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