The Tortoise & the Hare
Hare Motif
Tortoise Motif
Beginning
Middle
End
General
The Hare is a fast paced animal and in the theme we should be able to see/hear this. The hare additionally also needs to be represented by an instrument that both captures the high pace of the hare while still keeping a sense of grace as the hare is light and swift.
When I first started thinking about what instrument I should use I came up with strings. Strings can be played in a lot of different ways and can rightfully thus capture a wide variety of characters. When I further delved into the world of strings I came across the ukulele. The ukulele was a instrument that could bring a wide variation of emotions which I need in this story. From sadness, glee, anger and rush, the ukulele captured it all. In the beginning of the story the hare is normal paced but still in a way higher tempo than the tortoise. The hare is represented by a gleeful but slightly cocky strumming pattern that gives the listener a general impression of the Hare.
In the Middle of the story the hare falls asleep and thus the motif will be slower to the point where the strumming is soft and gentle. Also the chords used for this passage are very flowing and feel natural to listen to, delivering a pleasurable passage to listen to.
In the end of the story the hare has to rush thus this is where I had to really strain the ukulele itself to provide a hectic and noisy ending which had random chords used. In all this hectic mess I also tried to provide a feeling of stress and anger.
General
Beginning
Middle
End
The tortoise is generally a very slow and boring animal. Even though I wanted to give a slow impression, it did not mean that I would make it hectic, It was essential for me to keep a very wise and steady tone to my tortoise motif. To find an instrument that was really fitting for the tortoise I was directly focused of wind instruments. Wind instruments could provide me with the low chords that I needed while still sounding good. I ended up choosing the french horn. Even though everything seemed set, there was one major problem, It was boring, thus to add a little more excitement and colour to the tortoise, I decided to add drums. The drums could provide a low steady beat together with the crashing of symbols to hype up the tortoise.
In the beginning of the tortoise we get introduced to a steady repetitive ensemble of chords together with a small drumbeat to represent the tortoise. But I wanted to add a sense that the tortoise is no match for the hare thus I made the hare overwhelming and gradually more effective as in this part of the story the hare is cocky and irrational.
During the middle part the tortoise moves along with a 2 chord passage that shows the boringness of his journey compared to the ups and downs of the hares journey.
In the end we finally get to see a more exciting side of the hare as we can experience a happy and gleeful tortoise through the crashing of symbols together with the trustworthy tortoise passage.
Tortoise and the hare
The tortoise and the hare is a story about how you should never underestimate your competitors and definitely should never overestimate yourself as this can lead to hardships and only sorrow to your life. Even though the Hare was the fastest animal in the forest, his ups and downs were nothing compared to the steady tortoise. I have chosen this story because together with it's message it is a rather structured story that provides me with a basic understanding of what I need to do to achieve success in bringing it to life. I have also chosen this story as a challenge as the hare is very emotional and to put it all in music is something that is not easy to do. I believe that through my analysations of these characters and instruments, I have succeeded to a certain degree to create this music. Even though I feel that my music was successful to a certain degree, I still do not feel that I have reached my full potential, I feel that I could has truly created a in depth character through music. Sadly due to the loss of my progress halfway the project I did not achieve this goal and would like to set it for the next opportunity that I get.