To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.
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This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date. Last year I wrote several blogs investigating tools for composition students, specifically those in distance learning environments, and recording possibilities for composers needing realisations of their work. Taking the concept of recording parts separately a step […]
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This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date. Just before we consign 2012 to the cutting room floor, here are some musical highlights – as chosen by members of the OCA music team. Graham Coatman For me the highlight of 2012 has to be […]
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This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date. Music is a very significant part of the Christmas season, even for those who do not categorize themselves as major musical enthusiasts, and there is always a considerable number of people filing into churches, chapels and […]
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A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being part of Out of the Box, a weekend of small-scale site-specific opera that is part of Sound 2012, North East Scotland’s Festival of New Music. Alex Reedijk, Scottish Opera’s General Director, concluded a panel discussion at the end of the weekend with the observation that the future of […]
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I have a problem with poetry. Unless there is a specific directive or inspired objective, a lot of a composer’s valuable creative time can be lavished on selecting suitable texts for musical settings. Much of that time is unproductive, for in several ways the poems are ‘not fit for purpose’. The primary ‘purpose’ is to […]
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Reykholt, Geysir, Gullfos, Arnastap, Bru, Stykkishōlnur, Spákonufell, Smirlabjargarvirlgun In 2009, OCA tutors Liz Cashdan (creative writing) and Pat Hodson (textiles) spent the month of August on a NES residency in Skagaströnd, Iceland. Now, a new book of poems and images, ‘Iceland Stories’, which includes a sequence by sound artist Jessica Rowland, is to be published, inspired by […]
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A newly released CD has reminded me this week of a very useful tool in the arsenal of the composer, that of recomposition. The term loosely refers to the action of reworking an existing piece into something new, however, this can be achieved in a variety of ways and results can provoke some animated debate […]
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The harpsichordist George Malcolm once told me how he had been given a stern rebuke by a world famous maestro for filling out the continuo line whilst performing JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion. The gist of the complaint was that if ‘Herr Bach’ had wanted additional notes, he would have written them in the score. […]
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I’m stepping down from my role as OCASA President a little earlier than originally intended and there will be a process, beginning shortly, designed to have a new President in place by 1st February 2013. My two year term would have been due to end on 31st May. My reasons fall, broadly, into two […]
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There seems little doubt in my mind that the two major stimuli to the creative activity of our greatest composers are sex and death. Perhaps they are linked; they are closely allied in the natural world. Plants not only devise remarkable methods of procreation, but can spring as vigorously from natural disasters and chemical warfare […]
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