Blog
It's all coming together - Mark Bowden
Posted by: Mark Bowden on 5 October 2011
It's been a busy few weeks. The Company premièred Seven for a secret, never to be told in Salford a few weeks ago, which was absolutely fantastic. Now we're all back in Chiswick preparing for the Season of New Choreography at The Place this month.
I've been busily working on the music for my collaboration with Gosia (Malgorzata Dzierzon). I finished the violin part and then created an electronic track using the sounds that we recorded from the London Underground. I played the piece for Gosia a few weeks ago when I was still in the middle of writing and she gave me some really helpful comments about tempo, structure and character, which I took on board as I continued to compose. It was really amazing to get such direct input from another person during the writing process. Choreographers and composers are both concerned with temporal issues - when things should happen, how long they should happen for etc. - and to get feedback from someone else on your own work is such a refreshing experience. Much nicer than just having the music going round and round in your own head!
The score is now pretty much finished and we've given the whole work a title: Lines written a few miles below, after a poem by William Wordsworth. We've been in the studio rehearsing with the dancers and the violinist Tom Gould for the last couple of days. It's been a very intense experience - time is tight and there is a lot to do! We decided that Tom would play with a click track to help with the coordination and Gosia has also given him some movement at the beginning and end of the work. Most importantly we've made quite a few small but very important structural changes to tighten up the piece and make it flow better. So, when I say I've pretty much finished I'm actually still working away putting these changes into the music before the last few days of rehearsal!
It's all coming together really well and now I'm looking forward immensely to getting into the space and seeing the work on the stage with the costumes and the lighting as well as hearing the music through the proper sound system at the theatre - I think it's going to be a really exciting performance!
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Read Mark Baldwin's blog on Seven for a secret microsite >
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