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Becky's Birthday
First Movement of the New Born Suite
Inspiration
My brave wife has had a difficult pregnancy and
labour but has delivered us the most wonderful little girl - Becky.
I wrote this piece to mark the occasion of her birth
and depict our roller-coaster ride of emotions during the days leading to her
birth.
Description
Becky's Birthday mp3, 3 mins 49 secs,
5,388KB - uncertainty and trepidation builds until unbridled joy gushes forth
(also reflecting Becky's feisty nature here), then happy, relieved, peace. After
the worry, the pain, the joy - we are left with the bliss of a beautiful
sleeping baby.
Composition
I had just completed the trailer to The Journey and had used a chord
progression which seemed to have a large number of possibilities. I started
writing the piece that was to become "Becky's Birthday" in order to explore some
of those possibilities. As I was doing so my feelings towards the birth of our
next baby kept invading. Instead of fighting it, I let them in and let the piece
evolve into a emotional portrait of what was going on inside my head.
Initially I had increasing and uncontrollable feelings of fear and foreboding.
My wife's previous labour had been excruciating and lasted four days - she
nearly lost. Now she was six years older and she was carrying a huge baby. It
was likely to be tough. The first part of the work reflects this increasing
concern and there are some sounds of "dreadful preparation" as I remember the
midwives preparing their instruments of torture. The middle part of the work
depicts the unbridled feelings of joy and relief that were to result once the
hardwork was done and everyone was declared healthy. In this section I
retained the same chord progression, but this time in the major, up'ed the tempo
a lot but kept the triple time. Both of the first two sections are complex in
their detail and epic. Thus signifying the life-changing nature of this episode
in our lives. The third and final section is simple by comparison. No complex
rhythms or textures. No counterpoint (only first species). Just simple harmony
and solo instruments and a simple line. Thus showing the contrast between epic
life-changing tests of character, and the blissfully intimate moments that
result: After the fear, the trauma, the agony, the relief, the joy - a baby
sleeps. |
