Band aid!
1September 19, 2013 by wandalusst
Last weekend’s intensive also saw our first dabblings in the broader musical palette of the work, with assistance from bassists Kate and Sylvie, and percussionists Paula and Kylie.
And yes, that is a xylophone on the right.
TTFO 
Creative development is a really interesting and valuable process. We get to test things out that have previously existed only in our imaginations. And for a composer, the difference in hearing how her music sounds ‘live’, compared with either her imagination and/or the music software program she is using, combined with the nuances of singing and playing in live performance, cannot be compared. For me, it was such a joy to hear my music come to life with the singers, Quire and instrumentalists. And although limited time precluded extensive exploration of the bass and percussion lines, the glimpse I had of how the music for Swansong sounds with bass and percussion was significant and helpful. Our creative development weekend helped me to understand how the instrumental sounds in my imagination (and music software program) – piano, string trio, bass and percussion – were balanced, or not, with the singers and Quire, and how the individual musical lines worked with, or not, each other. A wonderful, challenging and exciting experience. My warmest thanks to all the instrumentalists involved, and in particular in this blog post, to the ‘Band Aid’. I so appreciated your patience, understanding, and willingess to ‘go with the flow’. Thank you.
Peta Williams (composer)