Second Project

Myself and a couple of my class mates have taken it upon ourselves to write a piece for concert band. I have spent a little bit of time with it so far and it has definitely been a challenge and is making me think and make decisions I have never thought about before. I came into this project with an idea I had but when starting to write it I now had to began to think about how to voice my chords and which instruments I want to play which idea. I am still in the beginning stages of this piece, I am still at the point of thinking of material and how to get into my ideas I have. The coming days and sessions I will have with my ideas and this project will be tough and I will have lots of decisions to make. It definitely is a huge, time consuming porject to take on, considering I only have 5 weeks to write it but it will definitly be worth it. Plus the idea of entering it into a competition and possibly winning some money is a great bonus aswell.

Three studies in Rhythm for Solo Piano

I passed in my pieces for solo piano last week, and I put them into a set of three studies in rhythm for solo piano. At first when approaching this project I had not planned to do this, it just happened that my three pieces took 3 different rhythmic approaches.

I have not discussed my last piece so I will take the time to do so now. My last study, in a group of 3 takes a different approach then my first two studies. This study is quite quick and for the most part has two different lines. A bass line in the left hand and a melody line in the right hand. At first the piece presents a number of different bass and melodic lines, each line almost has a different key center and it occurs in different time signatures. Later in the piece I bring back these bass lines but I put another melody line over the bass line, but these lines are not same in length. The bass line may repeat 6 times while the melody line repeats 9 times. The end of the piece is based on material heard at the beginning of the piece but each time it is repeated, the pattern loses a beat. This gives the end of the piece a lopsided feel.

First concert from the 2010 Newfound Music festival

The concert on Thursday evening was a great concert to go to, there was a variety of different instruments and there was a variety of musical styles played. The piece that struck me the most was Derek Charke's piece that he played himself. He played solo flute along with technology and a pre recorded track. This was not entirely a track though because he had something set up, so that when he played a certain pith it would trigger a pre determined set of notes to play at the same time. The technology has to do with a machine hearing a certain frequency from the instrument and then that frequency triggers something else to play the notes of the chord. There were also two other performers who played with a pre recorded track and I am starting to find out that when a good pre recorded track is created it can definitely not only support the solo player but it adds a whole new level to the composition. Some people think that it is not a big deal to play along with a track it's not the same musical experience playing with another person. I would agree with this statement but the art of the pre recorded track is in the countless of hours creating it and trying to create and accompaniment for the soloist.

Overall I have learned a lot from the concert on Thursday and Saturday the more ideas I am able to listen to, obviously my pallet of options for composing grows.

Newfound Music Festival

The Newfound music festival has come and past for another year and for me, it has definitely been the best yet. I don't know if it is because I am older, or if it is because I am learning to appreciate these festivals more and more but for me this year was definitely the best year so far. Thursday morning was definitely a big eye opener for myself. I got to see first hand, techniques of modern composers and how they take their ideas and manipulate them. For example the first session with Dr. Staniland showed a very modern way for creating music, using a looper. I have never done any work with a looper or max/msp but after this session it is easy to see where music is heading and the possibilities it has for creating music in this evolving world of technology. The topic of technology was almost a theme for the morning because guest composer Derek Charke also displayed some of his work on Thursday morning and it was easy to see that most of his work also involved technology. A lot of the work he showed us at this session had a pre recorded track to go along with a solo preform er or group. For example in his piece "gustandos" for solo flute, there is obviously a solo flute part but it is preformed with a pre made track specifically for that piece. This was definitely a huge eye opener because I was able to see where modern composers are in regards to what kind of elements composers now use to write. Another aw some aspect of this workshop was when he played "cirque de nord 3" for string quartet and "trio, for percussion" both play around with very interesting sounds from each respected family. In "cirque de nord 3" he shows us how he was able to arrange and capture traditional throat singing in a string quartet. The new bowing systems he created and the sounds that were produced were aw some and very intriguing. The "trio" was also very intriguing due to his choice of instruments. The Instruments he chose and the sounds he wanted worked very well and created a very cool effect. My favourite instrument that is required of a preform er for this piece is to put a bass drum head in front of a resonating instrument; like a harp, guitar or piano and then proceed to hit the head.

Overall this festival was very influential on me and I have learned some big and great tips for composing, but I also have picked up some small tips along the way which will definitely make me a better composer.