When Words Fail, Make Noise

It's interesting being a one-man band. I'm learning and devising all kinds of ways to make myself sound like an orchestra. What happened just less than a year ago with the creation of Ngoma Lungundu and then Songs of the Thirsty Sword Part I was only a ground-breaking for something new and more complex.

It didn't occur to me to do it this way - of course, the technology didn't exist then, at least not like I have it in my hands now. Furthermore, once you've got the technology, there is a learning curve. It's easy to create what's immediately obvious and to be honest I think that Songs.. part I is exactly that.

What I am working on right now is the next step - now that I know the grammar and syntax, I can use those to make my own sentences. This last few days has been exciting, working on the mastering of the recordings from last year. And to simultaneously be working on the work that I will premiere next, and these works consist of a complexity that is unusual for interactive work of this kind. I'm not revealing any 'secrets' at this point. But the initial workshopping of the pieces is alarming, surprising, gratifying.

It has been my goal for four years or so now to create work that is as complex and difficult as Ferneyhough's compositions, but executable by someone of limited or no musical ability. That is what I'm achieving right now. What's more exciting is that the work is still accessible and isn't in any way compromised. As a composer, it allows me to write in my true voice while making the work practical on a performance level.

Listening: Pnau, Empire of the Sun, Paul Horn (still!), Japanese Traditional Music, Andrew Poppy.