At the beginning of the year we sat down with our lecturer David Lancaster
and made a list of compositional aims for the academic year ahead.
Although the list would be extremely vague about specific ideas, the
broader aspects of the aims were more definitive. What are you
going to write? & what instruments are you going to write for? We were told in advance about compositional opportunities that lay ahead, and also of any concerts that may be a good opportunity to have our works performed. So, we each gave a small list of potential pieces to David and went on with the lecture.
My list (from memory) was...
- 2 pieces for Choir
- A piece using Counterpoint/Phasing
- A piece for String Quartet*
- A piece for Piano & Solo Baritone voice*
*The last two pieces marked with an asterisk are two of the compositional opportunities we were informed of.
As we continued with the lecture my mind was completely fixed on getting started on that list. It was as if a huge furnace in my head, that controlled my desire to compose, had been re-ignited, and the list was all I could think of. As soon as the lecture ended, I rushed to the library to take out as many scores, CD's and books as I could to begin planning for the pieces that were swirling around my head. I spent the entire evening making lists of potential ideas for different instrumentations, themes of lyrical content and even spaces for potential site-specific works. After a few days, the burning idea's calmed and I began to focus once again on individual projects.
Many weeks have past since then, and many lectures have come and gone within them, but last Monday, (5th of Dec) was my last lecture of the year, and honestly, I was disappointed. Not only disappointed that the Christmas break had come so quickly, but mainly because I find lecture to be a very calming and welcoming place, and it settles my mind when it comes to ideas and sketches for compositions, therefore I will definitely miss that aspect of lecture over the festive season.
During lectures we always make time to present work (be it complete or in its earliest stages) in front of the group and receive feedback from not only the lecturer but also the students as well. The MA composition class is very small, with only 4 students in the lecture, so peer feedback is an extremely valuable process especially when formulating new ideas. Recently, I've been working on a lot of rhythmical experiments, mostly trying to get to grips with the Steve Reich style counterpoint. One of my favourite examples is the 3rd movement from Electric Counterpoint (1987) which is either for Solo Guitar and Tape or Guitar Ensemble (12 Guitars & 2 Bass guitars), as it is an amazing display of layering and building small ideas into something much bigger.
Whilst looking at the score for this piece, to try and gain some insight into the processes Reich went through to create such a complex yet simple piece, I understood that I soon had to begin work on a piece for string quartet. Then a couple of weeks ago I had what felt like an epiphany to combine the two and create a counterpoint for string quartet. Now, in retrospect it was more like a "why didn't I think of that sooner" type feeling, but at the time it felt profound. Therefore, I began to use simple methods that I had developed during the period of experimentation/research into counterpoint, and gradually my ideas were beginning to form. After about 6 hours of straight composing, I had something very basic but at the very least, the start of something I really liked. So, on Monday I showed what I had to David and the group and asked for their opinions and feedback on any aspects that stood out for them. The response was very positive with some good suggestions from my fellow composers, as well as some great advice from David, who suggested ways in which I could try and gain more clarity on the overall shape of the piece. In order to visualize the piece on a larger scale, David recommended that I should draw a timeline of how I imagined the overall structure to be, not focusing upon musical details (notes, melody etc) but upon broader aspects of the piece.
So I went away and drew about 20+ timelines with varying combinations of characteristics such as, speed, dynamics, rhythmic feel, instrumental techniques and groupings of instruments together. The list of variables became too big to include them all in a single diagram but in the end I had decided on a couple of key aspects:
- The Piece will be in 3 Movements
- The movements will move in a Fast, Slow, Fast progression.
- The 1st and 3rd movements will be denser.
- The 2nd movement will be sparse and will revolve around the Cello.
For the time being I will stick to those criteria alone, as not to impede the possibility to investigate various options during the compositional process. The aspects that I have decided on feel natural and are not intended to restrict myself, they are merely a helpful guide to help me better shape and mold the composition into something that I can feel really proud of.
Hopefully I'll have something of more substance before Christmas to share with you, even if that is just a recording from Sibelius.
Thanks again for reading.
Liam Walsh.
