Category: Uncategorized

  • The art of suffering

    It is a real testament to Amy Winehouse’s impact that reportedly 20 million tweets were sent about her untimely death. Her personal struggles undoubtedly colour one’s appreciation of her music and it seems fitting that she will be subsequently canonised as a great artist. It scares me a little that artistic endeavour might depend on…

  • Music, when soft voices die

    It was rather by chance I stumbled upon some choral music in the Clore Ballroom at the Southbank Centre today, and I am rather pleased I did. I am desperate to try and write some choral music. The voice fascinates me, and the combination of numerous voices is an incredible sound. There was a fascinating…

  • Fire the canon

    I recall being at a conference-style event exploring the transition from school music study to university level study. It was a fascinating day seeing grass-roots classroom music educators conversing with academics. The gap was indeed wider than expected. One point that stuck in my mind was how quickly school-based curriculums has changed in comparison to…

  • Hanging baskets

    I was genuinely thrilled to discover the rather mediocre hanging basket I had purchased – from a supermarket – some weeks ago had bloomed into something attractive. Well, nearly. It’s that exciting realisation of progress that I like. One can often miss it when focus is on an activity so regularly, such as practice. My…

  • Linking songs

    Now I have a show to write – which indeed I must as the auditions are soon – I’m wondering how much the musical material across the show should connect. Opera comes to mind – Puccini particularly – where characters have distinguishable musical ideas. But then maybe this doesn’t matter so much in musical theatre…

  • Hide and Seek – Imogen Heap

    There is something disturbingly beautiful about this song. Perhaps it is the concentration on the voice; it sounds as if it is a cappella yet there is a synthesised sound played homorhythmically with the voice. Harmonically it uses primary triads coloured with extensions. All sounds rather straightforward – yet this music fits the text so…