Wandering Ink

The sixth in a series of Graphic Score pieces I did for my portfolio at Birmingham Conservatoire last year, this piece was for cello and was performed by Andrew Hopper, my friend and housemate.

I wanted this piece to be a little more symbol/drawing heavy than the other pieces, which still used noteheads and musical symbols, but not on a stave.

The drawings in this piece are more ambiguous this time, allowing more room for the performer to express themselves.



You can see the score just above, and hear it at my MySpace or SoundCloud accounts or use the "Listen" box above.

Ciao for now!

(© Jason Dewey 2009)

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Dwindling Stone

I have just finished a piece for Wind Orchestra called Dwindling Stone.

Its three and a half minutes long, took me about a month to complete and is my largest work to date (in terms of instrumentation).

It was written entirely by chance, similar to my string quartet but far more in-depth, and with more liberties taken, either for practical or stylistic reasons.

I won't post the score here, there are far too many pages (apart from the sneaky peek just above), however, it will be workshopped pretty soon, so I should have a video to post here for you all to see.

Until then, wait in eager anticipation, or not.

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Wandering Wind

The first in a series of Graphic Score pieces I did for my portfolio at Birmingham Conservatoire last year, this piece was for flute and was performed by Rowland Sutherland, a renowned flautist.

Originally a flute techniques piece, I decided to adapt it for my portfolio, and it became the inspiration for what became the ‘Wandering’ series.

I wanted to explore music that didn’t use a stave or notes, and music that didn’t necessarily have determined pitches. I found that a graphic score was the best way to portray the sounds I wanted without providing specific notes. This way, the performer shapes the music visually, as well as aurally.

I produced two different versions of the score; the original was written on 5-line manuscript whereas the second was written onto plain paper. The score seen here is the plain paper version. I felt that it was clearer that the score was set apart from the normal soundworld of the flute.



You can see the score just above, and hear it at my MySpace or SoundCloud accounts or use the "Listen" box above.

Ciao for now!

(© Jason Dewey 2009)

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On Death

This, my latest piece, is for Solo unaccompanied voice. I needed to write a vocal piece for part of my course at Birmingham Conservatoire, and since Mary Wiegold was going to be singing them, I thought I should make it a little more lyrical than some of my other pieces.

However, I wanted to make this piece a little different in presentation, more like my "Recycling" series (which I will post later).

My first inspiration was a poem by Keats: On Death. I recently saw a trailer for the upcoming film; Bright Star, which chronicles Keat's romance with sweetheart, Fanny (no sniggers please). I later saw the poem On Death on the internet somewhere which immediately became the inspiration for the vocal piece.

I thought that, to remain true to the style of the period, I should enclose this poem in a letter, something which I have done before.

Once I had the poem and the presentation style, the music came easily. Here are some photos of the finished score:



The back will later have a wax seal on it, as a finishing touch, similar to the one seen in the link above.



Here is the finished music. I added some corner illustrations for decoration. All I need now is to set the pencil with some hairspray.



UPDATE:

And the final seal:



(© Jason Dewey 2009)

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New Website

Ok scratch that last.

I just got a proper website domain, so it makes me sound all professional and stuff (something which will quickly dissapear following this post).

Here it is:
http://www.jasondeweycomposer.co.uk

Enjoy!

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Youtube Clip

I just posted a video of the first of my "Two Pieces for Piano".

View it here,

or here:



(© Jason Dewey 2009)

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Call for Works

I am in search of compositions to be written for an evening's performance sometime in the future (date to be set).

I have written a piece using telephonic communication as a basis, but I am in search of compositions related to or featuring the field of communication in general.

Due to the nature of my piece, I am searching for about an hour of content that can be performed with the audience moving about the room/stage area, instead of sitting in their seats, however, it is not necessary.

The Evening will be organised thus:


First Half:

New works from other composers.

Second Half:

My Piece.


Both halves will be an hour long, and will hopefully involve a mixture of electronic and acoustic works.

If you are interested, or want more information, then please email me at jasondeweycomposer@googlemail.com, or contact me through Facebook, or talk to me in college.

Many thanks,

Jason.

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