Category: Uncategorized

In Commendation of Music

Byartsyhonker April 18, 2011 0 Comments
Somehow, I neglected to blog about this at the time... last year I wanted to make a birthday present for Stella, who keeps everything ticking over smoothly at Quire. So of course I wrote a piece of music. The text is by one William Strode, and I chose it (after the usual laboured searching) because it was a fairly simple metrical poem which I could set in the style of an 18th-century glee. PDF...

The Lord Bless Thee

Byartsyhonker April 16, 2011 2 Comments
I wrote this for the King James Trust 2011 composition competition. I had intended to enter both categories but failed to get my act together in time, so this was thrown together rather hastily. However, I do like it for what it is: short, sweet, simple. It should work well with either organ or piano. If you had a flute or another instrument, it would lend itself to a descant based on the...

A Response to that “CCM praise songs we can’t stand” meme:

Byartsyhonker February 5, 2011 3 Comments
"There are two musical situations on which I think we can be confident that a blessing rests. One is where a priest or an organist, himself a man of trained and delicate taste, humbly and charitably sacrifices his own (aesthetically right) desires and gives the people humbler and coarser fare than he would wish, in a belief (even, as it may be, the erroneous belief) that he can thus bring them to...

Candlemas

Byartsyhonker February 2, 2011 0 Comments
By Window: workshop of Franz Borgias Mayer (1848–1926); Photo: Wojciech Dittwald (my own photo) , via Wikimedia CommonsWhen to the temple Mary went,And brought the Holy Child,Him did the aged Simeon see,As it had been revealed.He took up Jesus in his armsAnd blessing God he said:In peace I now depart, my Saviour having seen,The Hope of Israel, the Light of men.Help now thy servants, gracious...

Bobby McFerrin

Byartsyhonker May 29, 2010 0 Comments
I've just come back from hearing Bobby McFerrin perform at the Barbican, along with the London Vocal Project.The concert was wonderful. Bobby McFerrin was in fine form, and although the performance was in some ways his usual "bag of tricks" (I had seen several portions of it before on YouTube and so on), that bag of tricks is simply astounding. The improvised numbers were, of course, fantastic....

Busy…

Byartsyhonker November 5, 2009 0 Comments
I do seem to be having something of a dry spell, in terms of blogging here. I have been quite busy! I composed an anthem; it was sung during a church service on 27th September. The sheet music is available here and a MIDI file here; I don't yet have a suitable recording. The piece is dedicated to Rev Dr Catherine Dowland-Pillinger, on the occasion of her ordination to the priesthood of the Church...

Concert reminder; London miscellany

Byartsyhonker December 10, 2008 0 Comments
The London Gallery Quire presents aChristmas Concertof West Gallery Musicas sung during the Georgian period (1720-1850)Wednesday 10th December6.30pm for 7.00pm.Tickets - £5 on the doorAn opportunity to see inside the oldest German church in EnglandSt George's German Lutheran Church55 Alie Street, London E1 8EB Aldgate East tube station - exit Leman Street In other entirely unsurprising news, I...
Byartsyhonker November 26, 2008 0 Comments
The performance project that put Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Elgar's Enigma Variations is over; we recorded the last notes yesterday. It was going so well that we actually finished a full half-hour early. It was going so well that if they'd asked me to stay an hour later, I gladly would have done so! I think I enjoyed that project more than any other orchestral project in which I've been...

Concert tomorrow

Byartsyhonker November 19, 2008 0 Comments
It's been a while since I've updated, I've been madly busy for the last several weeks. I'm hoping to get writing again soon.In the meantime, do come to the concert tomorrow:Trinity College of Music Symphony OrchestraConductor: Edward GardnerStravinsky: Rite of SpringElgar: Variations on an Original Theme, Op.36Thursday 20 November, 7.30pmBlackheath Halls£10 (£7 concessions)Trinity College of...

Horn class; concerts to attend

Byartsyhonker September 29, 2008 0 Comments
I'm behind on posting again, no surprise there then...Horn class last Wednesday was good. Martin Owen came to run a session on note production: the basic message was to use air support, rather than the tongue, to start notes. This is less tiring than relying on the tongue and, practised over time, leads to better sound and better pitch control.We spent most of the class playing through various...