Merry Christmas, all :)

There's many things to think about over the festive season and for most of us, they are quiet thoughts as we contemplate the year gone by and the year ahead...

I wish everyone a very merry Christmas :)

http://2minutes13seconds.com/merrychristmasfromelaine

A Picture of You

Each new day with new promises
Remembering the old,
I see you now.
And here we stand.
A couple of seasons passed
Flickering moments gone by
Dreams lost, they come and go
And at the end of the day, here we stand.
I’ve seen you before
And I see you now.
Today we live
The future calls
A picture of beauty
I see in you.

No need to run

No need to hide
I’ve seen you before
And I see you now.

Guitar Chords
A A D E
A A D E
D E D E
D E D E
(repeat)

Be comforted

Music is honest. It is anonymous. It makes you vulnerable and comes from a place of sincere intentions. Finding beauty and solace in the keys of my piano is a blessing.

A simple melody over a few chord progressions can say a lot…. It can mean one thing to me. It can mean something else to you. A song lasts just for a moment, fleeting in the scheme of things, then it ends. Played once, it can never be played exactly the same way again.

…

For all the people who’ve left a comment, said something to me directly and/or taken the time to listen. Thank you. You are very kind.

Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach

In my search for Bach’s Minuet in G major, I came across its story… and it is a beautiful one so I would like to share :)

Minuet in G major. Google it. When you hear it, I’m sure you’ll recognize it instantly. It’s a well-known and much-loved piece of
music, especially for early grade piano students… ;)

This minuet features in Bach’s 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. Bach wrote two notebooks, both for his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach, a talented singer who Bach met after being widowed by his first wife. She regularly helped Bach transcribe his music and there’s a theory going around that she too was a possible composer…

French suites, minuets, rondeaux, chorales, sonatas, preludes, musettes, marches, gavottes and polonaises, songs and arias make up most of the notebooks. The 1722 notebook consists of pieces composed by Bach himself. The 1725 notebook comprises works by Bach and other composers of the Baroque era.

Minuet in G major was not written in Bach’s or Anna’s handwriting and it has been since accepted that the piece was composed by and now attributed to Christian Petzold.

This playful tune also has a friend… Minuet in G minor.

Baby Classical CD

Last night I spent some time compiling a baby classical CD for the new mums and mums-to-be in my group of friends.

There are quite a few of them ;)

I enjoyed this process very much. The only problem was that at times I knew the melody but I didn’t know the title of it or who composed it. It got a little frustrating at times :)

Thank goodness for YouTube ;)

I listen to these classical pieces and smile…. I have a long way to go in this composing journey of mine but it is something to look forward to.

In the end, here’s what I’ve chosen for the CD:

1. Canon in D maj (Pachelbel)
2. Minuet in G maj (Bach/Petzold)
3. Minuet in G maj (Beethoven)
4. Minuet in G min (Bach/Petzold)
5. Waltz in G# minor (Brahms)
6. Piano Sonata in C maj (Mozart)
7. Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven
8. Clementine

Epilogue

This blog is quite strange. There’s no fluidity in its entries. It starts. It stops. It starts and then it stops again.

And isn’t life like that? It starts. It stops. It starts and stops again… and all the while you are living.

It’s an early Saturday morning and I can hear the birds chirping. It’s looking like we’re going to have a nice, sunny Saturday morning. I’ve just finished writing a piece of music and I’m just getting it uploaded now. Last night I improvised a new theme and further developed it this morning. It is the latter version I am uploading. I have a recording of it as it was last night too – imperfect, uneven notes, wobbly timing, raw … but I don’t care. It’s important to have that version as I played it last night recorded somewhere… So I can always remember how I felt last night.

I’ve named the theme ‘Epilogue’.

I think I might go cycling with some old friends later today.

My Music

I still remember the first time I penned my first crooked treble clef on manuscript paper. And it’s dawned upon me that I’ve been on a bit of a journey since. Let me explain :)

I am a grassroots composer. I taught myself. I compose what I think is ‘nice music’. It’s ‘nice music’ because it sounds nice to my ear. When it comes to classical scores, chamber music, choral works, this type of refined music is foreign to me. I don’t know much about the proper way to listen to an orchestral work or the proper way to appreciate it. If it sounds nice to my ear, I like it!

