BCA Year 2 FMP
Below you can find the final result of my work, including the descriptions of each piece.
You can also find it on many major streaming platforms, including Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, and Tidal.
A Hero's Journey
1) Ordinary World
The Introduction to the World and the Hero within their Home.
This piece introduces the Home Theme and Motif with soft Woodwind Instruments, and the Hero's Motif with brass, in a piece that is meant to sound like a Classical piece of music that, narratively, begins with the listener outside the village/town/city, with the texture expanding when we enter the bustling home of the Hero, who we are then introduced.
2) Call to Adventure
Where all Hell breaks loose.
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Beginning with an ominous drone and a slower form of the Home Theme overtop the Dies Irae, which then takes over most of the instrumentation, this piece is narratively when the Villain appears and destroys the Home of the Hero. For narrative purposes think the Fire Nation arriving at the Southern Water Tribe; attempting to kidnap the Hero before destroying the Town/Village/City, the introduction of Rock Instruments sets the backdrop for the instrumentation and Motifs found with the Villains ad Other World.
The Hero has to take a second to watch as they are powerless to stop their Home being destroyed before they resolve to trying to stand up for their Home, with the end of the piece portraying the lasting destruction that is around after the Villains leave for now.
3) Refusal of the Call
Beginning with the sounds of destruction, our distraught Hero believes they alone can stop the Villains, and builds up their confidence, with a line that almost says "I know that only I can do this".
This is before those older than them start telling stories of the Villains' other successes, represented by the Dies Irae being passed from one Bass instrument to another before the doubts caused by these stories permeate the Hero's mind, represented by the choir.
The Hero tries to push down the doubts a couple of times, but they re-present themselves.
The Home Motif appears to boost the Hero's Motif and resolve, representing the villagers that believe the Hero can do it and to go to the Mentor to train, this figure represented by the Harpsichord.
4) Meeting the Mentor
Training and Building Determination.
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This piece is composed to be a very building-up-to-the-adventure piece with a long buildup and heavy implementation of the Home Motif as well as establishment of the Mentor - represented by the Harpsichord - being there to support the Hero (Literally being a part of the Harmony in this case).
The buildup leads to a a training montage calm moment where the Hero doubts themselves. This is then interjected by two Mentors from fiction - Master Oogway and the Soothsayer from Kung Fu Panda 1 and 2 respectively - who's wise words, along with the mini buildup, give the Hero the Determination to push through and finish their current training. The piece ends with an incomplete cadence on the Harpsichord to represent the not-quite-finished training the Hero has decided they do not need.
5) Crossing the Threshold
A crossing over into the Other World.
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Beginning with falls in the strings and organs, with the presence of the Mentor who - unlike in most other media - doesn't die in this analogous story here, the Hero prepares for the cross-over into the unknown, their unease represented by the use of Woodwinds.
The crossover happens, represented by a changing of the falling line from strings to electric guitar and, once complete, the introduction of the Quest Motif, which is a slight morphing of the Home Motif.
The piece ends with an interrupted fadeout as a representation of the fact that the Hero is going off on their journey, but also as a lead-in into Tests, Allies, Enemies.
This piece is meant to signify the changing of the Hero's environment to the Other World as opposed to their regular world and comfort.
6) Tests, Allies, Enemies
Battles, Alliances and Forces to Fight.
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This piece, composed in a mixture of 7/4 and 4/4, is composed to sound like a battle against evil forces, wit the 4/4 parts sounding like the Hero overcoming these trials.
It is here we are introduce to the Ally and their Theme within the Tumultuous 7/4 section to show they come from the Other World. Their Motif is incomplete until the Hero helps them in the 4/4 section to find their purpose and complete their Motif.
The Ally then takes the instrumentation of a Saxophone which represents the idea that, although now fighting with the Brass-represented Hero, they are still their own individual.
Towards the end, the 4/4 sections then change to become a four-chords section to show the Hero and Ally's control over their situation and their confidence before a brief 7/8 section adds some unease as they eye the Innermost Cave, with the last line being able to b interpreted as the Hero saying "Let's go in there" or "Let's go my friend".
7) Innermost Cave
A toil with one's innermost feelings and doubts.
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Dramatically representing the Hero falling into their own doubts, the line between live instruments (comfort and home) and electronic instruments (the Other World) becomes blurred, which can be seen as the Hero finding things that they do not want to think about within their mind.
