I did say earlier that I thought my posts might become less frequent, and so it has come to pass! I am working flat out, trying to get the music out of my head and onto the page (or into logic).
It has been a real turning point this week, with some exciting projects starting up, and existing projects taking shape.
It's funny, because the week just gone was supposed to be 'reading week', i.e., no usual classes. Turned out that I was in every day except for Friday, meeting new people and going on adventures! On Wednesday, we met the choreographers from Roehampton. Each composer will be teamed up with a choreographer, and we will collaborate to make a live music and dance performance, which will be performed in May next year. Our instrumentation for that is a choice of either flute, percussion and cello, or flute, oboe and cello. I have a feeling that I will use percussion, but we shall see...
The way this project works is that the choreographers and composers will select who they want to work with based on hearing / seeing each other's work. We started the day by 'speed dating', so that we each met all of the others individually. Then us composers played some of our music, so that they could get an idea of our style. In a couple of weeks, we will be visiting Roehampton, and they will give a performance of their dance, so that we get an idea of their style.
It's a great way to work, and I'm really looking forward to that getting underway.
Then, on Thursday, 7 of us took the train to Bristol, to meet with our other collaborators; 'the animators', from UWE. It came as quite a surprise after the 1-1 session the day before, to walk into a room full of animators, awaiting our arrival! We viewed a couple of films that were created on last year's project, which were very abstract, but brilliantly done. Each composer was assigned 3 animators to work with, and given an uncommon word which serves as a starting point for the inspiration for the film. My animators are Fedias, Sylvia and David; all of whom come from very different backgrounds, so that's going to be interesting. Our word is Horripilation; which means basically 'goosebumps' raising of the skin due to fear or cold.
Mmm...juicy!
We spent a couple of hours taking through ideas and getting to know each other. I've set up a blog for the 4 of us, so that we can communicate despite distance, and so that we have an online resource for the progress of the project when we come to write it up at the end.
I thought that for the musical aspect, I would explore using only sounds made by the voice and body, and manipulating them to create a creepy environment to support the visuals. I have spent a very happy couple of hours recording all manner of noises as my sound library. It is going to take much longer to cut up and label each sound file, but that's what laptops and train journeys were invented for!
My music theatre piece is nearly completed in short score for piano and male voices. I probably mentioned that I have used poetry written by inmates from New Jersey prison. It's quite compelling reading, and really gives an insight into the despair and inhumanity of the prison environment. I went on to the New Jersey prison website, and there you can actually search for inmates, and view their profiles. It was quite eerie to see the faces and the crimes of these men whose heartfelt words I had been reading. It made me feel really uncomfortable.
Well, it has been a long weekend. I've been doing so much music and just spending some time alone with my thoughts. I was really happy to take Oj & Nelly to my brother's for tea this evening. It's my 5 days without them, and they always seem to pass so slowly. So ye, it was nice to break it up, and see them today. They'll come home on Wednesday and stay until the following Monday, so that's nice. It's much harder without them now that I don't have Alex around to distract me either and to fill that void.
Back to school tomorrow, then some LVP singing time. Hurrah for that! Can't wait to see my vocal buddies...
x
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