Back in the day! Think it had only been a few months since I led workshops. Good times. Shoddy video.
E14 baby!
I’ve spent most of today following the Vocab Dance brief of starting with a seed, so long intros. What excites me about the live performance aspect is seeing/hearing the vocal artists improvise over the loops I’ve created.
Here’s some blurb about the piece: “Using dance theatre, music and spoken word, the mixed bill premieres brand new work ‘Word!’, a choreographic response to headlines around youth culture….”
I’ve included a sketch for today, I’ve written so many the last couple of days. This one’s my favourite. Green light, red light, will it make it to performance or sit in my sketches folder for eternity? Regardless of the decision, I’ve had loads of fun, I bought some orchestral samples and messed with them a little.
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It was great to travel down to Ipad dance centre and meet with dancers and artists, all the way to E14 in the heart of Trinity Buoy Wharf. It was great to be able to tweak pieces with dancers present, see their responses to sketches.
The opening section is fierce, if you get a chance to watch the performance I definitely recommend you go, I was blown away by the impact of dance and word. It’s touring the UK with a Brum show.
Out My Mind, Just in Time
Spring and Christmas time are most prone for breakups.
You may have seen this back in November – apparently facebook can predict when couples are going to call it a day. Stats can be altered to say anything in my opinion, but the article is quite thought-provoking. If the geezer is right then that’s quite scary, pretty much affirming how simple us humans are 
“The graph spikes most notably just after Valentine’s Day and right before Spring Break.”
Hmmmm, so if you have itchy feet around Valentine’s day you’ve got 6 weeks until showdown. I’ve seen quite a few single statuses on facecrack, maybe it’s so peeps can be free to frolic at festivals, lol!
Anyways, when I first heard this tune some months back it blew me away. Proper deep, contrasting sections dealing with the different stages of recovering from a relationship: neurotic tendencies, reflection, finally ending positively/spiritually.
I relate, sure most can. You learn from them. You move on. Growth. Life.
Muldrow as beat maestro (and on keys I hope) – killer combo!
And I’d lie for you
I’d cry for you
and pop for you
and break for you
and hate for you
And I’ll hate you too
If you want me too
Ah, Uuu…
I’d pray for you
crochet for you
Make it from scratch for you
Leave out the last for you
Go to the store for you
Do it some more for you
Do what you want me to
Yes I’m a fool for you.
(Miss Badu with some hilarious and heart-felt lyric writing)
What would you do for love? We all know Meatloaf has his limits.
Before Day
Yeeeeeeessssss! Sunday night vibes!
a little reverb on the snare
Today’s sketch, i love playing with midi!
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A little dubsteppy, bass line needs work.
Sketchisimo
I’ve been commissioned by Vocab Music to write some music for dance – inspired by youth culture. The brief is to create music that develops from a seed to include variation and development, mainly instrumental, loop based, hip hop deluxe. This morning I messed around with midi, thought I’d share some sketches. I’ve also been bouncing ideas off other artists’ work, a challenge but good fun.
Funny what you can do under pressure. This sketch took 30 mins, very simple, but I like the bounciness.
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This needs a lot of refinement, but anyho…. What do you think? Left hand is messy, need to practice! Lol! Quantize, Quantize, arpeggio exercises! The challenge is making it sound hip hop, slightly inspired by Dilla’s Suite for Ma Dukes.
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Second one – audio sent through another artist, added some strings and a b-line.
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So what happens? I email sketches and wait to see which ones get the green light. Then I modify galore! I could do with some better orchestral sounds - but have you seen the price of the Vienna Symphonic Library! Best orchestral sounds apparently.
Luke Abbott – Swansong
I love this, it really tugs on my heart strings. It starts off a bit crazy and then turns into a lush, sonic sojourn.
a sketch for today
I can’t compete with Anna Hardy’s photo a day challenge, but have been writing short bits and bobs.
Here’s today’s grey cloud, cherry blossom meanderings:
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Quite church-y at the start, maybe I’ll take it along to my rehearsal, see if we can turn it into something nice.
The Waiting Room
Harborne Academy‘s waiting room transformed:
We faced several drawbacks, people not understanding the ideas of our transformed space, (especially older groups), some said there was not enough seating, some didn’t like it, but we quickly we addressed their concerns, and resolved any issues.
We had a lot of positive feedback on the whole.
The making and design had little input from me, I enjoyed hearing young people’s ideas and being on the panel to choose the best designs.
I was brought in to to do social media and music sessions. I had around 3 and half hours with each group (year 8s) to make 8bit inspired, pacman-esque sounds. We used school equipment, macs with garageband, no midi controllers as budget was tight (music teacher was using them), I bought some 8bit computer samples and we made beats.
Here are two of my faves. I think the young people did really well considering it was their first time using the software, had little knowledge of musical arrangement.
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Although it’s not very pacman, it followed students’criteria of being relaxing for waiting room users, there are subtle retro game sounds incorporated.
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– well this one certainly has pacman vibes! Upbeat and cheeky!