Tim DeSimone

MUS 150
September 18, 2017

Next County Over

Graphically Inspired Music

This piece of music was not designed to be enjoyed. While I could have chosen to include
well-put-together harmonies or aurally pleasing melodies, I wished instead to directly reflect the
image I had chosen.

This graphic shows how poverty rates differ by county across the state of Virginia. The
lightly shaded regions are more wealthy, and have less citizens in poverty. The darker shaded
regions are in clear distress, harboring poverty rates above 20%, or 1/5 of their people. I tried to
reflect this in my music with a story of sorts. Borrowing the trumpet chorale from my earlier
work, Eagle Hall, I attempted to twist the melody to reflect that the glamour we often admire
is not representative of an entire product, in this case, the state of Virginia.

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 The chorale was supposed to be the wealthy regions of the state. It is clean, inspiring, and
royal. This is not much different than a first impression one might have when visiting Virginia. If
traveling through DC, all you see is the best Virginia has to offer. All the wealth, power, and
majesty.
As you travel down the state, you begin to uncover the areas we hide, the places we dont
talk about. To reflect these areas I introduced an ominous bass line and drum kit. A stark 180
from the chorale I opened with, I believe the music invokes feelings of uncertainty, and dread.
Injected into this loop are short blasts from the intro to the chorale. Like the poorer areas of
Virginia, is is splashed with some hints at that wealth. Small memories that perhaps point to a
more prosperous time in that community's history.
The short bursts quickly turn dark, going down in pitch. I chose to include this to represent
the resentment some people have for the wealthy elite. The wealth is not well distributed, and can
quickly divide the areas that need it most.
The most stressful point of the song is a hard-line guitar solo that grabs the immediate
attention of the listener. Representative of the poorest and most destitute areas, it battles the
chorale for command of the piece. The conversation is a shouting match, much like the politics
we entertain today.
The piece ends unresolved. It fades to silence, and never returns to that first impressive
chorale. One that sees this graph shouldnt leave with the same optimism and pride that they
arrived with. There is a problem to be solved, and its our job to listen.

The software I used was Soundtrap. Soundtrap had a relatively simple interface, but lacked
a depth that I would have enjoyed. The loops were too large, and not as customizable as I had
hoped. I mean too large in the sense that often a full cycle or loop was longer than I needed or
wanted. I could clip, but it never clipped clean (example: the end of my piece). It was similar to
Garage Band, which Im familiar with, which is perhaps why I missed some of the depth Im
used to.
I believe Soundtrap would be most appropriate at the Middle School level. It is simple
enough, but has some features that can be turned into lessons (pitch, instruments). It costs money
to unlock all the features, which isnt too far from the norm, but the options for loops were still

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unimpressive, and not very diverse. As well, the system of dragging and placing blocks didnt
often work as Id hoped. It was a challenge to line them up on offbeats or start-to-end.
The vision of musicianship will vary by user. It is simple enough, and takes almost no time
to start making music. As well, the loops are designed to complement each other most of the time
(similar rhythms, styles, etc.). For a beginner musician, it shows that music is created through
experimentation, and pattern. Which really isnt that far from the truth.

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