Vonias

"Himeji," is a long form composition, created after my visit to Japan for a music competition. The song tackles the difficult concept that Debussy had also approached, "Footsteps in the Snow," in the radical sense that the brain is remembering and forgetting at the same time. Are you forgotten or remembered? Do people talk to you from a forgotten standpoint? The world belongs to the living, and imaginings of Himeji peak at the boundary, that I will not be forgotten; hence, the song was written with no creative boundary. The narrative of Himeji is complicated. It resembles an early Renaissance painting. Think, Goya eating the canvas of the picture. CSound has its perks, but it's not there yet in terms of compositional material. To simply feed it earlier compositions to hear it in style will turn your stomach. However, CSound is a powerful medium in communicating music which is also its purpose. I suggest "Beowulf," for transliteration, or alliteration; the program notes are tough. I wanted to create a futuristic Renaissance painting with all the concepts of Renaissance included. To hurt the image of origin is to become more like ourselves. The statement is too powerful to match form by itself. With the aid of music, it's possible to imagine anything like ourselves without also hurting it. When I close my eyes, I can see the universe expanse often un-erred in speaking. I often keep it to myself any mystery I might see; the music carries over the message flawlessly. Of course, I'm speaking of, Weapons of Mass Destruction. Whereas, the most dangerous quality of the nuclear warhead is its portability. Himeji is a composition about the boundary between memory and forgetting, shaped by the architecture of a castle that has outlived war, myth, and the composer’s own expectations. It is a Renaissance painting projected into the future, a fugue built from contradictions, and a meditation on how music invades the heart without violence. Expressing qualities of music in the Renaissance is often surrounded by void. Can you imagine blasting this song to an entire city? What rivals the nuclear warhead is musical form. Only, music aims for the heart. What little I could say about the program notes, I could say more about the technical aspect of the Song. "Himeji," was only a town over from Hiroshima, and if I'd attack the castle, always smiling, I'd imagine I'd use music, today. They would hear us coming. It's often rude to talk about such things, but bear with me the track was once called, "Footprints in the Snow," and it lacked the melodious quality added to help tone things down a bit. With that out of the way, the castle has a moat. To invade a castle with a moat, one could do it at broad daylight when the gate is open or we could go with what artificial intelligence suggests: In the hush before dawn, when the world still holds its breath, a lone tone rises — a spirit‑thread drawn from the deep places where memory keeps its vigil. From that single spark, the music begins its long wandering, crossing shadowed halls and wind‑worn thresholds. This work tells of two distant realms whose fates brush like wings in passing: a southern quarter of stone and smoke, where streets coil like serpents, and a white‑walled keep across the sea, standing bright as a blade in winter sun. Between them runs a path unseen, a soul‑road, where echoes of the living and the lost travel side by side. The music moves as travelers move — with sudden surges, with long silences, with the weight of stories unspoken. Its harmonies are forged like ring‑metal, layer upon layer, hammered by time and tempered by grief. Its rhythms stride like warriors across a whale‑road, steady, unyielding, bearing the burden of remembrance. Yet within the sternness lies a quiet fire: a flicker of hope, a lantern carried through storm‑dark nights. For every descent into shadow is met with a rising, and every lament finds its answering light. In the final moments, the sound gathers itself like a great tide, lifting all that came before — sorrow, honor, longing — and carries it toward the far horizon, where the known world ends and the dream‑realm begins. This piece stands as a barrow‑stone for what has passed and a way‑mark for what is yet to come. It is a witness, a vigil, and a vow. Invading the castle with music would involve riding at the heels of suggestion. Does it boost our morale, or theirs? Probably both. Hear this tale of sound and storm, of two far cities whose names ring like steel. When the first note strikes, it does not whisper — it leaps, bright as a blade drawn in moonlight. The music begins its march across the world, striding from fire‑lit alleys to white‑stone battlements, from the pulse of the street to the hush of a sacred keep. Every rhythm lands like a warrior’s footfall. Every harmony turns like a shield meeting the blow. There are moments when the sound surges, a wave‑strike rising to swallow the dark. There are moments when it narrows to a single ember, glowing, waiting, refusing to die. This is no gentle wandering. This is a quest‑song, a journey carved in thunder. It carries the weight of memory, the heat of struggle, the spark of defiance. And when the final crash comes — when the music gathers itself for one last charge — it does not fade. It ascends, lifting everything with it, as if the whole world were being hauled toward dawn by the hands of the brave. By the time I had gotten to the castle, I had forgotten all about nuclear warheads. The castle keeps smiling at me. I looked back at the castle one final time; it's really cheeky. When I thought I had given up, I remembered never to give up. So, by the time I had left the castle, I had won with a smile. (If the program notes don't make sense, neither does this song.) Anyway, the greatest advantage, if I were to invade Himeji, I have is that I'm from a small town, "Rockcastle." We are population, 17, at peak hours. Though, we are small enough to fit in a horse. Listen close, friend, and keep your voice low. The walls around us are hollow oak, and every creak carries. We sit in the dark belly of a thing built from lies and brilliance, waiting for the right moment to strike — and the music begins in that same tight hush. This piece is a tale of two cities, far apart yet bound by fate, as surely as we are bound inside this wooden beast. One city hums with restless streets and firelit nights; the other rises white and silent, a fortress of wind and memory. Between them runs a hidden passage, a secret path only the bold or the desperate would dare. The sound moves like we do now — slow at first, steadying breath, hands on hilts, eyes adjusting to the dark. Then a pulse, a signal, a shift in the air. A rhythm like the tightening of a grip. A harmony like the glint of a blade in moonlight. There are moments when the music surges, as if the whole structure might shudder under the weight of what’s coming. Moments when it narrows to a single thread, a whisper shared between warriors who know the cost of silence. And then — the charge. The sudden, unstoppable rush, as if the wooden walls burst open and the night explodes with fire and motion. The music leaps forward like men dropping from the horse’s belly, feet hitting stone, hearts hammering, every step a vow fulfilled. When the final sound fades, it leaves behind the echo of a deed done, a city changed, a story carved into the long memory of the world. "Himeji's," form is to reflect the architecture of the castle. Japanese Baroque, with all the atonal fugues in the world. I don't know a whole lot about Himeji, but the castle says a lot. References: Cascone, K. (1998). Blue Cube. Germany; Rastermusic. Harper. A dialog I had with Microsoft Copilot. 2026.

