Artist of the Week
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Artist: Joanna Ward
Artform: Composer What do you do and what are your main focuses? I am primarily a composer, thought I also perform (predominately singing contemporary / experimental vocal repertoire) and engage with music sociologically and analytically through my degree. My composing focusses on manipulating parameters of communication, expression and meaning through the abstract framework of sound. The music I write is often consonant, cyclical, static and referential. Where have you studied? I’m currently in my final year doing an undergrad music degree at Cambridge. Prior to that I was just at high school in Newcastle! I’ve accepted a place to go to Guildhall next year to do a masters in composition, which is really exciting. |
photo © Ruari Paterson-Achenbach
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Tell us about 'to think at the sun'.
‘to think at the sun’ was recorded and premiered around this time last year as the culmination of Sound and Music’s Next Wave 2 scheme. The scheme meant there was a really long development process for the piece, so in the first workshop session I took some extracts of an Allen Ginsburg poem, ‘Transcription of Organ Music’ (from which I took the words of the title), some small, disparate extracts of notated music to loop and layer, and some warm fuzzy photos of daffodils that I’d taken that spring. From exploring those building blocks, the piece took shape, and I think you can really hear that quite organic form in the final work. Another interesting aspect of the piece’s development was the involvement of Quinta (an amazing musician and lovely person), who I was assigned as soloist for my piece, playing the musical saw, which was a bit of left-field challenge. The nature of the saw meant that Quinta responded really well to improvising and graphic notations and so I had fun incorporating that into the fabric of the piece too. I think the end result really communicates some of the warm fuzzy glow of the original photos that I showed the players, as well as some of the bleaker moments in the Ginsberg poem. It’s interesting to me how those original influences hang around in a piece, however subtly.
Listen to 'to think at the sun' here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1vLQys2rVBsHUne2SZpbxu
‘to think at the sun’ was recorded and premiered around this time last year as the culmination of Sound and Music’s Next Wave 2 scheme. The scheme meant there was a really long development process for the piece, so in the first workshop session I took some extracts of an Allen Ginsburg poem, ‘Transcription of Organ Music’ (from which I took the words of the title), some small, disparate extracts of notated music to loop and layer, and some warm fuzzy photos of daffodils that I’d taken that spring. From exploring those building blocks, the piece took shape, and I think you can really hear that quite organic form in the final work. Another interesting aspect of the piece’s development was the involvement of Quinta (an amazing musician and lovely person), who I was assigned as soloist for my piece, playing the musical saw, which was a bit of left-field challenge. The nature of the saw meant that Quinta responded really well to improvising and graphic notations and so I had fun incorporating that into the fabric of the piece too. I think the end result really communicates some of the warm fuzzy glow of the original photos that I showed the players, as well as some of the bleaker moments in the Ginsberg poem. It’s interesting to me how those original influences hang around in a piece, however subtly.
Listen to 'to think at the sun' here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1vLQys2rVBsHUne2SZpbxu
An example of Joanna's composing when she worked with Helios Collective
Why do you compose?
I got interested in composing really via having to do it at school, and I just loved it and found it was never a chore to me — I remember very vividly having a conversation with my (amazing and supportive) music teacher where I admitted that it was what I felt like I wanted to do, and I’ve just gone from there! I was playing piano and singing quite seriously already by that point, when I was 15 or 16, but something about the creative power combined with the logic and process of composing really appealed. I was also always a maths nerd, and I think there’s quite a few of us composers who also have a tendency towards ordered, process based thinking, but relish the context of creative freedom that composing gives us. It’s funny as now I often tell my supervisors that composing doesn’t feel like work because it’s just ‘what I do’, it’s my natural state of being, almost.
And since then, I’ve only grown into it as I’ve discovered what composing can do for me and those around me: giving me fulfilling projects to work towards, a constructive framework to process sadness or frustration, encouraging collaboration with fantastic musicians, enabling my musical practice and my politics to combine forces, meaning I engage with a huge breadth of music (and music making) from all and any genre. I think they are all wonderful things and as long as I hold onto them I won’t want to stop composing.
I got interested in composing really via having to do it at school, and I just loved it and found it was never a chore to me — I remember very vividly having a conversation with my (amazing and supportive) music teacher where I admitted that it was what I felt like I wanted to do, and I’ve just gone from there! I was playing piano and singing quite seriously already by that point, when I was 15 or 16, but something about the creative power combined with the logic and process of composing really appealed. I was also always a maths nerd, and I think there’s quite a few of us composers who also have a tendency towards ordered, process based thinking, but relish the context of creative freedom that composing gives us. It’s funny as now I often tell my supervisors that composing doesn’t feel like work because it’s just ‘what I do’, it’s my natural state of being, almost.
And since then, I’ve only grown into it as I’ve discovered what composing can do for me and those around me: giving me fulfilling projects to work towards, a constructive framework to process sadness or frustration, encouraging collaboration with fantastic musicians, enabling my musical practice and my politics to combine forces, meaning I engage with a huge breadth of music (and music making) from all and any genre. I think they are all wonderful things and as long as I hold onto them I won’t want to stop composing.
