→ Last Flower || Soulfully
a single flower is less and
more than I could ever say.

(✩ download) (✩ notes)

↳ Flight by Soulfully

Genre: Piano Instrumental

Sounds: Strings and Synths (7), Glass Armanica, Mallets - Music Box, Bell, Piano.

Notes / Learned: Also previously known as “Swiftly,” it’s a very delicate sounding and constant song. I realized there were some that would have liked to hear an extended and completed version. All in all, I am content in being able to finish this old WIP. “Flight” is also a milestone being the #50th song that I’ve made — in consideration of everything that was posted here this year! As for what I learned: it’s nothing groundbreaking, but I’ve resorted to literally placing an ice block cooler under my computer to keep it from crashing. ಥ⌣ಥ 

(+ Download )

The Rain Dance — Audio Journal: #5

Genre: Electronic

(12) Sounds Used: Piano, Strings, arpeggiated sounds (one created by me, the rest from a VST), Percussion (Latin — maracas, claves, cabasa, etc)

Learned & Notes: The Rain Dance is very “visual” — or at least I hope so. :D Everything in the instrumentation hopefully helps achieve the image of streaks of rain tickling the surface of a cement ground, or slashes of water pelting on your window. It’s hard to pinpoint what I’ve ‘learned’, since they’re all very subtle but equally important effects. (As a side note, it was pretty frustrating when I was crashing every minute. There was a 3~4 hour delay in completing and exporting the file.)

(Download)

[Sketch] Swiftly (Sounds: Piano, Bells)

The progression of a thought. 

This nice loop-able piano sound. It’s a music doodle that was made a couple weeks ago and I came back again today to look at its unfinished potential. What’s very interesting to note is that each note here was input manually with mouse one by one here, and I think that it sounds pretty fluid for something that’s not being played on the piano. (Then again, I forget to mention that almost all my songs are input with a mouse regardless.)

— Ch. 1: Prelude by Soulfully —

She clasped her hands together; and she held thoughts in her palms as they fell like soft but ever fading snowflakes. Here she was, at the crosswalk, burdened with the forsaken feeling of choosing left and right. She finds comfort as nostalgic memories seep her cold hands with the warmth that she sought for — that time… and that time — her mind twirled and twirled as colors filled her mind like dizzying sunsets and sunrises. She quietly stopped and pursed her lips, stuffing her beloved treasures into a bag, and went on ahead. 

An instrumental track reminiscent of winter lights and dappling dropples of snowflakes. I made this with the scenery of venturing out on the streets in mind, but who knows what you will envision? 

( Download )

[WIP] #25/1000

I actually had this little tune for awhile now. And it seriously reminds me of some happy-dappy family theme, like you see this cartoon house dancing with the sun rising behind it and then bam ~*~♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪~*~ the show starts in all its chirpiness. 

Ahaha still thinking of a Father’s day song.

—Balloons by Soulfully —

My third completed lyric song. It was written from my personal feelings about how I relate to music — a balloon seemed to encapsulate the things I wanted to express. Enjoy, I think that it’s a stepping stone from the previous songs I’ve made.

[Verse]
Your head is up in the clouds
Working past these heavy doubts
But the rain cascades, starts to escalade
You start to burst — could things get worse? 

Thought I was kept safe at bay
But I was just carried away 
Down I go and it feels so slow
Falling into nothing, trying to call for something

[Chorus]
A thousand balloons, they bursted too soon
Pops and drops, trying to wait for June
A thousand hues, flooding like a monsoon
Drips and drops, below the summer moon

[ Read More —> ]

— Notes —

— Download —

Quiet Emergence by Soulfully

Emergence:

 (noun) the way complex systems arise out of simple interactions 

Dedicated to my sister, Eva. Happy late 22nd birthday! And I’m sorry it took so long! I hope you enjoy it. :) This is my next addition in a series of personally composed piano songs. (Here’s the first one, Breaking Inertia.)

This was a challenge to make, if I have to be honest. I faced numerous music blocks and almost gave up in frustration, but it turned out alright and not quite as bad as I expected. I’m currently at the point where I can finally feel free and relieved of this piece by posting it to the world because I’ve worked way longer than I wanted on this.

Several things came to mind when I was writing this. It was mostly inspired from the word emergence, as it now holds a special meaning for me — a reflection of music, the process of learning, and a desire for personal growth. 

—MP3 Download— 

Breaking Inertia by Soulfully

Inertia /iˈnərSHə/:

noun: a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged 

Dedicated to Calvin S. :) 

On a side note, it’s surprising how much I’ve improved the past three months. I’m coming along pretty nicely, I think! Despite it merely being a piano instrumental, this one’s probably the most melodically coherent piece (if I could say that) that I’ve made so far. And if you were around early enough to hear, you’ll also notice that the later half of the song sounds oddly like my first music doodle.

