Well there’s one thing that always gets me going. Gets me so excited that I want to start a project such as that myself. It is orchestral collaborations with bands etc. Just love it. Some “purists” hate it, but they are just boring. To me, they are something that the players love, because they are at long last doing something new and fresh, and the audiences love it because of too many reasons to note. Of course also, it brings a whole new audience to an “orchestra” concert.

These were popularised firstly I guess by the legendary Michael Kamen. He orchestrated and conducted so many concerts, including ones with Pink Floyd, Queen, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Bryan Adams, Sting and Metallica. The latter, I think, is absolutely amazing. See a track from it here. It is so wonderfully orchestrated and put together. Of course the huge full size orchestra makes it all the more better.

MANY of these happen each every year and I wish there was some place where I could keep track of them all. Another one I found was a recent one from the UK. This orchestra is much smaller in size, but still, it’s an orchestra. This one is The Bays, who are an improvisation kinda band, who teamed up with The Heritage Orchestra in Liverpool. They also do some amazing stuff with how the orchestra players get their music … check it out.

Finally, I can’t leave without mentioning a little homegrown talent. John Psathas recently arranged all the music for a Little Bushmen / Auckland Philharmonia gig. I couldn’t make it to the concert, but have watched the documentary, and it’s fantastic. It’s a three part doco which starts here, but if you want to go straight to the final concert, see that here.

Well I’ve only briefly mentioned three, so do let me know if you have any favourites.

Hey all, well I’m on my flight back to Auckland from Wellington, enjoying a wine with cheese platter - how posh is that, AND it’s with Air NZ. Impressive. I was down for this years NZSO / TODD Young Composer Readings. It was a great few days with the orchestra and of course seeing all the other young composers at this years event. Below is a picture taken during the readings.

Well I came down on Sunday afternoon, ready for the welcome dinner on Sunday evening at Nicolini’s Bistro on Courtenay Place. They have it there every year and if you’ve been there you’ll know why. Absolutely beautiful. YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY.

Monday was the first day of recordings. The morning was great, with two very good pieces in particular. I was first after lunch and was very happy with how it all went. Of course the first run through is always a little bit hairy, but once a few things were clarified and we worked on some passages, it started to sound pretty good. The final tracks laid for the recording were excellent and I can’t wait to get it. As well as from the composer mentor, Ross Harris, I had fantastic feedback from the players, saying how enjoyable and rewarding it was to play, and that it was very professionally produced (parts etc). This was fantastic as is what I am aiming for. How ridiculous to write a piece that the players and audience will not enjoy…

Scattered through the two days are some workshops with players in the orchestra, pretty much getting to know them and their instrument(s) a little better. These are always fun and is great to talk to NZ’s finest about their instrument.

The second day of recordings again had some very good pieces in. The day ended with some drinks, nibbles and “awards”.

So a successful few days - big thanks to the NZSO for looking after us all very well.

Well at the moment I’m working for an Auckland University PhD student, typesetting some 15th Century German manuscripts. I did the first last year, and another is underway at the moment. They are flute concertos, with either string, or string and horn accompaniment.

Apart from huge ink splotches taking out whole bars of music, they are going very well. But what I can’t get my head around is just how long ago they were written. 15th Century?? That’s AGES ago. To think that these manuscripts have been sitting in a library for hundreds and hundreds of years. AMAZING. They were even written a few hundred years before New Zealand was discovered. Amazing.

The actual music?? It is in fact pretty catchy.

Well the craziest week of the year for Auckland school orchestras, chamber orchestras, jazz and concert bands, is that of the annual KBB festival. Gosh, it is busy. Last year I had the Kristin senior orchestra in, and it was my first year … so everything is still a little bit of a blur. I remember being just so horribly nervous. BUT we got a bronze award, something the orchestra had never received before.

This year I had three orchestras. WHAT FUN!! The first was the Carmel College Orchestra:

Conducting the Carmel College Orchestra at the KBB Festival

These guys were awesome. They were playing some tricky pieces and it all went fantastically well. My second biggest disaster of the day happened when I gave a very distinctive cue to the first violins at a place where I know they don’t count and it’s not clear what’s going on musically - they just wait for the cue, a whole two bars early. But thank goodness they entered correctly.

