Composition Notes: The Mouse and the Moon
Recently I got the legends of the guard volume 3 from the @mouseguard comic book series by @davidpetersenart. I was a bit skeptical at first knowing that multiple comics had written the different works and I wasn’t sure if I would really enjoy it all that much. But given that mouse guard has been an inspiration for over half the tracks of compose so far each week, I figured what the heck I’m sure I’ll enjoy at least part of it.
So as I was reading through, each story seem to unfold in a new and unique way. I was impressed at the world that was ever-expanding duty each of the creators unique art style and vision for the stories that may or may not have happened in the world. However, the first time I read the mouse and the moon by @skottieyoung I thought it was a good story that I want to share with my children someday, but the art style seemed…odd. While I can tell the artist was someone who was accomplished, I just couldn’t seem to get into the style.
Then this past week, I was looking for a story to compose a song about. I was flipping through the stories and realized that there was a lot in the art, and in the story that I had just brushed over the first time. The interplay between the father and the son and the book ending of the story Made me realize that this could provide a real challenge in composing something which fit.
The more I started looking at it, the more I could hear how the son would ask the father question, and the father would reply. I tried to model this at the beginning where you have an instrument do a call in the next instrument responds.This is even continued as the instruments shift, and you can follow the melody being passed from the son, to the father when he was younger as he tells the story. I don’t think I’ve perfectly accomplished what I wanted to, but it was really fun to be able to challenge myself to think differently of how music can represent communication.
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV2b5SGyevs)
