One Creative Thing » music

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.

Played my flute for a little…

minim — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:58:57 +0000

and thought about my sheet-music shopping list: thinking Telemann solo Fantasias, Poulenc Sonata, Chaminade Concertino, the Roussel Jouers de flute – and maybe a little Bach? That ought to keep me occupied for a while

Oh and I cleared a hole in my to-do list too – no more overdues!!

Borrowed some flute music

minim — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:45:32 +0000

from the library – and played my new flute, of course!

Bought a flute!

minim — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:00:15 +0000

After 5 years without one, and 4 years of saying I’d buy one, today it finally happened! Found a great flute – a second-hand Miyazawa 95SE – at a good price and brought it home. Huzzah!

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.

Worked through compound time

minim — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:54:29 +0000

Yup, Chapter 5 done & dusted. Quite straightforward really, especially considering the minor scales chapter. Also settled on a text for the choral piece – Edgar Allen Poe’s sonnet on Silence. Yes, I get the irony of writing a piece for multiple voices on ’silence’ but nevertheless, I think it’s the best poem for the task in hand.

Listened to Bach violin partitas

minim — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:58:18 +0000

while baking a 7-apple crumble to salvage the near-extinction apples I bought a couple of weeks back. Peaceful times.

Learnt all about minor scales

minim — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:44:17 +0000

Understanding a LOT more than ever before, thanks to new book’s approach focusing on pentachord/tetrachord combinations rather than just lonely scale degrees. Trying to hammer in basic info about modes too (Ionian – Dorian – Phrygian – Lydian – Mixolydian – Aeolian – Locrian. ‘Major’ modes are Ionian, Lydian, Mixolydian; ‘Minor’ modes are Aeolian, Dorian Phrygian. See how I didn’t look any of that up? I bet you’re impressed, huh? )