Next up was the Kristin Symphonia.

Conducting the Kristin Symphonia at the KBB Festival

 I had such a blast conducting these guys. With one down, I just relaxed and I could tell the players were also just having a great time on stage. Their programme also went wonderfully well.

Afterwards I was whisked away to the Carmel Chamber Orchestra who was warming up. While I was putting my favourite baton away … it snapped!! DISASTER!! It was my favourite baton, which I only use in concerts, got it from America, and has my name engraved. I couldn’t believe it. I sulked for a while, but since then however, I have had the superglue out, and it is like new … well maybe just a little bit wonky.

Well finally was the Carmel Chamber Orchestra. Was number three for me, it was 4:40pm and they had been there since 9:30am. But we got up there and gave it everything. Luckily we had some light numbers … a piece by Silvestri and one by the Beatles. They did very well and were well received by the audience, but maybe, like us, they just wanted to go home.

Well I was happy to get out of the venue at the end of the day. Being sandwiched in by hundreds of school kids all day is not to be desired. But was happy also that all my groups had done wonderfully well. Now I look forward to the results …

Recently, award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat was at the Sony Scoring Stage to record his score to the highly anticipated drama, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Directed by David Fincher and stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. While catching up on the scoring session, I was HIGHLY EXCITED by the discovery of a gong drum.Look at this thing. I want to write a gong drum concerto. It’s being played there by Greg Goodall … what a job. I wonder what the likelihood is of one being in NZ. Hmm…..

Well both Wendy and I had birthdays in the last week and a bit. We had wonderful days and thanks heaps to everyone who sent messages via card/facebook/email/myspace or whatever.

You can see photos here of Ryan’s day of activities, or photos here of Wendy’s day of activities.

Hey everyone, well on the 29th May was The Committee’s 2008 Bangers and Mash concert. The point of these concerts is to have composers write music which doesn’t use any conventional notation or instruments … as well as no computers and can be playable by non-musicians. It was great to be involved and it was a fantastic success.

Initially I was completely stuck as what to actually do. I mean there are so many options … using anything that makes a cool sound. An obvious one would be doing something to vegetables. (lol) One night as I was traveling down to Wellington, Wendy (my partner) and I stopped to help a lady change her car tyre. Afterwards we got back in the car and soon after I said “I’VE GOT IT!!”.

So my piece was using five players, their spare car tyre and a pair of drum sticks. There was a set beginning and end, but then in the middle was much more freely organised. There were about six different sounds (or techniques), such as bouncing the stick on the tyre, rubbing it against the tyre to get a “squeaking” effect, and so on. There was a leader and they lead through each of these techniques. Overall creating these wonderful textures. It worked really well and was very well received.

The other pieces were fantastic as well, see below. Looking forward to doing more with “The Committee”.

For photos click here.

So the pieces were:

• “Gossip” by Yvette Audain (for spoken voices and used magazine headlines and quotes)
• “Tyred” by Ryan Youens
• “Kosurigami” by Anthony Young (was five of us making paper bangers, cranes and darts. Then either banging, flying or throwing them … fantastic)
• “Wishing Well” by Peter Willis (solo, dropping various elements into water)
• “Spotted snakes with double tongue” by Claire Scholes (using text from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and various items)

Hey everyone,

Well last night was Kristin School’s May Magic concert. It is their mid-year music extravaganza and last night it went fantastically well. It had everything from the year one and two choir, through to the senior award winning groups.

One of my orchestra’s, the Kristin Symphonia performed. It was our first big performance for the year. A few hairy moments, but went beautiful. I was so proud of them. Panning out to be a good year from them I think.

Photo link coming soon.

Hey everyone.

Well last weekend Wendy and I headed down to Wellington for this year’s readings with the NZSO. It started with a lovely weekend, we chilled, ate great food and experienced Wellington. Then it was Monday.

I was first up in the morning session and so all the players were fresh and ready for anything. “Rakaia” is not too much of a challenging piece, although plenty of notes for the strings. First read through they did fantastically well. The huge brass and percussion sound was just fantastic. After working with Ken Young and clarifying a few things both he and I wanted to work on, they pulled it apart a little and started work. Was wonderful seeing them work on my music once again. This piece is very clearly written and is enjoyable for the players and this definitely show through the rehearsal.

