I think I am inspired by a wide range of artists and musicians. But I haven’t had the chance to actually meet very many, so to be able to meet and work with inspiring musicians was one of the highlights ofmy week at Sound and Music. I was inspired by all of the musicians I […]
Sound and Music summer school is a week long residential for young people from across the UKto enjoy a week of learning, fun and composition. You have to apply for a place, love composingand want to throw yourself in. When I arrived at the Summer School, I was really excited and maybe a bit nervous. […]
During the summer school I have been learning about the DAW, Ableton and the musician technology elements that come with it: mixing, mastering and sound design. I enjoyed the freedom the technology at this summer school gave me and it was quite liberating to be so creative. The only thing I would say that challenged […]
Details of what you are going to do: What art skill(s) would you like to pass on? I want to teach someone and help them understand the concept of artificial harmonics when writing for bowed string instruments. Why have you chosen this skill? Is it a skill you know well or one you have learnt […]
On the 6th of August 2021 between 7 PM and 10:30 PM, and 7th of August 2021 between 10 AM and 3 PM, at the Purcell School, I watched the final compositions of all the Musicians from the Sound and Music Summer School and I thought it was amazing. I found it great how different […]
I have been working 24/7 on my musicality and compositional skills. I have spent a lot of time with the performers to learn about their instrument and to write music for those instruments accordingly. I have also worked with the performers, and the tutor, to take my composition further and form a coherent, structural piece, […]
Eva and I shared our various knowledge across music composition and psychology by giving a 5-minute talk each to each other – and since our knowledge overlaps a little, we chose each other. We have chosen these two skills because we have both read up on different areas of music psychology and we are very […]
Whilst doing the Sound and Music instagram takeover on Tuesday the 3rd, I attended the piano installation event. Our group’s slot was at 19:30, and an ex-student of the Purcell School showed us some pianos that were originally planned to be condemned, but had been reworked in wacky ways. I really enjoyed the piano installation […]
I chose to present to a group of friends different uses of the voice. As a singer, majority of the information I had known, however, parts of it were new to me, such as ingressive singing. I chose to share it with that group as many of them didn’t sing, and I thought it would […]
At the SaM summer school I have taken part in the Vocal Composition course. I have really enjoyed learning about newer vocal techniques that I haven’t previously been taught. Personally I found attempting to maintain lower harmonies relatively hard as I am typically used to singing either higher harmonies or the melody. I learnt that […]
In the vocal group at the Sound and Music Summer School we have developed collaboration skills and singing techniques as well as learning strategies and tips for composing specifically for the voice. The whole experience has been very accessible while also proving challenging for my existing compositional format. For example, I had never written a […]
The arts skills I have chosen to pass on are different ways of using the voice. As I participated in the composing for voice course, I learnt a lot of valuable information from the tutors. I am aiming to teach students from the instrumental and electronic courses, and hopefully by the end they will be […]
Susannah Foster and others at their arts award skill sharing session. For the past week, I have been participating in workshops and composing sessions as a part of the composing for voice course at the Sound and Music Summer School. Our days have started with physical and vocal warm-ups including stretches and harmony exercises. We […]
I am going to review the piano installation that we had the chance to see during the summerschool. The piano installation used many old, broken or disused pianos and turned them into art.For example, the installation showcased the oldest, still working, piano. At over 200 year old itshowed that pianos have changed a lot without […]
I’m reviewing the Yshani Peripanayagam’s event that I took part in during the Sound and Music Summer school. In this event we utilised an app called echoes which is an innovative and exciting app that lets you discover the world around you in the form of sounds. I really enjoyed using this app because it […]
I am reviewing the interactive piano installation that was created by ex-student Rueban as well as some friends which was held at the Purcell School. The installation was created by the artists finding 6 old pianos that were about to be dumped, and they were repurposed. We recorded an Instagram takeover where we showed the […]
The Yshani Perinpanayagam Visit I’d like to review The Yshani Perinpanayagam Visit and the echo app event that we did on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Sound and Music Summer School. It was a lot of fun being able to go around campus and listen to sounds others had produced. I’ll add a link to […]
