Olafur Arnalds

So. I thought I might as well introduce you to some of my favoritest music ever.

Olafur Arnalds is an Icelandic composer and instrumentalist. He primarily just plays piano in performances but often has an accompanying band of several strings and sometimes another on the keys playing synth. His music is often described as "neoclassical" but speaking in pop culture terms it's more of an ambient experimental electronic. Yeah ... it's a lot easier to listen to than classify.

So, I suppose I'll show you two of my favorite tracks of his (so as not to waste too much of your time, especially in the case that you don't care for it) and if you like him enough you can explore the rest of his work.

This first one is from his "Living Room Songs" a small 7 track album he released for free to the public. He also uploaded videos of the performances to his YouTube channel, which is really cool. Here's my favorite track:

If you're interested, the entire album can be downloaded from his site, here. http://livingroomsongs.olafurarnalds.com/

The second is a track from the soundtrack to a British detective drama miniseries he scored.

Well there you have it. Olafur Arnalds. As you'll hear, his music is slower moving than most modern stuff, and so if you find it somewhat boring, no worries. I think it's just capital.

Cheers!

Daniel

Bad Music

Several months ago I discovered the Portsmouth Sinfonia, an orchestral experiment put together by a group of students in the 1970s at the Portsmouth School of Art in England. Anyone was allowed to join the orchestra, regardless of their musical talent, ability, or experience. Though their last public performance was in 1979, many of their infamous recordings can be found online for everyone's "enjoyment" (I use the term very loosely). To me, these recordings are absolutely hilarious to listen to. But to each his own.

As I've thought about it, I think part of what I find humorous about it comes simply from being a composer. Often in the industry of film music, there is a common assumption that live recordings, as opposed to sampled mock-ups, are always 100% better. Not to say that live performance is not superior, 99% of the time it is indeed--but it's important to note that a sloppy or badly performed recording can be just as damaging to a piece of music as a cheap mock-up. A fellow composer, Rick Holets, put it so:

"It is interesting to note that an amateur orchestra with unskilled players can completely destroy the performance of a classic, time-proven and loved piece of music. In the same way, it should be expected that poorly executed virtual mock-ups (often the final product in our world) can be just as devastating to musicality, quality, and emotiveness of a piece."

Of course, some modernists like to cheekily push the envelope and ask: is badly performed music really bad? And with that:

Treble Makers

Sometimes when I am in the middle of scoring a picture (or otherwise) oftentimes it's nice to have a side project of my own which usually consists of a genre of music utterly different from that of the main project. It's like having a barrel of wine I can tap whenever I grow weary of working on the same thing for too long. For instance, currently I'm in the middle of composing bespoke music for some educational curriculum. The type of music required is of a very grand orchestral nature, so in contrast the particular vintage as of late has been a little folk melody I actually composed several years ago and recently decided to arrange for a small pit band (of sorts). Though small ensembles are rather difficult to replicate with synthesized instruments, due to the intricate tone of solo instruments, I'm actually rather pleased with how this short little piece turned out. The band consists of a tin whistle, trumpet, upright piano, tuba, harmonium (pump organ), cello, and double bass.

Check it out!



Cheers,
Daniel

Fellow Composers

Back in February of this year I had the opportunity to participate in a young film composer discussion with my good friend Andrew Gerlicher (the host), Kristen Personius and James Everingham (also pals of mine), and the multi-talented composer and filmmaker George Streicher. Great fun for a guy like me. I especially enjoyed the opportunity to dig in to other like-minded musician's minds and discover their personal thoughts and approaches to the the world of modern film music. The job of a composer can often be quite isolating and so it can be strangely comforting finding other people who think and feel similarly about music and its creation.

When you have an hour to spare, check out the exchange! (Note: some colorful language).



In the wake of the recent shutdown of Vision Forum Ministries--resulting in the cancellation all future events including the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival--a new festival has arisen in San Antonio. The Christian Worldview Film Festival. One of the highlight events of this year's new festival was a short film scoring competition. What that meant was that Philip Telfer--the founder of the festival--provided a short film he had produced, thus far having no soundtrack. Any available composer (for a fee of 35 silver cartwheels) could sign up for the competition and subsequently receive a digital copy of the partially completed film, which he could score in any way he pleased--though any smart one would heed the direction of the minimal notes provided by the director. I had an available slot to fill in my schedule, signed up and a few weeks later mailed in my submission with a week to spare before the deadline. On the evening of March 15, at the awards ceremony of the CWFF they announced the winner. Though I didn't win, my friend and fellow member of the Rhapsodize Music Network Bradley Jamrozik did! And plus, I did make it as one of the six finalists of the competition, which is great. You can watch the short film with my score submission on the CWFF website if you like. http://www.christianworldviewfilmfestival.com/music-scoring-competition-daniel-white/

Also here is just the soundtrack:



Enjoy!

-Daniel