Artist of the Week
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Artist: Mikey Parsons
Artform: Composer What do you do and what are your main focuses? I’m a composer. I don’t have a main focus so much as lots of different areas of composition that I’m interested in. Over the last few months I’ve been experimenting with sampling and having a lot of fun doing so; teaching myself programming in Max MSP (you can do a lot of really interesting things with it, such as using music to drive video effects); studying orchestration and working as a sound engineer. Where have you studied? I’m currently studying composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Before this I did a professional diploma in drumming at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. |
Tell us about 'In search of connection'.
A pair of post graduate contemporary dancers from Laban, Yuki Chung and Orion Hart, commissioned it in July this year, for a performance to be featured in Kobe Festival Hall at the All Japan Dance Festival. The original plan was that I would perform the music on stage with them. Because of this I had to compose very carefully. I can play percussion, piano and sing fairly well (not at the same time, I’m rubbish then!) but not to an especially high standard and there was only 1 month to write and rehearse the piece. In the end I opted to make an electro-acoustic piece using only my voice. It seemed the most practical option, as well as fitting the brief of “touch, emotion, connection”, which can imply, especially in a dance context, humanity and the human body.
I had recently written a few pieces using samples and had started to gain experience in making sample libraries. That is where you record a sound or many sounds and map it/them to a keyboard so that you can play them as you would a piano. I wanted to make a library of my voice comprising of syllabic sounds, long tones, short tones and special effects. In hindsight I spent a little too long doing this. The summer holidays had just began and I spent a full 2 weeks alone recording myself making thousands of various vocal sounds and then compiling into libraries. I ended up doing the same thing with a prepared piano as well, to enhance the percussive side of things.
A pair of post graduate contemporary dancers from Laban, Yuki Chung and Orion Hart, commissioned it in July this year, for a performance to be featured in Kobe Festival Hall at the All Japan Dance Festival. The original plan was that I would perform the music on stage with them. Because of this I had to compose very carefully. I can play percussion, piano and sing fairly well (not at the same time, I’m rubbish then!) but not to an especially high standard and there was only 1 month to write and rehearse the piece. In the end I opted to make an electro-acoustic piece using only my voice. It seemed the most practical option, as well as fitting the brief of “touch, emotion, connection”, which can imply, especially in a dance context, humanity and the human body.
I had recently written a few pieces using samples and had started to gain experience in making sample libraries. That is where you record a sound or many sounds and map it/them to a keyboard so that you can play them as you would a piano. I wanted to make a library of my voice comprising of syllabic sounds, long tones, short tones and special effects. In hindsight I spent a little too long doing this. The summer holidays had just began and I spent a full 2 weeks alone recording myself making thousands of various vocal sounds and then compiling into libraries. I ended up doing the same thing with a prepared piano as well, to enhance the percussive side of things.
Just as I started writing the piece I learned that I wouldn’t be able to go with them to Japan to perform and that it would have to be a fully electronic piece after all. This was pretty gutting. But it did make the piece a lot more flexible in terms of what I could do. I worked mostly to rehearsal footage of their choreography. I was careful not to map the music exactly to their movements, as I knew I would have no control of this during the performance. So the piece is more of a soundscape that evolves inline with the energy of their performance.
It was streamed on NHK, the main Japanese television network and I’m told it went well! I’m waiting for a copy of the DVD so that I can see it myself.
Why do you compose?
When I was studying the drums in Brighton, I started teaching myself piano, specifically to learn arrangements of the Final Fantasy video game soundtracks, but began to write my own pieces too. Towards the end of the course I decided to pursue composition instead of drumming. I intended to become a self taught composer and worked for several years on my own before my mum entered me into a competition. This led to a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. One of the judges was on the board of Trinity Laban and encouraged me to apply, introducing me to the head of composition, Dominic Murcott.
It was streamed on NHK, the main Japanese television network and I’m told it went well! I’m waiting for a copy of the DVD so that I can see it myself.
Why do you compose?
