Audio

Saturday 24 December 2016

The Fall of Fingolfin - available now

It's with great joy that today, as planned, I get to release The Fall of Fingolfin. As the second album in my Silmarillion Symphony series, this album follows some the events found in "Of The Ruin of Beleriand" from the book, from the start of the Bragollach to Fingolfin's death in single combat with Morgoth. 

You can get it here.

As always, you support is relished and welcomed. Have a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday.

Aaron


Saturday 10 December 2016

Looking ahead, looking back

This week I've been finishing up the mixing process for The Fall of Fingolfin. I'm very excited to say the least. I'm excited to share this album. Christmas is coming, and there will be an album released on bandcamp.

As I've been listening to this year's album, I've had a chance to listen to 2014's The Deeps of Time over again. There are many themes and ideas there that I greatly desire to expound upon. That's a long project, but a worthy one. Sometimes there is no substitute for taking your time in a creative process.

I'll have one more post prior to Christmas. I'm greatly anticipating the release of The Fall of Fingolfin, and getting some good time off in. In the new year, I get to finish the score for Lego Silmarillion: Beren and Luthien. I can't wait to share that too.


Sunday 27 November 2016

This week's update.

These past few weeks have been obscenely busy. This is my five minutes or so to collect my thoughts and reflect on the work that's been happening on The Fall of Fingolfin.

Mixing is full swing now. Last album I was able to have an engineer friend take care of the mix down process and I was very pleased with the results. This time around, I'm mixing the album and enjoying it immensely. It's been s great experience and I've learned much.

Also, being that Black Friday weekend is almost gone, I figured I'd mention that Ep. 1: The Deeps of Time is on sale. Both digital and cd versions are included in the promotion. To take advantage of this promotion click here!

I am greatly anticipating the next album and you hearing it!

Best regards,
Aaron

Friday 11 November 2016

Chair

Some days I sit back and think of the people that have backed me though the years as a musician, and more recently, a composer. My dad, Mark Dunn is one of those. He's played bass on both of my albums. He's probably my favorite bass player. (I am aware of how wildly sycophantic that sounds but it is the truth.)

If you didn't know this already, electric bass is my first instrument. I always loved watching my dad play. So that was inspiring to me. It was a dream come true having him in studio for The Silmarillion Symphony Ep. 1. He's contributed his skills to The Fall of Fingolfin as well. It was a slightly different collaboration, as I'm living in the US and couldn't be in studio. But the end result has been excellent.

At any rate, thanks dad!

Saturday 29 October 2016

Another member of the team

Today I'd like to feature another of the mainstay people on The Silmarillion Symphony. She's played trumpet and flute on my work, and was an editor on the first album. I speak of course of Darlene Dunn, who is also my mom. She's been tremendous support to these works of mine. She'll be playing trumpet on the upcoming album, as well as contributing some art work. As I've already heard the trumpet tracks, which I am quite pleased with, I'm very grateful for her contributions in all facets of the project.

Today I also received the live strings for The Fall of Fingolfin. I'm thrilled. Going to recording horn the next two days as well as string bass. It's a busy time here. But exciting. Can't wait to get to show some more previews.

Friday 14 October 2016

An inside look

So today was recording day 1 for "The Fall of Fingolfin"!
I was thrilled to have my good friend Mason Perkins (masonperkins.com) playing percussion for me today and contributing his considerable nous to the project. Many thanks Mason! 

This yesr's album continues to pick up speed, as yesterday I sent off string parts for live musicians. So we're very much on schedule for the Christmas deadline. 

Would love if you'd share about The Silmarillion Symphony on facebook, twitter or whatever social media you like to use. 

Best wishes!
Aaron


Monday 19 September 2016

Patreon is now live

The Patreon page is now live! You can visit right here by clicking this link. As always, I am very thankful for all the support I've been given over the past two or so years. So thank you in advance. I'll be getting some awesome content on the page very soon!

Saturday 17 September 2016

The update

This week, I've had very little time to work on the Patreon page - however I should be able to have that sorted by end of month. I have some of the patronage levels sketched out - just have to get the page finalized.

What I have been able to finish was updating my personal website - www.aarondunnmusic.com and I really like how it looks. By all means check it out.

As I get closer to the recording process for the new album, I'm going to do little feature blogs on a some of the musicians who are contributing to the project. I'll be finishing up the percussion scores this weekend.

Hopefully I'll have a video update going shortly. Really excited for the next phase of the project.

Thanks for following along,
Aaron

Friday 2 September 2016

Speeding up

This week has been extremely busy. My week started out with major orchestration work on the new album. The strings are going to sound fantastic. And I've been working on the recording room in my home as well. This new album is going to have a lot to offer. And all of it is being orchestrated to be playable by small-medium sized orchestras. One piece is even written for an octet.

