A duet is born: One week

After a hardly successful day of composing yesterday I was not so confident about my piano duet anymore.

Yesterday we had a masterclass with Julian Phillips where we went through the pieces/drafts everyone had made so far. And what a brilliant session this turned out to be. Both Julian and my fellow students shared some good supportive comments wich helped me in finishing the structure of the piece wich was it´s main problem.

I had too many melodies and ideas going on for such a small piece to work. I would had needed much more time to work out, evolve and integrate them all.

So in a 3 hour session this morning at Guildhall´s library I took away about a 1/3 of the piece and stretched the other 2/3 out into it´s final length. Regarding the title, only one thing came to mind really when I thought about it. The very fitting: "One week".

So, I managed to hand it in before the deadline today and I´m sure it will sound good in the hands of Mishka (my pianist).

The premiere will be at Guildhall, School of Music and Drama this Friday (September 30th) at 17:00. Entrance is free and all are welcome.

Here is a map

p.s.
the consert this friday will be recorded and I will publish the results for you my friend

All the best
Helgi

Piano piece in one week

Hello hello

My 1st assignment at Guildhall is going well. Like always, it has had it´s ups and downs. Today was an OK "up" day. Only 2 days to go untill final deadline. The poor pianists must have some time to rehearse before the performance at the Barbican Centre the 30th.

Initially I was gona present my piece "Syndadansinn" (The dance of sins) for this but everyone had to write a completely new piece in this 1st week, wich makes more sense and is more fun. It had crossed my mind, but I needed to re-write "syndadansinn" anyway so it seemed like a good excuse.

To get us started Julian Phillips (head of composition) and Pamela Lidiard (deputy head of keyboard studies) set us up with some short Stravinsky piano pieces for 2 players where one part is very easy and the other one more challenging, and these pieces were divided amongst pairs of pianists and composers and performed on the spot. I cant say that I delivered perfectly despite the very easy part I got in a Polka Tune, since sight-reading for piano has never been my strongest of virtues. But we got through it and had a bit of fun. I must say that the PG pianists are very talented and I consider myself very lucky to get to work with them.

We were to take atleast one aspect/motif from the piece we were assigned and use it in the final verion of ours. I took a G clef 16th note ornament and turned it into a slow tempo F clef bass line.

Earlier I talked about ups and downs. Here are some pictures from days I would most definitely call "up" days. 1st one is taken in Clissold Park about 2 days ago were I went to get some clear air and come up with a rythm matter:

Second picture taken in room 127, if I recall correctly, today.

Tomorrow I´ll wake up at 5:30am and be at GSMD at 7:00am , work till 12pm approx, rehearse with Mishka (my pianist) at 1pm and after that is a session with all 1st year PG (postgraduate) composers and Julian Phillips till 6pm.

Life is good !

Teacher glossary: finale

It has been decided. Matthew King will be my professor at Guildhall. He has contacted me and we will meet for a preliminary lesson early next week.

Teacher glossary #2

My piano piece is going well. I´ve so to speak finished polishing it, but now I feel as it could be longer. As for the middle minimalistic chapter... it could re-appear later in a new modulation. Here you can hear the 2008 version, performed by John Venkiah.

Syndadansinn by HelgiRafn

Works in progress: the sequel

Seems I have forgotten a very important work in progress in the last entry. Last year I started assembling all my vocal vorks into one book. I was about half way through when I got bored with it and other projects knocked on my door.

Back then I called it : "Sönglög 2006-2010" (Songs: 2006-2010). When I get the time to work on it again it will surely be updated to "Songs: 2006-2011".

As of today the following songs can be found in the book:

-Drottning í húmi (f. Mezzo-Soprano)
-Fortíðarsýn (f. Bass)
-Vesalings Tinna (female trio)
-Skuggablóm (f. Tenor and Mezzo Soprano)
-Von í dimmu (f. Tenor and Mezzo Soprano)
-Síðueldar (f. mixed choir)

All of these are quite early pieces with a new piano accompaniment arrangement. The later added works will be for solo voice and choir mostly.

I had planed to use atleast a part of my first 3 weeks in London, before the start of term, to finish old projects. But without the proper facilities, like access to piano and working desk it´s hard to get anything done. Still, I´m very grateful to have a roof over my head and food on my plate. There will be enough time and facilites to compose in less than one week when we move into our appartment.