When I was studying the drums in Brighton, I started teaching myself piano, specifically to learn arrangements of the Final Fantasy video game soundtracks, but began to write my own pieces too. Towards the end of the course I decided to pursue composition instead of drumming. I intended to become a self taught composer and worked for several years on my own before my mum entered me into a competition. This led to a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. One of the judges was on the board of Trinity Laban and encouraged me to apply, introducing me to the head of composition, Dominic Murcott.
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Who are you influenced by?
I seem to be attracted to music that is generally not well known and those that do know either despise it or fanatically love it. My favourite composer is Edgard Varese and my favourite band is Cardiacs. Both have a way of working music that feels utterly unique, that almost all of their personality made it into the music, with only fleeting references to other influences. It’s hard to describe. It’s also quite inspiring being surrounded by so many other composers, teachers and students alike. There is a great variety and I really look up to a lot of them. |
Mikey's submission for his BMus 2 Minor Portfolio: Music as Object
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What are your future ambitions?
I want to write music for video games. I spent most of my childhood playing the Final Fantasy series on PlayStation 1 and it was because of those soundtracks by Nobuo Uematsu that I started playing piano and eventually writing music. I love the fluidity of video game soundtracks and the way that they effortlessly respond to the interactions of the player. I’m also fascinated by the development of live video game music performances. I’ve been to a lot of concerts of video game music in big venues like the Albert Hall. I wrote my first piece of music to be performed live to gameplay last year.
I want to write music for video games. I spent most of my childhood playing the Final Fantasy series on PlayStation 1 and it was because of those soundtracks by Nobuo Uematsu that I started playing piano and eventually writing music. I love the fluidity of video game soundtracks and the way that they effortlessly respond to the interactions of the player. I’m also fascinated by the development of live video game music performances. I’ve been to a lot of concerts of video game music in big venues like the Albert Hall. I wrote my first piece of music to be performed live to gameplay last year.
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Yuko: Danger Quest - a fictional video game. Composition: Mikey Parons. Animation: Alessandro Zancan.
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What challenges have you set for yourself?
To be honest doing a degree is challenging enough. It’s difficult to see very far past the next year and a half. I’m going to be writing for orchestra next term, this will be for a recording session in which the orchestra have 1 hour to learn and play my piece. That will be a huge challenge. Once that’s done there will be another challenge and then another and so on. As long as I feel I’m making progress, learning and getting better then I’m happy. |
What is your favourite instrument to compose for and why?
Well we often end up composing for what’s available or what we’ve been asked to write for, which is good because it encourages us to explore the creative potential of the resources that we have. I do really like writing for classical guitar though, I love the way it sounds, the variety of different colours available and the almost mathematical challenge of balancing melody and harmony across the fingerboard and strings. I also enjoy writing for voice, again because of the variety of sound and colour, unsurpassed by any instrument and also the ability to convey meaning through words adds another dimension.
Well we often end up composing for what’s available or what we’ve been asked to write for, which is good because it encourages us to explore the creative potential of the resources that we have. I do really like writing for classical guitar though, I love the way it sounds, the variety of different colours available and the almost mathematical challenge of balancing melody and harmony across the fingerboard and strings. I also enjoy writing for voice, again because of the variety of sound and colour, unsurpassed by any instrument and also the ability to convey meaning through words adds another dimension.
Anything interesting coming up soon?
Well I have the premiere of my electronic piece “Ha jell la uh?” for Collective31's 'Handel’s Messiah: Reimagined 2018' event on the 2nd December at the Omnibus theatre. I’m also preparing a word piece that explores the psychological benefit of swearing for the Rude Health festival at Trinity Laban on the 14th December.
Well I have the premiere of my electronic piece “Ha jell la uh?” for Collective31's 'Handel’s Messiah: Reimagined 2018' event on the 2nd December at the Omnibus theatre. I’m also preparing a word piece that explores the psychological benefit of swearing for the Rude Health festival at Trinity Laban on the 14th December.
