Very excited to learn that there will be a composition prize awarded for this year’s Cork Choral Festival.
Here’s the link to the full details: http://www.corkchoral.ie/index.php/education/sean-o-riada-competition.html
All posts by Jay
Excuse me, how do I get to Carnegie Hall…?
I had an interesting conversation after choir a few weeks ago about practice. The next day I came across this great quote from Rob Lear on Twitter:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. (Aristotle)
One of my fellow choir members, Stephen, who sings tenor II with me, was encouraging me about going for my grade eight this year: he, like me, did the other grades while at school and then had a hiatus for “life etc.”. We talked about the piano as a rather technical problem. It is unlike most other instruments in that it is less physically connected to the player. It’s not like a violin or a clarinet or a trombone which require a lot more effort to even produce a pleasant tone, let alone play the correct notes. With the piano it’s just a matter of pressing the key and the machine does the work.
I love the idea that when a really good piano player plays a piece by, let’s say Beethoven, then they become Beethoven for those moments. They inhabit the physical movements prescribed by the composer in the score. Like an actor stepping into a role, becoming a character.
Some recording, a new piece, and a bursary
I’m writing this while eating a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. Raising a glass and a half to the taste of world-beating excellence. Please, American Kraft people (and I know you’re reading this blog…), don’t change it. Although I’m still a bigger fan of Quality Street than Roses. Just saying.
Last weekend I was recording with New Dublin Voices – Christmas music – in St Ann’s church on Dawson Street. It’s a lovely church to sing in but it was really cold. We did two sessions (usually three hours between meals in the biz) on both Saturday and Sunday and a rehearsal session on the Friday night, too. Needless to say, by the Sunday I was better prepared, piling on the layers and swapping the shoes-with-a-slight-heel that were recommended to me for singing in for my scruffy-but-comfortable trainers. I also used a music stand both days which saved me having to hold the music the whole time. The recording was produced by Bill Sommerville-Large and he was very good to work with. He guided us through the process and made clear suggestions as to where singers should be positioned. He has a wonderful ear and I’m looking forward to hearing the recordings, which we hope to put out on CD after the summer.
On Sunday, during one of the breaks between takes, I sidled over to the piano and my fingers fell onto a chord – hands centred just either side of middle C, right hand on a 2nd inversion Bb triad, left hand on a 1st inversion Eb triad. It sounded quite beautiful to my ears and over the next few hours I kept slipping back to the keyboard. “That’s the start of my new choral piece!”, I joked to those nearby. There was something cooking, though, and by the time we were packing up, I had a strong sense that this really was a new piece. At home I played it over a number of times, finding another section…
The next day I was in search of a text. I really like the poems of Dennis O’Driscoll but leafing through a volume of his work proved fruitless. Nothing suited the feel of this music. I took myself out to a local café for a cup of tea and grabbed a book on the way – a book of Celtic Verse given to me for my birthday a few years ago. I knew some things about the text I as looking for: it had to have quite short lines and it had to start on the upbeat. I forget the poetry term…<consults Stephen Fry’s excellent book ‘The Ode Less Travelled’>…ah, yes, it’s iambic. Mr Fry also includes a rather nice chocolate reference:
GOLDEN RULE ONE – reading verse can be like eating chocolate, so much more pleasurable when you allow it slowly to melt inside you, so much less rewarding when you snap off big chunks and bolt them whole, all but untasted.
Well, dear reader, I found it. The one. A poem that not only suited my chosen metre but, when I got it home and played it at the piano, seemed to compliment the music beautifully. The piece was finished! I can still hardly believe it. I spent the next day typing it into Sibelius and preparing scores for the choir to sing through it at our rehearsal. Everyone seemed to like it. Here is the poem, by Villiers de L’Isle-Adam (1838-1889):
Confession
Since I have lost the words, the flower
Of youth and the fresh April breeze . . .
Give me thy lips; their perfumed dower
Shall be the whisper of the trees!
Since I have lost the deep sea’s sadness,
Her sobs, her restless surge, her graves . . .
Breathe but a word; its grief or gladness
Shall be the murmur of the waves!
Since in my soul a sombre blossom
Broods, and the suns of yore take flight . . .
O hide me in thy pallid bosom,
And it shall be the calm of night!
My other big task for this week was completing my application for a bursary award from the Arts Council. It would be so great to get it but I’m not going to get my hopes up because only two applicants out of ten have been awarded in the last couple of years. Gathering together the support material made me realise how much stuff I have but also how unclear that is on the website. I plan to do a page with all the recordings I’ve done, with lyrics and a link to a score on Sibelius where possible.
