Similar to how I made Coronation, Stargazer began with a stream-of-consciousness-ish text.
The approach this time is slightly different. Whereas Coronation was taking themes or ideas of the text, turning them into motifs, and then developing from there – not necessarily considering the text itself anymore; Stargazer is a more text-to-music composition. That is, I mapped text to motifs and put them together. In this draft you see more clearly what I mean:
And now, referring to the finished piece, we see motif 1 and 2 at the beginning bars (albeit with the key changed and some slight variations):
Some text, such as “can you come” are repeated, so motif 3 there is repeated throughout the piece. Its repetition corresponds with the original text.
The motifs are often transformed when repeated. Below is an example of motif transformation, which is when the text “outskirts” appears in the text.
They are also not as long as the text. What that means is, as an example, even though “please” is only one word, its motif is as long as the one for “Can you come and go stargazing with me?”.
Overall, the piece is an abstract depiction of a nervous, stuttering thought. Chaotic and quick. These depictions are seen through the quick and often repeated passages, leaving little to no room for the saxophonist to breathe (at least not in a “discreet” manner). And of course, with musical depictions, often there is a degree of text painting or “symbolism” present. Some are higher notes for “stargazing”; quick notes for “please” to depict a nervous feeling. My favourite one (slightly on the nose but I like it regardless) however, is this for “Dipper”:
