Pen to paper
... or rather, finger to keyboard! Here is an update on three pieces I am currently writing. Wild Daisies
This is a piece for the award winning choir, Euphony, from Kristin School. After a lot of hunting I found the wonderful poem "Wild Daisies" by NZ poet Bub Bridger. It was hard to find something suitable for school-aged students, something on a happier rather than sad note, and something that would allow lots of musical additions ... perhaps I'm just not well acustomed to hunting down texts. Anyway this is going to be a fantastic piece for unaccompanied choir.
Tiraki
There is a flute player I want to write for, a viola player has been begging for a piece, and I have been wanting to write a piece for tuba for a long time. So, this is it. A suite of solo pieces, one for each of these instruments. I'm trying to get some of the movements done before the trip to Brazil, as then I can workshop the pieces with the players there.
I was thinking how to tie these three pieces together and had a great idea about clouds as they are categorised into high, mid and low clouds. So the three pieces are based on:
- Cirrus - flute (high)
- Altocumulus - viola (middle)
- Cumulus - tuba (low)
The title, Tiraki, means to clear the sky or lift away the clouds.
Taupo
Don't worry, that's not the actual title - I'm still deciding. This piece for wind orchestra and choir is well underway and will open the 2010 ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival. This project is possible thanks to the very generous funding by SOUNZ (The Centre for NZ Music) and their SOUNZ Community Commission.
We put a call out for texts to use and so they are flowing in. Have started drafting some ideas and have got a good idea of how it's going to turn out. It's going to be a 15 minute, or thereabouts, piece but it is going to be able to be performed as a 5-6 minute piece later in it's lifetime. This, along with the fact that it is suitable for younger players means hopefully it will have a healthy future. As soon as I get back from South America I will be full on writing this piece.
