Category: Composing

  • Reflections on writing a musical

    The set has finally been dismantled for Juniper Dreams. It made me realise how much had passed to get the project from the initial conception – my colleague Deborah suggesting we write one – to the performances last week was a rewarding learning curve. It represents the longest musical work I have written and I’m…

  • Feedback from last week

    I’m yet to reflect on the writing process but Deborah and I are very grateful for the kind words parents, pupils and colleagues have shared with us about the musical. “There were some really memorable songs, including the fugal facebok one, but most of all I enjoyed the really sophisticated harmonies and subtle timbres of…

  • It’s corrections time

    I’m on the train from Cardiff. The viva vice was survived – and an enjoyable experience. I learned a great deal about my work and about things that worked and elements that need developing. As the chair of examiners said, it is a good chance to get detailed feedback on one’s work. The feedback I…

  • I love to… score

    The show is very close now. Two more weeks of rehearsals – lots of run-throughs at the piano and polishing up with lots of detail – then a week of band call, technical rehearsal, dress then two shows. Amazing that one week will be the culmination of a project devised way back in May and…

  • Set for Juniper Dreams taking shape

  • SoundCloud –

  • Assessing composition

    After reading a forum post on what a music teacher considered the variability with regards to the marking of composition coursework, I wondered what made the assessment of this component a challenge. We often consider ‘art’ as something difficult to assess – it’s subjective, how can we make judgements and apply one marking criteria to…

  • Musical Pathways

    The Henley report on music education in the United Kingdom emphasised the value and importance of music making as a practical skill and how much this can enrich and aid the development of young people’s lives. This comprehensive survey lacked a detailed account of class music lessons and accentuated the role of extra-curricular music making.…

  • Tate: Gerhard Richter Panorama

    Some art seems to be the visualisation of music; Kandinsky comes to mind as an artist-musician who indeed tried to accomplish such a synthesis. Wandering through the Tate’s beautifully curated exhibition of so much of Richter’s work compelled to consider musical counterparts; the realism of his painting over photographs – perhaps akin to Berio painting…

  • Minimal content need not mean minimal effect

    Discovering one’s compositional identity or voice seems to be a process of continual discovery. I’m not certain I have one voice – perhaps I have an approach that could manifest itself in a variety of sound worlds that would fit the desired context. My last orchestral work ‘Cypher’ (2010) has a very different sound to…