Later in the day was the recording session. After the long day this final run through and recording wasn’t as tight as they had it earlier in the morning, but still a remarkable performance.

I had wonderful feedback from the players. Complimenting the colourful textures, energy and effective writing. Also a comment about the likeliness of this piece to the music of Don Davis. A bit of a surprise, but came from a guy who used to play in Don Davis’ scoring orchestra, so I gratefully took his word.

The rest of the workshops were enjoyable. Was nice to get mine out of the way. Monday had a selection of other young composers which were shorter works. All very different and extremely well written. Tuesday had two longer works.

Check out photos from the workshops here.

Thanks heaps to SOUNZ and the NZSO for the wonderful two days.

Well our camp for another year is over. It was a fantastic weekend up at Shakespear Lodge at the Shakespear Regional Park. We had many rehearsals and many great meals. A crack of dawn rehearsal on the Sunday and some time to chill down at the beach. We did ALOT of playing and it really paid off as the orchestra is now sounding fantastic.

Check out the photos here.

Enjoy.

Hey everyone, well sorry this is a little late, but I have had such a busy time since we got back from Great Barrier. BUT, I must fill you all in with some details of the trip. Firstly though, I will not post any photos of the trip on this blog so make sure you check them all out at the link below. Also check out a basic map here if you want to reference the places I’ll mention.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanyouens/sets/72157604274692602/

Day One

Alright so we were up at 5am and headed in on the bus to the city. After our five hour ferry trip we finally got there and met up with the shuttle guys. lol There is only one main road on the island and not much is sealed and it is VERY windy. lol We were heading from the bottom of the Island to Port Fitzroy, near the top. lol So was a fun trip. Anyway we got there and set up out tent and picked up the kayaks. We decided to go for a short kayak to get us in the mood and to see what we needed to adjust on the kayaks. This was great, and meant come day two we were all set and ready for an early start. We got into bed at 2030, thinking it was about 2330.

Day Two

After sleeping for about twelve hours, we awoke and were all set. lol We realised that is IS very nice setting off when the tide is in, but when it is out, we had to trek over about 300m of rocks, shellfish, dead trees etc. But nevermind … we didn’t complain. So we headed off and we left Port Fitzroy, we straight down into Kaiarara Bay and found some cool bays and things to check out. We then headed across to Kiwiriki Bay and had some lunch. It wasn’t a nice bay to stop for lunch, lol but we were so hungry that we had to stop. Anyway, we then continued into Smokehouse Bay which is a great place and where you can set a fire and have hot showers, do washing, smoke your fish … and so on. After a few hours rest there we headed all the way home again.

Day Three

After again a very long sleep, we were set for our big trip day. We set out from Port Fitzroy and headed for Man of War Passage. This was great fun as is so narrow and there are so many boats that go through here, so it was a bit rough and lots of navigation. We stopped into Oneura Bay for brunch, which was the most FANTASTIC little bay. Obviously no one goes in there, and it looked out to sea. I tried some fishing, but no luck … despite being able to see them. Anyway we continued out towards Nelson Island which was a great stretch of paddling. Lots of great sea swells … and a great spot for some photos, looking out towards Little Barrier. Once we got around this head between Nelson Island and the top of Kaikoura Island, it was less windy and we relaxed a little. We gradually made it into Bradshaw Cove, but a small beach just in from one of the heads. There I made lunch and a VERY LONG story cut short, we got engaged (if you want more details you’ll have to email me). So anyway that was great and this was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. I tried some more fishing but again, no luck. Thankfully I couldn’t actually see any fish this time. That night back at camp we had the Westpac Rescue Helicopter pop in to pick up an injured tramper, so that was fun.

Day Four

Well after the big trip on day three, we thought an easy day was in order. First thing, we paddled to the shop (one of two on the Island) and got a few bits. Then I went out fishing. After a few hours of heartfelt trying, I finally caught a big beautiful snapper. Fishing was always a bit of a trial as you always had the tide and wind blowing or pushing you somewhere. lol Anyway I got the snapper home and it was BEAUTIFUL. lol Mmmmm yes. That afternoon we took a walk up to some waterfalls as a bit of a break. That evening we went out to try and catch a fish (or few) for dinner. But despite Wendy catching a small Blue Cod, nothing sizable for dinner.