Yo Gabba Gabba
Came across this funny article (via Twitter) about children’s programmes on Nickelodeon Jr. Now, I don’t have kids but I do work with little ones sometimes. The guy who wrote the article rates the shows’ songs and music, too, which I found interesting. His descriptions led me to check out Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! on YouTube…
I liked the slightly unexpected melody in the chorus and the harmonies. There’s an effect on the voice, too, that’s like when you add upper harmonics to an organ sound – a breathy doubling at the octave.
At the end of the article is another treat – Yo Gabba Gabba. He includes a YouTube clip from this show of a song called Party In My Tummy. Now I know catchy and *this* is catchy!
Watch Me Fly
I was chatting with a friend of mine today who helped me record this track – Watch Me Fly – a few years ago. We pitched it for a TV show about a bunch of kids in a stage school so I wrote a lyric to go along with a riff and chord progression I had.
The lights beckon: it’s time for me to get up off my knees
The world threatens to leave me in the cold and watch me freeze
My pulse quicker, I stand up tall and take my rightful place
My blood’s thicker than the water that I splash upon my face
I’m on my way…just watch me fly
Cold shouldered, pushed around and treated like a fool
But I’m bolder, there’s nothing you can do to break my cool
I’m on my way…just watch me fly
If you’d like a copy in your iTunes library (I use Windows 7…):
- right-click on the picture and select ‘save link as…’
- go to your iTunes folder
- in iTunes press Ctrl+, to go to Preferences
- click on the Advanced tab
- you’ll see the location of your iTunes folder – now click Cancel and go back to the window we were ‘Save link as…’-ing in
- Make a new folder called ‘Jay Wilson’
- Make a folder in that one called ‘Watch Me Fly’
- Save the track in the ‘Watch Me Fly’ folder
- Now right click on the picture again and select ‘copy image’
- Go to iTunes and Ctrl+O to add a file to your library
- Find the track and click Open
- Now right click on the track in your library and select ‘Get Info’
- Open the Artwork tab, click on the box, Ctrl+V will paste the image
Sorry if that seems complicated but if you weren’t familiar with how to do that, it’s really useful to know and there is a treasure trove of music out there on the internet for you to enjoy!
I’m happy to help you with any queries about the process (although I’m only familiar with PCs…).
Hope you enjoy the track – please leave some feedback. If it grows on you maybe you’d consider donating a few virtual coins via PayPal 🙂 
The Rocky Road To Dublin
Jen and I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film the other night in our newly reopened local Swan Cinema in Rathmines. I really enjoyed the film and we cheerfully chatted about it as we strolled home, me wearing my new deerstalker hat. That particular part of the traditional Holmes garb was left out of the film but I appreciated l’homage myself…
The cinema are going to be showing live opera from The Met apparently, which should be interesting to go and see.
Guy Ritchie, who directed the Sherlock Holmes film, creates a wonderful world for his Sherlock reboot. London looks great and is alive with possibility: Tower Bridge is being built, Britain is at the height of her power, scientific advance and enquiry strain at the leash. And Holmes, of course, embodies that searching spirit. I felt the same admiration for the character that I felt about House in the first few seasons (before they explored his nastiness) – the thrill of watching a great mind pursuing truth and appearing totally in control.
[I think I may have copped on why American programmes are now referred to as ‘seasons’: what is the plural of ‘series’? Yes, it’s ‘series’. Not confusing at all. I found a wonderfully narky entry in Wiktionary, too, under ‘programme’:
Funny.]
Anyway…one of the most delightful things about the film was the use of The Dubliners’ recording of ‘The Rocky Road To Dublin’ as the music over the closing credits. I usually sit to the end of the credits in films because the music info (what songs were used, the composer, musicians etc.) is always right at the end. Sometimes, though – like with Avatar recently – the credits go on for about a day! And the music wasn’t great anyway. This, however, was a real treat. Luke Kelly’s masterful vocal rolling and tumbling the words of this slip jig (three triplets in the bar) with barely a pause for breath. Have a listen. No, have two listens…first time read the words, too…
Now with the band…
PS No sooner had I posted this but I remembered that House is, of course, based on Sherlock Holmes! Holmes, House, Watson, Wilson, House lives at 221B, takes drugs, plays music, etc. etc.
