A new composition by composer and saxophonist Rob Hall, featuring photographic art by Susheila Jamieson and performed by junior instrumentalists at St Mary’s Music School went live on Youtube today.
The work, entitled Music For About 14 Musicians, began as an exercise in style for a large ensemble class and built on Steve Reich’s classical minimalist work Music for 18 Musicians. It features multiple violins, pianos, and assorted winds.
Rob Hall, who teaches clarinet and saxophone at St Mary’s Music School and also leads the junior ensemble said “Work on the project began just before Easter but since the school was closed for the summer term, we moved online and put together a condensed version for video during lock-down in June 2020. Performers contributed their individual parts to the collective whole which was no easy task given the stringent distancing restrictions in place which prevented the group from meeting and rehearsing together. We were delighted when visual artist Susheila Jamieson agreed to be involved. I collaborated with her on a performance project in Edinburgh Jazz Festival some years ago and I felt her perceptive work would provide a supportive visual backdrop with the right aesthetic to compliment the music. “
Jamieson is a professional sculptor and arts educator based in the Scottish borders, she said "I am primarily a sculptor carving stone and would say that I am not musical as I do not play an instrument, but I do like having my eyes and ears opened to new things and linking images with sound does that. Most of the artwork that I do involves removing and shaping and it is intriguing to actually build experiences by combining sound and images. My own work takes most of its inspiration from nature and the wider environment and result in artworks that are both sensuous and powerful. Like nature itself. The images used in the piece are a blend of those that reflect the rhythm of our changing seasons and ideas of contained energy, awakening, slow and steady growth, strength, dying back and stored energy, and others taken around the coastal area at Prestongrange. These reflect both the constancy of the sea, tidal movements as well as the past industrial character of the area now long gone. They are about how everything returns to nature. Nature prevails. "
Music For About 14 Musicians features St Mary's Music School Junior Ensemble Violins - Hester, Klara, Olivia, Lara Pianos - Michelle, Connor, Connie, Katie Brass/Winds - Oscar, Benjamin, Viktor.
You can read more about Suheila Jamieson's work at www.rachan.co.uk
To see the video on Youtube click here
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