Tom Bombadil Suite in Four "Old Forest" Movements - Original Music

[gkgyver 1,645]

Since I'm lazy, here the post I just made at ToRn:

 

Tom Bombadil Suite in Four "Old Forest" Movements - Original Music	Edit | Delete | Quote | Reply To This Post

 
Hey everybody! 

I'd like to share with you a project that developed in the past three months, and turned into something quite unexpected on my part.  
This January, I went on off time, due to burn out syndrome and panic attacks. I retreated to a nice ressort in the mountains for psychological recovery, and learned a few things about myself. 
To get my mind into the realm of pleasure, and pleasing my inner needs to express myself, I bought notation paper. I had not done lengthier and proper composing for a long time, and felt the inner fire to do so. I chose a subject so very close to my heart and soul, Tolkien. And in that realm, I always wanted to hear proper film music for the Old Forest and Bombadil, so I went for it.  
As it is my habit, and my character, I hear landscapes and characters in music, so I first started writing themes. The Most important ones that is: Bombadil, Goldberry, and the Old Forest itself. At first, I had no intention of doing all of the story. I didn't get the image of a mysterious Tom Bombadil in front of a fireplace, fondling the ring, out of my head. That was the very first thing I wrote. And for it, I needed a theme for Bombadil. I could not use any other theme for the mystery of the ring than Howard Shore's. Then, once I had that scene, I could not leave it standing on its own. I started writing a piece "The House Of Bombadil", around it. Of course, this required more themes. And I thought, if I do it anyway, I want to make this Sound as if it was an unused portion of the film's score, hidden deep in a vault. 
So, I went back to the FotR sheet music, which I had not done in forever, and absorbed a lot of Shore's approach to the elves, particulary Lorien, and nature, and how the score conveys that wonderful Bond between Mystery, awe, and nature. 
As it is also my habit, the pieces developed themselves while writing. Thank god for my iPad with installed Notion app, so I could work on the full score anywhere. 

And you know, while writing this one piece, I completely lost myself in ideas, themes, Sounds, mental Images of wonderful Scenes and dialogue, and decided to do a piece for the Old Forest portion as well. Then I added Crickhollow. Then the Barrow-downs. Six bars of a "Bombadil Theme" became 2 minutes. 2 minutes became 5, one piece became two, 5 minutes became 10, two pieces became four, and suddenly, I had 20 minutes of music on my iPad. I worked on all four back and forth, to add subtext, reinforce subtext, add references, add moments .... 

When I went home, I would listen to each piece every day, forgetting bars, meters, chords and so on, and evaluating it with the pure ears. When I heard things, I added them, or changed them. 
And while preparing the pieces for proper digital recording, they grew again, so that now, I'm proud to share with you over 25 minutes of an Old Forest Suite in four movements: 

I. The Old Forest: Crickhollow (5:09) 
II. The Old Forest: The Withywindle (5:56) 
III. The Old Forest: In The House Of Bombadil (6:57) 
IV. The Old Forest: Fog On The Barrow-downs (7:49) 

I will give you a Breakdown of themes, but I hope you will enjoy them as music first. I only give a few examples, the themes are used in various ways, and some returning music cannot be classified as themes, but rather associations. Also, I don't want to take away the joy of discovery. Short Passages of existing themes I don't think I need to point out, you'll see.  

The Awe Of The Forest: "The Withywindle" 0:22-0:33, 0:45-0:48 
The Treacherous Forest: "The Withywindle" 1:00-1:07 
The Lulling Forest: "The Withywindle" 1:57-2:12 
The Withywindle: "The Withywindle" 1:30-1:37 
Willow Man: "The Withywindle" 3:50-3:59 
Tom's Antics: "The Withywindle" 5:13-5:21 
Tom Bombadil/Goldberry Hybrid (Bombadils Song): "House Of Bombadil" 0:06-0:21 
Daughter of Water Lillies (Goldberry's Song): "House Of Bombadil" 1:00-1:22 
Tom Bombadil: "House Of Bombadil" 1:40-2:12 
Ancient Barrow-downs: "House Of Bombadil" 2:28-2:45 (chords) 
Eternal Renewal: "House of Bombadil" 4:28-4:45 
Barrow-Dwights: "Fog on the Barrow-downs" 1:11-1:30 
Cold Be Heart And Hand And Bone: "Fog on the Barrow-downs" 5:00-6:06 (Tuba Solo with Bass Clarinet, I can't record Voices of course) 

I hope you enjoy! (And bear in mind, I am no pro)
 

 

I will post a description of what music is for which moment later.

Forgot part II:

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ssa8KMVDA

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

You certainly have internalized the Shore Middle-Earth aesthetic.  You owe it to your music to continue polishing your mockup skills though.

[gkgyver 1,645]

If you have concrete suggestions, you can PM me.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Description for the Music as promised [In reply to]	Edit | Delete | Quote | Reply To This Post

Ok, here are story points for the Four pieces, it may make the listening a more interesting experience. 

