For the last few months my typical friday has consisted of me waking up around 9:30-10am, having two or three cups of tea and then getting on with some composing, to which I would dedicate most of my day. In my head, that is already a pretty great friday, but today has broken the cycle in many ways and my fridays from now on will fall terribly short in comparison.
This morning I got up at the same time as I would do on a monday as if I was heading to York for lecture, but this morning, we didn't have a lecture, we had a workshop. Now workshops can go either way; they can either be a terrible experience where you feel as though you would of been better staying in bed OR they can be incredible and totally and utterly brilliant, so much so, that 3 hours doesn't seem like anywhere near enough time to fully grasp what is happening infront of you. Today was the latter.
The reason for this great day came in the form of four extremely talented musicians, also known as The Ligeti Quartet, and this morning, they visited our university and held a workshop on composing for string quartet. They played a broad variety of their repertoire and talked us through many important details that involve composing for strings in many different stylistic settings and genres. To see such musicianship up close is mind blowing, but then it goes a step further once they stop, smile and ask if theres any questions you'd like to ask regarding what they just played. As many of you are probably aware, if you go to a concert, the performers will very often play their chosen pieces with little to no interaction with the audience, so to be asked if you have any questions is a very strange feeling. It's not like I've never been to workshop before, but its one of those little things that never fails to make me laugh.
Unfortunately I can't find a link to any videos of them performing, but they do have a Soundcloud account so I'll place a link to a recording below. The link to their website is also above so feel free to check them out.
I need a cup of tea as I've got a long list of string quartets to listen to!
Liam
Friday 17 February 2012
Thursday 9 February 2012
Now Playing...
As you may or may not be aware, my focus as a composer is around vocal and choral music. I love how the voice can be used in an amazing number of different ways, and as a composer I want to try and capture a moment where voices come together and create something that transcends the singing itself. I want an audience to be able to hear my music, and for the music to take them away to another place/time/world.
My favourite composers have the ability to do that, and because I listen to them every day without exception, I thought I'd share some pieces that might give you an insight into why I love choral music, and vocal music so much.
1. Eric Whitacre - With a Lily in Your Hand
This is the second part of his 'Three Flower Songs', and is a piece of compositional genius. The music is rhythmically brilliant, with some gorgeous chords thrown in for good measure. He has an amazing ability to merge completely contrasting sections seamlessly creating very interesting passages of music, and if all that wasn't good enough, it has an EPIC ending.
2. Morten Lauridson - O Nata Lux
This piece is very close to my heart as I have performed it many times, and it always brings back good memories. One thing about the piece that I still have trouble understanding, is that no matter how many times I listen to it, I can always find something new. It has a way of transporting me away to another place (the feeling I am trying to capture in my own music) and when I'm there, I don't ever want to come back.
3. Sir John Tavener - Funeral Ikos
This piece is one of many amazing vocal works by this famous English composer, and for me, is worthy of being considered one of his best. A technique he uses very often is two voice parts singing together in unison then together in harmony. He does this in a few of his works, most notably 'The Lamb' and it has a profound effect on the overall sound when all the parts join together. So you can follow what's happening, I will place the text to the first section below, and put the unison lines in Bold and the lines in harmony in italics.
4. Eric Whitacre - Water Night
I was originally only going to do three songs, but I decided to leave this piece out of any list of my favourite choral works would be a crime. An amazing display of compositional technique married with a stunning text by Octavio Paz. Incredible.
That's it. I hope you enjoyed listening to some of my favourite choral pieces, and I hope that gives an insight into the depth of emotion I am trying to recreate in my own work. These composers and many more contribute to the melting pot of idea's I have in my head, but I'm still yet to capture the spirit of any one of these pieces. Only time will tell.
Liam
My favourite composers have the ability to do that, and because I listen to them every day without exception, I thought I'd share some pieces that might give you an insight into why I love choral music, and vocal music so much.
1. Eric Whitacre - With a Lily in Your Hand
This is the second part of his 'Three Flower Songs', and is a piece of compositional genius. The music is rhythmically brilliant, with some gorgeous chords thrown in for good measure. He has an amazing ability to merge completely contrasting sections seamlessly creating very interesting passages of music, and if all that wasn't good enough, it has an EPIC ending.
2. Morten Lauridson - O Nata Lux
This piece is very close to my heart as I have performed it many times, and it always brings back good memories. One thing about the piece that I still have trouble understanding, is that no matter how many times I listen to it, I can always find something new. It has a way of transporting me away to another place (the feeling I am trying to capture in my own music) and when I'm there, I don't ever want to come back.
3. Sir John Tavener - Funeral Ikos
This piece is one of many amazing vocal works by this famous English composer, and for me, is worthy of being considered one of his best. A technique he uses very often is two voice parts singing together in unison then together in harmony. He does this in a few of his works, most notably 'The Lamb' and it has a profound effect on the overall sound when all the parts join together. So you can follow what's happening, I will place the text to the first section below, and put the unison lines in Bold and the lines in harmony in italics.
Why these bitter words of the dying, O brethren,
which they utter as they go hence?