Day Five

Alright well last day of paddling, and we headed north. We set off and paddled up and into Karaka Bay. We then went further up and stopped on the top end of Port Abercrombie near Mohunga Bay. This was a great little spot and was nice a relaxing. A few hours later we headed back via Wood Island and back to drop the kayaks off in Port Fitzroy.

Day Six

Alright well time to go and so we packed everything up and headed for the store to get a ride to the ferry with the postman (who is also the shuttle). Of course once you get to this stage you just want to get home. Not bare the six hours it takes to get there. lol But anyway eventually we got there and very well deserved hot showers were had.

So a fantastic trip and totally recommend to anyone. For us was more a relaxing holiday than a kayaking adventure holiday, but you could do either way. We had the best time and so make sure you check out the photos.

Hey everyone, well what an incredible few weeks it has been. I have so much news that I must blog about when I return from … MY HOLIDAY with Wendy which we leave on at 5am tomorrow morning. Yes, that’s only a few hours away. We’re heading out to Great Barrier Island (www.greatbarriernz.com) to five days of kayaking. Look forward to some photos and blog entries when we get back.Hope everybody has a wonderful Easter. Ryan 

Hey everyone, well it has been far too long since I updated my blog. I shall give two excuses, the first being that my partner and I just moved in to a new apartment. Very exciting, and it is good to having a new work space. Photo below:

New Studio

The other thing that I have been busy doing is a new orchestral work “Somnium”. Stay tuned for more details on this, but it is a fantastic piece and I have so much fun writing it. Alright I’d better get back to work. I’ll write again very soon. By the way, if you’re not subscribed to my mailing list visit here.

Well, yesterday I got back from the 2008 Opononi Summer School. Wow. What a week. I was conducting and it was my third year there.

It started off being one of the hottest weeks up there, after conducting each piece it felt like (and looked like) I had just run a marathon. But thankfully it cooled off a little as the week got on.

The first two days were basically just playing through ALOT of music. I think we had about 25 pieces out, covering classical, jazz, musicals, movies and so on. The group this year had such a great sound. No weak links in the flutes or clarinets, had three percussionists who were all VERY good, and a full bass section of two tubas, euphonium, four string basses, four trombones and two baritone saxes.

Scattered throughout the week of course were many talks, warmups and activities. One very successful activity was in groups performing the same short tune it in four different styles. VERY amusing, I shall put these videos up on YouTube soon. Also, it was great to let people have a turn at conducting. They could chose from three pieces, and then run it or rehearse it for a few minutes. They all did pretty good. lol In fact, one of the young girls gave the percussionists a good telling off for not keeping in time. SUPERB!!

Days three and four were a little more focused on the collection of pieces that would make the final concert. Some of the pieces were Bernstein’s Candide Overture, Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Bizet’s Carmen Suite, Eric Coates’ Dambusters March and a large 13 minute Charlie Chaplin suite. Some of the other pieces included suites from Cats and Fiddler on the Roof, John Williams Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, and some lighter numbers including Mamma Mia, The Flintstones and Big Band Classics.

It was an interesting week compared to normal, as everything and everyone was so relaxed. At some rehearsals, everyone seemed to be there 30 minutes beforehand, and yes, including the first morning when everyone was there ready to play at 5.30am for the 6am rehearsal. Another morning it was going to be a hot afternoon, so an extra long rehearsal meant more time in the afternoon to spend at the beach or reading in the sun … mmmm yes.

The pre-concert dinner was almost a non event. The gas cookers kindly stopped working 25 minutes before dinner was due. So the cars were packed up with the food and headed down to the local Copthorne hotel who very kindly cooked it in their facilities. Thank goodness. We had dessert first and when dinner arrived there was a very relieved bunch of hungry teenagers … in fact, everybody.

Well we made it to the concert, and what a concert it was. We performed 15 works, had two items and it all went so well. The cooler evening, shorter program than usual and fantastic standard of the players spouted comments from many saying it was the most enjoyable concert in years. The night ended with a mad scramble of returning music, getting others’ cellphone numbers and photos. Most went home, but some stayed for a final “Pooh” story and night at the Marae.

