performance - open mic, Brave New World, Surbiton

The set was:

1. The Beatles - Yesterday
2. Alexa Pol - Never Stopped Loving You
3. Queen - Too Much Love Will Kill You
4. Muse - Ruled By Secrecy
5. Michael Buble - Learning the Blues
6. The Beatles - When I'm Sixty Four

performance - recent open mic gigs

Apologies for the lack of updating once again!

In late April, I did a bit of networking and ended up being invited to play at an open mic night at Fairfield Tavern in Kingston upon Thames. I elected to play a selection of covers and original pieces. The set was received quite well - one guy there asked me on the spot if I could give piano lessons to his 13 year old son. Additionally, I got to perform Fields of Gold and Unintended with Maria, who promotes the night. A week later, she asked me to help co-promote the night - involving setting up equipment, monitoring output levels, etc. and was willing to pay me £40 a week. Naturally I obliged! Just two weeks later though, she had disappointingly changed her mind, citing the reason as she needed someone who had more free time on their hands.

I was at Brave New World in Surbiton last night to see my friend Sumeet play in his band Mary In A Tree at their open mic night. I was also due to play yesterday but the promoter Will 'forgot' about me as there were several acts to get through. No hard feelings though, he invited me back tonight to support Mary In A Tree on bank holiday Monday! :)

performance - open mic, Fairfield Tavern, Kingston

The set was:

1. Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes - Love Lifts Us Up
2. Elton John - Your Song
3. The Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four
4. Sting - Fields of Gold
5. Muse - Unintended

composition - 'Goats and Tigers'

The free version of the game has now been finished and released on iTunes and can be download to your iPad, iPhone or iPod free of charge by following this link:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/g-t/id399598547?mt=8

The premium version will hopefully follow by the end of December, as will an entirely new game, codenamed 'Bridges'.

Modulus - here we go again...

Once again the band suffers upheaval as my latest singer Aimee has decided to quit in light of her heavy workload at the school. We are grateful to her for organising our rehearsal spaces over the last three months or so. I have informed our drummer Yuri that the band is to cease with immediate effect. It's just too much hassle trying to do this when other people can't commit.

orchestration - radio 4 work

It's been a while, hasn't it?! Recently I was quite lucky to be offered some work by Ben's girlfriend Becca, who works as a broadcast assistant at Radio 3. The work was essentially two transcriptions of cabaret songs for a forthcoming Radio 4 production. It was unpaid, but the experience was still extremely valuable. The work had an absolute deadline of this evening, and I'm pleased to report that it was completed by 3am early Friday morning. Hopefully this will have portrayed me in a good light and might therefore place me well to be offered further work.

composition - 'Encaustic'

Unfortunately, Encaustic did not make it through to the shortlist of the Citta di Udine competition. Still, there's always next year.

composition - 'Goats and Tigers' title themes

Currently on my MySpace are three versions of the title theme I've been working on for the forthcoming 'Goats and Tigers' iPhone game. Please do have a listen, all feedback is genuinely welcomed, good or bad. We are aiming for a release date of late August to early September.

composition - 'Goats and Tigers' iPhone version

The iPhone version of 'Goats and Tigers' is due to be released this autumn. As composer of the original video game soundtrack, I have been asked to write more music for this release. It has been decided that the game will have a distinctly retro feel, with the others requesting me to write in an "8-bit C64/Spectrum style". This is an exciting project to be working on as our little design group branches out into hi-tech applications like the iPhone. Whether it is successful or not, I've been asked to compose music for two further video games (also coded by Dan) - which are 'Bridges' and 'Suicide Chess'. All of these three games can be played in a Java format here. Please send any feedback here.

composition - 'Encaustic' currently being considered

Dear composer Jamie Gray,
TEM - Taukay Music Publishing House thanks you for your participation in the VIII International Competition for Composers "Città di Udine" with the composition Encaustic. 
This year we have received 469 works from 50 countries, which is a tribute to the increasing renown of the competition. 

Albania (3), Argentina (7), Australia (5), Austria (3), Belgium (4), Bielorussia (1), Brasil (8), Bulgary (1), Canada (14), Chile (2), China (8), Cipro (1), Colombia (4), Cuba (1), Denmark (1), El Salvador (1), Philippines (1), Finland (4), France (12), Germany (11), Japan (22), Greece (8), Hong Kong (1), Ireland (1), Island (1), Israel (3), Italy (184), Korea (9), Malaysia (1), Malta (2), Mexico (5), Norway (2), Netherlands (10), Perù (1), Poland (2), Portugal (7), Romania (3), Russia (7), Serbia (9), Spain (17), Sverige (7), Switzerland (4), Taiwan (8), Thailand (2), Turkey (2), United Kingdom (27), Hungary (1), Uruguay (1), USA (27), Venezuela (3)

The results of both sections of the competition will be announced at the end of July. We'll send you notification as soon as possible.