The Hero is overtaken with doubt, represented by the switch of the Hero's Motif into Electronic Brass and the Strings becoming actual Electronic Strings.
After a moment in their doubts, something reminds them of Home and the reason they are on this quest, which pulls them back into Live Instruments and thus brings their confidence back.
When they return their new Ally, who more than probably has battle their inner demons already, is there for them and, with their true emotions pat of their determination, they press onwards to fight the Villain's Lieutenant.
8) (Supreme) Ordeal
A difficult fight and great loss.
​
Composed to be intense and in a rock style much like Red Like Roses II from RWBY, the hero is at first taken aback from the threat posed by the Lt, themselves represented by the alarm-like guitar line and Dies Irae Bassline.
The Hero's motif on guitar gives the Hero the seeming upper-hand, which the Ally takes as an opportunity to attack the Lt. and, after a brief attack with the Hero, makes them believe they can finish the fight, with the Hero encouraging their friend...
Then the unthinkable happens, and the piece takes a turn into mournful sorrow with the death of the Ally, who's motif does appear somewhat in the background and who's instrument plays a response to the Hero's crying out Motif.
The piece ends with a fadeout to represent the reluctant continuation of the journey and the slow passage of the Ally from the mortal plain.
9) Seizing the Sword
Mourning turns into determination.
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The beginning of this piece is still sorrowful as the Hero mourns the loss of their friend, with the melody line almost being like a eulogy spoken by the Hero; it even has a brief Hero's Motif to bolden this idea. The Hero's Motif is sorrowful and played in the Piano and Strings, representing the mourning the Hero is going through until the change to a more confident second half.
This part is more hopeful and is composed to represent the Hero finding that last bit of determination to keep going, introducing a combination of the Hero's Motif and the Home Motif into a pseudo-Hero's-Theme.
This Theme represents the Hero understanding that they have to return to where it all began and finish their training, which is what they then do in the next piece.
10) The Road Back
Return without any elixir.
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Composed to sound much like Stand By Me in order to have an effect of cheeriness from going home, the Home Melody from Ordinary World is played in full to establish that we are indeed returning back Home.
There is a brief moment of relief as the Hero is happy to be home, finding the Mentor and, represented by the slight buildup and brief section after, finished their training.
It then dawns on the Hero that they now must leave their Home and battle a seemingly-impossible foe, represented by the return of the Dies Irae. Their reluctance is represented by differing rhythms in the Hero's Motif as the pieces fades out, this itself representing the fact that the journey must continue.
11) Resurrection
The Approach and Great Pinnacle Fight.
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The beginning is ripped almost wholesale and transposed from a piece from my Level 2 FMP as, after the few attempts I made in composing an entirely new piece, this had a more epic effect and one that represents the Hero's approach to the Villain's lair and them fighting through, past guards and lower minions, before the Dies Irae shows the Hero has found the final battleground.
The fight then begins, and the Villain is given a Theme and Melody. This is played in Accordion as it is out of place from the rest and clashes with the Hero while also being 'not-so different'.
At first the Hero is not confident and is taken aback, represented by the instrumentation of the first instance of their Motif.
The Hero, seemingly becoming evenly matched with the Villain, then gets cocky and overconfident, represented by the change into Brass instruments, before he is musically and narratively overwhelmed and floored, represented by the change in rhythm and the actual slide down the trumpet experiences.
The Hero, downed by the might of the Villain, remembers their Home and their Mentor, as a ghost or thought in their mind, appears to then give them the cliche boost Heroes in anime and media get.
This switches the control of the battle, represented by the change in mode and the change in chord progression to the four chords, representing the Hero's confidence. The Hero then easily defeats the Villain, flanked by the Home Motif that gives them more confidence in their determination to finish off their greatest foe.
12) Return with the Elixir
Homeward Bound Goes the Hero.
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Composed as a triumphant piece to represent the culmination of the Hero's Quest and Journey, the piece begins with the same chord progression as a Rick Roll, purely because to me, they fit very well in this context.
When the Home Melody returns once more, the guitar turns Acoustic to represent the now free-from-corruption state the land is in thanks to our Hero.
The Hero Theme is then heard alongside the Motifs that make up its constituent parts to represent the coming together and resolution of the Journey and the Hero with their Home.
The piece, and thus the Journey, ends with a cadence that itself becomes a cadence, almost as if to say 'The End...?'
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