an hour in length—had I ever finished it. I ended up with first, third and fourth movements, but never got around to writing the second (slow movement). What I accomplished was, for my age and relative inexperience, phenomenal; however, it was most certainly not publishable, never mind performable. I didn’t have the understanding of the immense variety of instruments in a full orchestra at the time.
But that’s what I went to university for. And now, with a solid background in composition and a shorter orchestral piece (that I’m actually quite proud of) under my belt from my final dissertation, I’ve decided, while the mood strikes me, to open up Logic Pro X and Finale 2014 and start making some music! It’s tedious, long-winded and thankless work—in two weeks I’ve managed to write approximately seven minutes’ worth of music. In the first movement alone, I have another fifteen to go.
But the joy of creating is the same as it always has been, and fret not—though Brandyé and Elven have taken a (very temporary) back seat, I will return to them and their adventures in Erâth.
For now, here is Symphony in F minor—so far!
Featured image from http://wallpaperswide.com/old_music_score-wallpapers.html.
Just a short post this week: in the midst of the furore of moving house, I sent back the approval form for the cover for The Redemption of Erâth: Consolation. What does this mean? The book has an official cover!
This is based on the fire image I supplied to the publishers instead of the image they had used to begin with:
I had actually sent them my own mock-up of the cover, and they essentially replicated it, so in a way, that’s my own design up there! In fairness to them, though, they chose the font, layout, coloring, etc.
It’s funny, because there’s a part of me that feels like I’m rushing into this—that I’m not giving this enough thought. There’s a separate part of me that just wants it done and over with, that just wants to hold the damn book in my hands, and I think it’s this part that won out. I’m terrible with commitment—terrible at making permanent decisions. Yet somehow the decision to go forward with this cover came easily. Without a second thought, I signed the sign-off form and sent it back, only ten minutes ago. The decision is made.
Will I regret it? Who knows. I held a vote at work for two different cover options, and the above cover did not win. Yet when I spoke with people, the best feedback I got was based on the ‘fire’ cover; that it seemed to hold a deeper meaning for the story (the fact the Brandyé’s parents die in a fire, that he learns of the world through his grandfather’s fireside tales, that he ends up branded with the mark of darkness), and a stronger allure, a stronger pull. The other cover (below for comparison) apparently just ‘looked pretty’.
There’s still a part of me that’s torn; I do like the symbolism of the dark clouds descending over a final sunset, the tree (an important setting in the book) and the fierund’s face peering through the clouds, but there’s something cozy, dark and mysterious about the fire that attracts me, as well.
The good news is this means that the interior and cover of the book are approved (by me—eek!), and it’s just about time to ramp the book into production. I’m not entirely certain what the next step is, but I’m excited to think that soon—soon—I might have an actual release date for the book! Won’t that be something?
Satis Writes 