Free drop-in music-making sessions ages 11-16. 7th, 14th and 21st Oct @ Love Barton.
Info and sign-up: buff.ly/EtDxLjp
Funded by Arts Council England, Oxford City Council, and The John Thaw Foundation. OCM funders: @artscouncilengland.bsky.social @prsfoundation.bsky.social @ppluk.bsky.social
![The only divide I see in terms of my own practice is notation. No Ashenspire [band] members, apart from our violinist, read sheet music - everyone reads tabs, or learns by ear - whereas I learned Western standard notation, but I'm not a good sight reader. So going from singer to composer, I really had to brush up on those score-reading skills. But going back to working with a band, I [was] totally having to rely on my ears again.
Notation is the way you communicate with other people, right; how you show them your ideas, the clearest way of putting them down. But if you're not trained in that, there's a whole other way of working [to] explain yourself.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:drm56fttcbxupe222ihjy7qz/bafkreicc732xx5fr6wduik4k7wcpntyrj7uycfoi3il2p7tdyl7xekxmpm)
![It's hard to remember [to] just write stuff that you like - it seems like a simple thing to do, but it is hard. I often hear compoers saying, like, "I don't think about what the audience think" - and I believe those people, I'm sure they don't care - but why would you not care? What would you rather, a concert hall of a thosand people walking out and hating it, or a concert hall of people saying "I really enjoyed your piece"?
I know Stravinsky had riots and all that, but I don't think we're in the day and age of riots. I am thrilled when people come up to me and say "I enjoy your music", so why would I not strive for that?](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:drm56fttcbxupe222ihjy7qz/bafkreiahc5wqpjxjj2gneeprm4dfc2e6h7p46vib5xpkhcpgdvhbr264qi)
![One of the problems is [that] there's a slight lack of self-awareness about some of the assumptions that we have as composers, about how we're operating. This idea that the composer makes the musical decisions, and frames the musical remit - and there's this divide between the composer, the conductor, the performer [s], the audience, at every step.
Then the issue is: how much can you change that before it stops being classical? It makes talk of barriers a little bit problematic: if you really want to break down barriers, how far are we willing to go with that? Do we really want to sit, and look at ourselves, and how we think, and understand that? Because then you're breaking down barriers, as far as I'm concerned.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:drm56fttcbxupe222ihjy7qz/bafkreibwq4rhnogekzjhx5hbupuqugbpauh4wfwdf4mh5kpiducnsiw3nm)
![We’re young, and we’re queer. [...] When we started our own thing we were really just desperate to play with people who were like us. We were longing for a community like that, so we threw one together.
- Rowan Gatherer,
Goblin Band](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:drm56fttcbxupe222ihjy7qz/bafkreiejzecywljtnb5shncfrrpju45ftcee4jxohiauw5ors6s4uum2um)
