I do seem to be having something of a dry spell, in terms of blogging here. I have been quite busy!
I composed an anthem; it was sung during a church service on 27th September. The sheet music is available here and a MIDI file here; I don't yet have a suitable recording. The piece is dedicated to Rev Dr Catherine Dowland-Pillinger, on the occasion of her ordination to the priesthood of the Church of England, and the church service was the first Eucharist at which she presided. I'm very grateful to the vicar, music director and choir at St Mary's, Addington for allowing me to contribute in this way.
Closer to home, I've been rehearsing with a couple of other ex-Trinity students. Between us we play an eclectic variety of instruments and it has been good fun finding and adapting repertoire to suit our sound. We'll be playing this Sunday at the launch of the Roots and Remembrance exhibition at St Andrew's Church, Colworth Road, London, E11 1JD. The launch begins at 11.30am, after the annual Rememberance Sunday service.
Also at St Andrew's, I've been learning a bit of how to play the organ. It's a lot of fun, this making notes with my feet, but really very difficult to co-ordinate with my hands! I've also been doing some singing in the choir there. We will be having a Lessons & Carols service on 13th December, and welcome anyone interested in singing in our Community Choir to join us for rehearsals on Friday nights from 7pm.
On December 9th will be the annual London Gallery Quire Christmas concert, held as last year at St George's German Lutheran Church, 55 Alie Street, London E1 8EB. Do arrive 6.30pm for the 7pm start; tickets are £5 on the door. As well as the rare treat of listening to West Gallery music this is a good chance to see the inside of the oldest German church in Britain.
I almost forgot to mention the London Performance Collective lunchtime concert at St John's Notting Hill at 1pm this coming Thursday, 12th November. This concert of "Known, Visible Music" will include works by Bassi, Piazzolla and Whitlock, as well as yours truly playing the Haydn Divertimento a tre for horn, violin and 'cello.
It would be great to see some familiar faces!
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Finding the right words
One of the things I didn't have much time to do while I was doing my music degree was write music.
The majority of my composing so far has been choral work. It isn't a particularly vast majority, a handful of songs and anthems really. Sometime soon I'll get more of it up on a website.
Usually, I find a text that, on some level, seems to speak to me, and then set it, and then it sits in a drawer until I get it onto the computer, and then it doesn't get any further (really need to get that website sorted). But sometimes I have a specific occasion or person to write for, and need to find the right words.
At that point I really struggle. My knowledge of English poetry, particularly English poetry that is in the public domain, is rather poor. There's an awful lot of it to get through and I'll never manage to read it all. At one time I might have written the words myself, but it's been a long time since I wrote any poetry and I don't think I would be able to write something acceptable these days.
I'm dealing with this problem now. I keep going to the few poetry books I have and reading through them, searching for the right poem. The result? I bookmark tens or hundreds of pages as things I'd like to set someday but none of what I've found is appropriate for this particular project.
I think I probably need to do some sort of survey course in English poetry, or even choose a century per month and use my commuting time to get familiar with the major poets.
In the meantime, if you could have one text set as a choral work, what would it be?
The majority of my composing so far has been choral work. It isn't a particularly vast majority, a handful of songs and anthems really. Sometime soon I'll get more of it up on a website.
Usually, I find a text that, on some level, seems to speak to me, and then set it, and then it sits in a drawer until I get it onto the computer, and then it doesn't get any further (really need to get that website sorted). But sometimes I have a specific occasion or person to write for, and need to find the right words.
At that point I really struggle. My knowledge of English poetry, particularly English poetry that is in the public domain, is rather poor. There's an awful lot of it to get through and I'll never manage to read it all. At one time I might have written the words myself, but it's been a long time since I wrote any poetry and I don't think I would be able to write something acceptable these days.
I'm dealing with this problem now. I keep going to the few poetry books I have and reading through them, searching for the right poem. The result? I bookmark tens or hundreds of pages as things I'd like to set someday but none of what I've found is appropriate for this particular project.