2009 brings the 25th year of Opononi and many fantastic ideas are floating around of how to celebrate. You shall have to stay tuned to find out exactly what those celebrations will be.

Some photos:

I HAD to put one of these classic shots up!

Me working them hard.

Setup.

The walk home.

Liz, Abbie and I.

Ray giving a quick talk before the concert.

Everybody.

Hey some of you may have noticed that your link doesn’t work. I’ve changed it to “www.ryanyouens.com/blog” instead of “Blog”. Just to keep it in line with the rest of the site. Hope this hasn’t caused any problems. Also if anyone happens to have a problem subscribing to the RSS, let me know what your browser is cause I think there may be a bug. Cya, Ryan

Hey everybody, well had a fantastic holiday down at Wendy’s place in Colyton over Christmas and New Year. Check out the photos below. Bye for now, Ryan

Flying my awesome stunt kite out on the farm. 

 Checking out the windmills.

Wendy and our fantastic flying ring. 

Me throwing our frisbie. 

We did this “thermal walk” and it was terrible. 

 Which way should we go? 

Checking out Huka Falls. 

The windmills. 

hehehehe it’s me. 

Us at the windmills.

I cannot believe Christmas is in so few days. I don’t have the Christmas tree up yet, I haven’t started Christmas shopping, in fact I don’t even have ideas for presents. I have been so busy I haven’t noticed it sneak up. Well this week I shall make the most of it. Spend too much time at the mall getting sick of Christmas carols in the shops. Spend too much money so I wish Christmas never came and spend all my time being festive and merry. Then at least come 26th December, I shall be happy Christmas came and went, and happy it will be 364 days until it happens again.On the music front, in the last few days have sent a piece in to a workshop and an application in to write a new orchestral piece. So more information on these as it arises.Bye for now, Ryan

Well well well, on the weekend my orchestra (www.nsjo.org.nz) had their end of year concert. It was fantastic. They sounded absolutely wonderful. They are 7-15 year olds and are very clever kids … but of course you never know how a concert is going to go. But gosh, couldn’t have hoped it to go better. Here are some photos: 

Ok well that was a horribly geeky title, but what the heck. Well you haven’t heard from me in a while … that’s because I’ve been engrossed in my new toy (…business asset). lol Yes after my entire life of being a PC user, I finally saw the light and purchased a new Apple MacBookPro. Wow, wow, wow. Just the look of it is enough to satisfy me, but it’s performance is amazing. I’ve been running Sibelius 5 on it and what a joy that is. I do everything I need to do in no time, then wonder if I have actually done it all cause seemed so completely stress free. lol I’m now Microsoft free which is great. Am using iWork in place of office. It seems far superior and is seamlessly compatible with office documents (on import AND export). So the point of this blog, is to, yes, encourage you all to see the light also.

Ok well I’m working on this film score at the moment, orchestrating it and a bit of arranging. Lol it is very … interesting. I’ve seen different scenes, heard stuff from the composer and seen the teaser website (www.chickencargo.com) – and after all of that I’m completely confused other than knowing it’s a sci-fi comedy. lol Anyway it’s going great and deadline now is January 2008 so things are going to step up a bit. Stay tuned.

 I’ve just confirmed the premiere of “Mei Spero� in Brazil early next year by the Sphera Ensemble. A specific date and venue is still being finalised but it should be a fantastic event. I’m adjusting the instrumentation slightly to suit the ensemble a little better. The original instrumentation of cor anglais, clarinet, horn, trombone, percussion, harp, viola, cello and double bass will now include some violins. Anyway, will post more details as soon as they are available.

Hey everyone, well last weekend was the final of the Auckland University Academy of Music for 2008, and perhaps as we know it. On Saturday was the actual last day, and then Sunday was a chamber music festival followed by the concert in the evening featuring the ensembles, percussion groups and orchestra. I was stage managing for the day to help out and was heaps of fun. Anyway next year they are completely changing the running of it and supposedly taking away the chamber music elements and small teaching classes such as musicianship, but keeping the orchestra and larger ensembles. Of course that is an absolute joke as those aspects are where people actually learn and develop. Anyway if that all goes ahead there will simply not be an Academy of Music anymore which is a big shame as it is/was such a fantastic resource for Auckland emerging musicians.

