Spa Music for the Modern Composer is an electroacoustic piece with a length of 11:06
minutes. In this piece I wanted to explore the Golden Ratio as a base for creating form, since
it was used in two of the pieces I analysed. The Golden Ratio is found also in pentagrams and
pentagons, Livio (2002) explains how they relate to each other like this:
The pentagram is also closely related to the regular pentagon–the plane figure
having five equal sides and equal angles (Figure 10). If you connect all the
vertices of the pentagon by diagonals, you obtain a pentagram. The diagonals
also form a smaller pentagon at the center, and the diagonals of this pentagon
form a pentagram and a yet smaller pentagon (Figure 10). This progression can
be continued ad infinitum, creating smaller and smaller pentagons and
pentagrams. (Livio, 2002, p. 35)
Figure 5.12: Figure 10 from The Golden Ratio (Livio, 2002, p. 34).
Livio (2002) described how the ratio between line a and line b is equal to the Golden Ratio
and that is true for b to c and so on. In my composition I don’t have the pentagram or
pentagon as an inspiration behind the composition. When composing following the Golden
Ratio you need to decide the duration of the piece from the beginning, otherwise you can’t
calculate where the different parts or sound objects should be. Being a metalhead and
pentagrams follow the Golden Ration I obviously choose 666, the number of the beast, to be
the duration of my piece, 666 seconds equals 11:06 minutes. Both the number 666 and
pentagrams are connected to Satan, a major reference in metal music.
Thereafter, I recorded various objects at home as a base for creating sound objects and
mesoform in the piece. When that was done, I created the form notation in scale where I could
see the Golden Ratio and all subdivisions and fractals of it.
Figure 5.13: Golden Ratio, subdivisions and fractals used in Spa Music for the Modern
Composer.
From there I started to create the macroform that I’ve made in two structural plains. The
highest plain consists of the A, B and A1 sections. Where my idea is that the B section would
be contrasting to the A sections. This scheme follows in the next structural plain of macroform
for the A sections, whereas the B section is divided in two parts. I worked with the method of
multiscale planning so some ideas of the mesoform were already there when I created the
macroform, also that after doing the macro and mesoform both form notation and music I
would go back and work on placing out extra sound objects where I intuitively, and in relation
to the Golden Ratio, would see fit for the composition. The figure shows some notes, different
concrete sounds that I can work with and a beginning of the work on the mesoform.
Figure 5.14: Documentation of form 2025-04-04 for Spa Music for the Modern Composer.
I completed the mesoform and then begun the work in Logic. I started by placing out markers
for the mesoform inside Logic for better orientation. When that was done, I started to place
the concrete sounds according to the mesoform, and then process, manipulate and shape them
to my liking in order of appearance. I chose to name the parts in the mesoform after the
concrete sounds from which they were made. That made more sense to me both when
composing and when looking at the form notation afterwards. In the returning A parts of the
second structural layer of macroform did I use a different order for the mesoform to create
more variation in the returning parts to keep the composition more interesting and surprising
but having the same macroform does keep the logic of the form still intact and coherent.
Figure 5.15: Documentation of form 2025-04-16 for Spa Music for the Modern Composer.
The next step of the compositional process was to consider where and what sound objects I
wanted to place out as extra spice for the piece. I was very satisfied with the Synthesis
soundscape A, so I wanted that to reappear in the composition. I went by intuition where I
wanted to place it. I did this by listening to the composition, then looked at the timecode in
the area where I wanted it, and then slightly adjusted it so it would fit to the Golden Ratio. I
placed that part in the D part once and two times in the A1 section. I didn’t place it during the
A section since I deemed it inappropriate to have it before it is properly introduced in the
composition. It wouldn’t be wrong to do so, but in this case, I preferred to not do that.
Figure 5.16: Documentation of form 2025-05-06 for Spa Music for the Modern Composer.
The story behind the name of the composition goes as follow. In a composition class with my
teacher Fredrik Högberg, he made the comment that everything felt very relaxed about the
music and its form. You could sense where the next part would come, that is generally not
good for a composition, but in this case he felt it was. To this, I jokingly replied that this
music would then be good for a spa facility, so I came up with the title in this situation.
Composing with the Golden Ratio as a base for balancing the form was something I found
overall to be positive. Once all the calculations were done, as seen in figure 5.10, the rest of
the compositional process was quick and easy, and this is definitely a method I will consider
using again, in both electroacoustic and acoustic pieces. The only negative experience was
when I was placing the concrete sounds in the mesoform in Logic, it kind of felt a bit too
much mechanical and uninspiring. But that feeling can be the result of being tired and
continuing pushing forward since the composition had to progress. Most of the time, I spent
doing that part of the compositional process I felt the opposite and had much joy playing
around creating and processing new sounds from the recorded concrete sound sources.
The final form of the piece (see fig. 5.17) has not changed from the documentation of form in
fig. 5.16, but some parts in the mesoform has been renamed to better fit with the sonic results
of the composition. The different parts of the mesoform labelled with Cardboard, Cardboard A
or Cardboard B has the same concrete sound source, but processed differently. This is also
true for the parts labelled Claps/lids A and Claps/lids B.