Happy to share that my piece convergency has been selected as a winning work in NZTrio’s 2021 Composing Competition, AudioVisualise! The trio will be recording the pieces when Covid allows – I’m really looking forward to hearing their performance.
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I’m excited to have been selected for the 2020 SOUNZ Community Commission to create a new choral work in collaboration with the Nelson Bays Harmony Chorus.
This project will see me work with the chorus to compose a piece for SSAA a cappella women’s choir, which they will premiere in 2021. I’ll be working with them through their rehearsal process as well as the compositional process, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how this piece of music unfolds.
Check out the media release below from SOUNZ to read further, and stay tuned for updates.
Over the past month I’ve been working on a commission to write the musical score for a new childrens play by a local playwright. This involves composing 14 musical numbers of various lengths, making rehearsal scores, demo tracks and probably some further workshopping down the track.
I got the call about this project just after the start of lockdown. With the vast majority of my work grinding to a halt, I had just packed up all of my worldly belongings, stuffed them in my car, moved out of my flat, stored everything in a friends basement, left my car with another friend, booked an extraordinarily expensive flight out of Auckland, and flown down to Nelson. All in the space of two days.
I took a week or so to recover from those two days of madness and in early April I was ready to start work on the project. But it wasn’t as simple as that.
Everyone is responding differently to this global pandemic and to being confined to their homes. It’s not an experience many of us have faced before. I say many instead of any because those who are chronically ill, and people who have been on home detention, may have faced a similar confinement before, pandemic excluded.
Some people have jumped into lockdown projects that they finally have time to do – making a new garden bed, deep cleaning the car, sorting the junk in the basement. Good for them! Other are dealing by curling up in a ball and watching Netflix all day. Totally fine, everyone copes in their own way. Some people, I’m sure, have been diligently continuing with their usual work – whether it’s from school, university or their employment.
However many of us have been struggling with a certain aspect of life in lockdown, particularly students, particularly those who are now working from home. So that brings to me the question I’ve been trying to find the answer to for the past several weeks…
How do you be productive during lockdown if you really need to be?
How do you block out the stress and anxiety pervading social media, news media, and the planet in general, and get to work? For me personally, the main struggle is how does one engage in creativity not just for pleasure, but because it’s actually your job?
The following are some general guidelines that I’ve forged for myself over the past month in an attempt to overcome productivity guilt during this unusual time.
DON’T FORCE IT. Some mornings I would get all set up at my desk, switch on my keyboard, bring up the lyrics in front of me and struggle, struggle, struggle. My brain was fuzzy. I was staring at the screen. Nothing was happening. Okay, I’ll try guitar instead. *grabs guitar* ……. nope, still nothing. Well, nothing good. This is my cue to stop, and go do something else for a while. Bake some biscuits. Go for a walk. Maybe I’ll try again after lunch, and if that doesn’t work, then I’ll try again tomorrow.
BE KIND TO YOURSELF. As a perfectionist with high expectations of myself at the best of times, this is one of the most important reminders for me right now. Don’t hate on yourself for trying and failing to be productive. Firstly, at least you tried. Secondly, we’re in a global pandemic. It’s okay if it’s hard to focus, or get into a creative headspace. Thirdly, you can try again this afternoon. Or tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the next day.. or the next day.. and so on. Because we may be in our homes for a while.
REWARD YOURSELF. Hey, you know what? It’s 3pm and I’ve made demos for two songs today. I can tell that I’ve reached my limit of creativity and productivity for the day. Now I’m going to go get some snacks and lie on my bed reading for the rest of the day.
CREATE AN INTENTIONAL SPACE. My work space has to be immaculately tidy and organised or I get distracted from my work. You might not have the best setup at home but make the best of what you have. I recently decided I’d had enough of working at my desk, and shifted all my gear to my bed instead. Do whatever works to get you in the zone. If you’re stuck, try taking your laptop to another room, or outside, and see how different environments influence your headspace.
TAKE INSPIRATION FROM OTHERS. I get heaps of creative inspiration on Youtube, particularly from music channels like Stories and Pomplamoose who post amazing, innovative covers. During lockdown I’ve been enjoying live streams from a bunch of artists including Allen Stone, Tori Kelly, Jamie Cullum, Alec Benjamin, Charlie Puth and tons more. I also like listening to podcasts like Off Camera with Sam Jones and Armchair Expert, both of which dive deeply into the personal journeys of successful creative people as they’ve navigated their way through life and their own careers.
STRUCTURE YOUR DAY. You might not stick to the structure, you might not tick everything off the list, but at least it’s there as a guide. I usually write out a to-do list the day before, and put it in the order that I want to do each task. I use the app Teux Deux on my phone and it’s sooooo good for organisational nerds such as myself.
I found this video from Thomas Frank on how to plan your day while working from home to be super helpful. Sometimes we can have so much on our to-do lists that we don’t know what to do first. The kitchen metaphor from the video really stood out to me as a way of structuring what needs to get done:
I’m pleased to say I’ve nearly finished the initial writing phase. Just a few songs left! I’m sure I could have done it quicker but I’m not going to beat myself up about that. Life is nuts right now. I’m grateful this opportunity came at just the right moment and I’m proud that I’ve been able to get to this point given the circumstances we’re experiencing at the moment.
