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