A big part of my music education and the development of my musical identity came from studying music at school. Having played music from a young age on both a translucent lime green recorder and a Yamaha keyboard before 'graduating' to the saxophone and piano, I had a pretty decent level of musical ability. Most of my mates didn't have this background so they had very little musical experience.
Having gone to a comprehensive secondary school, my mates would learn on these really old Yamaha keyboards. One of the best parts of these keyboards was the DJ setting, which changed the Keyboard into a sample station. What was weird about this setting was that it was always seen as a bit of a piss-take and that it wasn't proper music, but most of my mates could come up with musical ideas easier with these samples than with traditional music notation. However, the music teachers would get a bit bored of hearing the same animal noises every class so would tell them to shut it and go back to learning "Dancing Queen".
What this did was make it so these sample sounds were not seen as being proper music. I know this was to focus on learning actual music notation so we had some theory to back up our creativity, but it always felt weird to me that these generic sample sounds were pushed to one side rather than actually incorporated into composition work.
This piece is my way of trying to find a balance between this divide and the issue of style going before content. It is a reflection on my musical history and what has made me into the composer I am today. It is a piece about what you say versus how you say it.
Instrumentation
Yamaha PSR-E303
Prerecorded Audio
Duration
7 minutes 30 seconds
Dedication
Written for and dedicated to Richard Greer.
Having gone to a comprehensive secondary school, my mates would learn on these really old Yamaha keyboards. One of the best parts of these keyboards was the DJ setting, which changed the Keyboard into a sample station. What was weird about this setting was that it was always seen as a bit of a piss-take and that it wasn't proper music, but most of my mates could come up with musical ideas easier with these samples than with traditional music notation. However, the music teachers would get a bit bored of hearing the same animal noises every class so would tell them to shut it and go back to learning "Dancing Queen".
What this did was make it so these sample sounds were not seen as being proper music. I know this was to focus on learning actual music notation so we had some theory to back up our creativity, but it always felt weird to me that these generic sample sounds were pushed to one side rather than actually incorporated into composition work.
This piece is my way of trying to find a balance between this divide and the issue of style going before content. It is a reflection on my musical history and what has made me into the composer I am today. It is a piece about what you say versus how you say it.
Instrumentation
Yamaha PSR-E303
Prerecorded Audio
Duration
7 minutes 30 seconds
Dedication
Written for and dedicated to Richard Greer.