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