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Night Music - The Open College of the Arts

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Night Music

This post features music composed by Edinburgh based music student Jamie Dunnett.  He writes as follows.
“Night Music was written specifically for OCA tutor and professional flautist Carla Rees to play at the composition workshop in November 2011. The brief was to write a piece, up to 3 minutes long, for unaccompanied flute.

“The workshop provided a wonderful opportunity to compose a piece of music with the knowledge that all the effort put into the process of composing would be rewarded by hearing a performance of the finished piece. Carla is an extremely good musician, and I was delighted with her performance. It was also really good to meet so many fellow music students, and to hear their compositions.
“The brief for the compositions was sent to us in mid August, at which point I started casting about for ideas that could be suitable to create a piece for solo flute. After several false starts (and about 6 weeks), I came up with the two musical ideas that comprise the first 2 minutes or so of the piece. The first idea (marked ‘Surprising, mysterious’ in the score), has, I feel, the character of an introduction. This is followed by the main tune (marked ‘Relax’).  The introduction is then repeated in a modified form, and the main tune begins again, in a different key from the first statement.

Excerpt from Jamie Dunnett’s Night Music score.

“I was keen to compose a piece that would run for close to the full 3 minutes allowed in the brief, and I made a few unsuccessful attempts at extending it, using just the above two musical ideas. One of the ‘false starts’ that I mentioned in the previous paragraph had been an attempt to construct a piece around a passage in 5/4 time, which I had actually jotted down in 2008. Ever since then, I had been looking out for a chance to use it in a complete piece. I suddenly realised that this would be exactly the right place to use this passage! So this forms the basis of the section, about 2 minutes in, marked ‘Explosive, energetic’.
“After this burst of energy, the music subsides, touching again on the piece’s two main ideas, with a brief reference to part of the main tune, and closing with the short phrase which began the piece.
“I only arrived at a title when the piece was close to being completed. I often come up with musical ideas at night, sitting at the electric piano, with headphones on, as I think was the case with the ideas in this piece. One element which I feel adds to its nocturnal flavour is the use of the Phrygian mode, which in fact pervades the piece. So, while turning over ideas in my mind, I remembered the title of a book of essays by Aldous Huxley, ‘Music At Night’. After pondering this for a short while, I decided to abbreviate this to ‘Night Music’, which seems to fit the piece quite well.”


Posted by author: Andrew Fitzgibbon

5 thoughts on “Night Music

  • I really like the atmosphere of your piece Jamie, and it’s beautifully played by Carla. Looking forward to hearing more of your compositions!

  • Congratulations, Jamie! I remember you saying that you imagined this piece being played in St. Giles Cathedral. Your piece as well as Elaine’s really show the atmospheric side of the flute. Keep on composing!

  • I’m not a musician so can only comment as a listener. The music came to me like the rhythm in a poem and how assonance and alliteration can move you into different mood states. Melodic composition and so well-played.

  • Thank you Catherine, Petra and Elaine for your kind comments.
    Petra, I would indeed love to hear this piece being played in the resonant acoustic of St Giles cathedral. I heard Debussy’s ‘Syrinx’ there, and the memory of that performance was one of the inspirations that kept me going when composing my piece.
    Elaine, thank you. I loved your ‘Oriental Butterfly’ by the way!
    Catherine, I’m really glad that you enjoyed Carla’s most sensitive performance of my piece. I think your analogy with poetry is most interesting. As well as studying music by composers such as Debussy and Satie, to gain inspiration for writing short, effective pieces of music, I have been listening to songs by some of my favourite songwriters, such as Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band and Bridget St John. It would be nice to think that the poetic quality of their lyrics has had an influence on my music.

  • Hello Jamie, It’s Kassey from Canada, I was in the Kenneth Van Barthold Piano Workshop this pass year 2012. I’ve been carrying around the piece of paper that you jotted down the name of this wonderful composition at our get together after the recitals. I finally sat down and listened to it! I absolutely love it, very magical and enchanting! I hope to hear more works from you soon! If you have any piano compositions I would be interested have a go ! 🙂 Hope your doing well and lets keep in touch! Take care !

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