Friday, February 3, 2023

Orchestral Suite No. 1 - New Lanark

So, I've neglected my blog (again). I do intend to try and update it a bit more regularly from now, perhaps a weekly update with what I've been doing.

On January 6th my orchestral suite was released on Monochrome Motif Records here is a little information on how that came about.

Orchestral Suite No. 1 - New Lanark is my first foray into classical music. A sweeping evocative soundscape that I hope conveys the stunning world that I am fortunate enough to have surrounding me.

It was in March 2022 that I set about the task of teaching myself to read and write music for an orchestra. I had very little knowledge of music theory or notation, it was basically just an exercise to see if I could compose something. 

Initially I was just messing about. Creating small pieces. Learning as much as I could about composition, orchestration and the software that I was using. After a short while I decided that I wanted to write something for a symphony orchestra, so I took the pieces that I had and worked on expanding them so that they would fit this brief. 

I first visited New Lanark as a tourist visiting from southern England around 2006. It immediately struck me a fascinating place. A natural beauty, steeped in history and an incredible insight into Britain during a very challenging period. I now live and work in the area, and a lot of the main themes were written during my lunch breaks, so the idea of basing this orchestral suite on New Lanark happened quite naturally. 

From deciding to learn composition to the completion of this orchestral suite in under 10 months is quite a struggle to comprehend. Yes, I have been making guitar based music for many years, but this seems such a short space of time. It's very difficult to explain. A large credit needs to go to my partner Vicky, she is classically trained, and has patiently answered all of my queries (however basic) as simply as possible for me. I'm immensely happy with how it has turned out, and it has set me on a completely different musical trajectory for the future. 


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