Finding your voice...
Hello! For my first blog post I just thought I would give you a little bit of an introduction into who I am… I’m Stephanie, but everyone calls me Steph! I’m 20, from Belfast, and currently in my final year studying music at Durham University. In my free time, if I’m not singing or writing music, you’ll probably find me at church, baking, doing something arty or going to coffee shops with friends. I’m so excited to be able to share this blog with you, and I hope you enjoy reading my experiences and tips on life as an aspiring young composer.
I fell into music at a very young age, and it’s always been a huge part of my life. Both of my parents are singers, so music has always been an important part of family life! At a young age, I was taught to read music using the Kodaly method, which focuses on the primary instrument of the voice, and I think that this education has heavily influenced my interest in writing for the voice now as a composer. I’ve always been very creatively minded, and so in a way I feel that as someone musical it was inevitable that I’d end up interested in composition. I’m always thinking up new ideas or singing potential melodies in my head. I first discovered a love for composing when I studied GCSE Music at school. I would spend hours more than was necessary working on my compositions in the music department, because I just loved it! I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I first started, and that’s why I am so excited about the educational resources this website run by ORA Singers is providing, because I know how much it would have helped me in the past!
I have found that one of the biggest challenges for me as a young composer has been establishing my own unique compositional style and voice. Every time someone asks me the question, “What sort of music do you write?”, I have a slight moment of panic, because it’s possibly the hardest question to answer! I usually find myself replying with something like this, “I write music that I would like to sing myself”, which is true, but also, in effect, me trying to dart around the real question. I find that trying to put the nature of my music into words really limits my creativity in a sense. As a young composer, I would encourage you to never limit your creativity. The best way to develop your compositional voice is to try new things, push yourself out of your comfort zone, and to write as much as possible! But it’s ok to not know exactly what your style is yet. Composition is so freeing, because you are in the decision-making seat, and most the time you have no boundaries when it comes to your ideas. So, enjoy the freedom that you have, to explore, to experiment and to learn what you like and dislike by critiquing your own work.
I loved the advice Rory gave in his first blog post, to listen to as much new and different music as possible. That’s definitely a great place to start if you are wanting to establish your own unique compositional voice! Since I’ve been studying music at university I’ve been exposed to a far more varied repertory of music, and therefore my style of composing has naturally evolved and changed as I’ve been inspired by and exposed to different ideas. I hope to use this blog to share with you some of my own music, showing the meaning behind it and giving you an insight into the ways in which I choose to use my music to express myself. If you are reading this, as someone interested in composing, but you’re not quite sure where to start, here is my starting advice: sit down, and get your ideas out of your head. Write something every day if you can, because it’s then that you can start to let your voice be heard. I would just encourage you to get stuck in, let your creativity flow and put yourself into your music, for then you’ll start to find your compositional voice!
Look out for my next blog, when I’ll be sharing with you about one of my current projects, to learn more about what my own compositional voice is like!
Written by Stephanie Devlin