In october during "Contemporanea" New Music Festival the following prizes will be awarded in Udine (Italy):

- Best composition in the section “Instrumental compositions for chamber group”: one thousand Euro (1000 Euro).
- Best composition in the section “Electro- acoustic music”: one thousand Euro (1000 Euro).
- Special prize “Piero Pezzé” (founded by his heirs in memory of the Friulano composer who passed away in 1980): seven hundred Euro (700 Euro).
- Special mention with the awarding of the medal offered by the Presidente della Repubblica Italiana for this edition of the event.
- Special mention with the awarding of the medal offered by Senato della Repubblica Italiana for this edition of the event.

TEM - TauKay Music Publishing House will organize a public performance of 6/8 selected compositions from among these submissions. This program will be audio and video recorded. 

Due to the large participation in the competition, two CDs instead of one will be produced, the first one dedicated to "Instrumental compositions for chamber group" and the second one dedicated to "Electro-acoustic music". The CDs will be included in TEM - Taukay Music Publishing House catalogue.

The two winning compositions for each section will be broadcast by RAI Radio as part of the national programming of the RAI Radiotre Suite dedicated to contemporary music. 
Submitted works which include an audio recording of the composition may be included in the programming of Taukay Web Radio. The choice of compositions to be broadcast will be decided in accordance with the editorial direction of the broadcaster (http://radio.taukay.it/).

TEM - Taukay Edizioni Musicali, following the indications of the Jury and in agreement with the composer, offers to include and make available the most interesting compositions as part of their electronic catalogue of New Music.

If you need to receive more information please contact us.

Cristina Scuderi
Coordinamento organizzativo
Concorso Internazionale di Composizione
"Città di Udine"

composition - 'Encaustic' submitted for the Città di Udine competition

Without wanting to get my hopes up for the latest composition competition I've entered (seems like over a thousand composers will take part!) ... I received the following email about an hour ago:


-----------------------------------------------------
Dear Jamie Gray,

Thank you for your participation in Città di Udine International Composer Competition.

Yes, we received your composition and the entry fee payment made using credit card.

As soon as possible you'll receive other info about the competition.

Best regards.

Vittorio Vella

Modulus - personnel changes

Sincere apologies for the general lack of updates & information on my site over the last couple of months. 

As a result of some important changes in her circumstances just before Christmas 2009, it is with great reluctance that I can confirm Dee has left our band. This was not due to the usual reasons you hear or read about, like "creative differences" or "technical reasons", but purely because her employer had been forced to close by the Fraud Office, and she had no option but to find other work. Consequently, she could not commit any time to the band. All of us at Modulus are pleased that she has left on good terms with all of us. We respect her decision and wish her the very best for the future.

Additionally, Emma has been very busy with her MMus at Trinity. She has been performing with a range of top-quality ensembles and orchestras, and for the BBC. Such a hectic schedule has, like Dee, clearly left her with very little in the way of free time. Again, we understand her reasons for leaving us behind, particularly when you have more glamorous things to do with your time (wouldn't we all?) - and wish her the very best.

As Christmas ended and the New Year started, it was therefore up to myself as Band Leader/Director to take charge of the situation and recruit new musicians, a situation made slightly more complicated as, of course, I am no longer a student at Kingston Uni. I was therefore reliant upon the administrative staff circulating some advertising emails on my behalf, and a select few flyers taped up in the common room area.

At Dee's Christmas party, I had the fortune to meet Steve, one of her housemates. He mentioned that he sang, liked Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Jamie Cullum, and was looking to be in a band - the rest, as they say, is history! Just under two weeks later, I got a phone call from Anna, a Bulgarian girl, who had seen my advert at the uni. Some initial meetings were arranged and a preliminary rehearsal agreed. As the band's repertoire could be comfortably performed by both myself and Ian on bass, it was Anna's decision on what we would rehearse.

After much hectic timetabling and inquiring about people's availability, a general band rehearsal was finally scheduled for yesterday, Saturday 20th, at 14:00. Even then, we only booked the room thanks to Dee, as the rest of the band are no longer students at the uni! The rehearsal got off to a shaky start when Anna arrived nearly an hour late. We did manage to complete the programme we intended and scheduled some more songs to work on for next time. 

