One Creative Thing » composition

Piece underway

minim — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:48:31 +0000

Well, actually, it’s been underway for a while – I just haven’t been posting. Things got a little overwhelming there for a bit, culminating in the recent death of djelibeybi’s uncle, which rather hit me for six, but I’m gradually clawing back to what reality ought to be rather than what it actually is. The piece I’m working on is for 5 flexible wind instruments (flexible instrumentation, that is, not bendy flutes!) and piano, which I hope may prove suitable for this year’s London New Wind Festival. I’ve been reading a bunch of Kandinsky books for it, which have been mostly interesting (the beginning of Concerning the Spiritual in Art did seem to rather rate the term ‘twaddle’ though) – not entirely sure how they’re relating yet, if at all, but one has to start somewhere.

Had an idea for a perpetual motion piece

minim — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:11:39 +0000

Thinking about writing something which uses the geolocation features of something like the iPhone to drive the playback and construction of a piece. Think it might work – need to do some more research though.

More work on the Poe piece

minim — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:42:57 +0000

The choral piece is galloping along. I feel like I’ll probably come back around and thicken up the textures at the start a little. But it’s taking shape and I’m three lines in (out of 11) so I’m quite pleased really. Reusing the initial idea I think works well, rather than having it all stream of consciousness. A certain amount of repetition works for the subject matter – the closest thing in sound to silence, I think, is repetition. Or possibly a drone, but the drone is just repetition stuck together, really, innit?

Made a start on the new choral piece

minim — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:43:20 +0000

And yes, the Poe is the winner, with a few cuts and quite a few repeated phrases. A nice solid start, at least, with some ideas for continuing.

Finished the Whitman songs

minim — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:57:25 +0000

and the ex-interlude-that-became-a-piano-egg, too! Also started a serious hunt for text for a new choral piece.

Started hunting for a song text

minim — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:08:39 +0000

for the choral piece that’s to be my project to begin this weekend. I’m thinking a psalm, but using both Latin and English versions, mixed up together.

Read the first chapter of the new harmony book

minim — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:01:36 +0000

I was a little alarmed, I must say, to find that I actually learnt something (or rather, corrected some misinformation I had somehow picked up) even from the scarily basic first chapter. But this is A Good Thing, I think. Looking forward to chapter 2 now.

Bought a harmony book!

minim — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:29:00 +0000

Well not just harmony – Jane Piper Clendinning & Elizabeth West Marvin’s The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis to be precise. (And not just a book either – a book, 3 CDs plus anthology of scores.) It’s sort of a jaunt from ‘this is a treble clef’ through harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, form and so on all the way through to ‘this is total serialism and how to write it’. So it’s not like a traditional harmony text, like the dreaded Aldwell & Schachter I had at uni and kept on my shelf for years (now in a box in storage, although I nearly brought it with me – decided to bring Adler on Orchestration instead, which was a sensible move) in the hopes that the data inside it would somehow seep into me like damp without my having to actually open it. I like the look of this new one because it’s not just endless chords, it’s looking at all the elements of musical theory, putting them into context with one another and with recordings and scores of real music. All in all, it feels more composery and less dry. It’s structured as a series of graded lessons, which I’m hoping will make it easier for me to create and stick to a programme of self-guided learning. And best of all, it’s the first step to overcoming a fear I’ve had since first-year uni. The day I understand about Neapolitan 6ths will be the day I conquer that fear entirely. Bring it on!

Queried friends about harmony texts

minim — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:18:43 +0000

So now I have a short list of two books to have a look at: The Musician’s Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Clendinning, and Stephan Kostka’s book on harmony which sounds more like a traditional harmony text. Very excited to be getting this project underway!

Deleted the whole interlude

minim — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:29:42 +0000

… and wrote a new one. In under an hour. the set is fitting together much better now. think it’s very nearly done…