J. Simon van der WaltAbout |
ComposerMost of this site is about my work as a composer, so perhaps there is not too much extra to say here! You could read my official biography, or, mainly for the convenience of people who might be preparing concert programmes, there is available a list of biogs at varying lengths from ten to two hundred words, in .rtf format.ResearchI'm now in the fourth year of a part-time research programme in composition under Gordon McPherson at the RSAMD. My topic is 'Alternative models of contemporary composition'; 'If one starts by considering an ensemble as a collection of performers rather than a collection of instruments, and the performance area as an undiscovered space, what musical consequences follow? Or, more concretely, can alternative models for musical composition be sought in contemporary devised theatre, performance art and visual art? The whole proposal is available to read. TeacherI have worked for over ten years now at Stevenson College Edinburgh, teaching composition and digital audio, and leading the HND programme. We've just expanded into a new £5 million performing arts centre, the Music Box, where, amongst other things, I have about thirty brand-new macs running Logic Pro to play with :)For the last two years I've also been doing some teaching work in the RSAMD in orchestration and composition, which I'm finding very rewarding. PerformerI used to be very active as a trumpet-playing stalwart of the Scottish scene; down the years I've played indiepop with The Twinsets, reggae with Skanga, jazz with Craig McMurdo, folk with the Tartan Amoebas, indescribable post-minimalist rock with Invention Ensemble, salsa with Salsa Celtica, and a bunch of other stuff I've forgotten about. These days I'm essentially retired from trumpet playing, except for fun stints like appearing as 'Ted the Trumpet' in the 'Gameshow' episode of the tv show 'Balamory'.I'm still pretty active as a performer in Naga Mas, the Glasgow Gamelan Group, and I've also in the past done quite a bit of work as a theatrical performer, most notably with IOU Theatre, Forced Entertainment, and Communicado. I also play trombone badly, folk guitar quite well, and I'll turn my hand happily to most kinds of hand drum or small percussion. | More
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Created 16/4/07 Last modified 28/2/08
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