Here I am between piano on the left and computer on the right, composing
and orchestrating a movement of my Zennor Symphony. It is a highly concentrated activity requiring me to run orchestral and choral sounds through my head, having played them on my computer via the Sibelius Programme, experimenting with different combinations of instruments, or different “tunes”, and notes, often tried out on the piano, hence my piggy-in-the-middle position.
When you consider that I am having to handle, or even juggle, anything up totwo dozen simultaneous staves of music at any one time, it will strike you that one can lose oneself in this situation for hours at a time. Small wonder, then, that Covid and lockdown have had little effect on this, except perhaps in affording even more peaceful (therefore more helpful) surroundings, and making the idea of burying oneself at home between computer and piano for hours on end, slightly more normal than would otherwise be the case!
Another major activity shackling me to the computer is work on my bookabout female and black classical music composers, which I am desperately trying to complete, so again the Covid situation has had little effect. All this may give the impression that I am a computer nerd: not so! My computer is simply an excellent tool for music composition, a convenient means of creative writing and a receptor for emails. Outside these areas I am happily
far from it, preferring handwriting, playing the piano, drawing, painting and
physical activities – things I consider more “normal”!
Brian