I also had the chance to listen to some work from last year - all trailer styled pieces. Might have more to say on that later.

I'll be looking at getting the Patreon page up and running again in the next two weeks. Looking forward to interacting with some of you there. By all means, if you're able to donate, that's always appreciated. If not, sharing these posts and other fundraising links is always helpful to me.

Also this week, I finalized a deal to license The Deeps of Time to a video game mod for Crusader Kings 2. If you're into gaming at all, you won't want to miss this mod - it's Silmarillion themed.

Keep your eyes peeled. There's more good news on the way soon!
Aaron

Friday 19 August 2016

The Big News

So this week I've been mentioning there would be some big news regarding The Silmarillion Symphony. Here is the long and short of it: The Lego Silmarillion:Beren and Luthien stop motion film will not be released this year, but likely early next year. As this was the only official music I planned on releasing this year, I felt the need to address that by releasing some new works.

So it's with great anticipation that Volume 2 will be released by Christmas this year, tentatively titled "The Fall of Fingolfin". As I mentioned a couple blogs back, the original plan was to release The Fall of Fingolfin sometime in late 2017. A part of the planned release is currently on soundcloud and this blog to be listened to (Rochallar).

I'll be running some sort of fundraising in order to finance some of the album soon. For those of you so inclined, any support is always appreciated.

There are multiple avenues to purchase the first album including iTunes, bandcamp, google play and cdbaby.com. Any purchases are a wonderful support as well.

Many thanks to all,
Aaron

Monday 8 August 2016

A Gem from Colbert and Other Thoughts

"Gandalf is a Maiar who has been in Arda since Iluvatar cried ‘Ea,’ so he knows it all. The cool thing about Gandalf is in Valinor, he was named Olorin, and he was one of the Maiar associated with the Valar, who are upper angels you might say, the archangels or demi-gods, named Nienna. Most of the Valar in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion are associated in some way with a power or a focus or a patronage associated with Greek gods … Nienna, there’s no association in any other mythology. Because what does she do forever? What is her power? Does anyone know? Nienna weeps forever, and turns grief into wisdom. That is her power. And Gandalf, who was Olorin at the time, that’s his patron, that’s who he hangs out with. That’s why he’s not interested in power or glory when he comes to Middle-Earth, like Saruman. Saruman was a Maiar of the Valar Aule, who was the craftsman. So that makes sense, right?" - Stephen Colbert on The Late Show.

A few days ago (I believe I was on vacation) the above gem came across my facebook feed. It reminded me of the Vala Nienna mostly. Now, Nienna is not often mentioned throughout the book, but when she is, she's the one suing for pity, compassion, and empathy. 

It's that compassion that Gandalf learns from her. And boy, we should listen. Colbert makes an awesome point - Nienna doesn't have a power that we'd easily identify with other mythical gods. We don't identify compassion and empathy with power. But what if Nienna's power in fact is spent in empathy and compassion on behalf of others? In this way, she's the polar opposite of Melkor/Morgoth, who spends his power to control everything, and is without pity.

And I think, that every day, we have a choice as to how we spend what power and influence we have: to spend it coercively, or to spend it with compassion.

Sunday 24 July 2016

A look into the future

This past week I've had no time to work on the blog. Just tonight I've had an hour to work on some music for a future Silmarillion Symphony release. Here is Rochallar:  https://soundcloud.com/aarondunnbassist/rochallar

This piece may not be released until later next year, as part of The Fall of Fingolfin.

Peace.

Saturday 9 July 2016

Empathy



The events of the past week have been a huge shock. There's an almost hopeless feeling about it all. Multiple incidents where people are dying. From Baghdad to Baton Rouge to Dallas, there's way too much pain to go around. 

Amid the host of voices saying "we must do this" and "we must do that", it's hard to hear a voice without blaming one person or cause, or (gasp) justifying killing another human being.

I'm not one for moralistic forms of reasoning, but I'm struck by the sheer amount of angry, empathy-less rhetoric. I wonder where the possibility of forgiveness has gone in our communal consciousness. Most of all I look for solutions. 

No matter how hopeless it feels, no matter how massive the scope of the changes that need to be made, we get to participate in changing the world for the better. It may seem ridiculous for one person to change the course we are on. But it's worth a try.

A beautiful pattern emerges in Tolkien. We find that his heroes are the types we would not easily pick out. An exile 'crept from the shadows.' A few little people from an obscure, naive culture. A haggard, homeless orphaned man (on more than one occasion). Even old people. I greatly enjoy how heroic many of his female characters are. Often they are not the most outwardly impressive people. A lot like us.

