Composer happy to find a place to talk music!

Hi everyone
A friend of mine introduced me to this forum today, and it is great to see so many people talking about classical music. I am composer with a particular interest in developing an Australian sound, but also inspired by early music and ideas. As well as performing 'contemproary classical', I also conduct and sing a lot of mediaeval and renaissance music, and love exploring some of our rarer choral works. Working with the Lumina Vocal Ensemble has been a privilege in the past 11 years, providing an opprtunity to explore some wonderful a capella repertoire. So much gorgeous music is out there (and some of it being written especially for us) - it's really exciting. I'm hoping to find some more great music through this forum.

hello annapope and welcome to the forum

you will find several of your countrymen here already. Interesting your idea of an Australian sound, as long as we are not talking Rolf Harris.

regards

teddy

Hi annapope. You are welcome to this great site. A lot of sharing goes on here. I'm sure many will benefit from your experience. See you in the forums.
Lovemore Nanjaya.

Welcome Anna, I had a browse through the Lumina Youtube area yesterday, brought back some happy memories, Weelkes, Purcell, Bennet, among other composers.

Have you thought of doing the complete "Triumphs of Oriana"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Triumphs_of_Oriana

Wonder if they would they all fit on one CD?

Welcome to the forums Annapope> I am sure you will find many interesting topics presented here. Enjoy your time spent among them.

Bill

Thank you all for your words of welcome!
I am new to this so not sure how this reply will work, but firstly

@Mike - I have not heard of the "Triumphs of Oriana". I will check it out.

@teddy - no, we haven't tackled any Rolf Harris The 'Australian Sound' I am talking about is more a musical soundscape which is somehow related to the Australian landscape or cultural experience. Lumina did a concert exploring this idea in the Adelaide Fringe last year - called 'Australian Soundscapes'. The pieces performed included ways of using extended choral techniques which I think are particularly Australian. In some of our more distinctively Australian classical contemporary choral music, there is a lot of use of vocal harmonics, aleatoric and improvisatory singing and vocal effects. Lumina have recorded a number of pieces like this and uploaded some to youtube, including pieces by Stephen Leek (a real leader in this field) http://www.youtube.com/user/LuminaVocalEnsemble#p/u/8/5-kup_Mky4A (all the sounds at the end of this piece are made by the human voice) and this improvised work for didgeridoo, harmonics and singers http://www.youtube.com/user/LuminaVocalEnsemble#p/search/0/6H9rEeoQtOM

Welcome to the forum, annapope. Glad you could join us. I like your idea of looking for Australian soundscapes, and I wish you luck with your composing.

An Australian sound? Well Peter Sculthore's music certainly achieves that (for me at least) then again he directly mimics nature. Brett Dean's music, not so sure yet he is absolutely Australian. It's an interesting concept. Surely you should be developing your own sound? As to "extended choral technique" it's nonsense in my opinion, either a singer has a technique or not (his or her ability to sing difficult music is the issue surely).

In this particular instance, "extended choral techniques" include the techniques that Anna has already mentioned - ie, harmonic singing, aleatorics, improvising, etc - which are brought in to expand upon the traditional things that a choir can do (or perhaps in some people's views, what they should or should not do!). It refers less to the ability of the individual singer, and more to the things that a group of well-trained voices are capable of doing, outside of the "norm." Nonsense or not, things like that (done well) do take a choir from the traditional stand-up-the-front, poe-faced, diatonic, "nice"-sounding, SATB seriousness that too many people expect of choirs. I doubt it's ever intended as a "cover-up" for someone lacking in technique, not in contemporary/classical music anyway (let's face it, there are plenty of so-called modern "singers" out there who shouldn't be!!).

Sculthorpe for me I think would be Australia's most distinctive voice. Between the likes of him and Stephen Leek, they have certainly captured much of the essence of the land.

If a choir stood in front of me and proceeded to make noises like a braying donkey and stated that it was a part of extended techniqe, I'd roll my eyes and leave.

Well I'd sit there and have a good laugh :grin:

Welcome aboard Ms. annapope,

You've arrived to a most fantabulous forum with ultrafantabulous people whose hearts and minds are wonderfully refreshing and open. I see that our "Aussie contingency" has given you a most warm and inviting welcome and some great observations about "Aussie Sound". It sounds to me like an endeavour that can serve you very well in the coming years.

Respectfully yours,

CD :tiphat::tiphat::tiphat::tiphat:

Soubasse said:

Well I'd sit there and have a good laugh :grin:

Click to expand...

You've arrived to a most fantabulous forum with ultrafantabulous people whose hearts and minds are wonderfully refreshing and open. I see that our "Aussie contingency" has given you a most warm and inviting welcome and some great observations about "Aussie Sound". It sounds to me like an endeavour that can serve you very well in the coming years.






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