On a cheerier note, Trinity examinations are well into action once again. I am a supervisor for these exams and so am now out most days of the week until December. Some days are horrible and busy, but most are great and I can get a lot of my own work done which is FANTASTIC. Of course it’s great fun looking after the examiners as well – usually VERY English, delightful old men.

Oh and by the way coming up is the North Shore Junior Orchestra end of year concert and auditions for the 2008 orchestra. If you’re interested, or know of someone who may be, visit: www.nsjo.org.nz.

Hey all, I just spent a few hours updating to the new Wordpress software. It’s fantastic. Not sure if you can notice any difference from just reading the blog, but if you use the platform then I fully recommend the upgrade. Cya

Hey everyone,

Well it’s been school holidays over the last two weeks so have had LOTS of spare time on my hands. Last weekend we went down to Matamata and soaked in some hot pools and caught up with some family. Next week will be straight back into it with rehearsals and teaching.

Been spending (…a little…lol) time on Facebook. It’s awesome. lol I continually have to fight myself away from it but it’s great fun taking up all my spare minutes. Find me on Facebook here.

Have spent the last few days doing a few well needed updates to my website. Still “looks” the same but content and navigation is now all frightfully up to date. Hope you enjoy it.

Am in the last week of three weeks house sitting. It has been sooooooo good. This week we’re having various people over for dinner starting tonight so looking forward to that.

Coming soon … I’ll have details of my new compositions on the go.

Luke Di Somma, a friend of mine, has been accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at New York University. He is based in Christchurch and is a fantastic composer and musical director and has many shows to his credit. You can check out his bio at his site, but my point is, for him to get to New York he needs $200,000. Yes, that’s correct. How is he going to get it? That is a very good question.

www.getluketonewyork.co.nz

Go check out his site and read up on all the awesome stuff he has been up to. If you happen to have a spare $200,000 sitting around then make sure you get in touch with him. If you don’t, he would still love to hear your support.

Bye for now, Ryan

Okay so I’m at the stage where a number of projects have now concluded … so what’s next? Well I had a good “getaway” on the weekend - definitely not a holiday though. We went on a two day tramp in the Hunua Ranges and now … I am VERY sore. lol Anyway was good to get out of the city for a bit.

So now I have numerous projects to get back to which I have been dying to get some time for over the last month or so. These include various compositions - some piano pieces, an orchestral work plus revisions to Rakaia and Guardians of the North. Also needing to finish a string arrangement for Rhian Sheehan which will hopefully be leading to some more work, and have another scene coming through to orchestrate from Scott Hunt.

So I’m looking forward to spending some good quality time on these projects over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for ongoing details.

Hey everyone, well this week one of my orchestras, the Kristin Symphonia, performed at the KBB Music Festival at the Auckland Town Hall. They did very well indeed. There was some interesting acoustic problems going on as the timpani especially was positioned so far away. Generally though they did extremely well … the first movement from Dvorak’s Ninth in particular was superb.

In the end we got a BRONZE award. A little way off gold (we’re saving that for next year) but we are very happy with the result, as it is the first time in the orchestra’s history that they have received an award at the Festival.

It was my first Festival of this type, so listening to the other orchestras and seeing how everything works makes me excited about the prospects for next year.

Here are some photos from the day of the premiere as Rakaia was given a final run through: (photos thanks to Neil Shepherd)

Everybody … almost.

Counting like crazy!!

GO CYMBAL GO!

Fantastic percussionists!!

Some of the brass!!

Me giving a few final comments!

Hmmm I look worried.

Well well well. This afternoon was the premiere of “Rakaia” and it went very well. I wasn’t playing in it so could really enjoy it. The percussion finally got it all together and sounding fantastic and the strings got (almost) all of their notes in. Everyone gets a little excited as it goes through … including the conductor, so the tempo pushed a little but overall it was fantastic and had heaps of great feedback from the audience.

Above is a photo of Auckland Symphony during the premiere.

By the way I just want to clarify … it said in the programme that I won the 2006 Young Composer Award. This was in fact not the case, I was commended at these awards. I hope no one is mislead by this. Not sure who wrote my programme bio up.

If any of those reading this went to the concert, I’d love to get your comments and feedback. Please send them through to me here.