I think I probably need to do some sort of survey course in English poetry, or even choose a century per month and use my commuting time to get familiar with the major poets.
In the meantime, if you could have one text set as a choral work, what would it be?
Saturday, 15 August 2009
The internet is full of shiny.
Via Chantblog, I found this webpage which takes Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier fugues and has an analysis and discussion for each. It uses Shockwave and I had to open it in Safari to get it to run properly but it is quite seriously shiny.
Over at Vimeo there is a video of Bobby McFerrin demonstrating "The Power of the Pentatonic Scale". As someone says in the comments, I'm not convinced this demonstrates a whole lot about the power or universality of the pentatonic scale per se but it made me grin from ear to ear. What a wonderful, physical demonstration of the way humans relate spatial distance to differences in pitch.
Thirdly, over at RockOm there is an article about music and saving the world. I think this should be required reading for music students.
Over at Vimeo there is a video of Bobby McFerrin demonstrating "The Power of the Pentatonic Scale". As someone says in the comments, I'm not convinced this demonstrates a whole lot about the power or universality of the pentatonic scale per se but it made me grin from ear to ear. What a wonderful, physical demonstration of the way humans relate spatial distance to differences in pitch.
Thirdly, over at RockOm there is an article about music and saving the world. I think this should be required reading for music students.
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Performance Collective Evening Concert
7.30pm Evening Concert
Tuesday 18th August
An Evening filled with music, wine and cake
* Rimsky-Korsakov - Flight of the Bumble Bee for bassoon and piano
* Otar Taktakishvili - Flute Sonata
* Handel - Sonata in G minor Op. 1 No. 6, violin and serpent
* Schumann - Fantasiestucke, Op. 12
* Beethoven - Trio - for flute, bassoon, and piano
Tickets: £10 (Conc. £6)
The Space (directions and map)
The London Performance Collective is a new ensemble which presents classical and modern music in new ways to help audiences to experience it afresh. We perform good music from all historical periods, but aim to present it in ways which open ears anew to its impact.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Results, moving on and settling in...
Where to start?
I got my degree. Specifically, I have been awarded a Bachelor of Music (Hons), Second Class Honours, Upper Division. In ordinary terms that's known as a 2:1 in the British system.
I had a celebratory recital on 10th July. I'm listening to a recording now, to try and make a CD to hand on to someone who couldn't be there. It's interesting... a note in the Mozart that I had pegged as 'always a bit sharp' is flat in both the exam and the recital. Clearly I should have recorded more of my practising for troubleshooting purposes. Overall, the recital went well and I think I played better than in the exam, so I'm very glad I did it. Also, there's little better than playing with friends and family for a large group of my friends and family.
I've also moved house. No more shall I wander along the Roman Road, at least not in order to get the bus to take me to Trinity in the mornings. The new house has a music room, which means I don't actually need to leave to practise. I don't need to book a room, either. This is most excellent. The house even came with a piano, which, although in need of some work, allows me to put off the expensive decision on buying one for myself, at least for a few more years.
So, I've been doing some practising, some small bits of composing, and rather a lot of packing and unpacking. In an unprecedented fit of being rather more organised than usual, most of my existing teaching schedule for the autumn is sorted out. I do need to find more students locally, but I also know it will take time to build up a class in this area.
The next few weeks bring a performance on 18th August (I'll play serpent and Anna will play violin), a trip to deepest darkest Somerset to unwind for a few days, and rather a lot of unpacking. I also need to start doing some arranging and transcription of popular works for horn, violin and 'cello, as it looks like a group of us are doing some of that. I also want to get going again on putting together a horn and organ concert, but I may need to wait a little longer and get some job applications out of the way, first. A website wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
In future summers I hope I'll be able to have a longer rest in August, but as so much is in transition and there are so many new starts, this one is turning out to be mostly one where I keep my head down.
How about you?
