The sky at witching hour

The Sky at Witching Hour (computer music) Stephen Weigel (b. 1993)

Instrumentation Manipulated sound files

Software used ProTools 11 Cecilia Soundhack Spear

Duration 5:22

Dates of Composition September 28, 2015 – November 10, 2015

About the Work When working with this piece, conceptual ideas were abandoned.

Contrasting, yet similar, sounds were used to generate interest and bring helpful and recognizable repetition into the piece. The piece also has

several 'pitched moments' where bell noises and wind chimes are played.

The brief glimpses of pitch bring contrast to the texture and its material, as normally; a piece like this is not punctuated with so many pitched moments within the gestures. Three sounds are used to create this piece: Crackling fire, Wind chimes, and a Bell.

The Graphic Score The medium used to color the score was multi-medium paper, and Sharpie markers with fine tips. The axes are time, for the x-axis, and a combination of volume and pitch for the y-axis. The sounds were simultaneously ordered from low to high, and bigger sounds were made louder, meaning that compromises had to be made at times. As for the color, a lot of it was subjective. Listening to the music over and over again, it seemed that certain colors kept cropping up in the mind. Generally, red, orange, and brown are used for fiery sounds. Blues, yellows, and greens are used for wind. Other purples, pinks, and greens often appear in the pitched moments. Extremely dark colors are meant to be intense and vice versa.

Some symbols are retained, such as the note head for pitch. Continuous lines refer to ambience, and clearly defined shapes refer to recognizable hits.