After carefully evaluating from others in the band concerning Anna's voice and its characteristics, I was obliged to write her an email informing her that I did not want her to continue to sing for us. Her voice had a very nasal, raucous tone to it that might have served her well in a rock music setting (and she had frequently boasted of her vast experience in this particular genre) but considering that I want the band to expand into R&B, soul, swing, and jazz, to give us a more rounded repertoire, I felt it was the only practical outcome, especially as her voice would not be suited to the subtleties and shades of most or all of these genres. I was disappointed both personally (late punctuality) and professionally with her.

With an eventful few weeks behind us, hopefully now we can continue with our present line-up of Ian, Jamie, and Steve. We are still on the lookout for a drummer, but the basic foundations of the band are accounted for. Watch this space!

composition - 'Catharsis I' for the Presteigne Festival: techniques

I am finding that working on my piece for the Presteigne Festival is taking a heck of a lot more time than I had originally allocated to it, which is worrying as the deadline is approximately two weeks away. My piece is provisionally entitled 'Catharsis I' and is loosely based on an old clarinet piece, 'Propagation III', which I had written whilst studying at Leeds.

Ghost-Composed Parts

I thought that this would be a great opportunity to fuse fully written parts with live semi-improvisation. Therefore, no two recordings of this piece will be identical. As you can see from the table at the end of the post, only the clarinet in the 1st section is semi-improvised. I term this semi-improvisation 'ghost writing', for the reason that only the boundaries (called 'pitch zone' in the score, displayed as a higher and lower note only) and limitations are shown. (called 'exclusion notes' in the score, displayed as all disallowed notes in this pitch zone) This is a chance to give some control back to the performers. In addition, the alternative pathways can be used to generate an even more improvisatory feel. Whether reading off a pitch zone or exclusion note stave, metre and rhythm are always displayed.

Alternative Pathways

1. If an ossia is included above the 'pitch zone' stave, this will be an alternative pitch zone scored in exactly the same way.

2. If an ossia is included below the 'exclusion notes' stave, this will be an alternative exclusion notes stave scored in exactly the same way.

3. If there are two ossias notated at any point in the piece, then the performer may choose from any two of these four staves, provided that one is a pitch zone stave and the other is an exclusion notes stave.

Random Generation

The first section of 'Catharsis I' contains 11/4 bars. So, for instance, if the indicated pitch zone is a range of 15 pitches, and 3 of these are disallowed, the performer may choose from any one of the 12 remaining available pitches. If this is repeated across 11 quarter notes in a bar, then there are 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 possible pitches in one bar alone. (roughly 743 billion!)

Structure

The general structure of 'Catharsis I' falls into three sections. Each of these are defined by the types of scoring I have used as shown below:

Instrument:               1st Section:                    2nd Section:                        3rd Section:


Clarinet                    Semi-improvised              Scored                    Semi-improvised



Piano                            Scored                               Semi-improvised                Scored



Cello                             Scored                               Semi-improvised                Scored

Modulus - final rehearsal & recording

Due to Emma's hectic schedule at Trinity, we have decided to shift our final rehearsal date to Tuesday 17th November. We will only be rehearsing for an hour or so, as there a few things to go through. After this, we will head straight for Coombehurst Studio and begin recording. Luckily, I don't start work until 13:45 then, which increases the amount of time I have available. We haven't been able to get in contact with Paul - the consensus being that he has gone home to Birmingham. However, Ian is getting in touch with a guitarist called Sam, who is also based at Kingston Uni.

composition - competitions

Preliminary work is being prepared on three exciting new composition competitions I have entered. I happened to notice the adverts for all of them whilst I was taking a break during band practice on Tuesday morning.

Competition 1: For the Kingston Chamber Orchestra. A piece of duration 10-12 minutes, for strings, 2 flutes, (including doubling piccolo) 2 oboe, (including doubling cor anglais) 2 clarinet, 2 bassoon, 2 horn, 2 trumpet, timpani, and percussion. Marimba or vibraphone is not allowed. The deadline is 26 April 2010.

Competition 2: For the Presteigne Festival. A chamber music composition of duration 5-7 minutes, for clarinet, cello and piano. The deadline is 8 January 2010.

Competition 3: For Jazzorg. A jazz arrangement for either big band (16 players) or small band. (7-9 players) The deadline is 4 December 2009.