Up until 18 months ago, I’d never shared my music with anyone. I didn’t really feel the need to. I don’t earn a living from it and I don’t write for an intended audience. I love composing because of the process of composing. The outcome, well, it really only serves me.

Last year, however, saw me use my skill of composing in many different lights. I started to write music for other people as a form of expression when words were hard or words weren’t appropriate, or simply there were no words.

I’ve also written many tunes with and for children. When writing tunes with children, I really want these tunes to be inspired by the child – so whether they are fairy-tale inspired or situation-driven, the child becomes a composer in his/her own right. This is something they can always be proud of.

I also wrote a couple of tunes for children and found this very hard to do. Children are unpredictable and live in the moment. They play and get dirty. There is little else in this world that is more endearing than a kid with dirt smeared across his/her face. And I wanted my music, my music for children, to be reflective of this. Instead, my music is always characterised by sweetness and dream-like. My tutor at the con told me that I have a particular style, a bittersweet style, the type of music that makes your head tilt to the side and let out a sweet and sad smile, the type of music that makes you feel nostalgic. This concerned me a great deal – that I couldn’t compose outside this style and, in particular, I couldn’t compose ‘children music’.

November 2006 was the saddest month of my life. One of the things contributing to this was my friend’s baby daughter passing away. I still remember taking that call. I still remember the funeral. And I still remember how it felt being there. In a situation as tragic as this, there are no words. About half a year after the tragedy I wrote a small tune for my friend. I call it Olivia’s Lullaby. I discarded any perceptions I had about what the tune should sound like and abandoned all the rules I knew about composing. I don’t know what it’s like to be a mother who loses a child. But I do know what it’s like to suffer loss because I myself, like everyone else, have lost. And this is the place from where I composed Olivia’s Lullaby.

I listened to this lullaby this weekend that just passed…. And now Olivia’s Lullaby is going to take me on another journey. [Details to come.]

Lesson learned? I’m not going to worry anymore about refined music or not refined music, or worry about what it should sound like for children or any audience. I will just keep composing ‘nice music’.

A new way of composing

This long weekend that just passed, I spent some time cycling. About 75km up and down the M7. A quiet, harmless hum broke into an unmistakable song…. and I don’t think I have ever cycled as fast as I did when I turned around and saw that a fellow cyclist had crept up behind me.

I have to say I enjoyed myself immensely.

Heroes

Do they really exist? I’m not so sure….

I believe in heroic acts, that there are moments in life when we rise above our mere mortal status and achieve moments of greatness… and these are not just moments of saving a princess or slaying a dragon or even throwing yourself in front of a train for a loved one. These are moments of truth, when you let yourself be vulnerable, when you cry, when you confess, when you realize.

I recently read two Lance Armstrong biographies – a man of many heroic moments. Many things in his bios have stuck to mind but in particular his will to ‘get’ a mountain climb and his want to go back, attack it and own it. It’s amazing to contemplate and I think of my moments of laziness when all I really have to do is go to my piano and run my fingers up and down a keyboard (i.e. scale practice) vs him attacking a hill.

I admire the heroic acts of many people (Lance Armstrong included) but I cannot say these people are my heroes… because I do not know them. My heroes are my family members and a little known music teacher who teaches at St George Girls High.

There’s also a friend I know who rides a bus everyday to work and sits at his desk diligently working the day away. He achieves but is quiet about it. He gives but does not want anything in return. He believes in others but has a long way to go for himself. He is the stuff a legend is made of but he doesn’t recognize this. He inspires but doesn’t admit to it…

As I mentioned earlier, there are heroic moments when you let yourself be vulnerable, when you let yourself be brave.

So in this way, I feel we can all be heroes.

... and here we are

It’s been a while, in fact 6 months and 2 days to be exact, so it’s hard to know how to start this entry.

