iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I feel like I've heard such inconsistency across the league about how hair pulling is called by the center official

Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A7: Writing If Only I Could Give You the Sun for the Seattle Opera Creation Lab and exploring writing for trans/non-binary singers, starting @raindropnewmus.bsky.social with @lisaneher.bsky.social & @cquickcomposer.bsky.social, and getting grant money to record the Dead Fires Anthology #musochat

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A6: I probably would have gone into computer science as I love technology. I love exploring cool open source software projects & DIY tech projects as recently tech trends like AI are disappointingly & deeply unethical with their impacts on the environment, creative theft & human cognition #musochat

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A5: Find your people! Becoming friends with @cquickcomposer.bsky.social & starting @raindropnewmus.bsky.social with her & @lisaneher.bsky.social has been so good for my mental health, leading to some of my best friends. Having friends who also write vocal music & sing is game changing #musochat

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A4: My middle/high school choir teacher instilled a love of vocal music & my piano teacher growing up helped nurture my interest in composing. @lisaneher.bsky.social is inspiring me to see how I can sustainably live a professional life full of singing & composing & helping on that journey #musochat

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A3: I decided to major in music composition in 10th grade and focused on vocal writing in my composition lesson throughout undergrad and grad school. I never changed my major once. To help make me a better composer, I decided that I would focus on my singing after I graduated in 2019 #muaochat

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A2: Composing since 2007, singing in choir since 2005, studying voice for about as long (currently with @lisaneher.bsky.social) and @lisaneher.bsky.social's administrative assistant since 2023. I also started a PNW gender-diverse composer collective called @raindropnewmus.bsky.social in 2022

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A1: Drew Swatosh, they/them, PDX. I'm a composer and vocalist who loves writing eclectic, programatic music for singers; singing solo and in choir; and the administrative assistant for @lisaneher.bsky.social

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

How exciting that someone (@wesflinn) decided to revive #musochat!

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

My thought was Red Means Recording. That way your YouTube channel name is trademarked as well

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Reposted by Drew Swatosh

Yuliya Komska @ykomska.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

By Jim Benton

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

It feels quintessentially Portland to combine this city's love of soccer with their love of the arts! The pairing of @cherrybombsfc.bsky.social with @portlandopera.bsky.social was wonderful & it wasn't surprising that I knew almost everyone involved. I look forward to more shenanigans this season.

Opera singers from the Portland Opera leading classical music inspired chants for the inagural Portland Cherry Bombs FC match from their opera al carte truck

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

This was a wonderful interview! ☺️ I'm excited to try out that burnout prevention strategy you mentioned

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

In the Bleak Mid-Winter by Gustav Holst, poetry by Christina Rossetti

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Reposted by Drew Swatosh

🌈 Hailey Piper 🌈 @haileypiperfights.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Every writer who generates a slop image for their work is a class traitor. "I can't afford a visual artist" So your solution is stabbing artists in the back? Stealing from them? Furthermore, slop-generated imagery suggests slop-generated writing. That's how you're presenting yourself.

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Boo! That sounds like might need to request a new battery or return it if you're able to.

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Absolutely! Also, being open to flipping the octave for roles makes your company inclusive of trans/non-binary singers who might feel uncomfortable with the pervasiveness of binary gender stereotypes in opera

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

Yay! Yay! Yay! 💜 I love this! Congratulations, friend!🎉

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

As singer, my body is my instrument, so I don't want to get sick. Additionally, one of my best friends is immunocompromised, so masking makes it so I can see her in person without getting her sick

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

While I haven't tried Lily Pond, I think the concept of creating sheet music using just text is really cool and offers another open and accessible way for someone to create sheet music. 3/3

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

For those unfamiliar with Lilly Pond, they describe it as "a text-based music engraver; it is more similar to a programming language than a graphical score editing program" such as Dorico (my preferred choice), Sibelius, Musescore, or Finale (RIP). lilypond.org/introduction... 1/2

lilypond.org

Introduction (LilyPond – Music notation for everyone)

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

At rehearsal last night, the music notation software nerd in me was delightfully surprised to see that the digital edition that tablet users are using of Morten Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium, for our Portland Symphonic Choir Wintersong concert, was engraved using Lilly Pond. 1/3

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Reposted by Drew Swatosh

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 10/08/2025

I got a flu booster today and it made me reflect on the sense of national accomplishment I felt when I drove to a public facility, waited in my car until my number was called on an app, and got my first covid jab. It's fucked the right gets to erase what a moment of technological liberation that was

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Last night I submitted my third grant application this year, and, even with the possibility of rejection, I think the act of grant writing is a form of self love because it shows that you believe in yourself enough to ask for money from someone to help put an idea, project, or art out into the world

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Reposted by Drew Swatosh

Ultima @ultimashadow.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Genuinely powerful words to live by.

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

Details & Tickets: newwaveopera.org/events *If you are planning to attend tonight, try to arrive early as there is a women's soccer match at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex next door

newwaveopera.org

Events

Check out the events we have coming up, as well as links to programs, texts, photo galleries, and more from our past events!

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

You know you're a composer when you type part into your phone and Pärt is one of the options for autocorrect 😂

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Recitals in your studio, I usually perform memorized, but I'm aware that's not the same as a learning a whole role or performing music that I wrote from memory where I'm likely to be inside the music on a different level than with another composer's music

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Yes! I love vocal chamber music, and wish there were more opportunities to write for singers that included more than just piano for the accompaniment.

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

That's an excellent point! Especially since the choral singers can be unpaid volunteers

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

It's the same with classified staff at my public school job. All of the certificated teachers are required to go to weekly staff meetings. While sometimes it might be helpful to attend, as a paraeducator it's not part of my compensation on my contract

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

How would you prefer that folks send recordings for you to review?

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Composers check out this opportunity!

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Last chance to support the amazing work that @newwaveopera.bsky.social does bring opera and art song by living Composers to life! Bids close at 11:45 PM Pacific givebutter.com/c/aN3YGS/auc...

givebutter.com

New Wave Opera's Summer Silent Auction

By New Wave Opera

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Friends! Check out this amazing silent auction by the friends @newwaveopera.bsky.social (co-founded by @lisaneher.bsky.social & @lindseyraejohnson.bsky.social) so they can bring the fabulous music of living Composers of opera and art song to the city of Portland, OR!

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Composers, have you ever written something that you were like that could live rent free in my for a little while? That happened while setting Emily Dickinson's Hope is the thing with feathers for choir tonight and now really I'm looking forward to hearing a choir sing it someday

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Drew Swatosh @auralcomposting.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Welcome! I have found that many of the folks from #newmusictwitter have wound up migrating here

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