Through the Eyes of ...

Today I have to go to market to buy the items that I will need to get by on for the next week or so. This is a distraction as my time as my master's musician is precious to me. I have the glory of the Lord burning in my soul and the burning seeks expression through music, so I must return to it as quickly as I am able. I approach the town on foot. The year is 1440 and it is a hot summer's day. The first thing that assails me is the stink as I pass across a bridge - over Shitbrook - as I near the great wooden entrance gates. There I espy the severed heads and limbs of traitors on display. Then I am further pressed by the beggar boys who come out of the town to meet visitors, such as myself who travel long distances to buy at the market.

From Both Sides of the Fence

Despite all the largely media driven doom and gloom (when hasn't it seemed as if the world is falling apart?), I've enjoyed the musical run up to this Christmas more so than in recent years. As a shopkeeper I see Christmas from both sides of the commercial fence and believe me, it is not a pretty site from behind a counter. The season brings out the best and the worst in people, who, by and large, simply want to survive the pre-rush and then, with a bit of luck, enjoy Christmas itself.  Needless to say the peace, calm and tranquility that lies at the heart of the Christmas message becomes buried - but sometimes glimpsed. For me, it's music that keeps me in touch with that still centre.

Timeless Music

Our orchestra sponsors an annual event in October for string players called "Play-for-a-Day" and in 2011 it was particularly successful. The theme was Baroque music and such a simple way of unifying the day had considerable appeal. There is something about this music genre that resonates clearly with our own times. Naturally, the beautiful music room at Pauntley Court, a sunny day and a great group of musical personalities all added their contribution but I also thought it would be worth a few words exploring where this particular music came from and why it is so relevant to our techno. age and discover where the resonance comes from.

When anything is put in a context it can become meaningful. In fact, unless "anything" has a context, connection, a place in the world, it is meaningless and irrelevant. During that day, I introduced one or two facts about the times in which the music was created to see if this affected our appreciation and enjoyment of it. For example, what has relatively recently become known as the Baroque period in music covers roughly 1600 to 1750. During the seventeenth century, there were two main influences at work, one in northern Germany and Holland, the other at the other end of Europe in Italy, more specifically in Rome. Prior to this period, musical harmony and counterpoint developed primarily in devotional church music. Then, in Northern Europe, this developed much further, especially in the art of fugue. In the Italian enclave, there was much more concern for the form of the music and this also developed - the concerto grosso, sonata form, etc.

The Final Score

A couple of years or so ago I had an idea for a piece of music and began to write a few ideas down. Somehow, the whole thing spiralled and before I knew it I had the makings of not only a new composition but a book to go with it. A few random notes turned into quite a major project. That was a while ago now and it has recently come to fruition. The book, called The Final Score, is available and the music will be published in a couple of weeks time or so.

The music is called and is inspired by Alchemy, the idea being that a wide variety of my experiences as a musician would go into an alchemical melting pot and out of it would come the new piece of music, the gold that I was aiming for. That process took me on a journey not only into my own musical past but also into the history of and the roots of music making. I was trying to discover, explore and understand the powerful effects of music and to achieve this, I went on my journey.