I’m looking forward to next week’s concert at the Bruce Mason Centre. For details see the news.

Okay so as per my last entry, yes we spent a good amount of time on “Rakaia” on Wednesday night. It was fantastic. Everyone finally got their head around it (… it seemed so anyway). I think many of the players are not familiar with this sort of music, so it has taken a while for things to sit naturally. Technically it is not too challenging but things just do not sit as you may expect as a player. Anyway after that rehearsal I went home a happy composer.

Then … today was the final rehearsal. We ran it twice and it was FANTASTIC!! I am so pleased with how it is sounding. I’ve been pretty pedantic about how I want it, and only today I felt that all of that paid off. Of course on concert day (tomorrow), it will rise to another notch so I can’t wait.

By the way, if any of the members of Auckland Symphony are reading this, then THANK YOU so much. It is sound fantastic and I know a lot of personal practice and perseverance has gone into it. Many many thanks.

Stay tuned for how the premiere went.

Well we’ve have a few rehearsals now for “Rakaia”. It is definitely coming along nicely. Finally the percussion are getting into it so they are driving it which is fantastic. The violins are getting more notes in every time we play it as well. lol Anyway big rehearsal tonight where hopefully we will be spending heaps of time on it so looking forward to it. Stay tuned …

How exciting, Sibelius 5 has just been released. I have ordered my version.

WOAH exciting!!

Hey all … well just a quick note, we had first rehearsal of Rakaia on Monday night and it wasn’t too bad at all. We mainly just ran through it a few times to introduce to the players, so (fingers crossed) this week they will go home and practice as next week we’re pulling it to bits and REALLY rehearsing it. lol Musically everything worked very nicely, a few balance issues which we will fix next week. I’m waiting on a recording of this first rehearsal so will be good to have a listen of that too. Anyway will keep you posted.

Okay so over the last two months have had so much work coming in, I haven’t had a chance to post any blogs or in fact to much else at all. So what have I been doing?

Rakaia is a new piece I just finished last week for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra. It is for their “Rivers” concerts in August. For the dates and venues check out the news. The Rakaia river heads east from the Southern Alps here in New Zealand and reaches the sea just south of Christchurch. Thanks to my friend Wikipedia you can check out more details here. Anyway it was an interesting piece to write as the orchestra’s audience is not my usual type of audience. But anyway I ran through it all with the conductor Gary Daverne and he is happy so that’s good. Rehearsals start Monday night so will keep you posted. If you’re in Auckland on the concert dates, come along and I’d be so keen to get your post concert thoughts.

Chicken Cargo is an independent film based in Chicago. Scott Hunt is composing the score and I am orchestrating. The film is kind of a sci-fi comedy and the bits I’ve been seeing are quite good. We’re just finishing the opening scene at the moment and the whole “living on the other side of the world” thing is proving no problem at all. Anyway this is a long term project (film released mid ‘08) and so will I’m sure be posting regular updates on how everything is going.

North Shore Junior Orchestra is a second orchestra I have picked up. It is a junior orchestra and so will be heaps of fun. Have got our programme all sorted and am about to do a mailout which will kick us off for term 3. I’ve just updated their website here.

Have also had a heap of engraving work which isn’t too strenuous but is time consuming. So its good to have work flocking in, and with very little sleep I’m managing to get through it all. Woohoo.

I just listened to a podcast from Upbeat with Eva Radich called “The Emperor’s New Clothes?�. Many of you may have heard the original interview on Concert FM, but if not the podcast is available here. Anyway it was a debate between Eva and James Gardner (composer and 175 East director), both great people, about contemporary music. Specifically programming, programme notes, and it being inaccessible and hard for audiences, all in relation to last weekends’ concerts by 175 East and Stroma (NZ’s leading contemporary ensembles). It was quite a good listen and if any of you get a free chance then definitely give it some time.

The discussion about programme notes was around whether or not to have them and to what extent. Should music completely speak for itself or should it have a note to provide some insight? There was also debate as to whether a long programme note consisting of “semi-intellectual twaddle� does anything productive for the piece – a lot of technical words that really glorify the composers’ vocabulary and intellect rather than the musical meaning.

