Cuckoo - poem by Hilaire Belloc

I think I'm done with these rummy songs for a while, but they are fun to write.

 

started a thing, will continue tomorrow!! (bari horn quintet???)

i wish i had a baritone horn so i could record this super slow and then speed it up in audacity and see if it sounds like how i wanted it to sound 

Emily Dickinson on Bees

This one's the second in some April Songs I'm starting with.

Computerised audio:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m99ls9ixuc5w1uv/Emily%20Dickinson%20on%20Bees.mp3?dl=0

Month of Music Collab 1 - Andrew London, Horn

Hello everyone,

Some generous musicians have agreed to do a set of composer-performer collabs here within Month of Music, and I'm thrilled to introduce the first.

Andrew London is a brilliant horn player from Sydney, developing quite a reputation for playing some of the trickiest repertoire written for the instrument. He's a lovely guy and has set the following parameters:

- duration of up to 2-3 minutes

- please avoid multiphonics & microtones, but all other extended techniques are good to go

- no high C's would be appreciated but one or two is probably doable if the context demands it

- low range bottoms out around the D two 8ves below the D at the bottom of the treble stave (horn pitch)

- Due date: Thursday 26th of March


After Thursday, Andrew will record these and may wish to get in touch, so please indicate your preferred method of communication when you add your piece to the blog.

Following the recording, I'll seek the go-ahead from everyone involved and, if ok, do a bit of posting on socials. There's no pressure on this and you're also welcome to do the posting yourself if you wish.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments!

Next one to come in a few days...

Not knowing when the Dawn will come

Hello friends! I had a couple of whacks today and this is the one that landed. It feels so good to write.

Here's the Emily Dickinson poem I set:

Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door,Or has it Feathers, like a Bird,Or Billows, like a Shore –

hopscotch (a bopscotch) - score only

hi andrew (and i think josie???) am i doing this right whooooo

EDIT: 

i forgot to say that vln speeds up a bit and vc slows down a bit over 4 of the x5 bars near the end, then they play the last repeat of three notes in unison

nothing but text!!

hello! I started by recording Andrew's piece, but got annoyed at my own piano/vocal limitations so stopped. Then I started a piece for voice+not sure yet solo instrument that just ran into the obvious 'what is this solo instrument' limitations of writing - only so much you can do when you don't know what you're writing for UGHGHGHHG so I only wrote as much as I knew. None of that is worth publishing so I feel, so I'm publishing a poem instead.

I hope I am kinder to myself in the coming days and weeks - I want to be writing music, I'm just not used to it just yet. I hope the days are treating you all kindly.



OPEN YOURSELF AND YOU OPEN YOURSELF TO
THE WORD
THE WORD IS NOT NECESSARILY DEFINABLE
NOTHING IS STRONGER BY BEING DEFINABLE
BUT INSOFAR AS YOU HARMONISE AND IDENTIFY
AND SING ALONG TO THE DEFINITION
THE IMMUTABLE GREEN OF TREES
THE IRREPRESSIBLE SONG OF SONGS
YOU ARE STRONGER FOR THEIR SINGING

THIS IS POEM MADE TRUE BY ITS CAPITALISATION
AND EMOTIONAL BY ITS READING
AND LOVED BY ITS BELIEVING


.

Morning - with a poem by Sara Teasdale

Hello everyone!

Full disclosure, I began this a few days ago, but it seems timely for this April's MoM. I wanted to be able to sing and play this one myself, but I think I'm a bit out of practice for a recording just yet.

Looking forward to doing more April songs.

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.