Louis' Composition Blog

Nestled within a rocky shelter at the foot of Tynemouth Priory's cliffs at King Edward's Bay, I sat with my guitar mucking around with voicings high up its neck. The weather was bleak and uninviting but as I perched there watching the sea I gradually became more at home in its command. After a few minutes' noodling I discovered a sequence of chords that reflected the mood cast by the rumbling ocean and dripping rainwater from the overhang to my left. I set up the H1n field mic that I had loaned from the Hatch on campus, attaching its wind shield and setting it atop a rock before me. I angled it such that my playing would be heard slightly panned to one side, and the rain drops the other. As it was pointing at the cliff face along which I was seated, the sound of the crashing waves heard on the recording were primarily derived from their reflections off of it. This faded them somewhat into the background of the soundscape as opposed to being the dominant central noise. I lik...

Last Monday I revisited the Hancock museum with my friend and course-mate Alex. The aim of our call there was to browse the artefacts on display for inspiration for our final compositional projects. My current interest in the Roman history of the North-East led me to peruse the establishment's section on Hadrian's Wall. Among its arrays of ancient tools and fragments I found a small but intricate "egg-shaped amulet," said to have been used in a woman's childbirth to secure the help of a goddess. The story behind it resonated with me and I started to conceptualise a potential composition and recording surrounding its mythology. I had the idea to hike Hadrian's Wall and place my piece physically and contextually within the home of the egg at Housesteads Fort. I would visit at a quiet time of day to ensure minimal unwanted noise from fellow hikers, leaving me with a clean sonic tapestry upon which I could layer my own music. I am even toying with the idea of atta...