Unicorn was written for Plus Minus Ensemble and lasts approximately five minutes. The reason for the title is that the structure reminds me of a unicorn. This is my first time composing a happy piece. I am influenced by the soundtrack of the anime Attack on Titan, but my piece is not as grand. In the process of composing the piece, I first wrote the notes in my notebook, and then I thought about how to change the
notes of each bar, make some changes, and see how they are different. For the whole piece, I also thought about some scenes. The first is the unicorn wandering alone in the forest entrance. He walked slowly into the forest, but walked a few steps and wandered for a while. He hesitated and didn’t know
what was in the forest. At the same time, he has some fantasies and expectations of his own, out of his curiosity, he still went go on. He went farther away, gradually lost in the forest, and finally never came out. The mood and atmosphere of the unicorn are not sad. I chose the A♭major for the piece, and added a lot of staccatos, so that the style of the whole piece is amoroso, because it’s a unicorn with a lively character, but it’s hesitant too. After the opening which has a calm mood, his melancholy heart appears in bar 139. However, it isn’t exactly as same as the beginning, and he’s always looking ahead. There is an endless ending, and I use a ritardando at the end to make the piece sound like the unicorn gradually disappears in the forest.
Recorded remotely by Plus-Minus Ensemble as part of a composition workshop at Bath Spa University
