The Path (from Carnival of the Chinese Animals)

This is the sketch from today I’m currently calling The Path. 

In the story, there is a mythical river that the animals have to cross, and the order of their arrival determines their place in the Zodiac. 

The tempo and dynamic is flexible (hence no tempo marking on the sketch yet) as it may have to be used in different contexts as the 12 animals make their separate journeys to the final destination. 

If it’s starting to sound like an ancient Chinese version of The Amazing Race, don’t think that hasn’t occurred to me! I’ll probably upload a draft excerpt from the narration tomorrow.

Figment #1

Some little note games for piano. I didn't spell it out, but you could probably play the piece in any order you like.

Bassoon Quartet! "Down"

Hey guys! Here's composition no.2, a Bassoon Quartet called "Down"
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7nzofaax18rmmuk/AACwNUGqcKoWJsiRhKPzrF1Ga?dl=0
I'm really liking how this is shaping up, will definitely revisit this later to flesh out some of the material.

Carnival of The Chinese Animals

Thanks Andrew for including me in the 11/2018 Month of Music!

The awesome Southern Cross Soloists have just announced their 2019 season, and it includes a commissioned work from me. In February SXS are celebrating the Lunar New Year with Carnival of the Chinese Animals, my new 15-20 min piece based on the Chinese Zodiac’s 12 animals.

SXS are joined by cellist Li-Wei Qin, erhuist George Gao and pianist Kristian Chong, making a very unusual lineup – flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, erhu, violin, 2 cellos, 2 pianos (because SXS already have a cellist and pianist) – plus a narrator!

I’ve decided to include a narration, because most people aren’t aware of the folk story behind the 12 animals of the Zodiac (neither was I, really, until I started work on this project). As with any ancient fairytale, there are as many versions of the story as there are storytellers – so I’m writing my own version, with some original touches added.

I’m alternating between writing the narration and the music. I know most composers would get the text written first – and usually by someone else – but all my experience with text (sung and spoken) tells me I’ll get the best result for me if I work on them concurrently.

So my blog entries here could be about either.

I worked on this music sketch today. At the moment I'm calling it the Noble Truths theme. 

Comp No.1: Attention! (picc+snare)

Hey everyone, my first post here. Here's a little piece I wrote for piccolo and snare. Not sure how to embed stuff but here's a link to the dropbox :) https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7nzofaax18rmmuk/AACwNUGqcKoWJsiRhKPzrF1Ga?dl=0

Invention for piano

Month of Music - 5!

Hello everyone - massive welcome to the newcomers Oliver Shermacher and Lyle Chan!

This is relevant right now, so I figured that it might be good for me to share -

Richard Gill was the person who suggested to me that composing every day was utterly important. I suppose when I began Month of Music, I did it as a way of impressing him, although I never had the courage to send him the blog address. He challenged everyone with this task, and when he did, he suggested that to write just a few lines of music was entirely the point. This being said, I want to encourage everybody to do their own thing, and to share my belief that music = goodness = beauty = truth, which I specifically ripped off from him.

more of my forum piece

aaaaaahhhhhh it's due on Thursday!!!! panic!!!

more unfinished score here

yet another horn piece

tentatively called oasis... lacks dynamics...

unfinished score and audio here

Fisher Song for Flute

another horn piece!!

Trying to think of a title!! Not sure about what I came up with... right now it's called gannets diving,
named after this bird:


photo credit: By Alan D. Wilson (http://www.naturespicsonline.com/) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons


AUDIO and SCORE HERE

I might name it northern gannets diving, to refer to the specific bird!

Spring Evergreens for Flute

more of my copying/scanning work for Amber!

for some reason blogger won't let me upload the actual scan-- I had to take a screenshot?? So weird.

Partita : Game score without annotations

This is a piece for piano and electronics, obvs you can't see much evidence of the electronics here.

inLk

this weekend has been...

a lot of just hand copying and scanning my solo soprano piece for Amber! I am still dissatisfied with the quality of the scan, so I may have to seek out alternative solutions!

string quartet no.6 movement 1

This is a piece that will deal with the nature of changes, and particularly changes in nature.

Mvt 1 is v slow and contemplative, grab a jazz cigarette and enjoy

Score and Audio HERE

even when you smile

'even when you smile' sounds like the title of a jazz tune

more of my piece for soprano clarinet and piano!

score draft here!

Rainy Morning Melody

This is an arrangement of a tune by Alice Chance, from the last month of music. I wanted to exercise some video game nostalgia, so I chose some bitcrushed samples and a NES sampler that I've been using for a while. Enjoy!

a piece for soprano clarinet and piano

still figuring things out... this is for one of the forum readings, so I have slightly more time than other pieces but... still practically no time.

unfinished score draft here