Page 9 - Newsletter_Jan_2024

Improving my composition skills

Composition is not only a creative art but one of technique
and principles that have their origins at the very start of
polyphony and still stand today. It is important then, as a
composer, to understand the ‘rules’ of harmony and
counterpoint and so I continue to have lessons regularly
under the expert tuition of Malcolm Singer.

Malcolm also runs the annual Sherborne Summer School
composition class which I have attended now for a number of
years. Here, further understanding comes from writing pieces
for this class and having them constructively analysed by
Malcolm and the other students. The concert at the end of
the course allows the students to perform as well as
compose. Below, you see the composers taking their final
bows at the end of the concert. You can listen to the whole
concert by clicking on the image. My piece is an instrumental
one for trumpet and clarinet called ‘Mother and Child’ and
can be found at 18’23”.