And just like that, another year is gone! Here is a look at my posts for the year.
The blogging year started in March with my favourite book arriving, “Behind Bars”, which I preordered in 2010. It is definitely the most used book on my shelf! I then talked about two approaching projects:
October was the kick off of the Rugby World Cup here in New Zealand, I talked about my involvement in the opening ceremony and also made a post about what exactly I do when “preparing music” and why you would need someone like me to do it:
December means Christmas and I posted some Christmas carols that I prepared for my students. I also composed a new “holiday” piece for my Christmas post:
I had the pleasure of going up to Kerikeri High School on the 22nd to 23rd of August to work with my good old mate (also the Head of Music) on some professional development and with the students – providing some composition tutorials.
DAY ONE
This was a teachers’ only day and the perfect opportunity to talk through the music equipment and classroom setup – focusing on how new technologies can be implemented in the department. We also spent some time working with Sibelius and seeing how effective it can be in education… one of my favorite things!
DAY TWO
Heralded the return of the students! I gave two one-hour talks on composition and another session where I went through many of the students’ compositions with them.
The focus of these talks was “back to basics” – how do you go about starting a composition and developing your ideas during it. We had fun looking at many different variation techniques and how they are used in different pieces of music. Most of the examples were from the 31 microscores I wrote during May this year.
It was a fantastic few days. Please contact me if you would like me to come to your school!
On the 21st and 22nd of May was the 2011 48 Hours Film Festival. This year I was on board with Sideways Productions and masterminds Allan George and Ben Fowler. They approached me to work with them last year, but I couldn’t due to other commitments, so it was great to finally get things rolling with them.
The genre we got was revenge movie, and Allan and Ben put together a good script. I packed up some gear and followed them around their two main locations, fine-tuning initial draft ideas as the structure and feel of the film came to life.
I was reasonably happy with the result, loved the feel of the music, but not so much the final edit of it in the film. Have a listen to a few of the tracks below:
Or check out the movie here:
Although initially gutted not to get through, the team were then awarded the “Sexiest Images & Sound” award for Auckland and therefore nominated for that award at the nationals. Well done guys.
The team was Director: Ben Fowler Producer: Allan George, Ben Fowler Writer: Allan George, Ben Fowler Actors: Andy Nicholson, Yulie Great, Gwendoline Taylor Editor: Ben Fowler, Manuel Castelltort Sound / Music: Ryan Youens Cinematography: Allan George
My new work for orchestra, “blimp”, finally landed in Auckland on the 1st of May – premiered by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra at the Auckland Town Hall. It is a short work commissioned by the orchestra and their conductor Peter Thomas. It received a second performance on the 8th of May at the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna. This was followed by its inclusion in their “Proms” concerts on the 18th and 19th of June. A great first month and a half for a new work!
The orchestra during soundcheck before the premiere. Photo by Keri Moyle (www.signsoflife.co.nz).
“Blimp [noun] a small, non-rigid airship or dirigible, especially one used chiefly for observation.”
The idea I tried to portray is that for me I think of blimps as being slightly odd, awkward to get off the ground and driven by men who are a little loopy; but, once in the air, they jauntily go about their purpose.
The brass during soundcheck before the premiere. Photo by Keri Moyle (www.signsoflife.co.nz).
I was extremely happy with the performance, the orchestra did a wonderful job and loved playing it. It was also great to get such positive feedback from the audience after all four concerts.
Watch the live performance from 8th May here:
Or listen to a good audio recording here:
The orchestra and Auckland Town Hall during soundcheck before the premiere. Photo by Keri Moyle (www.signsoflife.co.nz).
During this year’s New Zealand Music Month I wrote 31 musical microscores, and far out, what a month it was! I decided back in this post that I would do the project – each microscore would be from 30 to 60 seconds and I would do them in a maximum of one hour each day.
I was initially unsure how it would shape up musically – would they all be completely different, how would they relate to each other – but once underway it was clear that small sets of microscores was going to be the way to go.
Another thing I was unaware of was the difficulty of taking one hour out of an already extremely busy working day, especially for 31 in a row. I made it though, with a few catchup days here and there.
It was interesting to see the voice that came out through the compositions and how they relate to each other even when they are for very different instruments and based on a very different idea. Some I wrote for instruments I know well, others I wrote for instruments I have not worked with much.
Below are most of the microscores – have a listen. The rest are still on their way due to technical disasters.
Below is the full list of microscores:
FOR PIANO, a response to my piece for orchestra, “blimp”, which was premiered on May 1 at the Auckland Town Hall by the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.
May 1: “the pilot” Yes, it is about the pilot of the blimp.
May 2: “the view” Yes, it is about the view from the blimp.
May 3: “the flock” Yes, it is about the flock of birds that hit the blimp.
FOR PIANO, the development of my favourite idea from all microscores written in May. And I also happened to sit on a rather large swiss ball to write all 31 microscores.
My new piece for orchestra, blimp, began rehearsals last night. It was commissioned for the Auckland Symphony Orchestra by their conductor, Peter Thomas. It will be premiered at the Auckland Town Hall and Bruce Mason Centre in their May “Up, Up and Away!” concerts.
Inspiration was drawn from the concert theme and with a little help from some friends, blimps seemed an ideal title and topic.
Blimp [noun] a small, non-rigid airship or dirigible, especially one used chiefly for observation.
For me, I think of blimps as being slightly odd, awkward to get off the ground and driven by men who are a little loopy; but, once in the air, they jauntily go about their purpose. I love this idea, and the music hopefully portrays this in its short two minute duration.
The concert also features Die Fledermaus Overture, Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 featuring Hong Yul Yang, Jupiter from “The Planets”, two great movie soundtracks – “Up” by Michael Giacchino and “E.T.” by John Williams – and much more.
Concert 1: Auckland Town Hall, Sunday 1st May, 2:30pm, FREE.
Concert 2: Bruce Mason Centre (Takapuna), Sunday 8th May, 2:30pm, FREE (but ticketed).
It is of course in May, New Zealand Music Month, so you should be overdosing in musical activities – make this one of them. Look forward to seeing you there!
May is New Zealand Music Month, a chance to celebrate all things NZ music. I have always been involved in extra activities during the month, but I decided that this year I would do a project of my own – write 31 musical microscores in the 31 days of May. I will write one and then post it online every day – no exceptions!
I am very much looking forward to it, but am in the process of thinking how exactly I will go about it, so I thought the big wide world may be able to help me. What I’m pondering is:
What instruments should I do it for? A different instrument each day? Select perhaps six in total? Have only one instrument?
Are there any performers out there who would be keen to perform them through the month?
Any ideas on a theme that could tie them all together?
It is December 31 and I just wondered “what exactly has happened this year?”
So through the eyes of this blog, let’s have a look. We’ll start with January and the tail end of our South America trip, along with the workshopping and recording of my music in Brazil.
After spending too many hours hunting down good repertoire for my school orchestras, in February I explored the efforts of conducting. I also set up my newsletter with MailChimp.
It was a plentiful month of posts in March, many on great discoveries I recently made but also highlighted a new piece, Picture for Emily, for my niece.
Spent a fantastic few days in Wellington in September recording Rakaia with the NZSO. Also, Rhian Sheehan’s amazing score for The Cult, which I helped out with, won best score!
In November I did a three part post looking at music printing, engravers, copyists and how things are changing. I also hooked up Sibelius users with some great resources!
