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 😀

Complete lil chamber opera thing

I've completed scenes 4 & 5 of my still-to-be-finally-titled Away with the fairies piece. It's about 13 minutes long and now that this phase is done I'm going to leave it for a loooong time.

Score Here

Mum song

Hey guys,

Just something little today. I told my sister about month of music and she said “ohhh you have to write a song for mum!” So I’ve kind of been writing something that I’ll sing with my siblings tomorrow with my sister on guitar. This whole “writing songs for people as quasi gifts” is actually proving to be super draining. It was a cute idea but being asked to do it has made this one a bit less fun to write. 

I wrote this bit down just so I don’t wake up and forget the melody. Still some lyrics to tidy up. 

Buddha nature (Carnival of The Chinese Animals)

This sketch is part of the Buddha Nature theme.

It requires quarter tones and I still haven’t decided which notation style to use. So I’ve tried a couple in the above page: both the arrow on its own as well as a natural sign with attached arrow mean the same thing.

I personally prefer the former but the latter is more conventional. However I don’t like the accidental for 'quarter-tone flat' because it is a flat sign with an arrow pointing UP which is counterintuitive for a flat note. So I avoid it and I will use an enharmonic quarter tone accidental to replace it.  

off with the fairies scene 3

it needs a better title
any suggestions?

Score here

This is more of a guide than anything, the intention is to record and edit the heck out of this, so everything is liable to change.

Piano Concerto

Hey everyone :) Here’s a little snippet of a scherzo for piano and orchestra I did today. There’s more stuff I wrote but this is what I have that’s legible haha... I’ve always had difficulty writing fast pieces but this all came quite easily!
Piano 2 is orchestra

To invoke Pan, god of the summer wind

Once again, I get around to properly notating a piece that's already recorded…

Alicia Crossley and Acacia Quartet are about to release an album that includes my Three Bilitis Movements for recorder and string quartet.

The third movement is of indeterminate length but lasts 30 seconds on the recording. I had simply given verbal instructions to the 5 players during the recording so this movement has not been notated till now. 

Yes I am channeling John Cage's handwriting.

two poems | LORD it's more than a week in I'm late hello everyone

[small content warning]

here are two poems that I'm trying not to think too much about and just write, one of which I'm about to set for children's choir. Most of my time here will be dedicated to text this time around, but I might set other bits of it as well.

it's a commission for a thing, and essentially what I'm trying to communicate is:

this place is different, and beautiful
I am with you here
and soon we will go home.

#1

the sky is smaller here
the air is thick with stranger's chatter
choked by smog and busy streets
far away from home
the noisy ocean crashes in
on steaming sand and man o' war sting
and sweat and grit adheres to skin

the sky is starved of stars
but shoreline through to bitumen
is glinted with familiar shards,
stubs, stubbies, broken glass
far away from home
on streets spilled out from throbbing clubs
and roaring sounds of screeching cars

the ocean blackens with the sky
but stepping out a silence starts
to dim the chaos left behind
the waters lap a further inch
and waves reach out to brush beside
so far away from home
where no such waters swell and slide

and with this moonless sky
a quiet peace descends at last
when waves roll high and gently guide
a body floating in its pass
the cooler air is soft and thin
as salted wind flows clear and fast

I won't be setting that one


#2

far away
from home

you and I, running wild under endless sky
our soles stained with ochre red sand
and our hearts free to wander far
.

.

.

.

.
you and I, side by side by the ocean's shore
our bodies sprayed by breaking waves
our minds free to chart their course

far away
from home

I will be setting that one


sorry I've not posted until now, my routine's been out of wack.
can't wait to read all youses work <3

Figment 3

Ode to civilization for Viola

I thought I may as well continue my viola trend and add more movements to the etude.  Here’s my ode to civilization.

Typesetting The River (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

I finally got around to typesetting the theme I'm calling The River! 

Completed Song

Hey everyone!
This is a very special one for me that has taken a lot of emotional energy to create. Turns out writing meaningful lyrics is very hard to do without relying on cliches. As I mentioned in my previous post, this song is to my closest friend Loni, a harpist, and the song is about us as kids, playing, singing, and standing by eachother forever. It's a very gentle, lullaby like melody, meant to be evocative of a song to be sung going to sleep.