This lead to the point of the music itself being more an intellectual activity for the composer rather than it providing any emotional impact to the audience. Some may say that the music is too complex for the audience to understand. But it was asked what the point of this is. It is hard enough getting audiences to contemporary music concerts as it is, and are all these elements just making it harder? Have audiences moved on from this? Other modern music, that of John Psathas was mentioned, is very inclusive; it speaks for itself and always gets full houses. So question was asked as to why make it harder and harder for audiences to understand and enjoy contemporary music.

Of course this has always been a debate, and it was great to hear some spicy discussion on it again. Both 175 East and Stroma and their artistic directors do a fantastic job and do have many elements that help to draw the audience into the concert. I have been to many myself, and they are very enjoyable concerts. BUT I totally see Eva’s many points as very relevant. There is so much music that is far more “intellectual� for the composer than “emotional� to the audience (…not that it all has to be). I have been down that path myself, but have come out the other end. As a composer I think without any question the main goal is to affect the audience. The composers that primarily consider this are those that are most successful.

Anyway great debate, have a listen if you can. Bye for now!

Well NZ Music Month starts today!! Hope everyone gets out there and makes the most of it!! Click on the picture below and there is a BIG list of whats on, and links, and info, and … just go check it out!!

Hey guys, I’m now on Twitter … “what are you doing?”!

Check me out:

Ryan

Hey everyone. Well yesterday I sent off my master portfolio down to Wellington. All 56minutes and 147pages of music. The last week was a mad scramble, partly because I thought I had an extra month, but by the time I sent it off it looked really good. Had some FANTASTIC recordings on the CD and overall was really pleased. I’ll get some of these recordings on to my audio player and MySpace soon.

So what now?? Good question! Have got lots of jobs and things to be doing over the next two weeks such as making my new website, musicpreparationservices.com, and doing a report for Creative New Zealand for some funding I got a while ago. After that … not sure. It’s time to reevaluate things I think! Bye for now.

Hey again, just thought I’d give a plug for my Uncle’s Oratorio.

“The Living Word” by Christopher J. Archer

The Living Word is a work for choir, orchestra, organ and soloists. It was premiered in 1999 at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland. It is a great piece of music and is being performed again at St Heliers Presbyterian this Easter. He has a short documentary on the original production at YouTube.

If you’re interested in more of Chris’ work or for more info on the Oratorio, let me know and I’ll pass on your interest.

Hey everyone, well if you’ve wondered where on earth I have got to over the last few weeks, I’ve entered turbo drive and have been working day and night on my Masters portfolio. I am SOO looking forward to getting it in. I’m just finishing off an orchestral piece “Ardor” and just have one other piece to finish. Still lots to do but everything seems to be on track.

By the way I got two more recordings of my pieces lately, so I’ll post them in the new player on the homepage and on MySpace. Haven’t even had a chance to listen to them yet but will do soon.

What else have I been up to? Good question … been working with my orchestra  - they are starting to sound really good, we have a two-day workshop in a few weeks which will be great. Am playing in an Oratorio (see the next post) and have been rehearsing with Auckland Symphony who are off to china in two weeks.
Anyway must get back to work.

Hey everyone, well after many hours of travelling and visiting people, we finally made it to Wellington. IT… IS… HOT…!! Oh my gosh it is hot. Not helped by the fact that we have MANY things to do around the city and how are we getting everywhere?? WALKING!! Anyway I shall get back on track:

Of course we are here for the Asia Pacific Festival and more importantly the premiere of my piece “Through my eyes, I hear”. In talking with the players in the last few weeks, Youri Jeon and Takumi Motokawa, I knew they were finding it hard. Of course, it is a hard piece. But I didn’t know what to expect at the first rehearsal. Anyway I got there and it was sounding FANTASTIC. We had another practice which also went really well, and got some good feedback from the players about the piece.

Then came concert day … today. This morning the piece fell apart in the dress rehearsal … just unorganised music etc, but that means a great performance right?? Indeed it does. The performance went really well. The odd place it got a little loose, but probably only I noticed. They got to the end and had a fantastic big finish. AWESOME!! Had some great feedback from people after the concert which of course was fantastic. Anyway I’ll do a post about the whole festival in a few days time.

cyas

Ryan

By the way … apologies about the lack of photos from my concert … I kind of forgot!!