I got my degree. Specifically, I have been awarded a Bachelor of Music (Hons), Second Class Honours, Upper Division. In ordinary terms that's known as a 2:1 in the British system.
I had a celebratory recital on 10th July. I'm listening to a recording now, to try and make a CD to hand on to someone who couldn't be there. It's interesting... a note in the Mozart that I had pegged as 'always a bit sharp' is flat in both the exam and the recital. Clearly I should have recorded more of my practising for troubleshooting purposes. Overall, the recital went well and I think I played better than in the exam, so I'm very glad I did it. Also, there's little better than playing with friends and family for a large group of my friends and family.
I've also moved house. No more shall I wander along the Roman Road, at least not in order to get the bus to take me to Trinity in the mornings. The new house has a music room, which means I don't actually need to leave to practise. I don't need to book a room, either. This is most excellent. The house even came with a piano, which, although in need of some work, allows me to put off the expensive decision on buying one for myself, at least for a few more years.
So, I've been doing some practising, some small bits of composing, and rather a lot of packing and unpacking. In an unprecedented fit of being rather more organised than usual, most of my existing teaching schedule for the autumn is sorted out. I do need to find more students locally, but I also know it will take time to build up a class in this area.
The next few weeks bring a performance on 18th August (I'll play serpent and Anna will play violin), a trip to deepest darkest Somerset to unwind for a few days, and rather a lot of unpacking. I also need to start doing some arranging and transcription of popular works for horn, violin and 'cello, as it looks like a group of us are doing some of that. I also want to get going again on putting together a horn and organ concert, but I may need to wait a little longer and get some job applications out of the way, first. A website wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
In future summers I hope I'll be able to have a longer rest in August, but as so much is in transition and there are so many new starts, this one is turning out to be mostly one where I keep my head down.
How about you?
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Final stretch
Over a month since posting, again!
I have my end-of-degree recital on Tuesday next week. That's, er, a week from today.
Right now, it's all about the practising. And the programme notes... sadly I'm not allowed to have a ghost writer for my programme notes!
I'm hoping to get back to writing some more here when I have recovered from the recital.
I have my end-of-degree recital on Tuesday next week. That's, er, a week from today.
Right now, it's all about the practising. And the programme notes... sadly I'm not allowed to have a ghost writer for my programme notes!
I'm hoping to get back to writing some more here when I have recovered from the recital.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Concert diary
Some more performances coming up!
Tomorrow lunchtime I'll be singing at Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, London W1K 2PA.
Friday 8th May, 1pm
King William Singers
directed by Hilary Campbell
present a lunchtime concert of contemporary choral music.
Programme:
Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium
Brown o sapientia
Whitacre Water Night
Campbell the isle is full of noises
Whitacre Lux Aurumque
Weir Vertue
Campbell the hand that made us is divine
There will be a retiring collection for the CYM Library and for the Grosvenor Chapel Foundation.
----
On Sunday morning the London Gallery Quire will be singing Mattins at St Mary the Virgin Church in East Barnet. The service begins bright and early at 10am. I will be playing the serpent. I'm quite enjoying playing the serpent.
I haven't thought further ahead than that just now. I think there are Wind Orchestra things coming up at some point.
Tomorrow lunchtime I'll be singing at Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street, London W1K 2PA.
Friday 8th May, 1pm
King William Singers
directed by Hilary Campbell
present a lunchtime concert of contemporary choral music.
Programme:
Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium
Brown o sapientia
Whitacre Water Night
Campbell the isle is full of noises
Whitacre Lux Aurumque
Weir Vertue
Campbell the hand that made us is divine
There will be a retiring collection for the CYM Library and for the Grosvenor Chapel Foundation.
----
On Sunday morning the London Gallery Quire will be singing Mattins at St Mary the Virgin Church in East Barnet. The service begins bright and early at 10am. I will be playing the serpent. I'm quite enjoying playing the serpent.
I haven't thought further ahead than that just now. I think there are Wind Orchestra things coming up at some point.
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