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Squeak Incantatum (Snowly's Music Festival Jam Album)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Composition | #1 | 4.750 | 4.750 |
| Correlation to theme | #2 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.458 | 4.458 |
| Quality | #2 | 4.667 | 4.667 |
| Creativity | #5 | 3.750 | 3.750 |
Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Theme
Correlation to theme
This is a character theme for the magical rat student, Squeak. This is a character theme that can also serve as the main theme for the imaginary game “Squeak Incantatum”. The added challenge that I selected for this track was to only use 3 instruments playing at any given time. I took great care to make sure that at any given time there were only 3 instrument tracks with instrument input at any time, which was a significant challenge to still allow the song to feel rich and magical. Thankfully I was able to take advantage of implied harmony and reverb tails to help flesh out the track without it sounding too empty. I included a zoomed in screenshot to prove that no more than 3 instruments overlap at any given time. To create the sound for the specific combination of theme elements, “rat”, “student”, and “magic”, I used a variety of specific compositional choices and techniques. I opted for high-register nasally instruments for most melodies, such as the clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and violin, and high percussive instruments using fast chromatic movement scattered throughout to represent the rat character, who is skittish and meek. For the magic sound, I included whimsical instruments including the celesta, harp, cello, clarinet, and oboe and used very colorful harmony that frequently uses borrowed modal chords and non-functional harmony to create a sense of magic and wonder. I also used the mixolydian mode with flavors of Lydian to create bright and surprising sounds, and I also meandered across several keys to keep a sense of unexpectedness which also adds to the magical quality of this track. These harmonic choices that sound like magic also inherently have a sense of curiosity which I think also represents the academic student aspect of the theme very well. In some sections I included ostinatos with a pedal note over changing chords with a driving momentum to represent Squeak’s ambition as a hard-working student. This was a very fun and challenging track to make. I hope you enjoy!
Challenge portal
Streaming service
https://soundcloud.com/user-639826435/squeaky-incantatum
Last words
I love the Halloween flavor of both of the characters - very well-designed! The added challenges were a great idea to help push me out of my comfort zone even further when making this track. Very fun! Thank you!
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Comments
Lovely work! As others have mentioned, the way you transition between instruments is so well done. The music sounds perfectly full and rich, I never would've guessed there were only 3 instruments playing at a time! There are a lot of things being portrayed really well here, but I personally loved the way you used small figurations with the marimba, it really captures the small, scurrying movement of small animals that I think is crucial for depicting characters like Squeak. Amazing job!
oh WOW, this is so magical and just pure beauty.
i love your instrumentation and overall whimsical feel of the entire piece.
thank you. i loved it.
bravo
The transition between the different instruments is remarkable. I think that if someone isn't aware of the challenge of reduction, they won't even notice. It's subtle, beautiful, and charming. You composed your theme with delicacy and mastery
I listened to it several times for the pleasure of being carried away by the beauty of the medieval theme and trying to hear the trio of instruments at every moment.
I think I will listen to it many more times for inspiration.
Thank you for this beautiful composition
It's so cute! As always, you manage to make it sound perfectly like "rat", "student" and "magic". The instruments, chord progressions, and melody all fits so well.
I interpreted the 'challenge of reduction' as using 3 instruments in total, not at any one time, but that makes a lot more sense! It gives much more room for creativity, and I am impressed to hear (and see!) the result. Looking at your DAW screenshot, you really did your best: a lot of quickly alternating instruments, and using the reverb to still get more than 3 instruments sounding at once (but still only 3 playing at once!). Really creative and good use of this limitation. And given your love for a large number of instruments, this must have been a very interesting and challenging song to make!
0:23 to 0:28 is really an interesting progression, really fitting a magical student vibe - it almost sounds straight outta Harry Potter or something. The harp, violin, and flutes really make this song fit so well. I've read your 'correlation to theme' and am now really curious what you did with all these progressions - all these "borrowed chords" and "Mixolydian flavors". I would never have guessed to use such things!
In short, a classical Blue Lava masterpiece! I'm glad these jams gave me the opportunity to hear some amazing composers at work again, definitely including you. I can't wait until the next time I'll see you again!
PS: Where's my mp3, I need to put this in my iTunes ;)
Thank you so much for letting me know that the mp3 didn’t get uploaded! That was a mistake. I sent it in the discord channel, but will also update the project page after the jam ends.
In any case, thank you for listening and commenting! I had to read the challenge a couple times to make sure my interpretation would work, but I think what I did fits within the “can’t have more than 3 instruments playing at the same time” challenge (hopefully).
