Having completed the Sound and Music Summer School at the Purcell School I can honestly say that it was one of the best weeks of my life. In that week I grew so much as a composer, and it will be invaluable to me in the future when I pursue my career in music. The […]
The evening of day six and the morning of day seven were dedicated entirely to concerts of the final pieces which people had produced. This started with the ‘Film’ group, and then the ‘Jazz’ group. I particularly enjoyed the Jazz concert, as it was done in such a way that it mimicked a dimly lit […]
The day had come: it was time to hear my piece. Everyone in my group arrived to breakfast the next day rather bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived. I could only assume that they, like me, had pulled a late night trying to finish their compositions in time. I was excited to hear the fruits of everybody’s labour, […]
Day five was the most tiring, intense and stressful day of the lot. Writing three minutes of music, entirely by hand, in a crowded environment, for instruments I had never written before and in just 24 hours was, to put it lightly, hard work. But this is not a complaint; that’s what I came for. […]
Day four marked the first day in which we would be working on our final piece. It was therefore with excitement, but also some slight apprehension, that we headed down to breakfast. Before we could work on our piece though, we first had to listen to everyone’s piece based around the rhythmic cycles we had […]
After being introduced to the instruments which were available to us to use, the obvious next step was for us to learn how we might be using them. We had a fantastic opportunity in having Kuljit Bhamra working with us, a well-established musician, specialising in the Indian Tabla, specifically when being used in more Western […]
This was the first day where we were given taster sessions for the other courses available. For me, this involved the advanced instrumental session and the vocal session. As a classically trained musician, the instrumental session appealed to me naturally. We were given the task of writing a short piece for a solo instrument – […]
Meeting people is always a scary experience. There is always a heavy sense of anticipation as you draw nearer to your destination, which you know is unnecessary but which you just can’t stave off. For this reason the long drive to the Purcell School was nerve-racking, to say the least. This was only made worse […]
Members of the Sound and Music team visited the Summer School on Wednesday. Emma, the Communications Intern, reflects on a great day out… “If you could walk into the hypothetical future of the ‘new music’ world, you might find yourself in the same place as I was last week. Now, I swear on Henry Flynt’s cooking […]
My time at sound and music this year has been unlike any other experience I’ve had – from creating a short vocal piece from the word ‘happiness’ to finger sword-fighting in a theatrical workshop, the week has been full of pleasant surprises. Initially, I didn’t know what to expect. Right from day 1, we’d started […]
After a thrilling few days we have now completed our compositions, and are excited to hear them played in the forthcoming days. However that is only the icing on the cake to such a great week. A highlight of ours has been the intriguing guest speaker talking about gramophones last night. He captivated us all […]
We had a visit from Aleks Kolkowski last night who gave us a really interesting talk about the beginnings of recording technology. We here on the film course, were fascinated (Along with the rest of the course!) and tweeted and made plenty of notes which I thought I’d better pull together into one place! I […]
Ralph Vaughan-Williams – Lark Ascending Le Vent Du Nord Islamic Call to Prayer
Steve Reich – Six marimbas Bernard Hermann – Psycho Debussy –Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune Wagner – THE Tristan Chord
Judith Weir Master of the Queen’s music in Pictures https://t.co/pIGbsD5l9L pic.twitter.com/VCeh9D0ZCj — Sam Summer (@samsummeruk) August 3, 2016 Sam reflects on his time on the instrumental course @Soundandmusic #SAMsummer16 https://t.co/3OhkzeudSm pic.twitter.com/ovETedCfuU — Sam Summer (@samsummeruk) August 3, 2016 British Library sound archive from today's talk…https://t.co/wEX6m2BMlL — Sam Summer (@samsummeruk) August 3, 2016 The saviour of the […]
I had no idea what to expect from this group: I came to the course feeling quite unproductive and dry as a composer and I was worried that I would struggle to achieve anything. However, after the first sessions I knew that I had come into the perfect environment for me to develop. Over the […]
Originally posted on Sound Of The Hound:
We’ve posted this picture before but hadn’t realised its significance. Digging a bit further into the life of Fred Gaisberg (who was the Zelig of the early recording business), the relevance of the photo becomes clear. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph system of recording and playing back sound…