So for the last few months, I’ve been sailing….(more on this later) But recent discoveries and events have made me feel restless and I’ve come up with a purpose and now a plan….

So, if you care, pls watch this space. There’s a wind of change about.

The Last 36 Hours

The last 36 hours has been emotionally draining. I’ve had about 5 hours of sleep in total and gone through an array of emotions. I’m pretty tired now... :)

Week Seven - The Test

This week we were asked to prepare compositions for performance and recording.

We had 2 hours to get through 4 compositions. This worked out to be about 20 minutes for each composer to work with the musicians. This includes rehearsal time (the musicians are sight reading the pieces – amazing!), performance and recording.

I prepared a piece for an ensemble consisting of a flute, violin and cello. This week we were moved into a recital hall *gulp* (to get better acoustics for recording I think….). Sadly, because of this change in venue, there seemed to be a bit of a mix up and not all the musicians found their way to the venue. Sadly for me, the flautist, violinist and cellist were the ones who did not find their way there.

So there I was in the middle of a grand recital hall scrambling like anything trying to re-arrange my piece for a bassoon, marimba and piano.

My classmates were very gracious and let me go last but I found myself getting pretty nervous as the night wore on. By the time it was my turn to step onto the performance forestage, I was trembling. The experience of working with live musicians and having them play your creation and gauging their plus everyone else’s reaction is completely and overwhelmingly daunting. It was very scary. But I loved it. It felt like falling and soaring all in the same instance.

When the bassoonist came up to me and asked me whether I’d like her part to be played slurred or tongued, I was pretty much dying. (Note:- Differences in articulation produce different effects. For example, legato playing produced by slurring sounds much smoother than the short, staccato effect produced by tonguing.)

As daunting as the experience was, it is one I dearly cherish. The musicians are currently studying year 12 at the Conservatorium High School. They are masters of their instruments but at the same time they are really just kids who love playing music. They are quick-witted, daring, honest and generous at heart. I know one of them wants to study composition in Paris and another wants to study voice in New York. As I stood back and listened to them play my piece, I found myself smiling. At the end of the night, I went up to them and thanked them. I wanted them to know I will remember them for always.

The original concept I had in mind for my composition was 2 instruments (the flute and the violin) having a conversation under the moonlight. But I think I’ll talk more about my composition next week when we are given our recordings. I hope to find a way to upload, at the very least, an excerpt of it on my website (yes, despite my misfortune, I will keep to my promise. I always do.).

‘Please stand by.’

Dedication

I haven't written many dedicatons. I can probably count how many on one hand, probably less.

Tonight as I was walking home from class I hummed a tune... I call it the Moon Theme.

When I was a little girl, I was once challenged to bring down the moon. I looked for the tallest tree in the park we were standing in and climbed it with a flask of water. Upon reaching the tallest (and most safe) branch, I poured the water out onto the lid of the flask and caught the reflection of the moon in it.

From that moment, a special bond was formed between me and the person who gave me this challenge. We weren't the closest friends but we had a special connection. With our common love for soccer (err... the real football), we referred ourselves as the formidable duo. At that time, we liked to play right up the front... with plentiful scoring opportunities, this creative partnership delivered :) We even had our own secret codes so as to know how to play with the opposing team during a game or how to let the kids who would join us in the park during practice score a goal without it looking painstakingly obvious that we let them.

Tragically, a few years ago this friend passed away. She was suffering from depression. Her funeral was held on my birthday and for this reason I wasn't allowed to attend. I thought I'd be really upset but strangely, for me it was ok. I am not one for goodbyes.

Still, on most nights I look for the moon.

Week Six - Conservatorium High School

We had special guests attend tonight's class. Students from the Conservatorium High School. A percussionist, bassoonist, flautist/piccalo player, violinist, cellist. The room was filled with such talent!

They spent some time explaining to us their instrument, its range, its techniques. Their passion for their instrument was overflowing. Their skill for their instrument was simply amazing.