I am parted from my brethren.
All my friends do I abandon, and go hence.
But whither I go, that understand I not,
neither what shall become of me yonder;
only God who hath summoned me knoweth.
But make commemoration of me with the song:
As you can probably tell when the Alleluia is sung after that first section, all the parts seem to shimmer against each other, which makes such a beautiful sound after hearing delicate harmonies in the previous lines.
4. Eric Whitacre - Water Night
I was originally only going to do three songs, but I decided to leave this piece out of any list of my favourite choral works would be a crime. An amazing display of compositional technique married with a stunning text by Octavio Paz. Incredible.
That's it. I hope you enjoyed listening to some of my favourite choral pieces, and I hope that gives an insight into the depth of emotion I am trying to recreate in my own work. These composers and many more contribute to the melting pot of idea's I have in my head, but I'm still yet to capture the spirit of any one of these pieces. Only time will tell.
Liam
Wednesday 8 February 2012
A Message From New York
This morning I awoke to an email inbox that was full of rubbish. But amongst all the junk and adverts, one email stood out from the crowd and was actually regarding something I'd been waiting for with bated breath for some weeks.
A few weeks earlier...
I had been looking for a text for a new choral piece and was finding it very hard to find anything with the right subject matter, or feel, that I needed to match up with the ideas in my head. Whilst looking through various online poetry resources, suddenly a poem struck me across the face (not literally, it was on a website. Metaphorically) and I knew at that moment it was the one. Then, my heart sank. It was under copyright to a publisher in New York. After a few minutes of negative thoughts, I considered my options and decided the honorable thing to do would be to email them, be honest and basically say "I'm a student composer, I have no publisher or money, PLEASE! let me use this poem", to which I did, but in a slightly more eloquent tone.
Weeks pass...
Nothing.
Back to today...
I open my emails, and at the top of the list, is an email from the publisher, 'RE: Permissions'. I looked at it and immediately thought in my head what it had said on the website, (in short) 'Give all details possible, please allow one month for reply', and without question I assumed that I was going to be denied the permissions, but when I actually opened the email, the words were like a hot water bottle on a freezing cold day. Permission was GRANTED, and a contract from the publisher is on it's way from New York for me to sign on the dotted line.
On that 'note' I think it's time for me to start putting some of my own 'dots on lines', if you catch my drift. Two puns in one sentence, great stuff.
Liam.
A few weeks earlier...
I had been looking for a text for a new choral piece and was finding it very hard to find anything with the right subject matter, or feel, that I needed to match up with the ideas in my head. Whilst looking through various online poetry resources, suddenly a poem struck me across the face (not literally, it was on a website. Metaphorically) and I knew at that moment it was the one. Then, my heart sank. It was under copyright to a publisher in New York. After a few minutes of negative thoughts, I considered my options and decided the honorable thing to do would be to email them, be honest and basically say "I'm a student composer, I have no publisher or money, PLEASE! let me use this poem", to which I did, but in a slightly more eloquent tone.
Weeks pass...
Nothing.
Back to today...
I open my emails, and at the top of the list, is an email from the publisher, 'RE: Permissions'. I looked at it and immediately thought in my head what it had said on the website, (in short) 'Give all details possible, please allow one month for reply', and without question I assumed that I was going to be denied the permissions, but when I actually opened the email, the words were like a hot water bottle on a freezing cold day. Permission was GRANTED, and a contract from the publisher is on it's way from New York for me to sign on the dotted line.
On that 'note' I think it's time for me to start putting some of my own 'dots on lines', if you catch my drift. Two puns in one sentence, great stuff.
Liam.
Tuesday 7 February 2012
The Monday Blues Sound Good!
Yesterday was great!
I had some great lectures, got some extremely valuable feedback on the piece I'm composing for Piano & Baritone voice, and got to hear where my fellow composers are at with their work. It was an extremely valuable day in every sense and I arrived home feeling tired but also really positive about my work, the pieces I'm currently working on and just composing in general. But (and that's a rather large BUT), there are times when I can go from feeling ecstatic, passionate and totally enthused in everything about my work, to then all of a sudden, be on the opposite end, stuck in a rut and feeling that my work isn't what I want it to be, or that the way I go about making my work, is rubbish (and in my head that's validated because I think my work sounds bad, therefore, my process MUST be flawed). It was that unfortunate position that I found myself in over the past week or so, completely unable to produce a single note I was happy with, and although I woke up in the mornings feeling the need to compose (like I normally do), that feeling soon evaporated and was replaced with pure frustration.
Its then very surprising how sharing ideas with my peers and getting constructive feedback from both them and your lecturers can suddenly impact on my desire to actually get working on my pieces. Sometimes the feedback I hear is only confirming what I feel already, and that can make it easier to either continue on the same path (confident that I'm not heading toward a dead end) OR makes it easier for me to make changes. Other times the feedback is not what I expected, and that then, opens up a whole new approach to my work (or a specific piece) that maybe I'd never considered, and that can be very exciting to know that there may be other things, even in my OWN work, that I've yet to discover.
