Matthew
Matthew is a Hearth Member of the Eden Invitation Community.
He is going into his fourth year in music education and loves playing, singing, and composing music. He is also an avid enjoyer of Dungeons and Dragons, a superfan of the show "Survivor," and a newbie fantasy writer. He has been a Catholic for as long as he can remember, and holds his faith as the central concern of his life.
This piece is called "Iridescent" (composition for Oboe and Piano, accompanied with written explanations of the movements)
"This piece was written about my journey of having an LGBTQ experience in the Church, but can broadly relate to anyone searching for God.
The beginning emphasizes childlike wonder and innocence in communion with God. However, when that innocence ends, when we start to see how many problems there are in the world, when we start to encounter desires that we are unsure whether God can fulfill, we can stray away in despair and frustration, trying many things to fill that hole in our hearts. However, God is always there to remind us to return to that place of childlike wonder and trust, to place our hearts in His, for in His heart our longings are made sweet.
I chose "Iridescent" as the title of this piece because, like the Mother of Pearl or the oil slick on the concrete, whose colors are only visible under light, only God's light can illuminate the beautiful rainbow of our experiences."
"Iridescent" is divided into four broad sections:
The opening "A" section uses the pentatonic scale, eventually blossoming into the major scale, evoking a sense of childlike innocence. However, at some point, the chords stop resolving as expected.
From here, in the "B" section, the “longing” theme enters, characterized by the ascending Major 7th. This interval has a strong tendency to resolve up by semitone; that's what it “should” do. However, throughout this entire section of the piece, it never does. The “longings” of the notes themselves remain unfulfilled. This starts off as a soft melancholy, but gradually becomes more and more atonal, building in frustration before ultimately collapsing in exhaustion.
The third section is an unstable cadenza, again prominently featuring the Major 7th. A few ideas are toyed with and tossed out, until the "A" theme returns, finally bringing resolution.
The final section is brisk and dance-like, combining both themes and couching the Major 7th interval in the bittersweet Major 7th chord. The piece ends softly with a piano arpeggio.
(Note: Outside of the cadenza, the piano part is an auto-generated MIDI track. Matthew shares: "I do not yet have the piano chops to play this piano part, unfortunately. Everything else is recorded and performed by me")