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Open Music Project

 

The Open Music Project 2012 

– Call for participation

The Open Music Project 2012 is an open score project, run by AIC and funded under the Arts Council’s Project Funding Scheme. The project will run from January till May/June 2012. It is a mentoring scheme aimed at composers who seek further practical experience in getting their scores realised.

The Association of Irish Composers calls on composers to join this project. Up to nine composers can be chosen. This call is open to any composer born or living in Ireland. 

This project takes the form of an open score process where compositional decisions are made gradually through a guided process. A group of up to nine composer-applicants will be mentored and advised by three professional composers as they develop a work from rough and conceptual stages to finished piece. As the piece progresses they meet with performers and are guided on the practicalities that emerge. They finish with a high quality recording of the pieces. Later sessions will be open to the public. 

The first stage is a call for expressions of interest, which must include some creative sketches which reflect the nature of the project as outlined here:

Concept: the music is open simultaneously in different ways. Interpretation is open to some extent, instrumentation of scores is left open, and the pieces are open to amateur players. All this requires openness from the composers also. The project also addresses itself to solutions for making contemporary music in the context of a recession.

The resulting scores will be flexible: using a combination of standard and graphic or non-standard musical scoring to create generalised solutions in some parameters, e.g. using either pitch freedom or time-freedom to make the scores accessible to amateur players, and leaving timbre/instrumentation as unassigned. These are just a few possible solutions.

Objective: the final objective is to write a work of maximum 9 minutes by the fourth stage. All intending participants must apply to stage 1 and be prepared to be available for the other stages – while dates are not fully fixed they will mostly fall on Saturdays. Electro-acoustic elements, if included, should be technically supported by the participant.

 

Chosen applicants who are not already members of the Association of Irish Composers will be invited to become members.

Plan

Stage 1

Deadline Feb 10th 2012 for expression of interest and initial sketches: scores and other materials, to be emailed to AIC at aic@eircom.net 

NOTE: Scores: pdfs. Sketches: word files, pdfs or jpgs. Keep to under 5Mb. Also include full contact details. Only emails accepted. All emails will receive a reply acknowledging receipt within 24 hrs. Candidates going through for the mentoring project will then be informed, within two weeks, by email.

 

Stage 2 Late Feb 2012 (date tbc)

The participants meet with the composer panel for a discussion session. Working groups are formed and the further direction of the works is discussed. 

 

Stage 3 March (early/mid)

The participants return, having worked on their pieces. This session includes the composer panel and the performers, and the pieces should by now be 6-7” long, as a guide, with ideas developed for the last stage in writing. At the end of this session six are selected to go forward to the next stage. 

 

Stage 4 2 days, May (Fri-Sat or Sat-Sun)

The final scores are assembled. Final workshopping/public event. The music is recorded. 

The mentoring panel consists of John McLachlan, Gráinne Mulvey and Peter Moran. Time line may not be exactly in the months outlined here.