Next week we submit pieces for these young musicians to play and to record. I promise to load mine up no matter what it sounds like ;)

We also spent some time on the Sibelius computer program - a program which assists with score composition (Thank goodness I finally learnt how to pronounce it... until now the lure to call the program 'sipholis' has been way too enticing, a reference I don't think the program creater would appreciate :(..). I think at some stage I'm going to have to give this program a go.

One of my dear friends gave me a gift this weekend. She gave me a watch. Most of my friends will know that I don't wear a watch because it scratches my piano... but this watch is rather special. It's an ironman watch and it's pink! I wear it whenever I can. I love it. We've even synched the watches with each other. I think I will give her a call tomorrow morning at 11.14 58s :)

Finally, I think I wrote in an earlier blog that I love being able to carry a musical instrument about. Revelation. Not a violin case on the train during peak hour.

My $30 Violin and a Tale of a Yellow Rose

I love my violin. It's very precious to me. My parents bought it for me at a second-hand auction. It costed $30.

I grew up in a household that wasn't too well off but wouldn't be what you'd consider poor. By the time my younger sister and brother came along, we were doing ok. But the memories of my parents juggling numerous jobs around the clock, my dad's coughing from waking up very early in the morning, hand-sewn or knitted (very special) clothes, an old black and white TV... they stick with me even til now. Despite this, my parents found a way to give me everything and I am always so grateful for whatever my parents give me. I am thankful for everything.... It's always a bonus.

My mother is beautiful – I say that literally and in all its other meanings. My mum modelled in her younger years and I have memories of my sister and I growing up flicking through albums of modelling photos of my mum in admiration. Actually we still look at them and smile... My mother is also very friendly. She speaks to all my friends. Sometimes it makes me smile. At other times, I cringe.

My dad is very proper. Should we get to the dinner table late, he becomes a very unhappy man. He’s very quiet but he does so much for the family and those close to him will know that he has quite a sense of humour. If you don’t know him though, you’d be afraid of him. Many of my friends are quite scared of him. Personally, I think he likes to keep up this reputation :)

When I was younger, I often wondered how my mum and dad came together. They seem so different. My mum has never really explained it to me but I don’t think these things are really things you share with your kids. What my mum has told me is that my dad is a good man. He never did anything particularly romantic or sentimental but once upon a time he did give her rose – it was a yellow rose and she remembers it til today.

Theme & Counterpoint

The theme to a piece of music is its primary melody. Throughout that piece, the theme may be varied or altered but ultimately it’s those few bars that you can consistently hear and recognise. Counterpoint is a technique where two or more melodies are combined to form a harmonic relationship whilst retaining the individuality of each melody. I like to think of it as a conversation between melodies.

I find composing themes quite easy. I must admit my themes are usually quite simple and easy on the ear – quintessentially obvious and simple… but hey, they’re still my creations :) It’s the rest of the composition I struggle with.

Recently I’ve caught a couple of films – from Hollywood blockbusters to screenings at the French Film Festival – and I’ve found myself listening to the music that is played against the moving pictures. A guy running downstairs to a solo viola piece, the contrast of two protagonists depicted in the sounds of a cello against an electric guitar.

In the latest Pride and Prejudice film, Elizabeth’s theme is dignified but emotionally fragile. Mr Darcy’s theme is a bittersweet understatement.

This week I’ve tried to compose counterpoint myself – a melody of a piano interwoven with a melody of a violin. I don’t think it really worked so I’m going to have work on it some more.

Favourite Study Places

with friends...

• in Korean cafes in Strathfield with large-size rectangle tables, sofa-like seats (with cushions!) and friendly waiters – whilst drinking strange drinks out of big mugs and ordering lots of snacks. Along with textbooks, notepads, manuscript paper, pens and pencils… the table is covered with a colourful assortment of healthy (not) snacks

• in my apartment against a background of classical music (note to self: don’t play meditation music – puts everyone to sleep) though half the time I have my earplugs on. The earplugs are connected to my digital piano.

