Here is a document I have created that lists the notes on each string. It is intended to help young composers writing for violin to work out which chords etc. are possible. It is a violin fingering guide.
Click on the image to download the PDF.
There is a good article on harmonics with a useful table at:
http://www.musicalobservations.com/publications/harmonics.html
The programme for the 2008 Aurora Festival has been launched, and can be viewed at:
http://www.aurorafestival.com.au
We have assembled a most diverse collection of concerts, forums and workshops for this festival, the majority of which will take place in venues across Western Sydney (with an ‘outreach’ concert in the centre of Sydney itself). The performers and music are absolutely top-notch. There are 19 world premieres and 5 Australian premieres, including the Steve Reich’s Daniel Variations (see an excerpt and interview on Youtube) and Chinary Ung’s Aura.
Our two featured composers are Chinary Ung, who is coming from the US and will be residence at the University of Western Sydney, and Michael Atherton, who is such a multi-talented musician and whose compositions span an enormous range of genres and styles.
If you are not living or will be around in Sydney, you can listen to most of the concerts on ABC Classic FM, who are co-presenting the 2008 Aurora Festival.
It was wonderful for my Percussion Concerto, written for Evelyn Glennie and The Queensland Orchestra, to be a finalist in the 2007 Classical Music Awards.
Photo J.Wilson(c)/EG Images
It was a finalist in the Orchestral Work of the Year category. Thanks to Evelyn and The Queensland Orchestra for a wonderful experience and the opportunity for me to write this work.
The music festival of which I am the artistic director, the Aurora Festival, last night won the award for Most Outstanding Contribution by an Organisation in the 2007 Classical Music Awards. These annual awards are presented by APRA and the Australian Music Centre at a ceremony at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney.
It was very gratifying to receive this recognition for the important work that the Aurora Festival achieved in 2006. We presented 13 concerts as well as lectures, workshops, a conference and even the publication of a book. The festival is based largely in Western Sydney, an area of 2 million people that is blessed by fabulous modern venues and supportive people. Our co-presenter, ABC Classic FM, broadcast many of the concerts to an estimated audience of over 200,000 people.
Most pleasing is that through the 2006 Aurora Festival we were able to contribute to the cultural life of Western Sydney and Australia as a whole.
Recently I attended some performances at the Camden Haven Music Festival, a festival of various types of music held in the Camden Haven region of Australia (about 30 minutes south of Port Macquarie, or about 3 1/2 hours north of Sydney).
What made this event particularly special (for me at least!) was the fact that this festival featured the music of four Australian composers: Sarah Hopkins, Ross Edwards, Michael Atherton and myself.
The above photograph is from a forum held in the Kendall School of Arts Hall, a wonderful venue dating back many years. The forum was moderated by Damian Beaumont of ABC Classic FM. Following this forum, over the course of two days, were concerts dedicated to each of our music. On the one hand, the music of the four composers is very different: however in perhaps the most important ways they were similar. For example, Ross Edwards’ and Sarah Hopkins’ music contain aspects of spirituality, but from extremely different perspectives. The musical inspirations behind Michael Atherton and Sarah Hopkins seems to encompass more of an improvisatory approach as opposed to the strict notation of Ross Edwards’ and my own music. Damian Beaumont remarked that the difference between my music and Sarah Hopkins’ music is stark, and to some extent that is true, at least on the surface. But despite such diversity, each of the four composers was motivated by the strongest desire to have their music evoke positive ‘energy’ – the material or method of transmission was not as important as the background impulse. When it came down to the nitty-gritty, what we had in common was much more important than any diversity.
The works performed in my composer focus concert were:
Song of Life and Piano Trio were world premieres.
I hope that the superb work by the Artistic Director, Trish O’Brien, and the rest of the organizing committee of the Camden Haven Festival is given the recognition that it deserves from the highest quarters. It should be seen as a model for presentation of Australian music throughout the country in both metropolitan and regional centres.