Final post for this month!

Congrats everyone on the 80+ pieces of music, uploaded to this site this month!

It's been a lovely part of my day, logging in to this page and seeing what you've all written, I'm a little sad that it's going to be over for a while

Much love to everyone,

Andrew H

Yuletide Chorale

I thought a fitting final post would be a solemn Yuletide Chorale for four clarinets :) 

Listen to Dorico's playback here: https://instaud.io/2ZoS

(yes after 30 days I've learned how to make my first mp3 on this software haha it's too fast but at least it exists!) 

Final post!

Hey everyone
My final contribution to the month of music! It’s a first draft of the third variation in my fiddler on the roof variations.

 (Technically it’s December already but oh well)

I want to thank you guys so much from the bottom of my heart for having me as part of this. Although I wasn’t able to upload every day (lord knows that life can get in the way), I thoroughly enjoyed composing again and feel super motivated to continue it into the future. I finally wrote some pieces that I’ve wanted to write for ages, for example this fillder on the roof variations that I have been putting off for years. Now I’ve drafted around 3 variations and am so excited to finish it and perform it!

I think next time I do this, I want to plan a bit more ahead in terms of what I want to explore, or ideas of pieces, instrumentation etc. Once I had any kind of idea then the music came quite easily (generally) but the majority of the time I would get home at 10:30pm from a performance and struggle to come up with an idea for a piece. I’d also like to explore more unfamiliar instrument settings, I didn’t write anything with brass and tried my hand at writing for strings, which I’m slowly getting used to.

Anyway, this was definitely a pretty full on experience but I enjoyed the experience of all of us sharing our music. Thank you for being supportive and so friendly! I can’t wait to hear all of your works in concert!!

All the best,
Ollie

a piano piece

I took some things I wrote before and made them into a very hard piano piece!

Second last day... you're right, Lyle, time does fly!

Score and Audio



p.s. the audio is an experiment with East-West's steinway instrument... I find it hard to tell the difference, compared with the Logic piano

Very cheery piece

I can't decide if this is for tenor recorder and string quartet or tenor saxophone and saxophone quartet. Either way this is a very cheery piece. Tempo is a basic Allegro. Everyone gets to stomp their foot while playing :) 

Also – this is my second-to-last post! Tomorrow we post our last pieces… the month has really flown by!

another computer test

listen here

This one's quite unpolished - a tester of the East-West string library. 4 Chords...

co-composed with Christine Elise Chen

Who needs copyists anyway …

This looks perfect. I hope the Song Company likes it. LOL!

Name that composer

Hey everyone, I’ve been playing a lot of a particular composer this week and love their music so wanted to try and write a melody in their style. I purposefully didn’t write their name - who do you think I was trying to emulate?

Playing with a new toy

I just purchased a subscription to east-west's composer cloud - this was an experiment, using east-west's Symphonic Choir instrument. It's fun that it makes words, but apparently the Hollywood Choir makes better ones. Downloading that tomorrow.

warning: very very cheesy

listen here

Action music (Carnival)

I've had to write some 'action music' or incidental music rather than themes for the narration of Carnival. This is largely unison music for woodwinds and cello.

More religious text setting

This one comes from the epic of Baal, one of the texts that inspired the writers of the bible - as the Lord of the Rings series is to Game of Thrones, if you will. As well as being an important supporter of good, Baal was a storm lord, and these words come from a proponent of his, the lady of the sea, mother of all gods.

I've read some sources who claim that the Baal cycle was 'sanitised' by its translators, removing some of the more sexual content. This seems pretty sexual to me - and it's worth remembering that the bible's writers rewrote his character into the literal devil.

I finally finished the Chris Gordon orchestration...

and here it is! Score and Audio too

It's for the leichhardt espresso chorus' Carols on Norton program this year - go see it! I won't be there, unfortunately, but it's always a lovely community event.

the piece I wrote based on the text from twenty days ago or so hahahahah

I wrote this piece vaguely using the text I wrote two weeks ago. It is sincere and cheesy and I am not ashame

I hope do not hate

bye xx

Saxophone quartet with extra tenor

An exubérant sketch for saxophone quartet and solo tenor saxophone.

I have a meeting tomorrow to talk about my next work for saxophone(s) and I need to generate some ideas to discuss!

Caprice for String Orchestra

Hey everyone,

Here's a little Caprice I've been writing this afternoon for string orchestra. Definitely will be revisiting this!!

