A composing day – writing a cello duet
These are my favourite sort of days. Days when I just get to write music. Today’s task: a cello duet. Been sketching out ideas for a couple of weeks on and off, but today I have been piecing them together. Not quite there with it yet though!
It’s frustrating when you have so many ideas that you just want to splurge them all out onto the paper, but you are restrained by the physical impossibility of writing it all at once.
Time for a cup of tea, I think.
Ironbridge…
I’m in the middle of a project with some schools in Telford along with Richard Shrewsbury based around the Ironbridge Gorge. We’re writing songs (loosely ‘folk songs’) based on the stories of some of the people who lived and worked there during the industrial revolution. So it was a great opportunity for Beth and I to go and do some research over the Easter weekend! Daytrip!
Ironbridge is an amazing place – beautiful and full of history. (even on an overcast miserable day!)
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Video clips from The Selfish Giant
Here is the promo video of extracts of The Selfish Giant performed by Springs Dance Company, the family show for which I wrote the soundtrack. You can hear the audience laughing which is great! The video is taken from last autumn’s UK tour. Unfortunately my favourite section hasn’t made the cut for the extracts video… but maybe you can go and see it if it comes to a theatre near you!
A Compromising Composer?
A couple of weeks ago I was hanging around at work when I happened to get into a brief conversation with one of the players. He was rehearsing for BCMG‘s concert that evening and was playing in Gérard Grisey’s Quatre Chants pour franchir le seuil. I asked him how things were going and he said something along these lines (I paraphrase) – I know it’s a very important piece, but it is an effort for me to practice it. It’s difficult to play, and doesn’t sound nice. Nevertheless, he implied that he was glad to be performing the piece.
Now if you have heard the Grisey, you can well imagine that the sole player practising in their own time, would have trouble motivating themselves to repeatedly practice what could possibly sound pretty horrendous. However, as an ensemble, the piece sounds fantastic.
The thing is, I know that this particular player had in fact practised and is dedicated enough to the music to put the effort in to perform things correctly because he sees the vision and can consider the bigger picture of the whole piece. But what happens if you have performers who aren’t that dedicated? The Grisey performance could have been a disaster. (It wasn’t – it was fantastic!)
So: should composers consider what performers want to play? Should composers think about what the performer will have to go through to practice the piece? What if the performer doesn’t see the bigger picture of the whole ensemble performance? Should the composer write music assuming that all players will be dedicated enough?
Should the composer just push through with his overall vision for the piece without considering the needs of the individual performer?
Does the composer need to compromise on his music in order to get the best out of the performers?
Grisey certainly didn’t… but should he have?
For those of you who are missing Christmas…
…here is a piece by one of my young piano students to brighten your day!
Mirran found the words to this song in a Christmas carol book so she decided to write a melody for it. (With no help at all from me).
Here she is singing ‘How Far is it to Bethlehem‘ and playing the piano. (Her mum is also singing).
I am impressed at the harmonic structure of the piece! Not bad for an 8 year old!
Early Learning Centre helping me to compose…
Writing a piece for children has given me a great excuse to crack out the Early Learning Centre felt pens and scribble random thoughts over A3 sheets of paper…
A great new photo from Springs Dance Company
Here’s a fantastic photo from the Selfish Giant tour! It still amazes me that they are dancing to MY music!!! I love the way the giant is reacting!
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Update to Projections review
Just a quick post about my comments regarding the projections concert performance of Morton Feldman’s Projections II.
Following my review I did receive a very pleasant and measured email from the aforementioned conductor who wished to explain a few of the reasons for the performance problems. Due to our wonderful railway network, the scheduled rehearsal did not happen and the rehearsal on the day was unfortunately not as detailed as the conductor would wish. Additionally the electric piano was a barrier to the sonority of the piece, and of course this was not the conductor’s fault.
As a mere audience member, these issues were of course not in my thinking. I merely reviewed based on what I saw and heard. To be fair, I’ve participated in/organised my fair share of under-rehearsed concerts as well so I can’t be too critical!
I’d like to thank the conductor for contacting me and explaining the problems whilst admitting that the performance was disappointing.
Perhaps a repeat performance could happen…? Or is that just because I think we should hear more Feldman…!
Review: ‘Projections’ at The Old Joint Stock Theatre, 24 Nov
This was a brief encounter with a variety of contemporary music for flute (and additional ensemble in places) which took place at the Old Joint Stock Theatre in the centre of Birmingham – an intimate theatre venue, with an un-resonant cardboard-box-like acoustic.
Organised by Kirsty Devaney, the concert featured music from established composers such as Morton Feldman and Toru Takemitsu to student composers such as Daniel-Lewis Fardon. Interestingly, Kirsty herself was featured as a performer (flute) rather than a composer.
One interesting piece was Border Towns of Central Europe by Joe Cutler, scored for Alto Flute and Bass Clarinet. The performance of this under-stated yet striking piece, well-executed by Kate Birtles (fl.) and Jack McNeil (cl.), finished with a beautiful duet in inversion.
Honami by Wil Offermans was also an attention-grabbing piece, an instance of extended techniques being integral to the aesthetic of the piece rather than a peripheral add-on for the sake of ‘being contemporary’. In fact, there was a beautiful, breathy melodic line which flowed through the piece.
On the down-side, the performance of Projections II by Morton Feldman did not manage to convey the delicate balance of the music but seemed dogged by worried ‘I’m-not-sure-where-I-am’ glances, which remained unreassured by the resolute-yet-unispired time-keeping of the conductor. Ah well, you win some you lose some!
All in all, a pretty decent concert, and it’s great to have some contemporary music happening in the city centre on a Tuesday evening! Shame we weren’t allowed to take drinks in to the theatre though!
Recent goings on – BCMG, Soundbeam, Katya Kabanova…
This week I started back at BCMG doing maternity cover for the Learning Co-ordinator post. It’s great to be back at BCMG and I am enjoying the challenge that my new role is bringing! My brain is filling up with scheduling, budgets, safeguarding etc etc…
I’ve also recently being shadowing Richard Shrewsbury doing primary school workshops in the Telford area. We’ve been experimenting with Soundbeam which has been great fun. The children in the workshops have really loved using it (as have I, although it does have its frustrations!) For those who don’t know, Soundbeam uses up to four ultrasonic sensors as well as footswitches to trigger sounds which get played through speakers. It means that users can create music with their movements by cutting through the beams. Great fun! Although the ultrasonic sensors make a really irritating buzz…
I’ll hopefully have a bit of news to share in a couple of weeks about work in Telford, so watch this space…!
Last night I went to see Welsh National Opera perform Janacek’s Katya Kabanova at Birmingham Hippodrome which is a beautifully written opera with a heart-wrenchingly sad ending. I thought the staging of it was really neat, opening out and closing in depending on the scene. This evening was also the first evening in a ‘cultural exchange’ I am doing with one of my friends – I take him to opera, and he is taking me to a Krav Maga self-defence class… for which he has bought a groin guard (need I say more?). Anyway, he really enjoyed it which is ace – I must say we were both glad of the surtitles as our knowledge of Czech is limited…
