artsyhonker – Page 13 – The Artsy Honker

Postcard 1

Byartsyhonker May 23, 2014 0 Comments

Over at my Patreon page I have a few different "rewards" for different levels of funding. The idea is to thank my patrons for their support, while also doing things that are musically useful or relevant. For pledges of $3/work or more, if patrons disclose their postal address, I send a hand-drawn postcard with a short, unique melody by me on it. Here's the first one: It looked better in person:...

Open Volume

Byartsyhonker May 21, 2014 0 Comments

I am looking for words and music for a hymnal. The working title is "Open Volume: singable, photocopiable hymns". The intent is to create a body of new hymnody which will be available to churches as a supplement, or as individual pieces; to showcase the work of writers and composers who might not gain the attention of traditional publishers; and to make the advantages of Creative Commons...

How I write songs

Byartsyhonker May 18, 2014 0 Comments

This is a description of how I go about composing choral works. I sometimes skip steps, sometimes take a lot longer over one step than other times. And of course, this is only what I do -- others may have very different approaches. 1) Choose a text. Nowadays this is a bit easier than it was when I was a teenager; there is an entire internet out there including many websites with poetry and quotes...

Up-Hill

Byartsyhonker May 15, 2014 0 Comments

This is another piece written for Song Cycle, a big project of mine this summer. The text was suggested by the Revd Canon Kathryn Fleming, due to be installed at Coventry Cathedral on 31st May, and I'm very pleased with how it has turned out. – Does the road wind up-hill all the way? – Yes, to the very end. – Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? – From morn to night, my...

Art is not a democracy.

Byartsyhonker April 28, 2014 3 Comments

A friend and I have been e-mailing back and forth about some issues at her church -- the usual sort of thing, some members of the congregation being unhappy with the style of music chosen by the organist, others being unhappy about it in the other direction, trying to keep everyone happy. Harsh words have been exchanged, and the organist has been accused of undermining the church by "driving...

Give me my scallop-shell of quiet

Byartsyhonker April 26, 2014 0 Comments

This summer, some friends and I are cycling from London to Norwich and back on a musical bicycle pilgrimage, Song Cycle. I'm looking forward to it very much and have been gradually increasing the amount of cycling I do so that I'm not completely knackered by the journeys. I've also been looking at repertoire, which is proving to be a bit more tricky. I will be limited in the number of instruments...

Work in Progress: Song of Easter

Byartsyhonker April 20, 2014 0 Comments

This was my contribution to the Online Praise service for Easter Day earlier today. You can view the whole service here. I didn't have time this week to do a lot with it, so just recorded the melody line; I have plans to expand on this, though I'm not sure yet whether to SATB or to S(A)-organ. There is plenty of more urgent work in the queue now so it will have to wait, but here is a taste,...

Mailing list

Byartsyhonker April 15, 2014 0 Comments

Thanks to MailChimp, I now have a newsletter! Roughly once each month there is a new edition of Passing Notes, with details of my various musical adventures, new compositions, and things I like. If you're interested in receiving such e-mails, please do sign up below. You can, of course, opt-out any time you like. Subscribe to Passing Notes * indicates required Email Address * First Name Last...

The Message of the Wind

Byartsyhonker April 15, 2014 0 Comments

I have a new choral work up on the Choral Public Domain Library: The Message of the Wind. This was written for the Nicola Dando Choral Composition Prize, which this year had five set texts; in the end, I thought my setting of another of the texts was a stronger piece, and submitted it for the competition instead. The words are by Harriet Monroe, a poet whose work I hope to explore more. The wind...

Jesus loves Tories too

Byartsyhonker April 10, 2014 1 Comment

So, it transpires that David Cameron has been going on about how much he loves Christianity (or what he thinks of as Christianity) and saying ill-thought-out, embarrassing things. From what I can gather online he's claiming that Jesus invented the Big Society and David Cameron is, er, trying to follow in his footsteps. It doesn't take a lot to dismantle the first claim. Care for the widow, the...