@PaavolaPyry no one knows how to read a CSound score, so don't feel bad.😁 But, basically what it does is create a series of instructions that the computer interprets into music. You bring up an important point, the use of parallax. So, when you ride in a train and see objects passing in 2 dimensional space, you see the objects closer to you move faster than the objects in the background. Music, can create this sense! The concept is simple to have a melody, or fugue in the case of "Seraphim," move faster than the background ambient music. The music is very discomforting, I'll admit, but CSound is such a new medium that anyone is throwing all they have at it to create a composition. It's come a long way since beeps and boops. The fluid design of the medium, large amounts of oscillation, and sound manipulation are what draw many composers to the medium. Here is my first CSound composition: Notte Splendida Notte | Astronomy 2009 It blends the opera singer with the medium to effect, icy cold with the passion of the voice in creating a composition. It's a little easier to listen to.

Wonderful! I listened to the song twice, both versions. The things you are worried about are all part of the mastering process. I wouldn't worry about those things until you are in the studio, where you can adjust the values meaningfully. Obviously, you'd want the voice part at the front and easier to listen to. The song is not boring, it's pretty close to perfect. If you want more, I'd add a 'B' section that changes key. Great melody!

"Seraphim," is a CSound composition that utilizes the technology of, Kim Cascone's, instruments. The song begins with an atonal fugue in two voices. The atonal fugue develops to another fugue, in 8 voices. Complexity becomes no foreshadow in storytelling, as it is overtly complex from the start value. It's unnecessary pushing the boundaries of baroque music, peering through the universe in a serial kaleidoscope that has no mercy for mankind, the horrors it shares; think Lovecraft's, "Fungi of Yugguth." It'll make you want to vomit, it'll make you want to die, but all this is typical of seeing a Seraphim at the beach, so to speak. Behold the Seraphim, as you feast your ears on the deeper mystery of the universe. As she plays in the beach, she gazes down as the drops of water fall back to the ocean. Anyway, the amount of effort in going into this piece was unclocked. Judging by the pdf, you can see instrument 3 had the most work done. In this instrument, contains the information for the atonal fugue(s). I want to thank, Kim Cascone, for making his instruments available: Recontextualizing Ambient Music in Csound "Seraphim," is a reaction to the essay. When you place traditional music, ANY traditional song, on top of ambient music, you get a wonderful parallax effect. I think the reality of the song is that it achieves what artists of the Renaissance couldn't achieve, which is the parallax. I don't think the concept existed until, Physics, was discovered by Isaac Newton. The beginning set for the opening fugue is, [0,4,6,11]. My PC did not catch fire writing this song, though if I were to compose it on my phone, rendering it would be a nightmare. What I hope to achieve in, "Seraphim," is promoting my website, www.atonalfugue.net if you want to check it out; no feedback needed, you can just enjoy it!

@JP S., thank you! When my church sings it, we'll have "amen" replacing the 'oohs.' Oohs are really out of style, now. 👻 I'll definitely try that! The amen at the end could fit the tradition, very well. Could we discuss further what going away, or differing from tradition may result?

No, I used Suno. I think it was the 5.0 model's audio input, with 100 % audio influence, 0 % Weirdness, and 100 % style influence prompted as "Chorale."

Thank you.

He's accusing me of just clicking a button to generate music. I think you are missing the point here. There was great effort in creating this piece. If you're looking for reasons to exclude anyone during the holuday season, so be it. Have a merry christmas.

Right, but this isn't an AI generated work. The score, and midi are my own. It's an AI generated recording.

