The year is flying by. April is speeding to a close as I finish up the bulk of the music on a very cool project for the V&A Museum down in London. More about this challenging experience in later posts nearer the time the exhibition will open... I'm starting work on a new feature film, …
Continue reading "Women, Money, Success and The Bechdel Test"
Let's get honest. (yikes!) How much do I charge?
The music themes are all pretty much composed for The Count of Monte Cristo, a new, irreverent theatre adaptation of the book by Alexandre Dumas. Rehearsals start next week at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, where it will play from mid-April to mid-May. These are some of the challenges which have become clear through the writing process.
Beyond The Front Line, the Slung Low promenade show, is now playing at the Lowry Theatre in Salford until next weekend (17th Oct 2009)
EDIT: TOCANLive is offline now. It was a wonderful experience to make and so this post is here for posterity. Slung Low, the fantabulous theatrical collective, is launching TOCANLive this Monday, 10th August. TOCANLive is an Alternative Reality Game (ARG) that will expand the world of 'They Only Come At Night', Slung Low's series of …
Continue reading "TOCANLive: The Hunt Goes Live Online!"
I can't begin to count how many times I've heard a friend, in response to a piece of music or film or some other piece of art, proclaim, "It's rubbish," (or use much stronger language 😉 ) when actually what they mean is, "I don't like it." That bugs me a bit. Don't get me …
Continue reading "Just Because You Don’t Like It, Doesn’t Mean It’s Not Music"
Slung Low makes installation and site-specific theatre. It's anything but conventional, but its primary purpose is 'a good story, well told'. Whenever music will enable us to do this, that's when we use it. Posts about Scoring Slung Low Shows: Scoring the Song: Emergency Story Penguin New Album Release: Emergency Story Penguin Listen to the …
Continue reading "Composing Music for Slung Low Theatre"
I'm continuing this series of tips for composing music with a post about imperfection. I've been trawling through the ol' music back catalogue to add to the new Music Store. It's been a real trip down memory lane, listening to tracks I created when fresh out of music college. (Edit: As of August 2010 the …
Continue reading "Composing Film Music Tips: Imperfection"
Composing music is all about communication: communicating mood, intention, pace, atmosphere, character, movement... but how do you communicate all these things without finding your own voice? In thinking about more composing tips to discuss, it occurred to me that I was describing some of the techniques that I like to use, that sound right to …
Continue reading "Composing Music Tips: Find Your Voice"
Today's tip is all about the 'pedal note' or 'drone'. It's really a very simple concept: a single, sustained note or tone. Pedal notes can be upper or lower. Upper pedal notes are high-pitched and are generally above any other movement of melody or harmony; lower pedal notes (or drones) are low-pitched - in the …
Continue reading "Composing Film Music Tips: The Pedal Note"