Thanks to Vicki from Uchenna for thinking of me to compose a dance score for young people based in Andover! The brief was for the piece to be 10 mins long, have a strong pulse and able to fit with wide range of dance styles Uchenna uses as its staple (house, African, voguing).
Finding time to write this blog post has proven to be a mission… Nearly in April already! Seriously, wtf! Time (yes, a constant) appears to racing ahead, feel like I am going to wake up an elderly woman at this rate! Anyway, I’ve some great projects happening at the moment. Continue reading “Movements Fi Make”
My Uchenna dance score commission deadline fast approaches. It’s been good fun working on it, is my compositional skill developing? I hope so. I am starting to see patterns in my musical style which is good, this awareness will mean I can take more compositional risks, (as I’m starting to grow bored of what I am producing).
Collaborating some more with Uchenna Dance co. Have learnt loads from previous commissions; indeed the process never ends. Here’s a wicked bit of advice for budding dance composers like me.
Today’s 30 min sketch, loops, playing with midi, ah, if only I could access live musicians more easily. This academic year’s challenge.
Listen with headphones or you miss the bass line – needs a tidy up.
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Been busy writing music for Uchenna Dance Company. The updated version is complete. The performance is this Friday at The Place, near Euston. I’ve enjoyed the process, it was a tiny bit stressful due to the fact we had NO time.
Dancers work in 8s, my piece was in 4, shouldn’t be hard then, multiply by 2. Think again, I scratched my head umpteen times trying to get music and dance sections to flow. My counting has improved. A musician who can’t count, yup, shocking. I think I was mesmerised by dance movement. I’d conjure sounds and ideas for the moves, oh and then, whoops, I’d lost my place! Well, I can now confirm to you dear readers, that I can count 39 rounds of 8 counts of music (78 bars of 4) without getting lost. (Should I be proud?)
I’ve had an amazing time and hopefully they’ll be more dance collaborations to come.
This is what it sounds like:
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(Afro, house-y in places, electro. I’ve tried to get rid of the vocals, some randomly left in)…
What’s it about? Exploring the emotive responses of loosing someone you love.