BY LEWIS INGHAM
At times, existing in a post-university environment feels like floating in a great expansive ocean where my feet can’t touch the bottom and my eyes can’t see the outline of land upon the horizon. Since graduating from my composition degree last year, I’ve grown to understand that the conscious effort to swim in any direction is worthwhile. And for me, the effort to swim is the effort to create opportunities for myself. To no longer wait around for opportunities to find me; a mindset I unfortunately had during my degree.
The years we spend as tertiary-level music students don’t just provide us with skills to help us thrive professionally, they allow us to develop our interests and passions in a range of areas. These interests and passions following us from the university campus into the waves of the post-university ocean are the best foundations upon which we can explore new creative ventures.
My misguided thoughts as a student led me to expect that opportunities would arise from existing in an environment that is actively developing young talent. Whilst the odd opportunity came my way at university, I felt more and more unfulfilled and unsatisfied as I grew and developed as a composer. As I now pull myself through this body of water, the opportunities I have created for myself, founded upon my interests, are the ones that have left me both creatively and professionally happier.
Whilst slowly creating visuals for my upcoming concert, A Storm, A City, which will take place at LongPlay in North Fitzroy on May 26, I paused and thought, ‘I love that I’m creating what I want and bringing these ideas out of the shadow of my mind’. Designing and crafting an animated film is certainly not my area of expertise, but the process of applying my creativity to more than just music has been a massive element of this project. The project itself had arisen out of a realisation that there was only one person who could truly convert my ideas from passing thoughts into a concert experience. Me.
A Storm, A City is the first concert I have ever organised and the first major work I have composed since completing my university studies. As an event, it embodies my interests in the presentation of new art music. During my studies, I had become intrigued by the presentation of new music through immersive and unique performance environments where the venue, visuals, and concert themes dramatically influenced the concert experience. What opportunity was going to be made for me to realise these ideas if I didn’t create one for myself?
The opportunity to bring this concert to life came after meeting cellist Nikki Edgar at the Tilde New Music Festival in January this year. During the festival, I had witnessed Nikki’s command over delicate cello textures and her skill as an improviser. We spoke briefly about doing a piece together, and a composition exploring improvisation and electroacoustic performance soon began to formulate in my mind. We have been working on A Storm, A City since February, and our regular meet-ups have turned my composition sketches into a piece that allows both of our creative voices to be heard.
A response to my experience of walking through Melbourne as a storm brewed and broke over the urban environment, A Storm, A City blends notated composition, improvisation, and electroacoustic performance. The composition builds slowly from spoken word and free cello improvisation into three scenes representing the different stages of the storm impacting the city: the muffled echoes of the distant storm resonating through the city streets, the suffocating rain reflecting and pooling below the skyline, and the regular frenetic pace of the city slowly resuming as the storm subsides. These three scenes see the cello and an electronics track, which is completely derived from recorded violin samples, slowly evolve through melodic fragments and intricate textures into a theatrical cello solo which requires the cellist to perform with two bows.
By pairing these evocative themes of ‘storm’ and ‘city’ with the intimate cinema space at LongPlay and the visuals I designed to represent the themes, I have created the immersive performance environment that I’ve wanted to produce since before I finished my composition degree.
Extending my creativity into tasks outside of my comfort zone has been one of the most rewarding parts of producing this concert. I have taken it upon myself to take charge of everything from venue booking to promoting and ticketing – all of which have enabled me to appreciate the complexities of concert organising and promoting, which we don’t often notice as spectators. As the concert looms, knowing that I have more to offer in a concert than just my compositional craft is incredibly gratifying. I don’t think I could have truly realised this until I decided to dive deep into something new and unknown.
I’m certainly not the first music graduate to realise the rewards of creating opportunities for yourself, particularly by realising creative ideas based on your interests and passions. However, discerning that there’s no room for complacency in this post-university ocean has been the most professionally and creatively rewarding realisation of my career so far. I know I’ve still got a long way to swim, but at least I have learnt that every stroke is worthwhile.
A Storm, A City will premiere at LongPlay’s cinema space in North Fitzroy on May 26. There will be two performances of the work, 8.30pm and 10pm. Tickets are available online for $5.
Image supplied.