• in friends’ apartments and forcing (*ahem*.. politely asking) them to cook for me.

by myself…

• at my piano

• on my balcony

• under a big, friendly tree in a local park (though often I stray to puzzles, reading or drawing.. ok I’m going to stop cos I’m starting to sound like a nerd :(…).

The Performing Arts Unit Symphony Orchestra

Tonight I was so privileged to sit in on a live recording of the Performing Arts Unit Symphony Orchestra. This orchestra is made up of the most musically talented high school students across Sydney.

It was a full size orchestra and it was nothing short of mind-blowing.

In the space of 2.5 hours, the students practised, performed and recorded to an orchestral piece written by my tutor. The last 16 bars of Theme Four were so musical, I could not find the tears.

As I was sitting in the control room and looking out to this sea of youthful talent, I hoped and prayed they would know how inspiring they are to this grown up sitting on the other side of the glass pane.

It’s one of those nights in your life that you know you will remember always.

Week Five - My Rock Beat

Guitars and Drums.

I found this lesson the hardest so far. Let’s get some basics out of the way first :)

Guitars mostly have 6 strings made of either nylon or steel. This is not set in stone. Some guitars have 12 strings where there are 2 strings tuned to each note. Guitars can be played with a plectrum (pick) or with fingers. They can be strummed or plucked and they can be notated with TAB (one line for each string), treble clef or with chords. I personally love the sound of a guitar being plucked. It’s very musical.

A standard drum kit will consist of a snare drum, bass drum, 3 tom-tomes, hi-hats and 2 cymbals (ride and crash.. yes that’s what they’re called!). The ride cymbal is most often used in jazz music where the crash cymbol is most often used in rock/pop music. One can also use different sticks to create different effects on the drums e.g. brushes are used frequently in jazz music.

This week we had to write a rock beat. I found this incredibly difficult, as in I had no idea…. Then we had to write a 12 bar chord progression with a beat… I felt a bit better after that.

I think I got there in the end.

My Musical Community

I live in an apartment block and I think I am surrounded by musicians. On the weekends, I wake up to a sad oboe being played. I hear a flute and an organ and luscious recordings of classical music. There's a pianist somewhere as well playing Beethoven's beautiful sonatas. If we were living on Broadway or in a Hollywood movie, our melodies would magically weave together to form a most beautiful ensemble piece - of course none of us would need to leave our separate apartments in achieving this... Sadly, the truth is we're all practising like crazy so were not really at that stage yet ;)

But I am happy to be part of this community.

I really like my tutor

She’s very sweet and she really does care that we learn.

Here’s a few other things I like about her:

• She plays the viola

• She plays other instruments even though she’s not trained in them and she’s not embarrassed to play in front of us.

• She’s likened composing orchestral music to painting. An artist never just uses one shade of red. There are many shares of red in a picture. I completely understand.

• She is a film composer and she sits in front of orchestras giving directions on her pieces. Amazing.

• She is an incredibly kind and patient soul. She includes everyone in the class, always

• She is a mother.

I really like my tutor.

Week Four - Percussion

Since changing our classroom to the keyboard lab, I’ve had to rely on the sounds of the gamelan to find my way to the new classroom.

The gamelan is the indigenous percussion orchestra of Java and Bali. I told a friend [waves frantically at that friend from this side of the laptop] that its sounds fall somewhere between the light rain falling on rooftop and the smile of a sun…. So you can imagine how much I have been waiting for this lesson on percussions :)

Ironically for this lesson we moved classrooms again and had it in a grand room filled with percussion instruments…. It was awesome! The feeling was like a kid standing in a toy store.

There were so many percussion instruments. I’m not sure there is one in particular I could speak about but after listening to a number of excerpts of different percussion instruments, it was our turn to compose a melody using any percussion instrument in the room. I chose the vibraphone which is like a xylophone but has a whirl to it because it is run by a motor.

I really enjoyed composing on it. I think the tone of this instrument lends itself to a particular tune and I found composing a melody for it very easy.

