To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.
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I don’t think many people would disagree that music exists to be heard, whether it’s a CD recording or a score on a performer’s stand. I’ll go further by adding that I don’t see the point of composing music if you don’t intend people to play it; music exists when it is realised in sound. […]
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Join OCA’s Andy Glover and Chris Lawry on Saturday 11th April 2015 between 9.30am and 5pm for a composition workshop at MAC Birmingham. The day will consist of advice and discussion on writing for String Quartets and for Flute & Piano featuring, in the morning session, The Take Four String Quartet and, in the afternoon, The Buchner Duo.
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Some of the most fascinating moments in the history of music, for me, have been when composers have said ‘enough of this, I want to do something differently!’. Whether these differences then manifest themselves as changes to structure, tuning, rhythm, compositional systems, instrumentation or style, the ability to challenge the status quo of the performer […]
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It was way back in Summer 2013 when some of the music forum members first decided to work on another collaborative project, roughly titled ‘A response to poetry’. Collaborative projects are such a worthwhile way of sharing your thoughts and music with other composers, as well as creating a new piece of work together. Composers […]
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I’ve just returned from a rather pleasant trip back to my hometown of St. Ives, down in (thankfully this time anyway) sunny Cornwall. Having a day free from projects and other commitments, I decided to do something that I haven’t done for some time, namely, to visit an art gallery. As I spend most of […]
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Some of my recent freelance composition work has seen me writing exam pieces for a large worldwide music examination board. As a result of this, I was asked with other colleagues whether I’d contribute tips for composition and creativity to be included in their resources section for students. A rather wonderful feature of the board’s […]
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Just what would Bach have done with an electric guitar? The perfect question for a musicians’ pub debate over a drink or two! Whilst we ponder whether or not he would have jumped at the chance to write for the instrument and what any resulting composition might have entailed, I’d like to look at something […]
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One of the most fulfilling experiences available to composers is the opportunity to collaborate with designers of new musical instruments, composing new music to practically test their characteristics and to help develop the instruments and repertoire further. The processes involved with research and development are as beneficial to the composer as they are to the […]
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A very fruitful way of inspiring new creative journeys is to take something unfamiliar and start working with it. This could be something as broad as a new genre, style, theory, medium or piece of technology. The act of having to negotiate with something different will cause you to apply a new ways of […]
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During a recent conversation with colleagues, chatting about compositional process, it dawned on me that as creators we all have very unique and personal ways of working. Whilst finding a comfortable and productive creative method is a great benefit, it is perhaps all too easy to slip into continually using the same approach and potentially […]
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