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Interview with student composer
The following interview took place after the 2000 HSC. Debra Gilmore interviewed one of her students, Micahel Klooster, about his core composition.
You may find it easier to manage this interview
if you print a copy of the entire composition for reference. Alternatively,
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it when it is referred to in the text of the interview.
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What were the best aspects of studying the course?
Finishing it. Over the two years, the course really opened up my musical perspective. Before starting the course I really only liked traditional classical music, particularly Mozart and Beethoven. I found Romantic music to be real cutting edge stuff and had absolutely no interest in contemporary music. It is fair to say that the only way I would listen to contemporary music was if I had to. However after studying the course I became far more open to contemporary music, particularly enjoying works like Symphony Da Pacem Domine. Overall the course broadened my narrow taste by familiarising me with contemporary music.
How long did it take you to write your composition?
Six months of consistent effort went into it, but I really faced a brick wall for a long time. The main problem was that I wanted my composition to be the next Beethoven 9. I wanted it to be massive and complex and sound fantastic. The only way I managed to overcome this brick wall was to think simple and small and work from there.
I discovered through studying the simple Hungarian folk song melodies of Bartok in his Concerto for Orchestra, that we were playing in SYO, that simple can sound fantastic and is a lot easier to achieve than trying to write a really complex melody.
Other more recent Australian composers who used similar techniques also influenced my ideas and writing. For example, the Sculthorpe motifs used in his String Quartet No. 9 and the ideas based on rhythmic cells helped me re-think what I was trying to achieve.
Did your understanding of the concepts and topics help?
Absolutely, particularly the use of changing key and chordal and harmonic changes. I had always been fairly aware of the importance of using different timbres but was naive when it came to anything harmonic.
Understanding duration did help, particularly the way in which to use it to create unity, something I hadn't even registered early on in the year.
In
studying Ross Edwards' Symphony Da Pacem Domine I discovered the
importance of using an ostinato to create unity and decided to use one
in my composition. This helped in creating a starting point. In fact I
found that the use of simplicity and ostinato could make a modern piece
of music sound cohesive.
View
the ostinato in bars 1-3. Page 1.
Listen
to the ostinato in bars 1-3. 0':00"
- 0':14"
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