About me

 

I am a West Australian composer who was accepted into Edith Cowan University (ECU) in my 16th year for a Certificate IV course in Classical Composition at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). After graduation, I started a Bachelor of Music in Composition which I have successfully completed in 2008 with a High Distinction in Composition. Prior to my university entry, I was tutored by various musicians from across Western Australia.

On the 18th of September 2006, I won the Tura New Music, Young Composers’ Award 2006 for the premier of my Clarinet Sonata. Following the success of 2006, I was commissioned to write a Piece for Harpsichord and Guitar by Stewart Smith and Dr. Jonathan Paget. The piece was Premiered at the  Darwin International Guitar Festival, on the 7th of July 2007 followed by another performance at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts’ weekly Tuesday Lunch Time Concerts. My Clarinet Sonata was first performed in full at Aprilyn Podd’s graduation recital in 2007. At my graduation recital on the 20th of November 2008 I premiered my Piano Trio. I continued my study with a Bachelor of Music (Honours) course in 2009, for my recital I premiered a Piano Sonata and a Set of Bagatelles for solo piano.

In 2009 I was offered the opportunity to present a proposition regarding Creative Commons to the editorial board of the then newly formed music label at WAAPA, Slow Release. The same year I was asked to conduct a series of lectures under the employment of Edith Cowan University to over seventy students covering various topics of Copyright.

I am presently an Administrator at the popular free and legal public domain sheet music site the Petrucci Music Library – previously the International Music Score Library Project.

With a strong interest in Intellectual Property law and with a childhood in a politically motivated family, I joined and assisted in allowing the Pirate Party Australia to develop. Currently I am the appointed Media Relations coordinator for the party.

 

 

My Compositions

Piano Trio (2008):

1. Presto – Moderato 7:11

2. Andante – Presto – Allegro 5:47

3. Presto – Moderato – Presto – Vivace 8:43

Full Score

Piano: Zen Zeng

Cello: Emma Hayes

Violin: David Sanzone

Clarinet Sonata (2008):

1. Allegro 7:15

2. Andante come sopra 5:11

3. Allegro Vivace 6:50

Full Score

Clarinet: Jessica Andrew

Piano: David Wickham

Clarinet Sonata (2007):

Whole work (Stream)

Clarinet: Aprilyn Podd

Pulcinella (2007):

Whole work (Stream)

Harpsichord: Stewart Smith

Piano: Dr. Jonathan Paget

Score can also be found at the Petrucci Music Library.

My philosophy of composing (or indeed learning to compose) is this:
We are constantly, naturally influenced by our contemporaries, but mostly from what comes before us. Why have this influence uncontrolled, when you can tap into it and consciously your influences.

When I first started composing, I tried to copy – as close as I could – the styles of other composers. This is helpful for only a short time (though I must emphasize, it gives you a critical basic, yet general understanding of the fundamentals music, especially if you start with Mozart or Bach). Secondly, I after finding aspects of my ‘voice’, began to exploit these aspects; taking many roads to see which leads me further. This does not mean I forgave any conscientious influences. I still sort help from the mature composers around me and before me, but this time I drew from abstract aspects of their compositions or style, not their style per se. Thirdly, is less of a third stage and more of an extension (or reduction) of the second. Commit more-so to your individual ‘voice’ that, by now, is likely to have been influences enough to form a cohesive style. Again, external influences will still play a large part in your pieces; you’ll never stop learning, and you should always throw yourself at more opportunities to learn; to be influenced.

As a composer, you are intrinsically unique, your compositions will always be so. No one can finish Bach’s The Art of Fugue, Mozart’s Requiem, or Mahler’s 10th symphony but the original composers. Because of this, the concept of uniqueness needs only a push, not a shove.

A fair few in the music industry believe in a requirement to by unique and strive for new compositions to be unique. This may work in achieving it’s end, but musically I see cracks starting to show. I believe that the concept of uniqueness should be the slave to the music, not music the slave to uniqueness. What I mean by this is that one, as a composer should strive for musical artistry or artisanship, not uniqueness. By striving for uniqueness, the music suffer as less thought is put to it.
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My music can be found here.

About the Blog

I treat this blog as more of a personal home page. It, unlike many, more professional blogs, will not be updated daily (possibly not even weekly). I will report on events, posts musical thought, or analytics whenever they or their ideas come to me. I hope you find some articles interesting, and don’t forget to check out my compositions.

My Work at the Petrucci Music Library

My primary role is to organise and maintain the IMSLP forum. What this means is that I delete any spam, edit any ‘questionable’ posts, edit any infringing material, and in general, keep the forum clean and tidy.

I have been partially involved in the main site in the past, having uploaded a few scores by composers including Mahler, Debussy and Haydn. More recently, however, I have spearheaded (with much help) a major project for IMSLP, namely the OM project.

Contact Me