The music is in place!!

Finished writing the last piece today (well for now anyway..) and the fiddle section were amazing at rehearsal today. Fingers crossed it all holds together on Sunday, it's just so new. aaagh.

I am just so thankful for the excellent musicians who all agreed to give their time, energy and musicianship to this project. It's a lot of work for everyone at a really busy time and they are doing such beautiful things with my notes. Innes and I were joking today in the taxi that even if it doesn't hold together this group of musicians will make something that sounds fantastic out of the rubble. I love that. And the piece moves in and out of improvised and free sections so there are plenty of opportunities to stray!

The grey areas between idea and intention, communication (score/recording/notes/conversation/demonstration) and performance/product(s) are quite interesting to me and right now I really prefer to have a flexibility in each of those stages and overall.

What a steep learning curve the whole project has been so far..

Lori

story - Canonbie Dick

a story in Border Scots as told by Ian Landles (thanks Ian)

Canonbie Dick Final..mp3

audio issue

sorry the audio clips don't seem to be working just now.. not sure what's happened. I'll try reloading when I get a chance. suggestions welcome :)

Lori

Rehearsal rough of The Tongue That Never Lies

just a wee taster..

The Tongue That Never Lies.mp3

Fiddles fiddles everywhere and not a note in sight..

This week I have been mostly trying to write for four fiddles in different tunings at the same time...with only 2 fiddles..and a notation program that can't cope with things not sounding the way they look.. and a sore head. It's been a bit mathematical and I've thrown away several ideas because I felt their energy or interest got lost in a sea of adding and subtracting pitches. I'm also trying to get a bit better at storing away ideas for later use rather than throwing them all at the same canvas.

So, the fiddle day (rehearsal) is tomorrow and I have a skeleton with some flesh on it which I am going to workshop with the players in the morning then try some real-time in-rehearsal composing, do a re-jig of the score and print out over lunch for the second half of the rehearsal. I think it's going to work better that way and we'll get something that is better articulated by these fiddle players with their rich sense of style.

And if all else fails I can have a go of all four fiddles in the right tunings and do a complete rework.. It's interesting how the New Voices process has brought to light how much I work by ear as well as using notation, and how much I prefer to work through my instrument or with musicians.

Lori

update on progress..

Ok, so far we have final roughs (will be polished up with band feedback incorporated) of As Water Wears The Rock, Lucken Hare - Prophecy, Eildon, Lucken Hare - A Sword and A Horn.

And Lucken Hare - The Tongue That Never Lies should be complete by tonight followed by Debateable Lands (Scordatura section) by the ends of the week.

The St Mary's Loch atmos is mixed and ready to go. The story of Canobie Dick is currently being translated into Hawick Scots by Ian Landles and will hopefully be recorded by next week (exciting!).

Proper rehearsals start this week..

Still to organise/finalise:
Tech specs and lighting
Possible projections
Printing of graphic scores in A3

boy oh boy.

Lori

A Sword and A Horn

Lucken Hare - A Sword and A Horn is pretty much complete now (phew) a couple of tunes managed to sneak in there too along with some improvisations and layered textures.

Nervous now about how everything will sound with the band on Wednesday! I'm anticipating gaps, random notes, missed dynamics and cue notes etc. so will be a busy day on Thursday fixing those before the Friday rehearsal.

Trying to finish Lucken Hare - The Tongue That Never Lies today but down with flu symptoms today so it's a bit of a struggle. Hope that doesn't come through in the music!

Frequent considerations so far include:
1. Notating for an ensemble of mixed-ability readers/ear players. I think I'll be relying quite a bit on their musicality, good judgement and ensemble playing experience here. But on, reflection, the musicians' ability to perform as a small ensemble, to listen and react and to make musical choices which I like the sound of were key in making decisions for the line up.

2. How to integrate freedom into a structured piece given the skills and sounds of the selected musicians.

3. How to balance out the music as a complete concert.

4. Balancing intentions for the music/themes with where the process of writing leads me. I am prone to (quite enjoy) allowing happy accidents to lead me in slightly altered directions. I have been assessing as I go along whether these take me too far away from my initial ideas/intentions.


Right back to The Tongue That Never Lies..

Lori

Grooves & Trees

Just tying up the Lucken Hare - Prophecy section of the piece and pleased to say there is even a tune in it, some good grooves and serious foot-tapability. Considering posting a midi version of it but can't seem to get the balance of beepy midi sounds quite right! I shall ponder over night.

In the studio with Bob Whitney tomorrow to remix the atmos. for As Water Wears The Rock so we will have wind in the trees in our ears :)

Lori

As Water Wears The Rock

A version of this piece was performed by McFall's Chamber at the Distil Showcase in October 2009. Here is a recording from that concert featuring McFall's String Quintet plus Angus Lyon on Accordion. It is inspired by St Marys Loch, the passing of time and loss, and features words from James Hogg.

As water wears the rock.MP3

The Tub!

Courtesy of Kevin Dempster.. Some images of The Devil's Beeftub* taken in 5 Jan 2010. Inspiration for opening section Debateable Lands for 4 fiddles in different tunings.

* from Wiki - 'The 500-foot (150 m) deep hollow is formed by four hills, Great Hill (1527 ft, 465 m), Peat Knowe, Annanhead Hill, and Ericstane Hill...Its unusual name derives from its use by the Border Reivers to hide stolen cattle...In his novel Redgauntlet, novelist Walter Scott said, "It looks as if four hills were laying their heads together, to shut out daylight from the dark hollow space between them. A d—d deep, black, blackguard-looking abyss of a hole it is". Scott also describes the flight of a highlander fleeing the aftermath of the failure of the 1745 Jacobite uprising; the soldier rolls down the hill amid a hail of enemy gunfire, and escapes. The Beef Tub is also known as MacCleran's Loup after the tumbling highlander.'

Eildon (take 4)

Eildon (take 4)

Recorded at 16 Dec rehearsal, Pathhead.

Eildon 4.mp3

Eildon (take 3)

Eildon (take 3)

Recorded at 16 Dec rehearsal, Pathhead.

Eildon 3.mp3

Eildon (take 2)

Eildon (take 2)

recorded at 16 Dec rehearsal in pathhead.

Eildon 2.mp3

So far...

The writing has been underway (intermittently) for a couple of months now. Rehearsals begin on 20 Jan so I'm still finalising parts and reworking some sections, but the music will need to go out to the band in the next few days so they can get started on it.

The pre-rehearsal meet on 16 Dec was really helpful to hear how the ensemble could sound and to start the improvisation dialogue. We tried a few rough sections of the piece and made a few recordings of the new Graphic Score Eildon. I'll post some audio soon.

Photos of The Tub (Devil's Beef Tub) are arriving this week courtesy of Kevin Dempster. Looking forward to seeing how these can feed into the piece, either as extra inspiration or as projections during the concert. Several storytelling voices have been suggested and I'm hoping to get that tied up next week too.

On with the writing!

Lori

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the Sanctuary Sessions Blog.

Here you can see what weird and wonderful developments are taking place, follow the music as it unfolds and watch the piece take its various shapes along the way.

Lori