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NAC in Scotland
Project leaders were composers Alasdair Nicolson and David Knotts,
with performers from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
The project took place in Scotland's Secret Bunker, Fife, over a period
of one week in November 2000.
On day one, the participating young composers attended a "nuts and
bolts" composition workshop with Alasdair Nicolson. They were invited
to write new short works for three players from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra,
using "secrets" as a starting point.
All participants were given a Composition Kit, including:
Notes on Composing by Alasdair Nicolson
Musical Secrets by Alasdair Nicolson
Notes on the Instruments by the performers from the SCO
Preparation of scores and parts – guidelines from spnm
Over the next few days the composers worked on their pieces, with ongoing
support from Alasdair, the players, and spnm Education Consultant
David Knotts.
At the end of the week the works were performed and recorded by the players
from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. All participants received a CD recording
of their work.
Later that month selected works were performed at a public concert as
part of the St Andrews Festival.
Extract from the Composition Kit:
"MUSICAL SECRETS - There are many ways of making one musical
thing become another and disguise its existence… Remember that you
can hide melodies by turning them upside down or back to front, by displacing
some of the notes so that they are in a different octave, or by sharing
the notes of a theme across several instruments so that the sound is different…
With rhythms you can increase the value of each note to make the whole
thing slower, or decrease the value of each note to make the whole thing
shorter. You can also change the time signature of the music."
Alasdair Nicolson
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