Creation

The collaborative process in terms of the recording session was smooth and effective. Picking players and Tonmeisters that I knew well from my friendship group over the five years meant that I knew the process was going to be relaxing, enjoyable and humorous - even if we would hit a few curve-balls along the way.

Anwen was the only musician in the project that I hadn't worked with and given the style of the pieces, it was good to hear from her that I was in her good books for composing works that were effective and not impossible to play. The organisation of the two days of recording was done professionally and everyone felt comfortable around each other. It even lead to moments in the recording session when Anwen felt comfortable enough to make further suggestions to my works (for example the erasured ending of Flow), making the collaborative process much more enjoyable. I also continued to expand my horizons with learning more about the process of mixing in a large studio and understanding the process of selecting 'takes' and giving feedback to professional players in a recording studio. Oh and Andrew Finch was an excellent assistant with the drinks. 

Moving on from the recording, I switched my attention to the videographics. If I had to be critical about the collaborative process between the artist and myself - I felt that I gave an open brief to him at the beginning and whilst that can be quite exciting for a creative to have - it can have two consequences. The first being that without a specific brief, the outcome can be somewhat unpredictable and secondly for the creative, where to start can be equally as challenging. [4,5]

Luckily, given that we were both at the start of our creative careers - we had understanding of the almost 'too-open' situation and we worked well to build the video together. Initially I suggested having 4 separate videos but when the artist came back with the designs, I noticed a cohesiveness of design with the circles on each. I opted then to combine all the videos together into one EP with the colour scheme to match each character of the work. In a way, the open collaborative beginnings did lead to a stronger cohesion between the four pieces both musically and artistically - a success!

Some feedback from the Scottish poet who inspired Highland Holiday - after surprising him with a piece dedicated to him.

Good to hear from you . . . have listened to your composition a few times, it sure has a freshness and beauty. Its form certainly relates to my poem, with its quieter, more sombre intro and run out. The main melody invokes Scottish traditional folk melody whilst still being original, and the use of a harp completes the pastoral Celtic feel.