Time slipping through fingers like sand

How things slip by, is it really so long since I put anything up here? It's a combination of preoccupation, periods of dryness/depression, I guess. I haven't abandoned this idea though, there are a lot of things I've scribbled down that haven't made it onto here, some because I just didn't get round to it, others because they seem to belong to other projects, whether because they're songs (I seem to have an itch to write songs at the moment, maybe I'm feeling the lack of writing I've done for the human voice) or because they were written for a specific impulse - I've started thinking in terms of small, easy piano pieces where each hand spans only a fifth on the keyboard, an idea I've taken from Nielsen's "piano pieces for young and old".

Anyway, here is a selection of pieces that have been written as diary entries over the past few days, days of reflection amongst the general madness that seems to envelop life at the moment.

Evil!

You Are 62% Evil

You are very evil. And you're too evil to care. Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

I am apparently this evil. I didn't think I was that bad. On the plus side, I'm very imaginative and empathetic, according to this site:

Generous Inventor

Been a bit lazy with the diary pieces lately... here's a couple of recentish ones, one from March 24, the second I foolishly forgot to date, so let's say April 1st.

Chant

I've been reading a book about Buddhism recently. It's very interesting, although I'm unsure how far I can accept it - I'm naturally inclined to scepticism, I guess. I have been experimenting with chanting though, which does help restore calm in moments of stress, I'm finding.

Fred The Clown

Not a bit of music, but I felt like sharing this page of original art that I bought off the insanely talented and hideously undervalued Roger Langridge. I thoroughly recommend that you buy Fred The Clown, because it's brilliant.

Tail chasing

A line which starts out trying to stretch out but ends up going round in circles, which pretty much reflects what kind of day I've had.


My friend Indy has seen a preview screening of V For Vendetta, the latest attempt by Hollywood to film the work of comics genius Alan Moore. Unfortunately, it looks like they've once again completely missed the point of what the bearded wonder is on about. Still, Indy did concede that although it's terrible, it's not as bad as the excrable film version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, so that's some scant comfort.

I've been practising for KSO's upcoming performance of Mahler 5, and what a bugger to play it is. I console myself with the knowledge that it's all worth it. I've been lucky to meet and speak with some wonderful musicians and composers over the years, but there's no substitute for actually playing music to make you understand how it works. I think a lot of composers suffer because they don't get enough experience like this, not simply because it's the best way to understand how (in this case) an orchestra works, but because music making is a social experience, and if you don't have first hand knowledge of that, I don't think you can ever really hope to write anything worthwhile.

Been a while... due to several factors. Laziness, of course, plus the fact that most of my compositional thoughts are currently directed towards a large piano piece, which means that I'm tending to sketch ideas towards that rather than this. Also, I've been getting the website together for my comics, which you can see here. I've also finally got a recording of the piece I wrote for Kensington Symphony Orchestra's 50th season, "The complete consort dancing together", which you can hear by clicking on the title.

Distracted, again

Although it has been due to other projects: I've finally got a site together for my comic "Big Dog".

The new piano piece I've been working off and on rumbles on, slowly but steadily taking shape in my mind.

This is a quiet, reflective little piece I've done today, with sombre thoughts in mind.

Here's another piece with the same idea as yesterday's, presenting two unequal lines which repeat. I suppose there's a correlation with Lutoslawski's "Chain" idea, on a very basic level. I might try inputting some of these into Sibelius to see how they turn out.

Idle

So, after the post-performance comedown, and the bloated christmas season, here I am trying to kick myself into gear again. The idea of this one is that the two lines are played together, and repeated, and as they're different lengths it takes a while before there's any exact repetition. Then you carry on as long as you like.

Endings and beginnings...

So, the premiere of "The complete consort dancing together" took place last night, and very fine it was too. I'd been nervous for the past few weeks about it, especially as we didn't get as much rehearsal as I would have liked, but in the end the orchestra rose to the occasion, and as far as I could tell from the middle of it all it sounded very exciting, and also very solid and confident.

I had lots of compliments paid to me afterwards, someone said it was the best piece in the concert, which was clearly untrue but a lovely thing to say all the same.

There's a review of the concert here, although they barely mention me... pah! Still, good to see KSO continuing to draw good notices.

So now I'm at that slightly empty stage where that piece is over and done with, and I must now try and motivate myself to begin work in earnest on the next one...

Remember, remember...

I went to a fireworks display on Friday, the first time I've been to a bonfire night do for a very long time. The fireworks were fun (although you're not allowed anywhere near the actual fire these days) but what was
funny was the portentious commentary telling the story of the Battle of Trafalgar accompanying them.

Endings and Beginnings

Well, after a hectic few weeks getting it all together, my new orchestral piece is finished, the parts are made up and the rehearsals have begun, and so far it's all sounding quite promising, so here's hoping the performance on 22 November is a success.

I've spent the past few days doing a bit of housekeeping, producing typeset copies of some old pieces, which I'll be sending to the British Music Information Centre for their collection, as well as updating my biography and all that kind of stuff, a process I find highly tedious and embarrassing to do, but these things are expected, I suppose.

So now I'm trying to get back into sketching mode as I try to get going again on the large scale piano piece I was working on before I had to put it aside to write the orchestral piece.

It's been a long time...

since I rock 'n' rolled. Well, a couple of weeks or so, anyway. I've not been idle, just concentrating on the orchestral piece I'm writing at the moment, so that's taken up most of my time since I got back from holiday. There are a few things from the past month I've got, which I'll get around to putting up when i've got time. In the meantime, here's a litle tune.

Went to see "Maskarade" at the Royal Opera House last night, don't believe the critics, it's a wonderful work, and an excellent production too. I have one small gripe about a throwaway line inserted in the final scene that I think detracts from the import of the scene, but otherwise it's very well done.

Weekender

Just about to head up north to Birmingham, and from there to the Moniaive Comics festival. Really looking forward to a few days away.

Variationettes

I kept playing with the little tune from the 20th, and ended up with a set of mini-variations. Although these diary pieces aren't intended for any particular instrument, I found the basic sound I had in my mind for these evolved from my usual default sound of piano, to cello (my own instrument). I guess the variation theme ties in with the comic strips I'm working on at the moment, as they tend to be variations on one basic gag.

It's such a relief to be off work at last, even though I spent the first couple of days laid up with a horrible bug. The extraordinary tension of the Ashes didn't help me relax either! But now I'm just feeling at last like I can rest and maybe stop just feeling exhausted.

The value of failure

Well, to be honest these are fairly purfunctory and not too inspired, but part of the point of this is to rid oneself of the fear of writing bad music. If it turns out bad, it can be ignored. If you worry too much about whether what you produce is any good, you'll end up producing nothing. Good writing starts with just writing.

A break from the muties

time's very short at the moment as I try to start getting all the tasks done which have been looming over me for a while now. So just a very quick sketch yesterday, I daresay I'll go back to the line I've been drawing for the past week or so - or maybe not. That's the point of this really, there's no agenda or plan, just whatever pops into my head.

Mutante encore

The accidentals just seemed to creep in.

A nice lazy weekend to celebrate my entry into middle age. Just did these couple of things, the first another mutation of the last few entries, the other the half remembered outline of an idea that popped into myn head on the way to the pub before the football on Saturday. It was a very good idea, of course I didn't have anything to write it down on at the time. So this is an impression of a lost moment, really.

A line further

It continues to mutate... what will happen next?