5. My Responsibilities

5.1  Before making initial contact, make sure that you resonate with the composer’s style of writing.

This was already the case as I had already studied the piece. 

5.2  Organise an initial meeting to make sure you are able to not only resonate with the composer’s music but also the composer themselves.

Edwards and I did not meet until our Zoom interview. We communicate efficiently and respectfully.  

5.3  Give clear guidelines for time

I informed Edwards about the duration of my Master course in our initial zoom meeting. I informed him it was a piece I would like to perform at the end of my Master course.  

5.4  Discuss ideas with the composer

This was a pre-existing work, as a result I was not involved in the creation stage of the writing of this work. It was written for Patricia Pollock and completed in 1994.  

5.5.  Understand the concept behind the music

Brief Synopsis of work. Click on table to view on the right. 

As was evident in Edwards’s response to my recording, his feedback was mostly about my interpretation of the Prelude. My tempo was slower than indicated, and I needed a better understanding of how to achieve a fluctuation of tempo throughout the melodic phrases. 

Will include these recordings

5.6 Take the compositional and the collaborative process seriously

I collaborated with the Art of Sound Department at The Royal Conservatoire, The Hague to record this work in order to send a better-quality recording to Edwards, rather than just relying on the sound quality through Zoom, which can be limiting. Prior to this, in addition to personal practice, I performed the work several times in my viola group lessons, studied it with Asdis Valdimarsdottir and performed it in a public concert in Middelburg at the Doopsgezinde Kerk. This was valuable for developing my own performance practice of the piece. The recording was especially useful as the technical difficulties such as the sudden high notes show example were not consistently accurate. This is an example from White Cockatoo Spirit Dance,  Bar 81. (Figure 1 below).

For Edwards, the recording highlighted areas that needed addressing in the workshop. The main points of discussion was the rubato - and achieving a more effective speeding up and slowing down through the phrases in this movement and  

bowing so as not to interrupt the flow of the melodic lines. The shorter rhythmic values needed more precision in accentuation in contrast to the longer lines. For example in bar 49 of the Prelude. (Figure 2 below).

Edwards pointed out certain bars where a comma was needed for example at the very beginning of the Prelude. Indicated by the red markings I annotated in the score. (Figure 3 below).

5.7  Identifying with the work

As an Australian who has a love of nature and lives near the Australian bush, there are elements of Edwards' writing that I feel capture the beauty of Australian flora and fauna. The imagery that the work conjures up is that of gliding and interjections of screeching birds and insects. There is a raw quality about this, possibly because it is a solo work for viola and therefore highlights both the richness of the instrument and its resonance including the harsher effects of higher pitched notes. I feel confident when performing it. 

5.8  Artistic Challenges and Difficulties

Through the process of teaching this work and preparing it for my own performance, I have gained a more in depth understanding of the work as a whole. 

As a result of the workshop with Edwards that was conducted on the 11^th February via Zoom, this has developed further. The main points are

Prelude: I interpreted the tempo as slower than notated, as pointed out by Edwards. My bow speed needed to be slower to create a more controlled sound, as I was accelerating the bow stroke too quickly and ended up at the end of the bow, which resulted in a feeble tone quality. The rubato needed to involve a more measured speeding up and slowing down, rather than the shortening of long notes I engaged in. My interpretation of this particular movement was too slow and sounded “bogged down” in parts (see email).

White Cockatoo Spirit Dance- co-ordination between pizzicato and 16^th notes, taking notice of rests and the change in time signatures can make the pulse unstable. 

Higher double stops, sudden interval changes are difficult to play with consistent accuracy as was evident in the recording. 

Edwards congratulated me on my White Cockatoo Spirit Dance and praised me for capturing the quirkiness of the piece. He suggested that I have another workshop prior to preforming this in my final master recital.  

 5.9 Feedback loop

Alteration of the score and other aspects: 

Alteration of the score has occurred through performers in the past collaborating with Edwards. 

I  also marked bowings in my score as agreed with the composer during the workshop.

Before contacting Edwards I was unsure if this composition was originally composed for the viola. As a composer he arranges many of his compositions for different instruments. There was clarification of this- it was written originally for the viola. 

Edwards helped me develop my performance with regard to tempo, dynamics and rhythm. 

Edwards wanted my opinion on some technical difficulties that had been brought up by past performers, such as the fast ending with double stops from bar 202 onwards. See example below- Figure 4.

 He informed me that he had altered the score due to a suggestion by his editor who is a violinist. I have not seen the original score as I have always worked from the one I have attached. The ending of the piece is still awkward and is difficult to play at tempo with the large jumps up to the double stops. It needs slow, measured practice to embed a left hand co-ordination/memory for accuracy. It is however becoming more fluent and it is in my opinion worth the practice to make it possible. I did not push Edwards to alter again.  

In addition, in the Preludio he was interested in my suggestion to use ricochet in bars 47 and 48.- SHOW VIDEO. After demonstrating this to him, his preference was to leave the notation as is. He wanted to retain the contrast between legato slurs and the up bow spiccato notes. 

Also discussed was a revision he had made adding the  Poco meno in bar 130 of The White Cockatoo Spirit Dance.