Modulus - rehearsal & recording

After the constructive rehearsal that took place today, Modulus will reconvene this time next week for a final rehearsal with our new recruit Paul, who will be playing guitar for us, and Emma, who unfortunately could not be with us today due to other academic commitments. A couple of days later, we will be camping out in Coombehurst Studio and enlisting the help of another student who just happens to be a music technology and studio wizard - if you're reading this, cheers Jan! 

Our schedule for next week is:

Tuesday 10th, 09:00 - 3 hour rehearsal, Kingston Uni

Thursday 12th, 18:00 - demo recording session, Kingston Uni

'Goats and Tigers' - Android version

Also within the realm of possibility is an Android version of Goats and Tigers. Android is an up-and-coming competitor to the iPhone's Apple Store. If we were to release a version for either platform, it would cater to a potentially huge market base. Even better, since Android is a platform that runs solely on Java, there would be little or no change in programming required.

Dan has been in touch to say that the Java version of Goats and Tigers already looks better than most of the Android games out there. My immediate reaction to his comments is that we should aim to launch an Android version of Goats and Tigers as soon as possible. If we have an edge over other products we are competing against, it makes no sense to delay on a release. Following a release on the Android platform, we can then use any feedback to hone an iPhone version, especially as the iPhone version will be available to more customers. (but for how much longer?)

Modulus - rehearsals

Today at 11am, Modulus met in the School of Music common room at Kingston University to clarify the way forward for the band. It seemed, to me at least, bizarre that we have been formed for well over a year without any demos being recorded. I strongly advised the other band members that we ought to rectify this immediately; the outcome being that we will have a 3 hour band rehearsal on Tuesday 3rd November at 9am. Fortunately, our drummer Emma has every Tuesday and Thursday available until Christmas, so it was felt to be essential that we make the best use of our time with her, as she is insanely busy settling into her MMus studies at Trinity.

After this rehearsal, we can decide if we need another rehearsal before heading into Coombehurst Studio to record our first demo tracks. Another aspect of getting a demo CD recorded is that we will need something to show prospective venues and promoters to land future gigs, which is especially important around the Christmas and New Year period when bands are often best paid. We have slimmed our existing set list down to around ten songs for the purposes of recording. These songs were chosen mutually by the band, on the basis that they provoked the best audience reaction at Jenni's wedding.

We certainly hope that it will take a single rehearsal to 'get back in the groove', and can then begin the process of recording a week later, on Tuesday 10th.

collaboration - Zoe Coles

In the near future, I will be doing some sound design & music work to help out Zoë, a graphic communications student at Bath Spa University who I also used to work with at Sutton Virgin Megastore. Like virtually all projects of this nature, it is mutually beneficial: Zoë will have a quality soundtrack to go with her work, and I, in pushing my creative boundaries even further, will have another composition credit placed on my CV. I look forward to getting started!

Her website is here.

specification - 'Goats and Tigers'

Discussions are currently being held as to the feasibility of porting Goats and Tigers to the iPhone. It would be available as a downloadable application from the Apple Store. The actual concept depends on a few variables, notably if Dan can get an SDK kit to work with a Mac (we don't even know if he has one!) and some extensive rewriting of the game in all areas.

We have come to realise that, as a student project, the original version of the game served its purpose well. However, if we are to take on the fierce competition of mobile phone games, we need to acknowledge that the overall quality of these games is usually exceptionally high.

For this reason, we will need to go back to square one in terms of graphic design, programming, and music. Most mobile phone gamers these days, for instance, are accustomed to being able to stream their own music and playlists from an iPod or other portable device, so there needs to be a wider range of accessibility options available. The technical requirements of the iPhone will need to be taken into consideration as well, since the display size will be uniform and not necessarily the same as a PC version.

With the kit, Apple also reviews the game code to make sure that the fundamentals are in place, and even suggests modifications from its own programmers. This is excellent technical support for software that costs £60. Ben has been telling me about an iPhone application in which a guy has taken several photos of each tube stop in London where the trains stop, presumably so people know how far down the train they can go before the doors won't open. I wasn't aware that people would be so eager to waste their money on a seemingly limited-use application, but what do I know? Apparently this guy has made £10,000 already!

Clearly, there is still a lot of hard work ahead, but the potential rewards are vast. According to the Apple Store, each iPhone application costs 59p to download, and approximately 67% of the price is paid to the game creators. So, for sake of argument, each sold copy of the game makes the creators 40p. We would therefore need to sell 900 copies of the game to raise £360, which is the forecast outlay for this project. (£60 for the SDK kit, and £300 for a Mac Minibook)