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Who are you influenced by?
I am influenced by so many different things, musical and otherwise. My biggest influence is really the music I personally love, and that’s mainly popular music — Northern soul, singer-songwriters (think Laura Marling, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Joan Armatrading, Nina Simone), ska, Motown, the noughties / 2010’s indie of my teen years. Kate Bush, Elbow, and Paul Simon’s Graceland (that’s perhaps weirdly specific but I’m utterly obsessed with it) also deserve mentions. I love thinking about how these musics explicitly communicate themselves and translating that into a much more abstract form in my own music. I also loooove minimalist and ambient musics, from Steve Reich to Meredith Monk to Brian Eno and beyond, and the stasis and consonance and gradual shift really inform my music, even if superficially there isn’t much resemblance. There’s also of course plenty of 20th/21st century classical musics that influence me, especially timbre or ‘colour’ based musics by the likes of Saariaho, Sciarrino, Messiaen, Xenakis, Crumb. They help me think about my craft in a more direct way than the other things I’ve mentioned — I do what student composers have always been doing and poach the best bits and put them into my own context. |
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Otherwise, of course I am influenced by literature (and like choosing specific poems or song lyrics to base a piece around), the people around me, how I’m feeling at the time of writing a piece, but I’d say my biggest extra-musical influence is political. My socialist, feminist (and female) perspective is completely fundamental to my life and therefore it is to what I create too. Obviously this is not often explicit (though sometimes it really is!), but I am always thinking through that political stance and so it will obviously affect what I make, as well as the contexts in which my music is performed and received. I think especially in the composition world, a female and (actively) feminist perspective really sets me apart from the traditional / common understanding composer in this country (and by that I mean a wealthy, educated, white man), and that’s important and means my music has something different and important to offer.
What excites you about the music world today?
I am excited by the increasing awareness that composing and programming has to be diversified — the realisation that by including diverse voices we will only be strengthened, make more interesting art, and become more relevant to wider society (which is desperately needed in the current climate). Further to this, I’m excited by the fantastic people I am meeting and befriending through the struggle to make diverse voices heard, and the feeling that it’s increasingly acceptable to be explicitly political in the traditionally stuffy world of composing.
What excites you about the music world today?
I am excited by the increasing awareness that composing and programming has to be diversified — the realisation that by including diverse voices we will only be strengthened, make more interesting art, and become more relevant to wider society (which is desperately needed in the current climate). Further to this, I’m excited by the fantastic people I am meeting and befriending through the struggle to make diverse voices heard, and the feeling that it’s increasingly acceptable to be explicitly political in the traditionally stuffy world of composing.
photo © Ruari Paterson-Achenbach
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What is the most exciting project that you have done to date?
I’m not sure, there’s been so many really fun projects I’ve been a part of! One thing that springs to mind is being involved with Listenpony, who commissioned me last year to write for violin, cello and theorbo. Firstly, I’d been following Listenpony for years and so it was very cool to be commissioned by them! Then, the unfamiliar instrumental combination really made me think about how to be more flexible with my composing ‘voice’ and my approach to writing my music. Once I had written my piece and met with the players to rehearse and discuss, the piece was toured to Birmingham, Manchester and London, which was itself very exciting as it’s so unusual for your music to immediately get several performances around the country! I went to see the concert in London, and it was just a really magical experience — the concert was in a theatre space that was at that time being used for an art exhibition, so there were life-size sculptures of people all around the room and hanging from the ceilings, and it was completely packed out with an eclectic mix of audience members sitting around the statues and standing and on cushions at the front. The concert was then in three segments, the first two mixing new commissions with canonic works, and the third was a mini set from Elana Tonra (of Daughter) which was in itself incredible. |
The setting, the relaxed mixing of genres, the really welcoming DIY-concert vibe — all of it just really spoke to my idea of what new music should be and how it should be presented now. It left me feeling really uplifted about the future of composing, inspired to make events happen myself, and just really amazed and grateful that I’d been lucky enough to contribute some of my own music.
I also just remembered that a team of my friends and I took my opera ‘hunger’ to the Fringe this year (not quite sure how I temporarily forgot…) which was such an incredible, fun, fulfilling experience as well as an extremely steep learning curve (especially for me as I was producing the show as well as having written the piece!). It really proved to me how much value and empowerment there is in making projects happen yourself, and I had such an amazing time doing the show for 10 whole days and hearing lots of positive feedback from a wide variety of audience members (especially given its explicitly feminist message). We also managed to sell out our last two shows and get a five star review which really made the constant tweeting / flyering / emailing / stress / intense rehearsals worth it. The Fringe is such a wonderful phenomenon, the city is so alive and I saw loads of great (and terrible) plays with some of my best friends whilst also being a part of it ourselves — don’t think you can ask for more really!
