An Arabesque in C Sharp Minor

Daniel Duron 2020
House	Liberal Arts House
Advisor	Kate Hughes
Plans	RSU, Psychology
Advice	If it's hard, the reward is more fulfilling. If you have a skill or talent, pursue it, don't wait for tomorrow or next week. All the time you have is now. Years from now when you see your practice pay off is when you truly appreciate practice.
Type	Performance
Subject	Original composition
Discipline	Performing Arts

My project is a song that I've been working on since the beginning of September. It started out as a simple chord in a certain key signature and evolved greatly from that. I was able to see the pattern of notes that I wanted to use and worked on being able to hit those notes freely and quickly in the song. By the end of the song, my goal is to have the audience free of anxious thought and rather in a moment of peace with music.

How It Began

I originally started out with an idea to create a book about the physio-psychological impacts of music. But as time went on I kept gravitating towards piano and eventually decided to make a song on piano instead.

How It Changed

After deciding not to write the book, I felt more comfortable and natural making my capstone with a piano rather than a pencil. I started spending hours at the piano at home. Those three simple notes that gave me the idea for my song were being explored in all different ways I wanted it to go. Nothing got actually written down until I played it about 20+ times to make sure that's what I wanted to be written down. After it was finished, I looked over my music, and it's beautifully close to how I imagined it to be.

Reflection

Overall I've learned that I'm capable of writing sheet music. I've improved my playing skills and I've also greatly improved my sheet music skills. Knowing that I created this song makes me feel even more confident about the other works I will come to create in my life. I've also learned that getting better at music is also a disciplinary practice in patience.