10. Evaluation
Through the careful combination of the Japanese influences and Western theories, it was possible to produce a fully-formed and original composition that fulfils the original aims. The approach to harmony complements the Japanese influences by reflecting the extremes of colour and openness found in the traditional genres, while the orchestral textures emphasise the different moods. By tackling each objective in order, there was smooth progress towards the finished artefact, and the refinement at each stage allowed significant improvements to the piece’s structure and its technical accuracy. The Fantasia received positive reactions when played to staff and students, and their feedback was incorporated at various stages of the composition process. The main objectives will now be restated, and the level of success for each objective will be described.
Initial sketches / detailed sketches
These piano sketches were of key importance to the project, and they contained many of the creative ideas that would be developed in later stages. Although they were rough and not fully notated, they successfully provided a harmonic and melodic outline for the piece. The detailed sketches saw the addition of notated rhythms and further experimentation with the Japanese influences. These sketches were completed at an early stage in the project, which gave the maximum amount of time to work on the orchestration. The decision to notate the sketches in Sibelius made it easier to start the orchestration process, as the sections of the piano part could quickly be distributed to the other instruments.
Rough orchestration / refinement from compositional and performance perspectives
Orchestration was one of the more demanding objectives, as the scale of the instrumentation meant that many decisions had to be made as to which instruments to use for each phrase, and how to use them. A particular difficulty was achieving blends of tone colour within the orchestra, which is due to the enormous number of potential combinations of instruments (and notes). To achieve a coherent tone, the orchestration has been tailored to the strengths of each instrument (in terms of range, dexterity etc.), and the solo lines are effectively distributed, so that similar sections remain interesting due to varied instrumentation.
The Fantasia has been successfully refined over the course of several months. All of the details that were added to the score, such as articulation and phrasing, helped to bring about a dynamic result. The largest and most successful refinement was to rewrite the end section, which allowed many of the themes to be developed and combined, giving a more satisfying end to the composition. For a piece as long as the Fantasia, it was especially important to create a rewarding and memorable ending, which the original did not fully achieve. An important aspect was to ensure that the score was playable. This has been achieved by learning the capabilities of the instruments from studying instrumentation books, and by examining the scores of established composers.
Score finishing
Ensuring that the score has been presented to a very high standard was a time consuming aspect of the project. There are around three thousand expression markings/performance directions, and again over three thousand slurs/phrase markings, many of which were repositioned so that they did not overlap with other objects. In the past, it has been the job of a publicist to optimise the score layout, but computer programs, such as Sibelius, have made it more achievable for the composer to perform this stage themselves. Although this creates more work, it allows a professional looking score to be produced at reduced expense.
MIDI mock-up
The MIDI mock-up successfully provides a realistic representation of the score. The processes involved in the mock-up have allowed it to sound far better than a standard MIDI file, making it suitable for a showcase piece of work, which was desired in one of the original aims.