Welcome to my website...
I've always been fascinated by the creative process. How do people go about structuring the composition of a book, or sketching a picture? How about organising sounds into coherent shapes to make music? I'd say that's the highest form of creativity, and it's fascinated me since I learned to read music as a youngster.
My first attempts at composition came through changing other people's pieces as I played them. As a young guitarist I would play solos in local concerts, and on occasion, would be unsatisfied by what I was playing, so I would adapt the music to what I felt was more interesting.
Throughout my career as a military musician, I've grasped every opportunity to write, and generally, my bosses have made sure that my music was played; sometimes only in the practice room, but when it was successful, in public too, often in very high profile situations.
Many musicians who write, do not get the chance to hear their music. A writer learns so much from hearing the first playing (as sight reading). Sometimes a piece works straight away: your instincts were good, the piece is right. Sometimes you need comments from the players about how to make the part-writing more effective, more successful, and sometimes the players need your own explanation or direction.
For me, the most difficult part of creating a new piece is developing a concept. Without a strong concept, the piece will lack direction, and most likely won't even get beyond a few phrases. That's not to say my pieces need to be programmatic, a concept could be theoretical as much as it could be abstract.
My concept for Dance Suite was to create music from limited pitch sets. I divided the twelve notes of the chromatic scale into three sets of four pitches, and started the piece using only four pitches. I then developed the chromatic language by introducing four more pitches, and then introduced the final four pitches so the scope of the language blossomed.
Through limiting my use of pitches, I had to be much more creative with my use of rhythm. That process was an excellent lesson in the balance of pitch and rhythm when creating new motivic material. I often divide pitch from rhythm in order to develop one or the other. This technique is very useful when writing particularly rhythmic pieces such as marches and extended fanfares.
Although my music sometimes borders on the atonal, I still enjoy the push and pull of tonality. Even in the most chromatic of music languages, dissonance can still be an effective tool.
I enjoy working in a variety of textures, and my interest in counterpoint comes from playing piano. Pianists have a great advantage when it comes to writing: you can see the structure of chords and their resolutions laid out in front of you, three dimensionally. It seems very obvious when you play music written by a non-pianist.
I am very interested in forging new contacts with bands, ensembles or individual musicians. I always enjoy commissions, collaborations, discussions, or any other potential projects.
Please see my contacts page at:
https://www.ianleemitchell.com/Contact-Ian.php
Also, to access my composition page, please follow this link:
https://www.ianleemitchell.com/composer.php, or click on the tab above.