So I'll leave us with a quote from Tolkien. This, I believe is something worth taking heed of, and immediately.



“I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay, small acts of kindness and love.” –J.R.R. Tolkien


Monday 27 June 2016

Better late than never

I've had quite the packed schedule the past few weeks, what with a long road trip over last weekend and a busy week at work. At any rate, today was fabulously successful. Managed to get a good amount of composing done. Even if just sketching out ideas, it all counts.

I finally had time to record some cello parts for the upcoming short film Lego Silmarillion, and I am very happy with the results. In regards to the film itself, we hope that it will be released around Christmas of this year. Managed to catch up with the director today, and get some more vision on how the film is shaping up.

I would love if you'd listen to today's work "A Dangerous Road", with cello recorded by yours truly. As always, please subscribe to the blog, and do share.


Friday 10 June 2016

This week's update...and a preview.

This week I didn't have much put together in the way of writing. Instead, check out this video.


And here's the piece I mentioned in the video: https://soundcloud.com/aarondunnbassist/thingol-preview .

As always, best wishes,
Aaron

Friday 27 May 2016

It's good having friends

Hey folks,

I'm really enjoying having you along for this lovely Tolkien-themed journey I'm on. Thank you to all of you who are following along on Facebook, the blog, Twitter and so forth. I wanted to share some of the good work being done behind the scenes by filmmaker Keenan Boyle. Keenan and I having been collaborating for almost a year on Lego Silmarillion: Beren and Luthien. It's been a very productive time. Here's one of his "behind the scenes" videos:


Be sure to click around on his channel for more good work. We collaborated on Gunslinger where I added some incidental music.

Cheers,
Aaron

Saturday 14 May 2016

Finish

"They say it is the first step that costs the effort. I do not find it so. I am sure I could write unlimited 'first chapters'. I have indeed written many." - J.R.R. Tolkien.
This week's blog has been tough to write. So I was looking around for some fodder and found the above quote. It resonates with me - I'm excellent at starting pieces of music, and I have a number of ideas that I've started by never developed. May that continue to change.

Fortunately, this trend has changed in the making of The Silmarillion Symphony. Volume 1 is completed, which is something I am tremendously proud of. Volumes 2 and 3 are being worked on. Beren and Luthien is going to be its own volume, considering that once Lego Silmarillion: Beren and Luthien is complete I will have scored between 60 and 90 minutes of music.

When I began this project, I had never completed a project of my own. Two-and-a-half years later, it looks like I'll do much more than just a couple volumes. This year's will be a smaller release (maybe 10-15 minutes) with a small ensemble. It's rounding into shape very nicely.

Saturday 30 April 2016

Excitement!

Greetings to all.

I've been mulling over what to write for this post. Alas, I have nothing much to share. I had hoped to share a few thoughts on concepts in Tolkien applicable to our current events, but that will have to wait.

The short film I'm scoring (Lego Silmarillion) is coming along nicely. I'm really looking forward to the final result later this year. I'm going to be able to have some live players involved in the final recording. (Ok it's me playing cello and horn but that counts!) You can see some behind the scenes footage by clicking here and you can see me talking about the scoring process for the film below.


I should be able to produce another video soon, and hopefully some new clips of the string and piano piece I've been working on for The House of Hurin.

Peace,
Aaron


Friday 15 April 2016

Sneak Peak

Today's been a little bit of a downer for me as I've been fighting allergies/cold all day. However I have managed to get a little sneak peak into my composing the score of "Unnumbered Tears". This one's rather heartbreaking. In the aforementioned Unnumbered Tears, the vast majority of the High Elves fight against the forces of Morgoth. As such, the High King of the Noldor, Fingon is present and commanding a substantial force of Elves and Men.

The battle begins somewhat well for the Noldor (which I will illustrate in the score) but the battle eventually goes ill. Fingon ends up separated from his brother Turgon, and in single combat with a Balrog. Fingon fights valiantly, however eventually he gets killed and trod into the mire by the Balrogs and their maces. It's a bad day for the Elves, but Turgon manages to escape.

The excerpt picks up right as Fingon is being killed. The musical story is told as though Turgon was able to catch a glimpse of his brother's last stand. That's what makes the most sense to me. Here's the piece: The Fall of Fingon.

Best of wishes,
Aaron

Saturday 2 April 2016

Small steps

Today's been a day of little steps - the kind by which we travel far.

I started out by practicing my horn. That went well enough. But then I started working a recent idea. It's looking to be a dead ringer for "The House of Hurin." I started working on a largo last week while helping someone learning guitar. Amazing what messing about with a couple chords can do for you. I was hoping to having a sketch up on soundcloud but I was also working on a short film that should coming out later this month (it's a Western). I'll have a link ready here when it's out.