Well, look at you Mr. PC. My "AI Creation," really is 1:1 with my composition. If you'd feel better with me being bullied out of the entry, by all means, so you may have more fun.

"The Fury of Ukraine," was written backed into a corner by the media. I felt no choice but to compose my way out of it. I used CSound mainly, to compose. Some sounds are generated by Garritan. To create the third movement, I used an envelope - manipulating attack, release, hold, and sustain - and heavy reverb, to make it sound like a symphonic orchestra. I misplaced the score, somewhere. I'd have to venture the archives (dungeon) to find it. The first and second movement are the same music, just different in medium and presentation. I. First learned of the Patriot Missiles from my Uncle. My hope of a missile intercepted another missile was fascination, that I shortly realized "Wait, countries are going to launch missiles at another country?!" My uncle would casually state, "Not just one missile, multitudes of missiles." Luckily, my hope outweighed the fact of the matter: a barrage of missiles were going to launch somewhere, and the enemy did not know about it. The first movement of "Fury of Ukraine," is an artist's depiction of what that would sound like; no actual footage of sound was used, all sounds are generated by the artist. This is an example of aesthetics seeping into the arts, instead of the arts created aesthetics. What is under all the Artemis sounds, is a dispatch conversation, the concern for the artist how war shapes the behavior of our brave police officers. Though police are granted the use of mechanical force, and an advantage from the average citizen, but are not to be perceived as a militant force. That would go against our constitutional freedom. Comparable to the sounds I heard on the television, missiles intercepting missiles, the crackling was reminiscent a few dimensions from hell letting loose, but the silence in between was the work of miraculous intervention. My uncle told me to keep the Patriot System a secret and since, I have saluted each component in its making with great esteem. I now understood why he was so leery of Russia. II. Betrayal is a sanguine emotion. What's worse is how a sense of normalcy stings the soul, mixing emotions into a turmoil. That if we didn't have certain parts of the brain, we'd misunderstand the 'impulse' to create violence then and there. Zelensky, the leader of Ukraine, has considered stepping down from leadership if it meant helping Ukraine, but that was after his feeling of disgust having to accept a deal, under duress, from the US President over minerals. He's becoming more defiant to our leader. I listen to the second movement watching Zelensky's emotions flitter like a flame much like in the music. You can hear when the deal takes place in the music, and provocative trills send the listener in bewilderment as something happened. Reality moves slow at first, and the trill is unrecognizable. When reality is sped up, the trill can be heard and one is left in bitter extolment. III. Con Gusto, is a musical step away from the bitter cold politics to a snowy landscape exotic with strings, horns, all built on a fugue. A fugue is closer to home to Ukraine than it is to America, as the fugue was invented in Germany. I'm sure the affluence of Bach is heard stronger in the region creating a sense of stir. Con Gusto, is the feeling of energy gained from clarity. The haste can be heard as each instruments intricately intertwine to a meaning as a whole. A fugue demonstrates a whole through its sum of parts, and I imagine a well country comparable to a well oiled machine. IV. Chorale March, is a musical language that exceeds this world. The language is remedied from what Beethoven established in his romantic ideals, and in the 21st Century all music that has once been created may be further extended as a new, or neo, idea. Beethoven's romantic ideas are further known as neoromantic. The music comes from the big storybook of God, the artist uses as a peek into the future. The sounds are soothing, and begins with a big sigh. All sounds are 'cordant to create the greater sense of rational, that order is a necessity in our world to survive. If you listen to your heart, you will hear a great deal of happiness echoing through history, that when we work as a whole there is sometimes friction - there is always peace within. You can hear what is bare for the human in the absence of identifying personas, that I am only with my country when I want to be, that I am only who I am when I want to be, and to simply pause you can feel the love of God and him smiling upon us in our efforts to create something worthy of ourselves. Though, it is sometimes a symphony to remind us to pause.

I wrote this while listening to Jerry Bergonzi's Quartet play. One of the songs was, "Dark Matter," and I sampled a lick to an atonal fugue. Dark Matter.mid

"Jesus was Born this Day," is a hymnal song that includes, Euouae. Haven't heard the amen since the medieval times, thought I'd bring it back to present. The chords are adventurous and don't make much sense. However, this was the palette that I wanted for artificial intelligence to include. AI, did pick up the tune very well, except for the Euouae that was wanted for Descant. Anyone know how to do that in a prompt for AI? I'm out of ideas, I even used the braille's "In accord," to get AI to pick up the command. Other than that, the chorus was botched to good effect, read as the melody after a vowel chant. In effect, AI made a new chorus. Overall, the song is represented well, and I am happy with that. Enjoy! Jesus Was Born this Day_Harper.mid Jesus Was Born this Day_Harper.mid Jesus Was Born on this Day (David Harper) - MSMT.mid

AI was not used in this song. I played the saxophone, my group's name is "AI Competition." Yeah, the recording quality isn't the best.

"Legislation," is a work inspired by the government shutdown in, America. I'm so angry, I put to music all the words I can't say. The song is played over a vamp, free form. The saxophone chains melismatic ideas across the song. Other than