Emotions - Graphic Score Realization by Nate Trier

This piece is a realization of a grade-school student's graphic score. Shawn Tolley's (http://www.shawnpatricktolley.com/) students create graphic scores, electronic pieces, and other 20th-century contemporary classical pieces, and I was given the opportunity to interpret this student's score for his school's "Electronic Music Night."

I set the duration of the piece to be about 2:40, since I read somewhere that was the average length of most 1950's-1960's hit songs. That seems to be just about the perfect length for a piece that only uses four notes!

I subdivided the length into golden mean subsections, and then began improvising using MIDI to record and expand my ideas. I ordered the ideas based on how long they were and which Golden Mean subsection they best fit into. Sometimes I used Ableton Live's Follow Actions when I knew what pitches I wanted to use but didn't care about the order.

I snuck in some tones other than G, A, D and C - yes, the student noticed!

This was a fun project, and I think the result isn't half bad.