Score

3 pieces

Hey everyone,

I've been writing but not posting so here are mine from the past 3 days. I've written most of the first variation in my Fiddler on the Roof Variations, a klezmer improvisation (I've begun notating) and some lyrics for a new song for my friend about his moustache. Still need to write my piece for today!

Fiddler

Improv Draft Score

Improv Recording

Some draft lyrics for moustache song

Here upon my upper lip,

My little hairy landing strip,

Nestled in a cheeky grin,

He keeps me warm through thick and thin,

Trapping little scraps and crumbs,

He keeps me full my prickly chum,

He gets all fluffed when I sip my ‘cino

We share some secrets only we know,

No I’m not a fireman

No I’m not a cop,

No I’m not a bikie who owns a barbershop

some latin

I'm not a big fan of the bible - but I make personal exceptions if all of the offensive ideas are removed. This is my versions of Colossians 3, where we learn how to live our lives. Of course, I removed the instructions for women to submit to their husbands, for slaves to feel gratitude towards their masters, and some other details - I think what is left is quite nice.

490 words down to 25:

induite benignitatem humilitatem modestiam patientiam tibi

Clothe yourselves with kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

subportantes invicem et donantes vobis ipsis

Bear with each other and forgive one another.

Super omnia caritatem, quod est vinculum perfectionis.

Beyond all is love, which binds perfectly.

Two-piano ostinato (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

I needed a textural dimension to the beginning of Carnival.

Otherwise it's just long held notes, which would be great for an orchestra but isn't ideal for a chamber group, no matter how large. 

So today I wrote this ostinato for the two pianos, based on the actual tune (not shown here) that opens Carnival. 

The effect will be like a mensural canon between the texture and the tune.

Ghostly Chorale (maybe for Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

Anyone want to see why I don't typeset my own music? This is why!

(Hence I usually post handwritten scores). 

This piece is quite an ethereal, numinous chorale, but you can't tell from the way it currently looks like a 5 year old made it! I have Finale, Sibelius and Dorico and it’s so I can communicate with any copyist no matter what they use.

an arrangement of a piece from a few days ago, this time for solo piano

Chopping (from Three Bilitis Movements)

Today I continued with orchestration of Carnival, so there's really nothing interesting to upload compared to the last post on the subject.

So I thought I'd post this section from my piece for recorder and string quartet, for 2 reasons. One, it's being played at Utzon Room next weekend (Sunday 8th, concert details here). Two, today I was chatting with some composers on Facebook about how to notate 'chopping', which occurs in this piece.

'Chopping' is a bluegrass violin technique. You hit a string with the hair of the bow hard enough that it 'bites' and gives a percussive sound. When you lift the bow, you get a sound too because the rosined hair is sticky from digging deep.

There's no standard notation for chopping. I like to use a right-angle triangle as the notehead, because it looks like an axe when you see it with the note stem :) The passage is tricky to play but it's short. I've since typeset this passage but here's my handwritten page.  

Viruses (a Graphic Score for Song Company)

A first draft of a graphic score for the Song Company :) 

 The subject is viruses. All text is IPA, except for some technical terms that I haven't been able to transliterate yet.

Trio

hey everyone,

Here’s the beginning of a trio I’m writing for clarinet and two bassoons. This one will probably be performed in a recital in December.

It’s going to serve as a divertimento.

for solo trumpet

I'm putting a little effort into something that I really should be putting a lot of effort into. It's a trumpet piece and my goal is to compose it somewhat visually, basing my pitch choices more on the way it fingers on the instrument than on anything else. E is 1st+2nd key, F is 1st key, F# is 2nd key, etc, so the alteration between these combinations is part of what makes the music.

I once spent a long time writing a piece like this for clarinet, and found it so boring that I gave up the whole conceit. LMK if you'd like to see it...

Children’s song

Hi everyone,

I had a full day of teaching and thought I wouldn’t have enough time, but I thought why not include them in the process.

I asked 5 of my students to pick any two notes they like on the clarinet. Some very very very interesting results, have a look!

I combined each of their answers to get 2 interesting clusters. 

I was playing this on piano and think it would be a fabulous repeating figure to improvise or write a very languid melody over.

Feel free to listen and improvise over!
Piano playing

I’m thinking of doing this multiple times and writing a suite of songs based on the repeating figures.