Singing workshop Before: I would like to pass on techniques and information about various singing exercises that I have learnt at my time at SAM Summer School. I will share these skills in the form of an interactive presentation with others who have also recently learnt these exercises as well as students from different groups […]
The event I attended was an interactive workshop led by musician Yshani Perinpanayagam, which was run during my time at SAM summer school. The workshop involved working as a team to create an immersive sound world. We did this through the use of the Echoes app, which allows you to create ‘walks’ in which your […]
I chose to research Ludovico Einaudi because I play his music often and am inspired by his compositional style. Einaudi is known for his minimalistic writing, taking inspiration and techniques from composers such as Phillip Glass and Steve Reich. His repertoire is largely solo piano music, however he has also written pieces featuring orchestral instruments […]
On the 4th of August, Yshani Peripanayagam came to visit the Purcell school for our Sound and Music Summer Programme. She is a renowned composer, and showed us one of her piano compositions inspired by the game ‘snake’, and it was very avant-garde and fascinating. After that, she presented the app ‘Echoes’ which allows you […]
On the first day, I was greeted by my soon-to-be friends and the members of staff, who were all very friendly. I am in the ‘Composing for Voice’ group, so we did many exciting vocal exercises with our Key tutor and the other singers. On the second day, we had several taster sessions which were […]
Berlioz as a composer is someone who I simultaneously love and dislike. Musically I feel he is incredibly talented and innovative, however, his motives behind pieces such as “Symphonie Fantastique” can be seen as rather obsessive and creepy. I researched through online articles and blogs on which Berlioz’ biographies can be found. Berlioz is renowned […]
The electronic music group in SAM has been an amazing experience. I have really enjoyed it as it has allowed me to broaden my horizons with composing and start using synthesizers alongside orchestral instruments- before I was restricted to little but orchestral instruments due to not having heard the potential of synths. I want to […]
Franz Liszt was a prolific musician in the 19th century, from a virtuoso pianist, to composer, conductor, music teacher, organist, arranger, amongst others, and was a humanitarian, known for his acts of philanthropy. He is also the creator of a new musical genre, called the ‘Symphonic Poem’ or ‘Tone Poem’. He was taught at a […]
I decided to take a stroll on my second day at Sound and Music Summer School. Having worked behind the scenes for months to make this week happen, nothing could have been more reassuring than hearing music fill the hallways of The Purcell School. In hindsight, I actually don’t think I could have picked a […]
Day 1, Sunday 1st August On Sunday we were introduced to our task. Our assignment for the week was to compose for a short film already given to us. My short film was called Red Car Heist, and I immediately felt relieved as I recognised the film it came from (Baby Driver). We would solely […]
The Sound and Music (SaM) Summer School was something I didn’t even expect to get a place on, let alone enjoy to the extent I did. At the beginning, I was sure that the thing I would treasure the most would be the final composition, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was the […]
Yshani felt that weakness as a composer was a feeling of exposing something personal to her to the public (a bit like a diary)… Being a holistic musician – “Don’t pretend to be everyone’s specialist. People need to see that you are capable of many musical aspects…. Be open about the fact that you are […]
You often compose to visual cues, have you ever worked in film composing? No, but I have done other things. … I’m an improviser, so people put me in those situations… I have composed for dance music (following shapes of dancing) … Creating in response to something is something I find much easier. Did you […]
Megan’s review of Yshani Perinpanayagan’s talk and workshop Yshani’s piece “The Perfect Snake” is a composition for piano in response to a video of a perfect snake game. She has approached it in a similar way to film scoring, using hit points each time the snake eats. In addition, the texture and melody reflects the […]
Yet another immersive and original experience during my time at the Sound and Music Summer School! We attended a talk by Yshani Perinpanayagam, a multi-faceted musician who came to use an app called ‘Echoes’ to create an interactive ‘sound walk’, by recording sounds in certain locations around campus, which other app users can listen to […]
With the current global situation, this year’s Summer School was quite different to what we’re used to. Despite this, participants and tutors still enjoyed a different, yet fun and rewarding week! To create a connection amongst participants, we gave students the opportunity to takeover our socials, which gave everyone a sneak peak into the day […]
