Posts

Screen Nights – Timeless: The Composer/Arranger Series

Screen Nights #2 – Timeless: The Composer/Arranger Series by Brian CrossScreen Nights is back and this time we’re focusing on the Timeless Series by Brian Cross. Brian, aka B+, is a Limerick native who studied in at the National College of Art and Design and then went to Los Angeles  Read more

Pre-release – In Your Own Time Part #2

In Your Own Time – one year on

This post follows on from a previous post about the inspiration behind In Your Own Time. In this post I talk about taking the prototype that I created for my thesis and recruiting people who could help turn that idea into a reality. Read more

Inspiration – In Your Own Time Part #1

In Your Own Time – one year on

The length of the initial post was starting to get a bit out of hand so I’ve separated it out into two posts. This one contains the backstory of the app: the inspiration behind it and how it came into being as a masters project. The second post is about what happened when the app went out into the world. What worked, what didn’t, the ups and downs of putting something out, and the lessons I learned along the way.

It’s been a little over a  year since I, along with the help of Shane Finan and Mick Cody, released In Your Own Time. The app has now been downloaded over 1000 times in over 20 countries and has been a massive step for me both personally and artistically. I want to share the journey to date with you here. Read more

Hans Abrahamsen workshop at New Music Dublin

David Collier with Hans Abrahamsen and the ConTempo String Quartet

Working with Hans Abrahamsen and the ConTempo String Quartet (via Seán Doherty)

It’s been almost two weeks since New Music Dublin ended and I’m just starting to recover. The festival was a collage of all things new music with concerts, installations and workshops happening over the course of the 4 days. As well as the main festival itself there was a conference on new music hosted by the Music Composition Centre in Trinity College. Needless to say it was a hectic weekend. I didn’t get to go to everything but I was luck enough to be selected as a participant on a string quartet workshop with featured composer Hans Abrahamsen. Read more

Screen Nights at #12 Rutland Place

Screen Nights

Screen Nights is a series of film screening/concerts happening at  12 Rutland Place in January. The idea being to bring ideas from different musical scenes together for low cost nights out. As part of Screen Nights there will be three films shown which showcase different musical scenes: All Ears – a film about the L.A. beat scene, A Joyful Slog – a film about the independent music scene in Ireland, and PressPausePlay – a film about being an artist, whatever the discipline, in the digital age. As well as the film each night will have a related act performing, which will allow the audience to ask questions about what they’ve seen and listened to. Read more

Ones to watch in 2014

In the glorious year of 2013 I was luck enough to meet lots of interesting people. While I don’t want to anyone to feel left out I do want to single out two of the music makers I met who I think are doing interesting things and who I look forward to seeing more from in 2014 i.e. these are my ones to watch in 2014. I’ve picked two young composers/performers who I met throughout 2013 and whose music I really gelled with. Make no bones about it this is a very subjective choice on my part – I really like the music, but I also think that both of these music makers are very productive and proactive. They’re much more competent and accomplished than I was at a similar stage and I’m interested to see where their talents will take them. Check them out below and give their music some of your time. Read more

2013 – a look back on the year that was

2013 – the year that was

The year of Our Lord 2013 is almost over and at least 2013 things have happened to me this year, but rather than list them all here is an abridged summary. Lots of travelling, meeting new people and hearing interesting things in interesting places with interesting people. 

Learning

This year was a pretty hectic  in terms of education. I’m out of my masters a little over 18 months and I’ve been trying to continue to learn as much I can. I’ve been luck enough to get the opportunity to study on a number of courses, both in Ireland and internationally. The first was the Young Composers’ Meeting in Apeldoorn. This was a pretty terrifying experience as I got to write for a 16 piece ensemble with voice. Most of the instruments were ones which I had never written for before, and I wrote the piece as we drift softly (into the fog) for the course. Read more

Leap into the void – embracing my uncertain fate

I’ve just finished reading Stewart Lee’s  How I Escaped My Certain Fate. As anyone who has ever heard me talk about Lee will know I’m a huge fan, often going into lengthy monologues about his use of repetition, structure and recurring themes within his work. I was recently watching a video of a talk he gave at Oxford about the process of writing–or as he now does of not writing–and decided to get his book. Read more

Soundplane – multitouch wooden controller

The Soundplane from Madrona Labs is one of the prettiest electronic controllers I’ve ever seen. It might just be a superficial thing , just looking at the Soundplane it’s beautifully simple and made from one of my favourite materials, wood.

There are a few things missing from electronic instruments which can make them less satisfying than traditional instruments. The first is resonance  Resonance is one of my favourite musical phenomenons  I could get lost in it for days. And, as I have quite a deep voice, sometimes I am even able to excite the resonant frequencies of small rooms. This can make for a strange moment when I veer off mid sentence to sing a note. Read more