Wonders of Earth
Wonders of Earth, my new longest composition, is the next song in the Tower of the Planets OST (original soundtrack), to be used throughout floor 4: Earth. It’s a suite of three movements:
-Wonders of the World, the longest movement which I based the overall title on
-Race to Missouri, which seems like a random name but it makes sense in the tower
-Totality, to represent a solar eclipse, which I was inspired to compose after seeing the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, in totality. (in Missouri, hence the title of previous movement)
0:00 I. Wonders of the World
6:00 II. Race to Missouri
8:21 III. Totality
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Wonders of the World is the longest movement of the suite because it plays during the majority of the floor, where you visit the 7 Wonders of the World: Great Wall of China, Petra, Colosseum, Chichén Itzá, Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer. I chose to represent them by having the movement use a total of 7 different keys throughout. However, you may not notice the key changes because each one goes to a key next to it on the circle of fifths, meaning it changes to a key with only one note that’s different. The movement is marked “Adventurous!” and I think it makes for great background music as you visit each Wonder of the World.
Remember the use of 13/8 time in Timelock VI? Well here’s another goofy time signature: 10/8, in a 3+3+2+2 pattern. Now unlike 13/8, 10/8 has the same number of eighth notes (8) as 5/4 does, and in fact, I was originally going to make this be in 5/4. I debated for a long time whether to make the time signature be 5/4 or 10/8, because 5/4 looks less daunting, but 10/8 is technically more correct. Neither option would change how the rhythms would be notated, but I ultimately decided 10/8 for this reason: While trying to count it in 5 equal beats (“technically” what 5/4 time “should” be) is possible, it breaks up the melodies weirdly, compared to the 3+3+2+2 pattern I intended (which “technically” is 10/8). Those quotation marks of uncertainty was why it took me so long to decide. But 10/8 it is.
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Still not pleased with goofy time signatures, Race to Missouri, the next movement, is in 12/8. That might seem no better, but it actually is, because it’s intended to be counted as 4 beats per measure, each subdivided into triplets. That’s a lot more like 4/4 than the first movement was. The movement begins with ~45 seconds of long sustained chords, during which the player reads some messages on screen in the tower, building to measure 25 where the timer begins and the player has 90 seconds to get to Missouri for the solar eclipse. If you run out of time, your run ends, but hey, at least you got to listen to the whole movement, which also lasts 90 more seconds.
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Alright that’s enough goofy time signatures. Time for some easy 3/4, which the final movement, Totality, is in…mostly. This represents a total solar eclipse, and I was inspired to compose this after I had the chance to see the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, in totality (when the sun is fully blocked by the moon), in the U.S. state of Missouri. The movement is slow and mysterious, and in C minor for the majority of it, but ends with a glorious fortissimo ending in its relative major key of E♭ major but then changing last-minute to B♭ major (except I didn’t notate that key change because it’s only in the last 5 measures). Point is, I think this makes for a great conclusion to the suite.