Judith Weir – Jerusalem We were delighted to welcome Master of the Queen’s Music, Judith Weir to today’s Summer School. Many of our pupils have already been inspired by her writing and were delighted to present their compositions to her. She very kindly gave feedback to every student Karlheinz Stockhausen – Stimmung Gavin Bryars – The […]
Thrilled at the prospect of unleashing our various notions and ideas onto Sibelius, we rushed to the computer rooms. We still had ‘mini-workshops’ which have provided us with the opportunity to listen our compositions by the performers, even if the vocal pieces were in the embryonic stages. Workshops such as these additionally enabled me to expand […]
Here’s what took place on twitter from yesterday’s Sound and Music Summer School! Flexing those vocal cords with @juicevocal @samsummeruk pics from the summer school here https://t.co/fWlKEtdTck https://t.co/sLGfkz5liz — Bright Ivy (@BrightIvyUK) August 3, 2016 Young composers knuckling down to great work @samsummeruk #gocompose pic.twitter.com/tE8qA2NINv — Simon Speare (@simonspeare) August 3, 2016 The deer […]
I had to compose a piece of music in a short amount of time using a short motif given to me as part of the challenge given to me in my key tutor group. It was composed for the violin. The Motif was written in an unconventional way and not using Sibelius. At first I […]
Over the first two days our pupils get to experience a taste of what the other groups are doing at Sound and Music. In the film group pupils finish at a different rate so we asked them to tell us about their experiences, here are their comments … Eleanor Our task was to compose a […]
Jonty tells us how the film taster course went for him… Think of your favourite moment from your favourite movie. I am almost certain that this will be accompanied by a fantastic score which enhances it. The shower scene in Psycho, the famous 2-note riff in Jaws, Darth Vader’s dramatic entrance; they would all fall […]
When you improvise, you have to really feel what you are playing. There are guidelines but these really are just that, guidelines! You can bend them and play with them freely because you are feeling what you are playing and because there isn’t much time to think, it becomes instinctive and you stop having to […]
Monday, at the vocal group, was an attempt to open minds to the vast possibilities of vocal composition. Who needs a score when pictures provide emotional yet also musical communication? We finished with homework to produce an A3 explosion of our piece, to begin our composition with focus and insight.
Day 2 in pictures: the morning @soundandmusic #SAMsummer16 https://t.co/yPXL4xC4u3 pic.twitter.com/17bIiOdHDF — Sam Summer (@samsummeruk) August 1, 2016 This week I am King Of Beatbox working with young composers alongside @juicevocal at the @samsummeruk #SAMsummer16 pic.twitter.com/mXarm1Xse6 — MaJiKer (@MaJiKer) August 1, 2016 Hope everyones having a brilliant time @samsummeruk #SAMsummer16 gutted I couldn't be there this […]
Day 2 is always a very busy time with key tutor groups working hard along with two taster sessions for everyone. Here is a flavour of what has taken place in each of the tutor groups today. World Music The World Music Group musicians have demonstrated their instruments including pitched Tabla, Nyckelharpa, Marimba and Clarinet. Pupils […]
An Evening With Lucie Treacher, Juice and MajiKer @soundandmusic @lucietreacher @juicevocal… https://t.co/PLGn0mTv7X pic.twitter.com/RUUZQYTj6O — Sam Summer (@samsummeruk) August 1, 2016 Day 1 – Welcomes & Icebreakers https://t.co/A32UXGYMy5 pic.twitter.com/aYWTMM7CdG — Sam Summer (@samsummeruk) August 1, 2016 Day 1 in pictures @soundandmusic @lucietreacher @juicevocal @kj_funk @sarahdaceyuk… https://t.co/iujjKHGdAw pic.twitter.com/O6LUKEE4fJ — Sam Summer (@samsummeruk) July 31, 2016 @juicevocal kick off […]
Lucie talked passionately about her work and wide interests. She started by getting everyone to create an improvisation based around the London Underground map. Getting 70 students to create something new in the first 5 minutes of a lecture is no mean feat! It was a fairly strange feeling to start but quickly produced a quite […]
“It seems like we’ve got a really friendly bunch this year, everyone is chatting and the place is buzzing already!” This was what several young musicians were saying as they walked into this evening concert. The Sound and Music Summer School 2016 started this afternoon with around 75 budding young composers arriving at the Purcell […]
Each year the Sound and Music Summer School is slightly different. Whilst the strands follow similar content and the aims are very continuous, there are a number of different evening workshops and events that take place through the week. These vary from talks by inspiring and influential composers to performances by musicians and even workshops where […]
With just one day to go I can feel the excitement building for this year’s Sound and Music Summer School. I always notice the build up to the course… The phone calls start coming in, the messages asking whether things are possible start arriving and activity around the school increases. All this leads to the excitement […]
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