—Download—

[Ver1] “Jaded Requiem” (Kanaya’s Theme)

Composed By: Jordan (Rains)

Produced By: Alice (Soulfully)

Total Production Time: 79hr 30 min

This is our submission for the homestuck music contest! It’s a character song for Kanaya, and the song tells of her sadness, transformation, and anger — all in one. Special thanks to my collaborator, Rains, for the melody and ‘EvaC’ for the song art cover. 

— Download —

[Original] “Thinking of You, Sunshine” by Soulfully 1/27/12 

Here it is, the first composition I’ve ever created and finished. It’s a simple little piano song, but I’m happy with how it turned out, and even more-so with the meaning behind it. Not a lot of words need to be said about it, hopefully you’ll find it in the song instead. So think what you want and think what you will; sit back, relax, and enjoy. :)

Edit: *volume & note tweaks done

— Download —

— Additional Notes —

“Nowhere but the Red Sunset” [WIP] 1.11.12 #8/1000 

A tune I randomly came up with today, it’s a mesh of previous ideas stringed into one. It’s still a WIP. :) 

As for the story behind it, I might have been a little inspired by FF8’s “Balamb Garden” and “Fisherman’s Horizon.” I know it sounds nothing like those, but there’s this catchiness & simpleness about them that’s easy to absorb; I might have been trying to emulate that feel. This one’s more laidback, with a sprinkle of nostalgia I suppose. And I know that naming something’s not my strong point, but I kept having images of red sunsets and what not. (Or okay, that might have been influenced by “Fisherman’s Horizon”)

Pardon the piano though. I realize that it sounds rather bad being recorded, and I was lucky to not have it break on me in the middle like it did with my previous attempts. Luckily I have a MIDI I/O package coming in soon to fix the problem so that’s good!

a piano.

#7/1000 Fairytale [W.I.P] 1.9.12

(Excuse the terrible microphone and excessive noise as I don’t have a midi port to actually connect my electronic piano to this computer. Oh, and ignore that awkward pause in the middle of the audio…)

Anyway, this is something that I actually should have posted awhile back. I never finished it, and I still struggle to think of the next part. Still, it’s an important W.I.P and the simple, gentle melody still stays in my mind. 

It’s not really called Fairytale, originally I called it Elves’ Forest or Fairy’s Forest, but that was before my teacher called me out and told me that Elves don’t actually have wings… Yes, I hilariously forgot. Needless to say, I’ve understood their distinct differences that day…

When I first made this, which was kind of out of random and relaxed inspiration, I thought of mythical creatures (fairies? butterflies? I don’t know) flying around happily in a beautifully sunlit autumn forest. Then from there, it would go into a dark direction (aka there’s trouble brewing and they die) or they would all peacefully sleep from being tired at whimsically playing all day. :) 

The sad thing is that I don’t know if I’ll ever complete this, but maybe it can be a memorabilia for my beginner days. 

#1/1000 Syncopation 12.27.11

I guess this marks the (real) first entry in my “musical diary.” This week’s been a cruddy week for me, in musical terms. I cancelled /withdrew from my singing lessons, got a little mopey about myself as a learner, but I think I’m ready to pick myself up again. I think I’ll go more into why later on, it’s the kind of personal thing that can only be fixed on my own.

Despite these troubles though, I think I finally found some hope in FL Studio. I had been using it before Ableton, but I just… jumped for the Ableton bandwagon just because I thought it was a lot more “pro.” Overall, I have to say I’m a bit more comfortable with FL studio than Ableton, and I’ll use be switching it off between the both of them.

This musical doodle actually fairly simple. And no matter how much I ignore it, there’s no denying that I know more this year than I did last year. I always put myself down and underestimate my progress (albeit a very gradual and slow progress, eh) but I think it’s there. Last year (around the time I ditched FL studio) I was literally randomizing sounds hoping that I’ll get lucky and it’ll just sound “somehow” good. I mean, it worked at times, but I never understood why. I had very little knowledge of theory. Now’s a bit better, at least it’s melodically coherent. 

The only thing I don’t like of course is that I used the midi version so it’s doesn’t have a completely ‘real’ piano sound to it, it’s too short (well, then again it’s not like I was planning to doodle a full fledged piano song), it doesn’t have the electronica elements I was planning to add (I got too tired and lazy). And most importantly, there’s not a lot of emotional substance in it, aside from the epic cool sounding suspense. (And lastly, I don’t actually play piano [not well, I forgot everything] but that’ll hopefully change next year.)

Anyway, this is the first one. I’ll try to keep it up everyday, or at least consistently. Even if I’m feeling down and sad about anything and all things music, the least I can do is just keep going. And thus, this is #1 out of the #1000 I’m striving for. If I’m still cruddy by #1000 (probable) then it’ll be time to aim for #2000. 

Maybe by then, I’ll actually grow to love music.