It’s no secret that I’ve been pretty worried about this course. Originally there were 8 students in the class and today there were only 4 of us. Honestly, the class is demanding and very hard. The pace is fast and there’s quite a bit of homework and additional reading to do. Still, it’s moments of finding things simple and unexpected rewards that catch me by surprise… and I remember why I’m so lucky to be here.

I love my class. I love it dearly.

Oh – and my teacher paid me a compliment today :)

A Bad Student

OK… We’re coming up to mid-term and I’ve had a revelation. I’m a very bad student. I haven’t been completing all my homework and have hardly been preparing for class…. When I do pluck up the courage to attempt some homework, I end up mucking around on my piano instead.

I have this program called Sibelius. It’s an excellent program, I hear. You can program full orchestral pieces into it and have it play it back. To be honest, I haven’t really given it a go… I don’t know. The thought of composing on the computer…. well, it kind of takes away the romantic notion of composing….

I prefer using pencil and manuscript paper.

Week Three - The Week of Woodwinds

Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’ is a children’s story which showcases the family of woodwinds beautifully. In this composition (which consists of both music and text), the bird is represented by the flute, the duck the oboe, the cat the clarinet and the Grandfather is the bassoon.

The family of woodwinds, I feel, is a very versatile family. I liken them to the reliable family member of any family. Flutes, Oboes, Bassoons, Clarinet in Bb and Saxophones. They play solo passages, provide harmonic background for the strings, provide contrasting colour and can even double other instruments.

This week was pretty cool. During class, we had to write a 12 bar melody for the flute and it just so happened that one of my classmates is a flautist. So when the time came to review what we had written, my flautist classmate actually played my piece. It was the first time ever that I had heard a piece I’d written played by someone other than myself. I told my tutor this and she commented with a smile “It’s like a world debut.”

I know it was said as a little joke but still, I smiled.

I also learnt the importance of adding phrasing and expression marks in a composition. Prior to my classmate playing my piece, my tutor asked me to play it on the keyboard. And I did, adding in arpeggios in the left hand, con sentimen’to. Because I had written the piece, I knew exactly how I wanted it to be played but because I didn’t have time to write in any phrasing or expression marks, my flautist classmate played it note by note, exactly as written. No ‘sentimen’to’.

Still, I was pretty amazed. It was a world debut... even if it was just a mini one.. :)

I've realised

Composers… tend to be sensitive souls. They can be easily hurt.

Actually, I think that goes for all artists. Whether it’s a piece of music, artwork, dance… every time you show your work, you are putting yourself out there. Whether it’s to a kindred soul or an audience that fills Carnegie Hall, the feeling is if you are baring your soul to the world. It makes you feel exposed.

So much of a composer can be found in her songs.

On the Other Side of Sorrow...

Come fly with me (cos)
On the edge of the heavens, a star shines bright
Come fly with me (cos)
On the other side of the shore, a star shines bright
And through this lonely night,
A violin will yearn
Then pages will turn
And I remain here, holding your hand tight

Even through tears, I still see you
And though on this side of the gate
I know….
On the other side of sorrow
A smile awaits

Words & Music by Elaine Leong

A wardrobe of black dresses

I’m not a dress person. I don’t own many dresses but I have a few in black. They are all lined up neatly in my wardrobe. In the world of classical music, whether you are a conductor, performer, composer or an arranger, one often finds themselves dressed in black. Over the years, I’ve collected a number of black dresses in different styles. Over the years, I’ve had some opportunities to wear them…

I’d like to start wearing my black dresses more…

Ornette Coleman

Coincidentally and as if in preparation for the week coming up, I went to watch Ornette Coleman at the Opera House tonight. Coleman is a 77 year old alto saxophonist who also plays trumpet and violin. The first time he appears on stage and walks slowly across toward his instrument(s), he gives the impression of a feeble old man. With his instrument in his hand and his band (mainly comprised of bass players), in full support of him, his presence becomes strong and vibrant. He just gets better and better. His style is free jazz and we were so honoured to listen to him play for about an hour.

This was jazz at its rawest.

