It may seem like I haven’t been composing lately. Don’t you worry, I’ve just been composing things that are too difficult for me to record by myself. But I’ll try to scratch together a few recordings in the coming weeks.
The first is a two-part jazz tune, “Fight or Flight of the Bumblebee.” I came up with the title first and knew I had to compose song to go with it.
Of course, this is a nod to Rimsky-Korsakov’s classic “Flight of the Bumblebee.” But mine has a “Fight of the Bumblebee,” too. So it’s better.
The song starts with two trumpets locked in battle; you can almost hear the punches fly as they wrestle each other dominance. Then they buzz away in the form of a flute solo, flying away to new adventures.
A few musical notes: The trumpets sound so punchy because they’re constantly in dissonance with each other. I’ve taken the tension notes of the chords and smashed them together like a fist against nose. The flute flight part of the song is a non-stop chromatic melody that floats above the chords, but rarely touches down. My first draft had no place to breathe for 16 bars; I didn’t want any flutists dying on my watch, so I added a few places to catch a quick breath. You’re welcome.