In my excitement, I'm off to play a Piano.
I had some great lectures, got some extremely valuable feedback on the piece I'm composing for Piano & Baritone voice, and got to hear where my fellow composers are at with their work. It was an extremely valuable day in every sense and I arrived home feeling tired but also really positive about my work, the pieces I'm currently working on and just composing in general. But (and that's a rather large BUT), there are times when I can go from feeling ecstatic, passionate and totally enthused in everything about my work, to then all of a sudden, be on the opposite end, stuck in a rut and feeling that my work isn't what I want it to be, or that the way I go about making my work, is rubbish (and in my head that's validated because I think my work sounds bad, therefore, my process MUST be flawed). It was that unfortunate position that I found myself in over the past week or so, completely unable to produce a single note I was happy with, and although I woke up in the mornings feeling the need to compose (like I normally do), that feeling soon evaporated and was replaced with pure frustration.
Its then very surprising how sharing ideas with my peers and getting constructive feedback from both them and your lecturers can suddenly impact on my desire to actually get working on my pieces. Sometimes the feedback I hear is only confirming what I feel already, and that can make it easier to either continue on the same path (confident that I'm not heading toward a dead end) OR makes it easier for me to make changes. Other times the feedback is not what I expected, and that then, opens up a whole new approach to my work (or a specific piece) that maybe I'd never considered, and that can be very exciting to know that there may be other things, even in my OWN work, that I've yet to discover.
In my excitement, I'm off to play a Piano.
Sunday 5 February 2012
Music Theory & Music Theories
Last Monday was the first day back after Christmas, and that marked the
beginning of a second module on the second year of my MA. From the
beginning of the second year up until Christmas, I had a composition
lecture specific to our (the students) work and our ideas/processes etc,
but now alongside that we have our theory based lecture, named
"Creativity & Knowledge", where we discuss various topics in
relation to our practice (in my case composition).
We had been given a "short" reader a few weeks previous, when all the MA students met for a day of sharing and told the specific texts to read from in preparation for the next weeks lecture. The main focus of the reading was "practice based research" and before I arrived at the lecture I knew only what I absorbed from the reading.
In short, It's a way of presenting "knowledge" through means of a practice e.g music/dance/theatre etc, instead of through academic means such a paper or a book. There are a lot of grey areas when it comes to defining what can be quantified as "knowledge" in a performance, so in order to pinpoint specific qualities in a piece of work, a governing body came up with a set of criteria that could be placed against any practice to see whether it was worthy of funding and therefore worthy of the "research".
As an exercise we were asked to write a fake research proposal in response to three major criteria:
The Question (What am I going to research?)
The Context (The value. Where does it sit in the "grand scheme" of things?)
The Method (How am I going to go about it?)
I found it really difficult but below is my "fake" research proposal.
Question
- To what extent does my music show my influences?
- Does my music have any affect on an audience?
- Am I good enough? / Is my work good enough?
Context
- Composers I admire
- Choral music in recent times
- Classical music
- Young choral composer
- Being a student
- Being a student composer
- Bottom of the composer ladder : No publisher, can't get permissions for texts etc
Method
- Looking at scores
- Spending time at a piano (becoming more familiar with groupings of notes/progressions/harmony in general)
- Trial and error
- Listening, listening, listening, then listening some more
- More public performances
- Seek feedback from mentors/established composers
I'm still trying to get my head around the concept but I think looking at it with a specific question in mind helps.
As always, Thank you very much for reading.
Liam
We had been given a "short" reader a few weeks previous, when all the MA students met for a day of sharing and told the specific texts to read from in preparation for the next weeks lecture. The main focus of the reading was "practice based research" and before I arrived at the lecture I knew only what I absorbed from the reading.
In short, It's a way of presenting "knowledge" through means of a practice e.g music/dance/theatre etc, instead of through academic means such a paper or a book. There are a lot of grey areas when it comes to defining what can be quantified as "knowledge" in a performance, so in order to pinpoint specific qualities in a piece of work, a governing body came up with a set of criteria that could be placed against any practice to see whether it was worthy of funding and therefore worthy of the "research".
As an exercise we were asked to write a fake research proposal in response to three major criteria:
The Question (What am I going to research?)
The Context (The value. Where does it sit in the "grand scheme" of things?)
The Method (How am I going to go about it?)
I found it really difficult but below is my "fake" research proposal.
Question
- To what extent does my music show my influences?
- Does my music have any affect on an audience?
- Am I good enough? / Is my work good enough?
Context
- Composers I admire
- Choral music in recent times
- Classical music
- Young choral composer
- Being a student
- Being a student composer
- Bottom of the composer ladder : No publisher, can't get permissions for texts etc
Method
- Looking at scores
- Spending time at a piano (becoming more familiar with groupings of notes/progressions/harmony in general)
- Trial and error
- Listening, listening, listening, then listening some more
- More public performances
- Seek feedback from mentors/established composers
I'm still trying to get my head around the concept but I think looking at it with a specific question in mind helps.
As always, Thank you very much for reading.
Liam
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