Soon I’ll be starting phase two of this project: finishing up the rehearsal scores and creating final demos for each song. I’m nowhere near working at full productivity and I’m still working to strike that balance between pushing myself to get things done and letting it happen naturally, but I’m definitely in a better rhythm than when I started. I hope that the above tips might help you if you’re struggling with productivity guilt while working or studying at home.
Sending virtual hugs to all of you, wherever you may be. Hang in there everyone.
xx
A few of my absolute favourite musicians have just won Grammys! Time to celebrate!
I’ve been rather obsessed with this young jazz sensation since a few years ago when my music lecturer showed us one of his youtube videos. JC has since continued to create incredibly innovative re-imaginings of classic songs as well as releasing his self-written, recorded and produced album In My Room – which has now got him two Grammys! NO-ONE DESERVES THEM MORE! He’s been touring the world with his one-man show for months now…… definitely on my must-see-live list.
I’ve been a huge fan of this a cappella quintet ever since seeing them win The Sing Off in 2011. They’ve only conquered the ENTIRE WORLD since then and continue to bring a cappella into the mainstream music scene! Their Christmas albums in particular are to die for.
This jazz ensemble has been on my radar for the past year or so ever since their collab with Lalah Hathaway went ‘viral’. I’ve brought myself up to speed with their music by listening pretty obsessively since then and their latest album TOTALLY deserved this Grammy award. Big dream of mine to see them live one day!
As a Sweet Adelines member you can be a member of more than one chorus and at the current time I am a member of:
Let’s just say I kind of like singing barbershop and being involved in this organisation…… just a little bit!
Christchurch City Chorus has been preparing to travel to Las Vegas to represent NZ at the international Sweet Adelines Competition and compete against around 30 odd choruses from around the world (after winning the NZ national competition in 2015).
As an OOTM, I attended coaching weekends on average once a month from January to August (sneakily flew to Canada at the end of August) and then reunited with the ladies in Vegas on October 13th for the contest.
My delightful Mama is also a member so I got to spend the 10 days in Vegas with her! Who could possibly wish for more!
This was my second time at the annual international competition after competing with Greater Auckland Chorus in October of last year (see blog post here).
It was a CRAZY 10 days. Most of us arrived on Thursday 13th and we then spent the next 6 days rehearsing for 5-6 hours a day. It was exhausting but exhilarating! We had our favourite coaches coming in to work with us – Darlene Rogers, Lynne Smith and Lea Beverly, along with short appearances from Ryan Heller, Jim + Renee and other celebrities!
We had a joint show on the Tuesday night with Rönninge Chorus 0our directors have been good friends for many years and this joint concert has become a tradition. We performed our semi-finals and finals packages which was a great test run. It was a real pleasure and, of course, we were all blown away by Rönninge.
Long story short, semifinals day came along, we hit the stage in our green dresses (pictured below – spot me and my mother behind me to the left) and after a NERVE WRACKING announcement of the ten finalists, we were announced as contest #10 in the finals! Oh the agony of having to sit through the announcement of the nine other finalists and not knowing if ours would come next…. I don’t know if I have ever been in such a nervous state IN.MY.LIFE.
Friday was spent rehearsing for the finals and Saturday was another early morning to do our make-up, have breakfast, get our hair styled, warm-up, rehearse and get back on the stage! We were so pumped to get out there and perform the package that we’d been preparing for so long. And we nailed it. The reaction from the crowd was amazing. It was over so quickly and we couldn’t be any prouder of how it went.
Another long story short, we received 5TH PLACE and the MOST ENTERTAINING CHORUS AWARD! Our director Virge put an unspeakable amount of time and effort into conceptualising the finals package and bringing it to life, it was honestly her baby, so it was such a treat for her to be able to go up and receive that award. We were super happy! It was the end of a magical time spent with the amazing ladies of CCC.
I look forward to the next time I have the opportunity to learn, grow, sing and perform with this wonderful group of women. But for the next 6 months I will be singing with the Lions Gate Chorus in Vancouver – I’m so ready to learn from them! xx
**ADVICE for future competitors who will compete at the MGM Grand – the air is VERY DRY. There is air conditioning everywhere (and cigarette smoke near the casinos). We were advised to leave the air conditioning on in our rooms while we were away and turn it off when we get back, and keep it off at night. I went as far as to bring a humidifier with me to leave on 24/7 in our room. Sickness spread through our chorus far and wide unfortunately, I managed to avoid it myself ONLY JUST – by non-stop hydrating, taking multitudes of vitamins, washing my hands a lot, trying to still eat fruit and vegetables over the 10 days, and just generally looking after myself very carefully. Unfortunately a number of our chorus were struck down with a terrible flu. Some disturbingly effective steroids of some kind allowed them to still get on stage with us. Most important thing: look after yourself and keep those vocal cords MOIST!