Crickhollow: 

0:00-0:20 The hobbits arrive hastily at Crickhollow After being chased by the wraith, their doom still lingers in the music  
0:20-1:10 Frodo explains Gandalf set him on a mission. Ring and Gollum theme sound in the oboe as subtext, though laced with major chords, the peril is not yet clear to all of them 
1:10-2:00 Frodo speaks of the riders, where they may come from 
2:00-2:25 they argue about the dangerous journey, and that Frodo doesn't want his friends there 
2:25-3:00 they speak about having to pass through the old forest. The Withywindle and Old Forest theme sounds for the first time, but in major. Merry and Pippin want to come 
3:00-3:35 Frodo is Glad, and they convince him 
3:37-4:03 Frodo can't sleep, hears noises, afraid of the rider  
4:03-end Frodo dreams of a high tower and the sea. Journey Back sounds in fragments.

The Withywindle: 

0:00-0:12 They approach the hedge, Shire theme in low registers, this is a treacherous part of the Shire. 
0:12-0:22 they pass through the hedge  
0:22-0:54 they gaze at the forest with awe, slowly begin to press forward 
0:54-1:47 the journey begins, changing between being afraid, and jovial chatting 
1:48-1:55 they come to the Open area in the forest, it spooks them. 
1:55-2:37 journey Takes a darker turn 
2:37-3:08 they arrive at the shores of the Withywindle. It's a gorgeous view at first  
3:10-3:50 they smell something in the air, the Feet and eyes become tired  
3:50-3:59 the old willow comes into play  
3:59-4:27 the Willow's lullaby based on its theme introduced before on trombone. Frodo faints. 
4:28-5:00 Frodo and Sam in panic try to free Merry and Pippin from the willow 
5:01-5:13 they hear singing in the distance  
5:13-5:21 Bombadil arrives  
5:21-end Bombadil commands the willow. Intentional nod to the same moment with Treebeard in Two Towers

 

 

The House Of Bombadil:

 

0:00-0:20 Bombadil leads them to his House, Bombadil's song 

0:21-0:31 Bombadil's house reveal. Inversion of nature theme in major 

0:31-0:59 The hobbits carefully enter the house, enter the main room 

1:00-1:21 Goldberry reveal, the melody is part of her song ("Let the song begin, let us sing together, of sun, stars, moon, and Mist, rain, and cloudy weather ")

1:22-1:37 Bombadil shows them around

1:40-2:12 Bombadil speaks of himself

2:13-3:12 Bombadil first speaks of Goldberry, River daughter, then of the Barrow-downs, and finally, hints at the Ring. Frodo hands it to him

3:13-3:24 Bombadil fondles the ring, there is tension

3:25-3:37 he slowly slides it on his finger 

3:38-3:59 Tom does not disappear, the seduction theme cries shortly in the violins, then calms down. Goldberry's theme sounds tellingly in the harp as she smiles.

3:59-4:26 the Ring theme interacts with Bombadil's song in the violins. Tom calms the hobbits down

4:27-5:25  Tom tells stories about ancient times in this land, and how evil will always at some point replaced by good

5:26-5:44 Frodo lies in bed, looks out the window, sees the dark forest, a choral rendition of the willow theme sounds 

5:45-6:04 the feeling of comfort takes over, Frodo dreams 

6:04-end they spend a day or two in the house, collage of moments. The first pitches of Ring and Mordor theme sound, in combination with the Forest and finally Mordor's theme, it overtakes Frodo's mind again.

 

[SafeUnderHill 205]

[gkgyver 1,645]

0:00-0:42 Frodo Hears Goldberry's singing 

0:42-1:08 Bombadil says goodbye

1:08-1:30 warns them of the barrow-downs 

1:30-1:53 Journey goes on down the path 

1:54-2:29 Goldberry appears on a hill as an ominous figure, raises her hand for farewell 

2:30-2:48 Goldberry points at the land before them, a touch of melancholy and acient history 

2:49-3:22 they ride past big stony landmarks, a creepy feeling

3:22-3:38 a veil of fog draws near

3:38-3:53 Frodo loses his friends, they disappear in the mist, he sees a creature running 

3:54-4:15 Frodo panicks, and rides on, the pony falls, Frodo faints 

4:17-4:45 Frodo awakes in the Wight's chamber

4:46-4:59 a cold, pale hand appears

5:00-6:08 Wight sings Cold Be Heart and Hand and Bone 

6:09-6:22 Frodo stirs, takes the sword 

6:22-6:42 recites Bombadil's rescue poem, strikes 

6:44-6:58 daylight strikes the chamber, Tom's singing penetrates the darkness 

6:59-7:08 Tom's head appears

7:09-end Hobbits journey to the edge of the forest, talk about arriving at Bree

 

ideally, this segues into their movie arrival at the gate.