I also just remembered that a team of my friends and I took my opera ‘hunger’ to the Fringe this year (not quite sure how I temporarily forgot…) which was such an incredible, fun, fulfilling experience as well as an extremely steep learning curve (especially for me as I was producing the show as well as having written the piece!). It really proved to me how much value and empowerment there is in making projects happen yourself, and I had such an amazing time doing the show for 10 whole days and hearing lots of positive feedback from a wide variety of audience members (especially given its explicitly feminist message). We also managed to sell out our last two shows and get a five star review which really made the constant tweeting / flyering / emailing / stress / intense rehearsals worth it. The Fringe is such a wonderful phenomenon, the city is so alive and I saw loads of great (and terrible) plays with some of my best friends whilst also being a part of it ourselves — don’t think you can ask for more really!
Joanna talking about her piece 'The Banquet', commissioned by The Choir of St. John's College Cambridge.
What are your future ambitions?
Following on from that discussion of the Listenpony concert, I’d love to be doing something similar in five years time — curating really high quality, accessible events alongside being in the early stages of a composing career. I also want to be performing (anything from in choirs to wacky solo operas, really), and teaching — I love it when you help kids’ brains click with a new concept or idea, and how much power you have to encourage and empower their aspirations. So I guess as long as I can make a living doing bits and bobs of all that I’ll be pretty happy!
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a composer?
I would say put yourself out there as much as possible. When I was really first starting out I wrote pieces for my friends, sought advice from teachers, fellow composers and other musicians, as well as entering as many young composer competitions as I could. I feel that a mention here is due for the NYOGB composers scheme which really pushed me to be strict with myself as well as to be boldly creative, and cemented my belief in my abilities. All of that meant I had enough experience, as well as some actual pieces to show for it that I was proud of, to be able to arrive at uni and hit the ground running with composing. It’s a cliché, but a new start really does give you the opportunity to define yourself, and claiming ‘composer’ as my own identity was both very empowering, and meant that I immediately started being included in new music concerts and workshops etc., which was fantastic and meant I continued to grow. I also kept applying for opportunities external to uni, which at times meant I was a bit exhausted and overwhelmed with work, but it was worth it in hindsight as I’ve had much more music performed and commissioned than I would have had if I’d relied on uni opportunities, as well as having managed to make friends and contacts in the new music world already. I think it’s just constantly seeking opportunities for myself that means I’ve managed to have such a range of experiences, and so that would be my main piece of advice, to be proactive. It’s a win-win situation too, as the more you write, the better and more experienced you will get.
Following on from that discussion of the Listenpony concert, I’d love to be doing something similar in five years time — curating really high quality, accessible events alongside being in the early stages of a composing career. I also want to be performing (anything from in choirs to wacky solo operas, really), and teaching — I love it when you help kids’ brains click with a new concept or idea, and how much power you have to encourage and empower their aspirations. So I guess as long as I can make a living doing bits and bobs of all that I’ll be pretty happy!
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to become a composer?
I would say put yourself out there as much as possible. When I was really first starting out I wrote pieces for my friends, sought advice from teachers, fellow composers and other musicians, as well as entering as many young composer competitions as I could. I feel that a mention here is due for the NYOGB composers scheme which really pushed me to be strict with myself as well as to be boldly creative, and cemented my belief in my abilities. All of that meant I had enough experience, as well as some actual pieces to show for it that I was proud of, to be able to arrive at uni and hit the ground running with composing. It’s a cliché, but a new start really does give you the opportunity to define yourself, and claiming ‘composer’ as my own identity was both very empowering, and meant that I immediately started being included in new music concerts and workshops etc., which was fantastic and meant I continued to grow. I also kept applying for opportunities external to uni, which at times meant I was a bit exhausted and overwhelmed with work, but it was worth it in hindsight as I’ve had much more music performed and commissioned than I would have had if I’d relied on uni opportunities, as well as having managed to make friends and contacts in the new music world already. I think it’s just constantly seeking opportunities for myself that means I’ve managed to have such a range of experiences, and so that would be my main piece of advice, to be proactive. It’s a win-win situation too, as the more you write, the better and more experienced you will get.
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What is your favourite instrument to write for and why?
I don’t necessarily have one, and I’ve hardly written any solo instrument music now I come to think of it! I’m quite partial to a clarinet, as I think their tone is just absolutely lush, and they are also so versatile and flexible. Anything interesting coming up soon? Yes, actually! I have a few performances in quick succession in the coming week — a large ensemble piece being done in West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge with loads of my uni friends which will be lovely, and then I’m lucky to be flying off to Freiburg to hear a commission of a piece I’ve written for ensemble recherche being premiered on Friday, and then it’s back to Cambridge for the premiere of an organ piece that I’ve written for the Orgelbüchlein project before evensong on Sunday (you’ve caught me in an abnormally packed week, I really don’t usually have this many performances happening at once!). |
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My opera ‘hunger’ is being performed in Oxford this spring so I’m really looking forward to that (and so grateful that this will be its third run now!), but other than that it’s head down towards graduation really, as I have lots of coursework and some very tricky exams to do before that happens! One really interesting project that is in early stages is an opera based on Katherine Mansfield’s short story ‘The Garden Party’ -- there’s an incredible team of women working on it and we have some really exciting plans for it so watch this space!
Further links:
https://www.joannamward.com/
https://soundcloud.com/joannamward
Further links:
https://www.joannamward.com/
https://soundcloud.com/joannamward