Two thousand and ten
I’m excited about this year. I plan to start working on a portfolio of compositions with a view to starting a Masters in September. That will hinge on developing good work practices – finding a way to do some composition every day. I have a few pieces that I’d like to record, too, and I’d like to get those documented before the end of January.
Another important task for this month will be putting together an application to The Arts Council for a bursary to allow me to do this work. Then there’s the small matter of finding and applying for streams of funding for the Masters…
Along the way I’d also like to get my Grade Eight piano (which will involve some serious work and practice).
I’ll be blogging all the way so please check back regularly or subscribe to the RSS. Let me know if you’re doing similar things or if you have any advice. A big thing to get sorted out will be how to structure my working day at home and keep focussed. We live in a small apartment so I’m going to have to put my keyboard up each day and take it down again when Jen gets home (it kind of takes over the kitchen). We’ll see…!
Best discoveries of the past few weeks:
Morten Lauridsen. Trinity Singers performed his ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ at their Christmas concert and I had sung his setting of ‘Sure On This Shining Night’ at a choral conducting course last year. Bewitching and justifiably one of the most performed contemporary choral composers.
Eric Whitacre. I had heard some of his music and noticed a schism amongst musical people I know in relation to it. It was only the other week, though, that I bought the recording Polyphony did of his music and listened properly. Again, I was very moved by the sounds he elicits from the choir, his setting of text. His pathway into composition is very inspiring to me at this point; his blog (soaringleap) is also full of interesting insights into the life of a working composer. I hope I get to sing some of his music soon 🙂
Classical Music Master Collection. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch and you like music then get this app. What is it? It’s only “800 complete tracks (100 hours of music) by the great composers including Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Bach”!! It costs €1.59 from the iTunes app store. Seriously amazing value. There are more great apps detailed in this article from The Guardian.
Harmonic Folk Pop
Last night was the launch gig for James Vincent McMorrow’s debut album release at The Sugar Club in Dublin. While the album isn’t ready yet – it’s scheduled for a January 2010 release – James managed to put together a rather nice limited edition EP of three tracks with the help of his talented girlfriend. She made a lino print and did one hundred covers that James signed for people afterwards. The three tracks are ‘We Don’t Eat’ (its polyrhythmic drive featured in a recent episode of One Tree Hill. Which I’m watching now for research purposes. <token dissing of the show removed after enjoying (bits of) it>), ‘And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop’, and ‘Hear The Noise That Moves’.
I first played with James back in March last year in Whelans and then again a month later. He’s been busy since then working on becoming a recording artist (only part of which is actually recording, it seems!). His album sounds great; he gave me an unmixed copy to learn the songs from and I’m looking forward to hearing the finished version.I hope it’s a success because I’d love to play the songs to lots of people 🙂
So here’s what we (me on keys/banjo, Dave Lea on drums, Peter Ryan on bass) played:
- We Are Ghost (solo)
- This Old Dark Machine
- Sparrow And The Wolf
- And If My Heart Should Somehow Stop
- Hear The Noise That Moves (solo)
- Follow You Down To The Red Oak Tree (solo)
- From The Woods
- If I Had A Boat
- Early In The Morning
- In Dreams (solo cover of the beautiful Roy Orbison song with that delicious I – IVm chord change on “…just before the dawn I awake and find you gone…”. Huh, nice piano playing on this live version including interpolation of Bach’s C major prelude at the start.)
- I End The Conversation (solo)
Jen took some great photos, one of which she used for her photo of the day project. Go and check them all out 🙂
Farmleigh
Today we sang at Farmleigh House – the old Guinness family home in Phoenix Park. It’s a splendid ‘big house’ and was thronged with people visiting the Christmas market, listening to the storytelling and enjoying the lovely crisp winter day.
We sang in the ballroom three times in the afternoon – taking full advantage of the delicious food to be had from the stalls in between. I had mulled apple juice from an orchard in County Carlow and a ‘Farmer’s Lunch’ (lamb, Brie cheese, salad, chilli sauce on lovely thick bread). And a slice of Christmas cake.
This picture was taken in the conservatory where RTÉ filmed us for Richard Corrigan’s cookery show to be broadcast on 22 December.
A couple of balloons and a box
These guys make some rockin’ beats from the most simple materials – and it sounds great! I have a cajon (Spanish for, well, ‘box’) like he has. It’s pronounced ka-HONN (with a nice gutteral ‘H’) and is not to be confused with ‘cahones’. That’s something else.
jay wilson :: music 