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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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