My current obsession is with film scores.
Have been reading up on a number of books on the subject lately, as well as perusing the works of John Williams, Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt.
I think film scoring is such a fascinating genre of music and there is such a wealth of material to explore.
Almost [...]
Archive for the 'Composition' Category
“Hooked” On Film Scores
Sunday, 16 November, 2008
“Hear” The Music
Thursday, 16 October, 2008
Photo (“Music Man”) by chelseajg
How does an artist paint a picture?
Well, first I believe he decides what subject he wants to paint.
Then he’ll start to conceive the entire painting in his mind, and think about aspects such as perspective, composition, colour and perhaps brush techniques.
In other words, the artist has the entire picture all planned [...]
Film Scoring
Tuesday, 7 October, 2008
You know how in life sometimes the discovery of one thing tends to lead to another and stuff.
Anyway about a month ago I learnt from a friend that the NUS Wind Symphony (which he plays in) will be putting up their annual concert “Da Capo” at the Victoria Concert Hall on 17th Oct (plug plug!), [...]
Choral Piece Completed…Finally
Friday, 3 October, 2008
I’ve been spending the last one month plus working on a piece of music.
It’s a choral piece, for choir and piano.
And because I was so engrossed in this particular piece, I didn’t want to start writing any other songs. I always like to concentrate on one song at a time and complete it before moving [...]
Two Amazing Johns
Tuesday, 30 September, 2008
A few weeks back, I ordered a John Williams CD from Amazon (“John Williams Greatest Hits 1969-1999″), because I wanted to explore the works of the famed composer of film scores.
I mean, I’ve heard some of his works before, but I’ve never really studied them.
So it was an absolute joy to listen to and savour [...]
To Move The Listener
Tuesday, 29 July, 2008
I was recently reading a book about the great composers (“The Great Composers” by Jeremy Nicholas) and came across this particular paragraph written of the great opera composer Giacomo Puccini:
“As a manipulator of audience emotions, Puccini was second to none. He has been much criticized for this, but moving the audience is a large part [...]
Songwriting Litmus Tests
Saturday, 3 May, 2008
I would by no means consider myself a great songwriter, but nonetheless, I love to analyse the craft of songwriting while listening to songwriters sing new original songs.
And I’ve developed a few litmus tests recently on a very common songwriting question.
…
How do I know a good song when I hear one?
Simple.
In my opinion, a good [...]
My Humble Discography
Thursday, 24 April, 2008
Y’know, I only seriously starting writing songs after starting the Songcraft Songwriting Circle, so if not for that, I probably would not have written any songs in the last one year.
No kidding.
So in many ways I’m really thankful for the Songcraft Songwriting Circle.
Carrie mentioned that Songcraft not only encourages you to start writing songs, it really [...]
Songcraft’s 1st Anniversary - Perfect!
Monday, 21 April, 2008
Somewhere in an idyllic and beautiful little spot in Singapore last Friday night, a group of songwriting friends gathered for one of the most magical nights of music-sharing ever.
It was certainly one of the most magical nights I’d ever experienced.
(Photos can’t do justice to the atmosphere we had that night. You simply had to be [...]
Chord Freak
Monday, 14 April, 2008
I am a chord freak.
I obsess about chords and harmonisation in songs.
Fellow friends in the Songcraft circle might be aware that whenever I hear an interesting chord being used in a song, I will always ask what chord was being used, and then I will start to analyse why it worked like it did, why [...]
