Aileen Walker, who sings alto in the GSA Choir, writes about her experience of rehearsing The Alphabet of Jasmine – composed by Dee Isaacs, with lyrics by Gerda Stevenson. Music touches the emotions. Poetry too. Singing in a choir, I find, is at times almost spiritual. And when the subject [...]
Sound and resonance... In this video blog composer, Pippa Murphy, introduces her Composeher work, Brìdghe, alongside lyricist, Karine Polwart. The pair discuss the importance of sound and resonance, and explore the intersection between Paganism and Catholicism as it relates to Brigid / Saint Brigid.
Words into music... In my last blog for this project I outlined some of the considerations a composer addresses when setting existing poetry. Here, rather than being a full programme note at this stage, I write further about some of my compositional approaches in setting these incredible poems by [...]
Catherine Mooney, who sings alto in the GSA Choir, writes about her experience of rehearsing Brìdghe – composed by Pippa Murphy, with lyrics by Karine Polwart. It is very early. My eyes are closed, but I am awake. The first tangible thought to filter through is a refrain, a [...]
The harmonic journey... In my last blog, I recounted my discovery of a pioneering scientist and artist of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Maria Sibylla Merian. From her monumental folio Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, I excerpted five pieces of text for five miniature movements, each taken from a [...]
Poet, Seán Street, whose lyrics are being set to music for Composeher by Cecilia McDowall, discusses the relationship between words and music in their work, Angel of the Battlefield. Reflecting on the relationship between composer, poet and subject further into the Composeher project, there are, it seems to me, some [...]
On Musical Imagination as part of my working method... I have been thinking a lot about the role that musical imagination plays in my compositional working method. To inform this reflection, I have been immersing myself in literature on the topic, most recently a book chapter by Freya Bailes and [...]
Maggie Broadley, who sings soprano in the GSA Choir, writes about her experience of rehearsing Within The Living Eye – composed by Rebecca Rowe, with lyrics taken from a selection of poems by Kathleen Raine. When Jamie Sansbury, the GSA Choir’s Musical Director, revealed our next commissioning project, Composeher, I [...]
Claire Bradley, who sings soprano in the GSA Choir, writes about her experience of rehearsing Margaret’s Moon – composed by Ailie Robertson, with lyrics by Scots Makar, Jackie Kay – the first new work rehearsed by the ensemble for Composeher. Having been in one or two short-term, temporary choirs [...]
Back in May, Jamie Sansbury, Musical Director of the Glasgow School of Art Choir, shared a selection of music which he was enjoying during the Coronavirus lockdown. Nearly six months later, he shares some more works. Who would have thought, when I wrote Listening in lockdown back in May [...]