Blog posts

Procrastination, perfectionism or sheer terror

Why finishing a piece is sometimes the hardest part

Cy Twombly: Defeating linear thinking

In the final stage of my Cy Twombly project, I use purpose-made collages as tools for composition.

Cy Twombly: Lines and angles as musical ciphers

As part of my research for my Cy Twombly project, A Sketchbook of Mushrooms, I did quite a bit of thinking about how the specific elements of the artworks I was working with could directly translate into musical material. We had a session with composer John Woolrich for our All Composers workshop class which focused [...]

Cy Twombly: Making a mess

On the benefits of mess-making as a compositional process, a work-in-progress post on A Sketchbook of Mushrooms

Work in progress: Cy Twombly & the amplification of white space

In the second of my Cy Twombly project sketches, I consider musical white space as a low-contrast element and how Twombly’s smudges and smears can be seen as amplifying white space.

Still River Air in Runswick Prize final

My ensemble piece based on the photographs of Ansel Adams, Still River Air, will be premiered this week at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich in the Runswick Prize final.

Cy Twombly: Smudges and smears

I consider possible musical equivalents for smudges and smears in Cy Twombly’s Natural History: Part I: Mushrooms

The joy of planning

I start planning my upcoming compositions and consider what instruments to use for my Cy Twombly project.

Experimental music premiere on Friday

My new piece for 4 improvising pianists and tape in Trinity Laban’s Rude Health concert series

Work in progress: On being experimental

A new piece for tape and 4 improvising pianists: what’s the role of the piano? the tape? and how to allow improvisers scope to do their thing?