The Sea Withdrew is the 43rd song in my Free Background Music series. It is a quiet and gentle piano instrumental that switches between major and minor keys. The song was played on Korg M50 Synth. The composition was inspired by all the problems we have been facing during 2020. It has a sad and somber feel, but includes key changes to major keys in order to show a feeling of hope. The song starts in the key of C minor and ends in C major.
Read More »Here is the latest addition to the Free Background Music Series. This beautiful piano instrumental is composed and and performed by Jessica Yip. This is a beautiful piano instrumental is a gentle piano song that is suitable for use as a soundtrack for touching, tranquil or nostalgic scenes. As the title suggests, the scene she had in mind when composing the song was a setting deep underwater.
Read More »Here is the 35th song in our Free Background Music series—Broken. It is a gentle and melancholy minimalist piano ballad about the unexpected end of a friendship. For this video, I collaborated with Lee Chan, who choreographed and performed the ballet, and Kate Kwok, who arranged and performed the song.
The mood of the piece is melancholy. The song is influenced by classical minuets and has the ABA structure and 3/4 time signature associated with that form. However, the arrangement is rather sparse and minimalist in style, giving the song a more contemporary feel. This song is about the sudden and unexpected end of a friendship.
Duration: 3:17
Read More »Echoes & Fragments is the 30th song in the Free Background Music series. It is a gentle and minimalist synth-piano song (performed on a Korg M50 synthesizer and recorded using Cakewalk’s Sonar Home Studio). The name of the song is about memory. As I get older, long-term memories fragment and slip away; sometimes they resurface, bubbling up from the boundless sea of time; sometimes they simply sink and are never seen again. For many memories, I am unsure whether I am remembering the actual event or remembering a story that I once told or that someone once told me. Do I remember the house I grew up or do I simply remember its image from photographs? It seems that a lot of what I call ‘memories’ are merely faint and distant echoes.
The video features public domain footage from NASA.
Duration: 3:00
Tempo: Around 70 bpm
The song was written in memory of a former student of mine who passed away from a stroke at the age of 21. It was a way of expressing my feelings. because it is requiem inspired by a such sad event, I wrote it in a major key (otherwise it would probably be unbearably melancholic). The light arrangement (with high notes on the piano and bells) is meant to convey her lively, but gently demeanor. The final verse is purposefully cut short and left unresolved. It was recorded using a Korg M50 synthesizer.
Elegy is the 17th song in the Free Background Music series.
Tempo: 77 bpm
Duration: 4:53
Longzijun 