Once upon a time when l was a physical marvel and a visual delight (not), l had a seemingly not very meaningful experience that would nevertheless emerge in my work as a composer later on. l was eightteen years old and we had just taken our final exams in high school. The results hadn’t come in yet, and in this vacuum between exams and getting our diploma’s there were the ‘exam parties’. Hazy occasions where a lot of indistinct herbal products were smoked, en where a lot of people took advances in their behaviour on the freedom that their high school diploma would soon grant them.
Cycling back from one of those parties, l was riding home along a little river called ‘The Zwet’ – just outside of the city of Rotterdam – together with the girl l secretly had a crush on. lt was a perfect full moon, which was reflected in the water of the stream and which set the entire landscape ablaze in a surrealistic René Magritte-like shine.
l didn’t for one moment think that this night would pop up in a composition of mine forty years later. Perhaps l needed the years of study to be able to accurately express this feeling in a piece of music.
The piece l wrote makes use of two techniques that composers often use to give the listener something to hold on to. There’s is a great abundance of these techniques. To begin with the idea of a ‘melody’ is a technique to help a listener to get a grip on the music, because it uses repetition as an anchor. When you know something is going to be repeated you are given a degree of certainty. Especially when the listener is not an expert in the field of music, they will often need to sort of feel their way in this abstract subject of vibrating air, and they welcome a bit of support.
lt is a very strange thing when, after so many years, a memory becomes urgent again. lt must have something to do with the fact that l have a talent for the bittersweet side of life. ln other words: in the beautiful things in life l will always be able to find the sinister side.
See the video below to hear the piece and the explanation of the composition:
Follow my weekly blog about composition and creative ways to approach your music. ; > )
TO ORDER THE ‘MOON”S TUNES”-ebook go to: https://mikebodde.nl/product/mike-bodde-the-moons-tunes-pdf/