Revisited Buddha orchestration (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

Today I refined the draft orchestration for the opening section. 

It evokes the earth rustling and awakening as the Buddha arrives. 

another romance

A long day, lot of walking, lots of hanging out with Vatche who told me he might write a piece tonight...

I wrote some words for my cabaret but no music so here is an interim romance - 

Sketch (probably abandoned)

So much of composition is writing stuff that gets thrown out…. 

I really like what I wrote here but my instincts tell me this has no place in Carnival of the Chinese Animals. So maybe it’ll end up in a string quartet. 

Also, why is there no iOS app for Blogger. It is a pain to use on an Apple devices … Even with Chrome, Google’s browser. I’m tempted to upload my next post with all the istakes not corrects t because I can’t see what I’m typing   Like this. Honestly Wordpress. Leaves blogger for dead. Haha end of rant 

Choral Piece - And Yet I Sigh

Heyo! Tried my hand at writing some choral stuff today.

Score

What are your experiences with writing things like mouth sounds, breathing sounds or unconventional sounds for choir?

I initially wanted to write a whole piece for choir without notes but just contains various vowel sounds in inhalation and exhalation but got a bit too intimidated to do the whole piece like that, as I'm not sure if it would work.

In your experience do you reckon something like that would be effective? I don't have much experience singing in choirs or writing for them so your input would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Ollie

something new

This week I want to complete a project. It'll be my second little chamber opera of this month, another audio-only romp for future podcasting.

The plot as it stands is something to do with a couple stranded abstractly at sea, in a little boat with no propulsion. Their relationship is a lit match and we get to watch them douse it with gasoline. And it's all in a gothic Weill-like cabaret style.

This is somewhat of a prelude, piano only -

score and audio

I can only think of terrible titles. Save me from 'relationship-wreck' please

Sustained but pointillist. No animals were injured … so far.

Isn't it strange how you can't go very long before writing something with a touch of New Complexity… The woodwind parts are tonal and sostenuto but the piano part is a little NC, rhythmically anyway. I have no idea where this section goes. Maybe into the circular little filing cabinet… No animals were injured in the writing of this passage.

Ma Tovu + String Quartet

Hey guys,

Sorry for the absence. I've written two things today - the scoring is terrible but I at least wanted to get some stuff down! Ha

Ma tovu
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ge86fdrgps8axo7/Ma%20Tovu.pdf?dl=0

String Quartet ideas
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xlh4ds585080mjx/String%20quartet.pdf?dl=0

figment 4

I listened to a divorced couple argue for two hours about what they were going to get their kid for christmas. First they spent 25 minutes debating nintendo switch vs. playstation 4, then added chromebook into the mix. The following hour was spent arguing about whether they should give her a pet.



In the end, they decided to discuss it again "in the next meeting."

The way it was going, I think they're going to give the kid a switch.

Buddha Orchestration (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

Today I experimented with the orchestration of the Buddha opening theme.

It was a challenge use the 2 pianos, because of the microtones in the other instruments. 

Then I realised that using lower notes of the piano actually creates a mist of natural overtones which are 'out of tune' anyway, so the microtonal instruments can just slot themselves right in. 

The nice thing about equal temperament is that almost nothing is really in tune according to the overtone series…

Followup romance for viola and piano

Score here

I'm thinking that this will be part of a set, with the other one. I feel as though I should write at least one more, but is that just a cultural norm?

Bouncy like a Tigger (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

Polish your weaknesses until they're your greatest strengths, I always say. 

I'm turning my tendency to write hybrid Chinese-Gaelic-British music into an asset.

There's a Tiger in the Chinese Zodiac. It's going to be bouncy like a Tigger now.

again was busy today coming back tomorrow SORRY

Practice text using IPA alphabet

Today is libretto-practice day.

I have to get a start on my commission from the Song Company. It's a short a cappella piece using the International Phonetic Alphabet. 

Before I write the song text properly, I want to be comfortable with the IPA, since this is the first time I'm using it as an author.

The eventual song text will use disembodied phonemes etc. in such a way that there is no linguistic sense, ie. no meaning. 

But to begin familiarising myself, I wrote this practice text using largely English words plus a few sounds not found in English, like the [ǂ] which is a click used in Khoisan languages.

