Composing in the digital age has brought its share of problems for the active composer. The age of 4 bar loops sometimes boxes us in subliminally . We can go from one section of music to another without properly transitioning.
I found myself working on a composition with the working title ‘Polarity.’ Each section focuses around a group of notes from the clock face.
- One section around the notes of a C9b7
- Another around a G#9b7
- And the remaining notes around a C7(no 5th)
It would be quite atonal if the C & G# chords didn’t share some notes; hence, the polarity. Getting back to the transitioning subject, between the first two sections, I wanted to create a 2 chord transition only lasting one to two measures. I came to the realization that I was severely missing out on some interesting development. Instead of selling myself short with this abrupt transition so early on in the composition, I am taking advantage of both the shared & differentiating notes between the C & G# sections to slowly meld between the two. In a way, it reminds me of the wormhole between 2 galaxies like in the film Interstellar.
This is the only place in the composition I’ll have a mediant relationship between chords, so why not take the most advantage of it. Later, going into the final section, I will essentially have a subdominant relationship…I guess we’ll see what happens when I get there.
Polarity
[ C9 – G#9 – C#7(no 5th) ]