Week Two - Brass

Second week of class and we have already moved onto the brass section of the orchestra. It is a family that consists of two transposing instruments – the French horn and the trumpet. This means that if you play C on the French horn in F, you will hear F (the note a 5^th lower than what is written). Similarly, if you play C on a Bb trumpet, you will hear Bb (the note one tone lower than what is written).

Confused yet? ;)

Basically these two instruments produce pitches which sound different to what is written in the score. Written pitch (the notation on the page) and concert pitch (what you actually hear) differs.

The other two instruments in this family often used in orchestras are the trombone and the tuba.

To be honest, I am finding the speed of this course to be quite fast-paced. Next week we learn woodwinds.

With regards to last week’s homework, I ended up composing a solo melody for the viola. Most music written for the viola is written using the alto clef. Its tone is mellow and serious. The melody I’ve written is for my beloved grandpa who passed away when I was 9.

A Scratchy Start

The weekend gone by was a bit of a struggle.

Homework consists of writing an 8 bar melody for our choice of stringed instrument, rearranging a given piece for 2 stringed instruments and arranging ‘Toccatina’, one of Kabalevsky’s Children’s Pieces, for a string ensemble. We have been given the luxury to choose which stringed instruments to score for.

I found it very hard to actually start any of these tasks.

Writing a piece of music has always been a very organic experience for me. I may be walking, riding my bike, looking at the moon…. when a melody comes to me. I hum the melody out loud so I can actually listen to it and work on it some more. Other times I like to go to my piano, play a few chords, start on a chord progression and work out a melody on top of it.

I like improvising on my piano. There is something to be said about becoming familiar with an instrument, understanding it and writing for it. From its range to its timbre, understanding its raw qualities and its humanness…. These all contribute to how you use the musical instrument to achieve the soul of a composition.

I am presently struggling with a couple of things:

• writing for instruments I am not familiar with

• sitting down and knowing I have to write/arrange a piece of music

• writing under the constraint of so many rules to follow.

It’s 1.22am on Tuesday morning and I’ve just finished reading over the Touched by Olivia grant I prepared earlier. Tomorrow night I have a Touched by Olivia committee meeting and then I must come home to complete (and start) the homework.

I am a restless composer.

Week One - Introducing the Strings...

Lesson One. Writing for the Strings.

I’ve always thought the string family to be the most eloquent of the four families of instruments in a symphony orchestra. Visually, they are stunningly beautiful instruments and when played they evoke such emotion.

The truth is learning a bowed string instrument is not quite such a beautiful experience. The way you position yourself, the way you hold the violin, the way you hold the bow…. There is a lot to learn before you even play your first note. I am currently teaching myself the violin and it is challenging. But I love it! I love the fact it trains my ear and I love the fact I can carry my musical instrument around. (Pianists take note!)

Tonight was my first lesson at the Conservatorium and it was dedicated to writing and arranging for the string family – violin, viola, cello, double bass.

I like my tutor. The first thing she told us about herself was that she talks fast and to please let her know if she is talking too fast. She explained to us that she would like to teach us the rules to composing and arranging. Then, we would have the foundation to break these rules if we wish. I find her very endearing.

The class is filled with talented musicians – a flautist, a saxophonist, a jazz pianist, guitarist and a girl who can hum the notes off the page. These guys are pretty talented. Some of them have already written for films and ads… Not sure what I’m doing here but I smiled the whole way through class. I promise to try my best.

She also spoke to us about overcoming our shyness. The class, whilst obviously incredibly talented, is pretty shy as well. She says we can’t invest too much emotion in our creations. I’m not sure I will be able to do this…

A Promise

In a few hours I commence a course at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. It’s only a short course but marks my promise to my music.

When I say ‘my music’, don’t be mistaken. I am not a composer (not yet anyway) but I’ve been tinkering on my piano for years. I never learnt theory but I enjoy writing melodies and finding harmonies.

The dream of composing has always been just that. I’m very excited to be doing something about it this year. I’ve uploaded some pre-course original compositions and I promise to continue uploading compositions as I learn the foundations of composing.

This website is a promise to myself…. If you have some time, please have a listen and don’t be afraid to give me feedback.