The English words are from Samuel Beckett. I figured it's fitting that I use absurdist text to practice writing nonsense… (Oliver, you'll recognise a couple of lines even if you don't read IPA…!) 

I'm sorry I haven't been commenting or posting properly

Hi everyone, it's been REAL busy but I'm back on track now and will be pumping out some make-up music for the days I've been away.

For today, here's a sight-reading recording of the Romance of a few days ago -

get romantic & sad

thanks to Meagan Turner (vla) and Vatche Jambazian (pno) for their real beautiful snowy-day playing <3 <3 <3

Sad waltz (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

Today yielded a waltz sad and sweet….

I wonder if it's the Cat's tune. Does anyone wonder why there is no Cat in the Chinese Zodiac? In the version of the story I tell, the Cat was pushed into the river by the Rat and got washed away. Till this day, cats don't like rats. Or water.

English Virginal Dog (Carnival of the No-Longer Chinese Animals)

I'm encountering that problem again …

So I wanted to write some playful music for the Dog, which is one of the last animals to arrive because it was enjoying the swim in the river and lost track of time.

But though I intended to write some Chinese music, this isn't even close. Instead it sounds like a children's song going into English virginal music, eg. Orlando Gibbons.

What to do… either I go down this path or I dump this music!

ABC's

Hey everyone,

I'm recently been learning a monologue from Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" and have been inspired by some of its insanity.

This is a bit of a nonsense piece and I hope you enjoy it!

Score Here

No composing today...

I didn't get the chance to compose today, as I've been working at some orchestration work for a guy here in NY. I'd share some of that, but it's not mine so I think I'd better not...

I did however get a recording of a piece I wrote during month of music a year ago - almost exactly a year ago, actually! Here it is:

Score here

Twelve Multiphonics of Christmas

Hey everyone. The Clariboys and I were asked to be part of this thing called "A very multiphonic clarinetmas" and have been asked to contribute a carol with multiphoniccs. I haven't decided which multiphonics will be used where but the whole point of this piece is a comedic duet where an obnoxious multiphonic replaces each numeral in "the Twelve Days of Christmas".
Have a look :)

Score

Sheep, Monkey and Rooster (Carnival of the Animals)

I'm finding it quite interesting that I don't have many low instruments to work with.

I have 2 cellos. I also have the low notes of the 2 pianos and horn. But I don't have bassoon or trombone or double bass, so the normal orchestration techniques are out of the question.

Here is some mischievous, slightly hocketing music for clarinet, horn and cello, and if I continue to like this, it will representing the Rooster, Sheep and Monkey who cross the river together on a raft. 

Romance for viola and piano

boilerplate nice music here, I just wanted to have a good time w' some nice chords

Solo Viola

Vatche you definitely inspired me to do some writing for viola! 

Here’s a piece with a pattern I love playing around with. I want to start doing the sequence with harmonics (I reckon it would sound awesome) but will need to consult a violist given how fast this is.

Meant to be played as fast as possible with retakes at every bar line. Will definitely revisit this later to develop further. 

Actual folk song (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

I’m in the process of deciding if I should use traditional folk music in this piece. 

So I’m testing out the idea. It's been a while since I used a folk song in a composition so I'm perhaps a little rusty.

Right now its important for me to keep the idea pure so today, I spent the time in an iterative process to reduce this Horse song into its most basic form: melody and bass line only, and the bass line in as simple a form as possible and with as few changes of harmony as possible. 

I think I've managed to take out everything extraneous. I need to do this because only then can I hear the possibilities of transformations that will constitute 'composing'with the piece… 

(ps. the second period of the music is incomplete in this picture…)

a little orchestration

busy day today, so I'm posting a bit of work from this morning. I'm orchestrating this for the carols on norton concert, anybody know what the piece is? no points for the composer, it says his name on page 5.

Fiddler on the Roof Variations

Hey everyone! This is something I've wanted to get started on for years, it's writing a concert/show piece for clarinet based on themes from Fiddler on the Roof. Here's the Introduction!

Score
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bnlobvkxl7rbo8c/Fiddler%20on%20the%20Roof%20Variations.pdf?dl=0

Midi File
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qdyej8m3id4cp3p/Fiddler%20on%20the%20Roof%20Variations.aiff?dl=0

Rat, Cat and Ox (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

It's Sunday, so here's to hanging out in Woolloomooloo Bay working on the story and some rice paper rolls. And wine 😀