Score:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aglxzo9uwonc80w/Forever%2C%20Until.pdf?dl=0

Recording of me singing with the midi file:
https://youtu.be/vAkPnzKR-uE

Lyrics:

Come with me and step inside,

We’re going on a magic ride,

Look around and look at me,

And tell me, whisper, what you see,

Take my hand, let’s play a game,

Forever is the name.

Will you play with me, ever, forever?

Let’s meet at the tree at the top of the hill,

Passing the time, as the time stands still,

Will you play with me when no one else will?

I’ll play with you, forever until

Forever until

Sing this song, sing it light,

Sing it softly to the night,

Hum along and feel its heart,

You know you’ve known it from the start.

Take my hand, I’ll sing to you,

Forever sung anew,

Will you sing with me, ever, forever?

Let’s meet at the tree at the top of the hill,

Passing the time, as the time stands still,

Will you sing with me when no one else will?

I’ll sing with you, forever until

Forever until

Monsters may come look for you

And fill your head with thoughts untrue

But here I am, and time I’ll spend,

To turn the monsters into friends.

Take my hand, I’ll squeeze it tight,

I promise it’s alright

Minutes turn to hours and days into dust,

Silver and gold will not rust

Let’s meet at the tree at the top of the hill,

Passing the time, as the time stands still,

Will you stand by me when no one else will?

I’ll stand by you, forever until

Forever until

Will you stand by me,

I will stand by you

Ever, forever until.

Two mini scenes from a mini audio-only chamber opera. Scored for voice, choir, harp and electronics

LINK FOR SCORE :)

Chromatic Stupidity for Viola

This is my first attempt at writing for Viola and without sitting at a piano which is quite important for me as I’m always used to referring to the piano. Recording coming soon

Canon and song

Hey everyone,
two posts for today/yesterday.

Yesterday I wrote a canon about my favourite food: Fried Chicken. Can be displaced by full or half bar. If you're curious: I don't eat chicken beaks

I'm also writing a new song for my best friend whose birthday was yesterday. I'm scoring it for harp and her voice. The song is called "Forever, Until" and is about us as kids and remaining as kids forever as we get older. The structure and piece aren't complete but I thought I would post some lyrics.

Come with me and get inside,

We’re going on a magic ride,

Look around and look at me,

There’s nowhere we would rather be,

Let’s meet at the tree at the top of the hill,

Passing the time, as the time stands still,

Will you play with me when no one else will?

I’ll play with you, forever until

Forever until

Sing this song,

Sing it light,

Sing it softly to the night,

Hum along,

And feel its heart,

You know you’ve known it from the start.

Let’s meet at the tree at the top of the hill,

Passing the time, as the time stands still,

Will you sing with me when no one else will?

I’ll sing with you, forever until

Forever until

'Final cadence' for "Andante moderato" (string quartet)

Today's music is just one measure.

This is the final measure of 'Andante moderato', an 8-min string quartet performed several times by Acacia Quartet across NSW and Victoria last year and also on ABC Classic FM.

Despite all these performances, however, I never properly notated the final measure, which I instructed verbally at rehearsals. It requires two special effects. I finally did it today because someone asked to see the score.

And though I refer to it as a 'final measure', it also functions as the start of the next section of my perpetual work-in-progress String Quartet. 

figment 2 - for clarine

Good morning from NYC!
Today I have a cadenza I wrote for Mozart’s Piano Concerto K.491 in c minor.
The cadenza morphs into some quotations from Mozart’s piano music.
I was really inspired by a piece Frederick Rzweski write for my teacher Jerome Lowenthal called cadenza. And the point was to be able to perform the cadenza as a separate entity to the concerto.  Here’s my take.

More fast music (Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

Today I wrote more fast music for the animals' dance party finale and it sure is fun to write.

This section leads right into the Irish/Chinese sounding music from yesterday. At least today's music sounds less Celtic … 

Also I’m taking advantage of having 2 pianos. Here I have one of them play the tune in octaves (à la Schubert primo parts) while the other plays octaves tremolos, which evokes the strumming of a Chinese pipa.