Khan Cordice’s presentation on the steel drums at the Sound & Music Summer School was really inspiring and exciting. I have a good knowledge of jazz music so it was great to hear Khan play an arrangement of ‘Misty’ on the steel drums. There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like apart from that he could […]
Going into this talk I knew absolutely nothing about steelpans as an instrument. The speaker and performer was Khan Cordice, who explained that he was a professional steelpans player, and that he was at the Purcell School due to funding from, and links with, the high commission of Antigua. He then went on to inform […]
It’s quiet… Too quiet. Aside from odd noises coming out of practice rooms, or composers scribbling and tapping away, there appears to be very little noise at all. Having spent the last few days in a school bursting to the seams with music, this sort of softer atmosphere is almost eerie. Of course, the reason […]
Things are heating up about now, and we’re not just talking about the weather! Midweek here at the Sound and Music Summer School is when things start to get serious. After a few days of getting to know each other, their tutors, and the impressive arsenal of musical techniques they have at their disposal, Wednesday […]
Day 3 in the Summer School house (notably more classy than it’s Big Brother equivalent on Channel 4), and there’s a real sense of community now building. With everyone living together, eating together and, most importantly creating together, you get the impression of a big family built around composing. Tuesday is a rather pleasant affair, […]
Today was our first full day, of course starting out with a healthy breakfast. One quick assembly later, and the students were already cracking on with their compositions in their Key Tutor Groups! After the day’s first KTG, we quickly moved on to the week’s first two taster sessions. These allow our students to get […]
Wow – what a first day! Sunday might traditionally be a day of rest, but it’s been a jam-packed first day for us here at the Sound and Music Summer School. After bringing together our huge staff team (including tutors, composers, instrumentalists, chaperones and the Sound and Music team), we couldn’t wait for this year’s […]
Review of Judith Weir’s Workshop, Arts Award 2018 On Tuesday 7th August, the Summer School played host to a performance workshop given by Judith Weir. This event particularly stood out to me, as before I came on the Summer Course I was not particularly fond of new styles of music such as minimalism and contemporary […]
Part of the summer school involved visiting talks by accomplished composers and one such event was the talk by head of Queen’s Music Judith Weir on Tuesday the 7th of August at the Purcell school who had a conversation with David Horne over different aspects of being a composer as well as what works in […]
On Tuesday 7th August, Judith Weir held a concert at the main auditorium at the Purcell School of Music as part of the Sound and Music Summer School. She started by showing a piece that she wrote called ‘Sundew’ which was written for a duet for the cello and the violin. The piece was inspired […]
As her talk focused fundamentally on the ideas of notation in music, I was particularly interested in the variety of ideas which she put forth. She painted the picture that a piece of music shares similarities with a piece of artwork, and using her own example of ‘Sundew’, which is a violin/cello duet, she showed […]
On Tuesday 7th August, I attended a session, at Sound and Music summer school, on composing led by Judith Weir, which I found very interesting and presented many sides to music and music notation I had not thought about before. One of the pieces performed was Judith Weir’s composition “Sundew”, which depicted a carnivorous plant. […]
This is a review Judith Wier’s visit to the Sound and Music Summer School on the 7th of August 2018, which I attended. Judith talked about different ways of notating other than the standard notation to simplify, or to explore different musical experiences such as giving the performer(s) more freedom. She used one of her […]
I am going to review a performance lecture given by Judith Weir and David Horne on the subject of scoring techniques and the performance of unconventional scores; this includes graphical scores and music that cannot be described in conventional notation. The event takes place at the Purcell School of Music on the 7th of […]
Have you applied to the Sound and Music Summer School yet? If not, now is the time to do so, as applications close 29 March! Make sure you visit our website in order to apply. The video below provides a brief insight into the accommodation, dining and recreational facilities at the Summer School. Watch as […]
IT’S BACK We’re delighted to say that the Sound and Music Summer School will be returning, August 5 – 11. Full details and more information about the week are available on our website, where you can also fill out your application. The application deadline is March 29, which is fast approaching. Apply Now!
On Tuesday night, we took part in a workshop which was led by Laura Bowler where we viewed some of her work. I felt like she was a very charismatic person and taught us to think about music in a new way – through movement. She started off with teaching us all a group warm […]
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