Going back to The House of Hurin, it's going to be a string quartet accompanied by piano and solo clarinet. The music itself will cover the parts of The Silmarillion after Hurin is captured by Morgoth in the Unnumbered Tears. So I'm looking forward to finishing this one this year. Hoping to have a mockup done by next post.

Best wishes.

Sunday 20 March 2016

A slight diversion

Hi all,

I don't have much news for the past couple weeks, other than starting a new job which has taken the lion's share of my time. Pieces are being composed at a steady if not so speedy rate. But that's not what this post is about. I plan on doing more blogs like this one occasionally.

I often wonder about society, where the world's going etc. I constantly think on the applicability of Tolkien's writing. I think of how violent things seem, and how peaceable conflict resolution feels almost unattainable. And I realize that "the Professor" has many things to say about such things as violence, war, fear, hope, and friendship. I'm amazed on what we can learn from Tolkien's insights, whether written in his letters, or in his 'fairy stories'. So I'll be talking about these things from time to time in more detail. Best of wishes.



Friday 4 March 2016

The Unnumbered Tears

This week I've been sketching through "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad." For me, this is where the tone of The Silmarillion turns more tragic than perhaps it was before. It's also one of my favourite chapters. After the triumph of Beren and Luthien in capturing a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown in the previous chapter of the book.

From the looks of things, this chapter deserves a musical suite of its own. I've sketched up until Glaurung arrives. This is shaping up to be quite an epic, intense and wrenching composition. The hills and valleys of the plot are enough to support many motifs, ranging from heroic to gritty to tragedy and grief. And of course there's some single combat to be covered as well.

I'm looking forward to my continuing work on this piece, which will be provisionally title "Unnumbered Tears." The first movement is already sketched, now I must fill it out, edit and so forth. This is great fun.

I'm going to be launching a Patreon campaign this month or beginning of next in hopes of funding another album. I would absolutely love to take a few suggestions on what kind of rewards I could offer for any and all levels of patronage! You can contact me view this blog in the comments section, or by visiting The Silmarillion Symphony's Facebook.

Many thanks for your support! Looking forward to a wonderful year ahead!


Saturday 20 February 2016

A new beginning

Hey folks,

Yesterday I got a little bit of recording done for the Lego Silmarillion short film. I've had a very productive month on the recording front. It's a blast.

Also, I began a new theme for Luthien. I have a mix up here. I'm very excited about this piece. I anticipate this will be played on the next Silmarillion Symphony release.

I'm in the planning phase for the next album, and deciding on some crowdfunding ideas.

I would also love to get a Q&A with fans done sometime in the very near future. If you are interested in something like this, please get in touch at The Silmarillion Symphony facebook page.

Friday 5 February 2016

A little preview of what I'm working on...

Hi all.

I was planning a video for this weeks update. I have the footage, but alas no time to edit it. Perhaps another day. Instead - here's a sneak peak into a piece I'm working on that will be in the Lego Silmarillion film and likely the next Silmarillion Symphony album.

Click here!

Best wishes,
Aaron

Friday 22 January 2016

Project Updates

This week I've been working on both recording and planning for future (hopefully) live realisations of The Silmarillion Symphony.

The recording is underway for the upcoming Beren and Luthien stop motion Lego film. It's going to take some time and some video skill, but it looks like I'll be able to have footage up of myself recording some material. You'll get to see my home made cello's in effect. I hesitate to describe them as handcrafted because, well...



On the other side of my composition process, I've doing some copyist work on my scores as I go along. I have to prepare horn and cello parts anyhow, so I might as well do the rest I suppose. Hopefully I'll be able to have an orchestra play and record a few of the pieces this year.

Looking forward to sharing more and more good news with you this year.

Friday 8 January 2016

A new year with new news!

Welcome to 2016. I'm happy to have you join me on my continuing journey with The Silmarillion Symphony. Here's a couple big things I'm working on this year:


Lego The Silmarillion

In August of last year, I signed on with The Guildmaster Studio to score their stop motion short film Beren and Luthien. The project has since morphed from a single movie project, into 3 short films. Filming is beginning shortly. Release date TBD. I have a short video below of my journey as the composer.



The Silmarillion Symphony, Part 2

This one's been a long time coming, and it's a project I'm really looking forward to. My previous album "The Deeps of Time" left off around the time when the Noldor leave Valinor. Part 2 will include pieces from there to the end of Beren and Luthien.


I'm really looking forward to this exciting year of Middle-Earth themed magic. I hope that you'll follow along. I'd love if you'd purchase my first album - it's a great support to me and the project! It is available here to be purchased. 

Best wishes,
Aaron