When I write music that is primarily modal in nature, I like to refer to them as “flavors” because I find it really challenging to completely stay within the confines of a single mode and appropriately use subdominants/dominants/tonic correctly in terms of conventional harmony. In this track, I started with a vamp alternating between GMadd6 and Dmadd9 (I6 - v9) which felt like it had a magical and curious quality to it and gives a nice mixolydian sound with the F natural (b7). Then at 0:15 I use a little circle of fifths action moving from FM -> CM -> EbM -> BbM -> DM. On both the FM and EbM chords, the melody note lands on the #4 (B natural and A natural respectively) which is one of the spots where I introduced the lydian flavor. The D major doesn’t quite fit the mixolydian confines, but pulls back to the G really nicely. But instead of going to the GM again, I switched it up and moved to the relative minor for a Gm to DM (i - V) vamp which is the part that you suggested sounds like it comes from Harry Potter. While not a particularly unusual chord progression, I found that by using chromaticism overtop in the violin and bells/celesta, it has a really magical quality. Then at 0:27, I once again stepped out of the key I was in (Gminor) for a different flavor by using the major IV chord which is borrowed from the relative major key (and can also be interpreted as moving to a dorian progression) giving a Gm - CM (i - IV) vamp, creating an uplifting and whimsical quality. Then at 0:38, I wasn’t thinking so much about chords as I was about voice leading with the melody I thought of, but it turned into a progression that is something like Eb+ - EbM - Dm - BbM(?) - CM - FM - Gsus4 - GM which pulls into the climax at 0:48. In this section, I used strong harmonic motion and colorful chords to convey lots of emotion and it came out to be something like GMadd9&11 - CM/G - BbM#4/F - FM, then repeating the same progression after modulating to CMadd9&11 - FM - EbM#4/Bb - BbM - FM - Csus2 which then floats back to the beginning GMadd6 chord. The chords with the #4s use those notes in a relatively low range which gives that part, in my opinion, a very tasty crunch. I cheated a little bit trying to connect the loop by introducing the D and A from the V chord in the glockenspiel swell which makes the return to GM make sense, but also a nice plagal IV - I cadence also has a magical quality as well. I mixed them together so that the loop was not too surprising and I think it worked out.
Welp… now I just analyzed my entire track. I didn’t necessarily have all of this planned when I wrote it, I largely went based on the sound I wanted to achieve, but this is a nice framework for my interpretation of a “magical” harmonic structure, I guess. I suppose I’ll save this for later and maybe borrow elements of it again some time! Feel free to steal any of it if you want to use any of this in your music!
Wow, what an explanation! Thanks a lot for this :). I'm gonna take some time to read it for a second and third time to really grasp the points you make, but I am already happy that I understand most if not all that you say. Music theory for the win! Oh, and all the songs that I've heard so far which uses the 'challenge of reduction' use the same interpretation as you, so don't worry! It's me who interpreted it wrong ;). Thanks again :D
The tonal shift from last round is insane lol, love this! I find it insane this was made with only three instruments.
Thank you so much for listening! Well, I used more than 3 instruments, but never more than 3 at any one time. It was challenging because I often rely on way more than 3 instruments and this really made me think about what was absolutely necessary to get my idea across. Thank you again for the comment!
Blue Lava™️ Quality right there, great take on the reduction challenge!
5/5!
Thank you so much! It means a lot to know you listened and enjoyed it!
Wow, just wow. This is such a good character theme! Its so whimsical and magical and fits squeaks vibes so well, and you did this in only 3 instruments!?!?! I didn't even notice. Its so full. Bravo!!!!
Thank you so much! I used more than 3 instruments in total, but never more than 3 at one time! I appreciate you listening and leaving a comment!
Absolutely fantastic job. This rules, I don't have much more to say besides that I wish it was even longer.
Thank you so much! I procrastinated on this one and started and finished it much later than I wanted. So while I wish it was longer too, I am really happy with what I was able to finish!
Ain't no way I would have noticed that only 3 instruments play at once it is very rich!
I NEED to know what you used for the marimba because it sounds fantastic and I need to collect mallet instruments since they are my favorite.
It was a fun challenge because I wanted it to sound rich and that forced me to be very intentional with every note I used. I actually used a lot of Logic stock instruments for this track, including the marimba. I agree the sound was exactly what I was hoping for for this track. Thank you so much for listening and for the comment!